Five months after buying the Sony Corp. credit card portfolio from Citigroup Inc., Bank One Corp. is releasing the Sony Card today.
Users can earn as many as 8 points for every $1 spent and redeem their points for movie ticket and movie rental awards starting at 1,000 points, or $125 worth of purchases. Award redemptions can be made online or over the phone. The card also offers ticket protection, which covers users when they buy tickets with their card and then cannot attend the event.
Bank One, which announced the product launch Tuesday, bought $1.5 billion of Sony card receivables in October when it won the account from Citigroup. The old rewards program allowed 1 point per $1 spent. The new one adds the opportunity to earn more points when buying Sony products. Those purchases earn 3 points per $1. Purchases made at the Sony member Web site, My Sony, earn 8 points per $1 spent. Most of the Citi portfolio has already been transferred over to the new card, a Sony spokeswoman said.
She called Sony "100% responsible" for developing the rewards program.
