"Great Card For Pet Lovers"
Pet Rewards Platinum Plus Visa® Credit Card Review
Written by: chris on 2007-10-09
Overall Satisfaction
Customer Service
Rewards
Account Management
Delivery Time
chris's review: 
I highly recommend this card for anyone who has pets. It earns me 4% cash back on all pet-related purchases and 2% cash back on everything else.
This is a points-based card; you earn one point for each $1 in net purchases, except pet-related purchases (vets, pet food stores, etc.) where you earn two points for every $1 in purchases. When you've reached at least 1000 points, you can cash them in for rebates on veterinary services at the rate of $20 = 1000 points. So, cash to cash, you're earning 4% on pet-related purchases and 2% on everything else.
I realize that this isn't quite as convenient as a direct cash-back plan, but it's really not too bad. To redeem, I first took two of our cats to the vet for some tests. The bill was around $150. I went to the website, saw that I had accumulated 3215 points. I cashed in 3200 points to get a rebate form for $64, attached the vet bill, and got a check in the mail about four weeks later for $64. For a redemption rate of 4%/2%, I didn't think that was too difficult. The remaining 15 points, of course, will stay in my account, and I'll accumulate more points until I have more than 1000 and have a vet bill to get rebated.
While this isn't quite as good as direct cash, it actually is better than cards which give their rebates as gift certificates or gift cards. With those, you earn no points for actually spending your rebate. With the PetRewards model, you go ahead and spend using your card so you earn the 2 points per $1 toward your next reward.
Note that there are other redemption options, but they only give 1 cent per point, so are not as lucrative as the vet rebates (the other options equate to 2% cash back on pet stuff, 1% on other).
One of the other perks of this card is that you get to have your pet's picture on your card. You send a photo (via snail mail or upload a digital pic) and they put it on the card. This actually has been my only (slight) complaint about the card; I had a hard time getting my card customized. My wife's came with our picture, but I got the generic card. After a few calls to customer service, I finally got my customized card, but I have a few extra pieces of plastic laying around now. No biggie. Overall, the few conversations I've had with customer service have been quite satisfactory.
I was also a bit confused at the start as to which places earn the two points per dollar. The web site gives you a way to look up via city and state for the double point locations. Their database, however, seems to be woefully out of date. It listed just one vet and one pet food store in our area, and none of the big stores (e. G. PetSmart and PetCo). Nevertheless, I went ahead and used my PetRewards card at PetSmart, PetCo, a local pet retailer and at least one vet, none of them on the website's list, and once I got my bill, figured out that ALL of them earned me two points per $1. I'm not sure what the website listing represents, but the points seem to be rewarded based on the merchant category.
As an inveterate bargain hunter, I use an assortment of cards to get 5% cash back on this, 3% cash back on that, etc. This card is an important tool in my wallet. In addition to pet-related purchases to get 4% cash back, I use it as my "everything else" card to get 2% on everything that doesn't fall into another category. I highly recommend it to anyone who spends money at the vet's office.
Chris.
I highly recommend this card for anyone who has pets. It earns me 4% cash back on all pet-related purchases and 2% cash back on everything else.This is a points-based card; you earn one point for each $1 in net purchases, except pet-related purchases (vets, pet food stores, etc.) where you earn two points for every $1 in purchases. When you've reached at least 1000 points, you can cash them in for rebates on veterinary services at the rate of $20 = 1000 points. So, cash to cash, you're earning 4% on pet-related purchases and 2% on everything else.
I realize that this isn't quite as convenient as a direct cash-back plan, but it's really not too bad. To redeem, I first took two of our cats to the vet for some tests. The bill was around $150. I went to the website, saw that I had accumulated 3215 points. I cashed in 3200 points to get a rebate form for $64, attached the vet bill, and got a check in the mail about four weeks later for $64. For a redemption rate of 4%/2%, I didn't think that was too difficult. The remaining 15 points, of course, will stay in my account, and I'll accumulate more points until I have more than 1000 and have a vet bill to get rebated.
While this isn't quite as good as direct cash, it actually is better than cards which give their rebates as gift certificates or gift cards. With those, you earn no points for actually spending your rebate. With the PetRewards model, you go ahead and spend using your card so you earn the 2 points per $1 toward your next reward.
Note that there are other redemption options, but they only give 1 cent per point, so are not as lucrative as the vet rebates (the other options equate to 2% cash back on pet stuff, 1% on other).
One of the other perks of this card is that you get to have your pet's picture on your card. You send a photo (via snail mail or upload a digital pic) and they put it on the card. This actually has been my only (slight) complaint about the card; I had a hard time getting my card customized. My wife's came with our picture, but I got the generic card. After a few calls to customer service, I finally got my customized card, but I have a few extra pieces of plastic laying around now. No biggie. Overall, the few conversations I've had with customer service have been quite satisfactory.
I was also a bit confused at the start as to which places earn the two points per dollar. The web site gives you a way to look up via city and state for the double point locations. Their database, however, seems to be woefully out of date. It listed just one vet and one pet food store in our area, and none of the big stores (e. G. PetSmart and PetCo). Nevertheless, I went ahead and used my PetRewards card at PetSmart, PetCo, a local pet retailer and at least one vet, none of them on the website's list, and once I got my bill, figured out that ALL of them earned me two points per $1. I'm not sure what the website listing represents, but the points seem to be rewarded based on the merchant category.
As an inveterate bargain hunter, I use an assortment of cards to get 5% cash back on this, 3% cash back on that, etc. This card is an important tool in my wallet. In addition to pet-related purchases to get 4% cash back, I use it as my "everything else" card to get 2% on everything that doesn't fall into another category. I highly recommend it to anyone who spends money at the vet's office.
Chris.
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Disclaimer: This content is not provided by Bank of America®. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by Bank of America®. Review content is powered by Finance Globe.
