A look at Interval International Visa Signature Credit Card with WorldPoints Rewards

Credit cards are a phenomenal way to earn tons of travel related points.  Sign up bonuses can be a fast and easy way to secure tons of points in order to travel for free,  supplement timeshare stays or receive free flights.

There are a lot of popular credit cards that offer various perks, points and benefits.  Today, I wanted to look at the Interval International Visa Credit Card.  This is one of the few credit cards that seem to target the timeshare industry.

This card is issued by Bank of America and comes with 5,000 Bonus Points after you make $500 in purchases.  There is NO ANNUAL FEE for this card.

You earn points with this card at a rate of 1 point for every $1 in purchases.  The standard redemption option is that each point converts into $.01 for cash, travel or gift cards.  Rewards start at 2,500 for $25 worth of credit, travel or gift cards. 

This essentially equates in a 1% cash back card. 

The other option for the redemption of points is tied to Interval International. 

Here are the following redemption options for Interval International:

1. 7,500 Points - one year of Interval Gold Membership
2. 10,000 - one year Interval International Membership, renewal or extension
3. 15,000 - one year Interval International Platinum Membership, renewal or extension
4. 20,000 - three year Interval International membership renewal or extension
5. 30,000 - one week resort accommodations certificate for travel within 59 days of booking.

While I can into detail on the "value" of the Interval International redemption options, the redemption options are simply poor.  

Many timeshares come with Interval International membership included so the general membership options are poor value.  The upgrade to Interval Platinum generally costs $99 per year so paying 15,000 points or $150 worth of credit is obviously a bad deal.

The 30,000 points for an accommodation certificate may be advantageous but inventory is generally lacking and you only have 59 days to review available inventory.  Finding decent airfare for any worthwhile destinations will likely be challenging. 

Accommodation certificates are generally provided as part of a promotion or simply as a Thank You.   Unfortunately, the options are generally so limited that I have let many of them simply go to waste.

Overall, this is a horrible credit card to get.  The 5,000 bonus points is only worth $50 and the potential redemption options for Interval International simply do not make much economic sense. 

There are tons of much better and more lucrative credit card opportunities out there.  Other points including membership reward points from American Express and Ultimate Rewards Points from Chase are much more valuable.  

My recommendation is to avoid this card completely!  I have posted some other popular credit cards so if interested, you can check out those posts.