BP Credit Card Review

Review of Chase BP Visa® Card

Summary - The Chase BP Visa® Card is one of the better gas credit cards in the market today. It's payout for gasoline purchase is at the top end of it's peer's range and you can earn extra rebates from travel and dining expenses. Find out more about this card.

Rebate Formula - The Chase BP Visa® Card allows you to earn 5% rebates when you make purchases at BP Amoco stations. Furthermore, you will earn a 2% rebate on every $1.00 of net purchases made at retail establishments that classify their merchant location for Visa/MasterCard as Dining (excluding retail establishments classified as Fast Food Restaurants), Airline, Auto Rental, or Lodging and a 1% rebate on all other net purchases. You can earn unlimited rebates.

Introductory Offer - As an incentive, new cardholders can earn 10% Rebates on all participating BP location purchases, 4% Rebates on eligible travel and dining purchases and 2% Rebates on all other eligible purchases for the first 60 days.

3 Choices for Rebate Redemption - Every time you accumulate at least $25 in rebates, you decide how and when to redeem your reward. You can redeem for your choice of: a BP Gift Card, a check made payable to you or a donation to The Conservation Fund.

Annual Fee and APR - There is no annual fee. The APR is prime rate plus 8.99% or 15.99%. The uses the average daily balance method (including new purchases) to calculate monthly balances and finance charges.

Other Features - As with all Chase credit cards, you can pay your card online, check the balance of your BP credit card accounts online.

How does this card compare with it's peers. Let's now look at dedicated gas only credit cards. Firstly, the 5% rebates paid out for BP gasoline purchases is at the upper end of the range, which only Shell and Marathon matches today. The other very positive aspect is that you get 2% rebates on travel and dining expenses, which no other gas cards have! So I think right off the bat, this card will rank at the or near the top of the class among its most comparable peers. But how does it fare against cards which allow you to earn gasoline rebates at any station? Let's find out.

Verus the Costco Credit Card - The Costco credit card is definitely a card to compare the BP Visa with since it pays 3% rebates on gasoline and 2% on travel and dining. The Costco card matches it for travel and dining but loses out in terms of gasoline (3% versus 5%). But the advantage that the costco card has is that you can earn 3% rebates for any gasoline purchase. And if you live near a costco gas station, you know that their gasoline tends to be cheaper to start with.

Versus Amex Blue Cash EveryDay - The Blue Cash EveryDay is another card that we can compare with BP. It pays 3% on groceries, 2% on gasoline and department stores and 1% on everything else. So it loses out to the BP credit card on gasoline rebates, it covers up by the 3% rebates on groceries (which BP does not have) and 2% on department stores (which BP does not have as well). But the BP pays you 2% rebates on travel and dining (which Blue Cash does not have). So this is really not an apples to apples shoot out. But at the margin, the winner here is BP, though with the Blue Cash, you can once again earn gas rebates at any station.

Versus Discover OPEN Road Card - The Discover OPEN Road Card offers 2% rebates on gasoline and restaurant purchases. So while it matches the BP in dining expense (2%), it loses out on the gasoline part (2% vs 5% - though you can earn them at any station). Discover also caps you at earning these rebates for up to $200 in monthly spend on gasoline and dining (which may be a problem for those who own a gas guzzler!) Discover has an online shopping portal where you can earn between 5% and 20% with their online merchants. In terms of gas rebates, BP beats out the Discover and I think comes out ahead in this shootout.

Verus PenFed Gas Rebate Card - The PenFed VISA Platinum Gas / Cash Rewards Card is perhaps the only card that matches and beats BP. Why? Because it pays 5% on gasoline for any gas stations, 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else. So from the rebate perspective, it matches the BP in gasoline and actually better because you earn 5% at any gas station unlike the BP, where you can only use it at BP or Amaco stations. It also matches the BP in that you can also earn 2% on groceries (for BP - it's 2% for travel and dining). But if we just look at gas rebates, PenFed beats out the BP because you can earn rebates with PenFed at any gas station.

Pros - 5% rebates on gas and the ability to earn 2% on travel and dinining puts this at the top of the class.

Cons - There is not much bad things to say about this card to be honest. The only negative thing is that you can only earn gas rebates at BP's station (but this critcism can be leveled at most other gas only credit cards).

Verdict - As a background, the Chase BP Visa® Rewards Card before July 2006 has less impressive features. They only paid 3% rebates on BP Amoco purchases. Now the rebate is 5%, and 10% during the introductory period of 60 days. Secondly, you get paid 2% rebate on restaurants, and travel related purchases.

In our opinion, this card sits at the top of the class among it's peers because you can earn more rebates with this card than many gas cards. It also matches and beats many cash back cards because it pays better on gasoline. The only card that really matches it is the PenFed VISA Platinum Gas / Cash Rewards Card. If you only fill up at BP station, then this would be a great card to get. However, if you use other gas stations as well, then the PenFed would be the card we recommend.

References
1. BP North America, Chase introduce new BP Rewards Card