Priceline.com Inc. and Barclaycard US have introduced a cobranded card that lets cardholders use rewards points as soon as two days after earning them — including toward the credit card bill with the same charges that earned the points.
This differs from many other reward programs, which either require cardholders to wait to earn certain levels of points or for monthly billing cycles to end before redemption. Most programs typically do not allow points to be used toward the same purchases for which they earned the points.
Priceline and Barclaycard chose instant rewards because they were looking to do something different with their cobranded program, Scott Young, the general manager of partnerships at the Wilmington, Del., issuer, a unit of Barclays PLC, said last week.
Cardholders can redeem points just like cash to pay off credit charges, he said.
They earn four points per dollar spent on priceline.com reservations. They also can choose one of three spending categories — utilities, groceries or home improvement — for which they can earn two points per dollar spent. All other purchases earn one point per dollar spent.
The card features an image of William Shatner, Priceline's celebrity spokesman, in a kung fu fighting pose.
