In the last week of December of 2019, I noticed that CIBC was offering upto 35,000 Aeroplan Miles for the Aerogold Visa for Business. What made it even sweeter was that the annual fee of $180 was waived for the first year.
The breakdown of the offer was:
i. A welcome bonus of 20,000 Aeroplan Miles when you make your first purchase at any time with your card.
ii. An additional bonus of 15,000 Aeroplan Miles if you have at least $3,000 in net purchases posted to your account during the first 4 monthly statement periods.
So I jumped on this offer and applied online and I immediately got a response saying that I was approved.
Now the waiting game starts….
On January 08, 2020, I received a letter in the mail saying that I need to visit my nearest branch to provide documentation and create a profile and to call the branch to make an appointment.
So, I called on January 09, and all calls went to voicemail.
I called again several times on January 10, and again it always went to voicemail. No one bothered to return my voicemail for two days.
So, I decided to visit the branch in person and went to see a teller. She was very unapologetic and didn’t seem concerned that customers could not reach anyone at the bank by phone.
Now, this was on a Friday, and she asked if I can come back on Monday. When I complained about how long this is taking, a spot miraculously opened up and she asked me if I can return in an hour.
When I returned the representative was very friendly and helpful and gathered the documents from me and created my profile and said everything looks set now.
So now the waiting game restarts….
Lo and behold, on January 23, the card arrived in the mail.
The activation was process was quite smooth and quick without the need to talk to any person and get sales pitches to buy credit balance protection. The card also automatically showed up in my online account which was a plus as I didnt have to add it manually. Amex-I am looking at you.
CIBC should really make it easy for the application process and allow one to send the documentation as attachments when applying online.
Now the waiting for the 35,000 Aeroplan Miles to hit my Aeroplan account.
Written by Dominic Fernandes aka CanadaPointsGuy
Image courtesy of cibc.com
