Ordered my new MINI credit card because this ( http://www.4myminicard.com/Rewards.aspx ) says: Earn "up to $5,000 back on the purchase or lease of your next mini" .. and .. "Get an additional $5,000 back if you finance your next loan or lease with MINI Financial Services".

The agreement form that came with my card says: Earn "up to $5,000 back on your next MINI Financial Services loan or lease" .. and .. Earn "Additional miles on your MINI Financial Services Service Lease".

In other words, the ad says I can get up to $5,000 back when I order my next new car. The agreement that comes with the card says I can get that money back IF I use MINI Financial Services for a loan or lease.

I'm not talking here about the other stuff, the MINI Moolah, valet miles, motoring gear, motoring mates, experiences, and giving (charity). I got the card simply because I plan to get another MINI in a few years, and why not get some money off based on my rather extensive credit card use. But I don't use MINI Financial Services so it looks like I don't qualify to get any money back on my next car purchase.

To me, this looks like classic, "Bait and Switch". I'm a little irritated. Help me out here. Am I looking at this all wrong .. or what?

Oh, and I did call MINI Financial Services, but when I asked for clarification I kept getting an unrelated response.

Been using my current credit card for years. No problems or issues whatsoever. Think I'll stick with them.

P.S. The photo of my particular car, a 2007 Sparkling Silver S w/ black top Sport Package on my MINI credit card card looks really good. If I were to suggest a design change though I'd rather not have the words, "My MINI" next to the picture of my car.

 

I guess I'm a bit of a cynic. I always assume the terms benefit the auto dealer!

I got the card for the pic of my car! I recall when I read all the print beforehand that the MINI financing was the only way to get the 5K back.

Why not finance through MINI next time, then pay it off with another auto loan (or other type) 1-2 months later?

 

I don't think they've bait & switched you.

The way I read it was:
- Get up to $5,000 back regardless of how you pay for it.
- If you get your loan/lease through MINI then you can get up to another $5,000 back for a potential total of $10,000 back.

So, since you're not planning on financing your next car through MINI then you'll only qualify for up to $5000 back. And as for getting the additional $5000 (for the total of $10000), it doesn't matter if you've got a MINI Financial Services loan now, just when you buy the car that you're applying your points toward.

 

sigh i wanted a mini card..but the denied me cause i've only had a credit card for about a year.
not enough credit information i guess. they probably thought i need more experience. i mean cmon now. im 20 and i pay for my own mini and all my bills.
oh well. they're just missing out on a customer to be using their card. i really wanted it tho.
guess i gotta be patient.
while everyone else enjoys theirs.

 

I dunno, I think that the 'up to $10,000 back' is pretty clear there. Maybe the best place to check would be with the financing department at the dealer you plan to buy from? I'm sure they'd be happy to discuss all the different financing options for your new car at length!

I'm the cynical type too though, so to me, the gotcha words are 'up to'

However, going through the terms posted on the website is this too (emphasis mine):

 

how much $ do you have to have spent to get the $5000 rebate?

i want to get this card, but only to get the picture of my car on a credit card

 

It's a 1% bonus for normal purchases, 2% for gas or anything from the dealer. So it's going to take almost $500,000 in charges to get the full $5000. (One meeeeeeellion dollars to get the $10,000.) And keep in mind that points expire 5 years after you accrue them.

I just got it to use as a secondary card and because it's got a picture of my car on it. I put the deposit on it, and I might put part of the purchase on it. After that it's just going to be used for gas and anywhere that doesn't take my other card. There's no way I'd get a significant rebate on a new car. I'll be happy to trade my points in for a few small accessories.

 

I'm irritated at them. When I talked to them about the card they told me that the card would have a picture of MY car. I asked them if I needed to upload a picture and they said no, they have my vin number. So, I got my card yesterday. it's Mellow Yellow, so they got that part right, but I don't have a white roof, I have a black roof. The car on my card is yellow with a white roof. That's not MY car. Either they made a mistake and put someone else's car on my card, or they were dishonest in saying that my car would be on this card.

 

That's odd. I ordered the card before the car so I didn't have a VIN to put in; I just used their mini MINI configurator to set up what the car on the card was going to look like. I would think that with a call to their customer service line you should be able to get a proper card with your actual car on it.