The Amtrak credit card isn’t gone for good. Here’s what Chase has to say about it.

I’ve written a fair amount over the last few days on the Amtrak credit card issued by Chase, and it’s recent disappearance from their website:

• Why I love the Amtrak Guest Rewards Credit Card
• The Amtrak credit card is NOT dead. Hurry and apply before it is… The links here appear to now be dead, unfortunately.

I had the chance to exchange some emails with a representative from Chase, and have reason to believe the card isn’t gone for good.

Before getting into the specifics, let me remind you why I find this card valuable:

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There’s No Annual Fee

With a no annual fee card, you can keep this card in your sock drawer without fear of having to call the retention department at Chase every year to waive any fees. That said, it’s worthwhile to spend on this card once in awhile to keep the card itself from going inactive, however, I do not use this card as any primary card in my wallet, nor do I put any substantial spend on it.

5% Rebate on Amtrak Guest Rewards Redemptions

When you redeem your points for Amtrak travel, you’ll get 5% of those points back in your account. Combined with no annual fee, this essentially acts as a free rebate so long as you hold the card. Granted, 5% isn’t much, but if you were to redeem 100,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points in a year, you’d have an additional one-way trip in the Northeast Corridor thanks to the 5,000 points you’d be credit.

No Amtrak Points Expiration

Normally, Amtrak Guest Rewards points expire 36 months after your last paid Amtrak travel. So, once every three years, you need to travel Amtrak to keep your points alive – except if you have this card, which keeps those points alive so long as you’re a cardholder.

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What’s happening to the card?

I exchanged several emails with communication and public affairs representative at Chase Card Services. He was kind enough to reply to my inquiries:

• Is the card being discontinued?
• Is there a reason the card is not accepting new applicants?
• Will current applicants be able to keep the card if they already have it?

The first email I received back said this:

Thanks for reaching out. We are not accepting new applications at this time for the Amtrak Rewards card.

The important thing to note here is that they are not accepting new applications at this time. If the card were gone for good, I don’t think this wording would be used.

The second email I received (a reply asking for more information) said this:

We will have more information about the Amtrak program at a later date.

It seems odd that they’d be discontinuing a card, and providing that information at a later date. Instead, I think they’re either re-negotiating the contract, increasing or changing the sign-up bonus, or changing the features of the card, and the safest thing to do at this time is remove the card from application access.

So, I don’t think they’re removing the card at all, but instead putting it on “hold” as revisions are made.

What do you think? Do you think the Chase Amtrak Guest Rewards Credit Card is gone for good?