Uber rides into credit card market with no-fee card

Uber already has a home on your phone. Now it wants a place in your purse or wallet.

The ride-hailing giant on Wednesday unveiled a new no-fee, co-branded credit card with British bank Barclays that it hopes becomes a major part of consumers’ everyday spending habit.

While it will use points, the Uber Visa Card is designed as a cash-back loyalty program. Paying for an Uber ride will get the cardholder 2 percent cash back. Other rewards include: 4 percent cash back for every dollar spent on dining including Uber’s UberEATS on-demand food delivery service; 3 percent cash back on airlines, hotels and vacation home rentals like Airbnb; 2 percent cash back on online purchases and subscriptions; and 1 percent cash back on all other purchases.

The Uber card will also give a small $50 annual credit toward online subscriptions, like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime, if the customer spends $5,000 on the card in a year. The card will also insure a person’s smart phone to up to $600 for theft or damage as long as the customer puts his or her monthly mobile phone bill on the card.

The card will also have no foreign transaction fees when used outside the U.S. and notably, no annual fee.

Customers will be able to redeem their points for Uber rides using a standard penny-per-point redemption rate, or just have the points converted to cash and deposited back into their bank accounts. Barclays and Uber said point transfers to airlines will be coming in 2018.

Uber’s credit card is clearly being marketed as a digital credit card first and a physical card second. Uber customers will be able to apply for the card within the Uber app, with most of the personal information needed for the credit card application pulled directly from their Uber profile. If approved, the card can be immediately loaded into a customers’ mobile wallet. The goal, Uber’s David Richter said, is to have people applying, getting approved, loading the card and paying for the ride with the card all while the customer is being taken to their destination.

Brian Riley, a credit card industry consultant at Mercator Advisory Group, said the 4 percent on dining should be attractive to customers. But the 2 percent cash back on Uber rides seems underwhelming.

“As a co-brand card, I would have expected the reward for spending on the co-brand to be higher,” he said.

But Kimberly Palmer, credit cards expert at NerdWallet, says the lack of an annual fee and the generous rewards could make the Uber card a good option for millennials.

Industry watchers had expected Uber to launch its own credit card. The company’s business model depends on credit card usage -- no cash is exchanged between driver and passenger for the fare -- and the company already had announced several partnerships with credit card companies. American Express Platinum Card users get a $200 credit on Uber spread out over the year, and Uber recently launched a cash-back program with Visa Inc. It also launched a prepaid debit card with Green Dot for its drivers last year as well.

A co-branded card seemed like a natural extension of Uber’s business. Uber earlier this summer announced it had hired Barclays, which also runs the co-brand card with JetBlue, to run the program.

Co-branded credit cards, or cards issued by a bank but marketed around a particular brand, have been popular for decades since they drive customer loyalty. The market for co-branded credit cards is crowded -- all the major airlines have their own credit card, as well as hotel chains and major retailers. Competition is fierce among the financial companies, with Citigroup’s capture of the Costco co-branded credit card from American Express in 2015 being a notable recent example.

Still, Uber is the first major new entrant into the co-brand industry in years.

“This was a major coup for Barclays,” Riley said.

By KEN SWEET

Uber rides into credit card market with no-fee card

APR CEO Says Puerto Rico Power Turbines to Start Oct. 25 [ Video ]

John Campion, APR Energy chairman, discusses the state of Puerto Rico recovery efforts with Bloomberg's David Gura and Shery Ahn on "Bloomberg Markets: Balance of Power."

APR CEO Says Puerto Rico Power Turbines to Start Oct. 25

US unemployment claims fall to 222,000, lowest in 44 years

The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since Richard Nixon was president.

THE NUMBERS: The Labor Department said Thursday that claims for jobless aid dropped by 22,000 to 222,000, fewest since March 1973. The less volatile four-week average slid by 9,500 to 248,250, lowest since late August.

The overall number of Americans collecting unemployment checks dropped to 1.89 million, lowest since December 1973 and down nearly 9 percent from a year ago.

THE TAKEAWAY: Unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs. The low level suggests that employers are confident enough in the economy to hold onto workers.

The unemployment rate last month hit a 16-year low 4.2 percent. Employers cut 33,000 jobs in September – the first monthly drop in nearly seven years – but only because Hurricanes Harvey and Irma rattled the economies of Texas and Florida; hiring is expected to bounce back.

KEY DRIVERS: The economic impact of Harvey and Irma is fading; claims dropped in Texas and Florida as more people returned to work. But the Labor Department said that Hurricanes Irma and Maria have disrupted the ability of people to file claims in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

FILE – In this Friday, March 10, 2017, file photo, a lone job seeker checks in at the front desk of the Texas Workforce Solutions office in Dallas. On Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, the Labor Department reports on the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits a week earlier. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
US unemployment claims fall to 222,000, lowest in 44 years

Puerto Rico gov says major San Juan powerplant not ready to run

The power station Central Palo Seco in Cataño, Puerto Rico, will not be operational for four to six months, thus electric service for the island’s metropolitan area will depend on two temporary generators that will provide 50 megawatts and that a 230-kilowatt line from Guayanilla is energized.

“There have been many stories [going around] here, and I want to be clear: This isn’t ready to be turned on,” Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said about the Palo Seco plant, which supplied energy to much of the metro area in the past.

The governor made his remarks at a hastily arranged press conference, which dozens of reporters were allowed to cover outside the plant but not given access to the complex.

 

At the site, there are two recently installed General Electric generators that are slated to be turned on Oct. 25 to supplement two gas turbines, which are running outside the main structure. These generators are being worked on by Weston Solutions, which was contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

At the same time, General Electric was also contracted for about $4 million to stabilize the structure of the Palo Seco plant so it can be started, which Rosselló said could take four to six months.

One of two General Electric generators that will be used to power two turbines in Pal Seco.(Felipe Torres / CB)

Before the governor spoke, engineer Justo González Torres, director of generation at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa), said that since the plant’s temporary closure was announced in August, plans had already been made to repair it. An assessment of Hurricane Maria’s impact on the plant is underway.

“There is a critical phase, which is preventing it from falling,” he said when explaining that the units inside the main structure at Palo Seco cannot be turned on to prevent vibration from triggering its collapse.

During the tour, which lasted about 20 minutes, Caribbean Business was able to observe a great amount of corrosion in Palo Seco, evidence of a lack of maintenance. In an aside with the press, Rosselló reiterated the findings of a report on the delicate state of the plant’s structure.

However, the governor was confident that his his goal of having 95% of the island with power by December will be met since the electric utility’s generation was already at 19% Wednesday.

“There are some areas that are going to be very difficult to reach…but I trust that with the brigades [and] the commitment of the [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers], it can be achieved,” the governor said. Additional repair teams are arriving during the next two weeks, for an expected total of about 1,000 brigades carrying out grid repairs.

When asked about calls for an investigation into the grid-repair contracts, Rosselló said there will be total transparency.

“There is an emergency and there will be a number of contracts. That doesn’t mean we won’t be transparent, that due diligence won’t be taken, but it will be a faster process,” he said after noting that if action is taken quickly, “we will lose billions of dollars.”

Regarding the controversy over the contract awarded to Whitefish Energy, a Texas firm alleged to have little experience in restoring electrical systems, but hired despite the American Public Power Association’s (APPA) offer to help, Prepa Executive Director Ricardo Ramos said it was signed during the period of hurricanes Irma and Maria’s arrival.

The tour lasted only 20 minutes and was limited to the exterior of the plant in Cataño.(Felipe Torres / CB)

“It was the company that could mobilize its resources to Puerto Rico quickest,” Ramos said, adding its workers were flown in and “have been working on the transmission lines since October 4. Perhaps they haven’t been very visible because transmission line reconstruction is done at inland mountain camps and their work is mostly [conducted] in the mountainous inland and with the use of helicopters,” Ramos said.

The public utility director explained that guidelines were set by USACE, when it arrived in Puerto Rico. “The Corps of Engineers has the power to call or not to call and to hire or not to hire,” he said.

However, Ramos said he communicated with APPA before and a little after Maria hit and that it did not seem ready to come to the island. “It’s a logistics issue. You have to look at the map to know that APPA was not going to be available until all these hurricanes had cleared the Atlantic, and that’s how they expressed it to me.”

Prepa Executive Director Ricardo Ramos (Felipe Torres / CB)

Regarding Whitefish Energy, Ramos said its CEO was already on the island, that the firm was making its work public, had mobilized more than 2 million tons of equipment and outsourced Florida’s Jacksonville Electric Authority. “The doubts cast upon Whitefish are unfounded in my opinion,” he added.

The official stressed that the need for powerline repair workers exceeded that of electrical experts, but that certified experts who can work on the lines should contact Prepa.

On the negotiations with Tesla, the energy storage and solar panel manufacturer, Rosselló said discussions were being held and that if any agreement were reached with the company led by Elon Musk were reached, he would make the information public.

The Palo Seco power complex was closed in August on the recommendation of a report commissioned by Prepa that was made public Saturday. (Felipe Torres / CB)
By Eva Lloréns Vélez
Puerto Rico gov says major San Juan powerplant not ready to run

San Juan metro area expected to have power service stabilized by next week [with Maps]

With the connection in the coming days of a 230,000-volt transmission line and a generator to power the Central San Juan plant, the director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa), Ricardo Ramos, expects to stabilize the service in the metropolitan area and to include more customers in Bayamón, Aguas Buenas and Caguas.

In addition, Ramos said that for next week, restoring service to the municipality of Humacao is also expected after an old gas turbine in Yabucoa and two 115-volt lines that reach Humacao were repaired, and in Fajardo with the repair of a gas turbine in Ceiba’s Daguao neighborhood.

“To further increase the supply capacity in the metro area, we are working with the 230,000-volt line that comes from Guayanilla to Cambalache in Arecibo, then to Manatí and Bayamón. Those two sections, from Cambalache to Manatí and from Manatí to Bayamón are being worked quickly with Whitefish [Energy]. We believe that between October 21st and 23rd, we reach Bayamón and we supply power to further strengthen the metro area and provide more stability,” the official said.

To those efforts are in addition to the installation of two gas turbines at the Palo Seco power station that add about 50 megawatts to the generating capacity and will power the Central San Juan complex.

Public Affairs Secretary Ramón Rosario said that with these actions, the governor’s goal of having 30% of the generation capacity available by the end of October will be met.

Ramos said a plan to identify the “clusters” where the aerospace industry, medical product manufacturers and pharmaceuticals are located is being followed to give priority to the lines that service those areas.

He said the manufacturing facilities in the Manatí area will be getting power, followed by those in Ponce. Hopes are that the industrial area of Gurabo, Juncos and Las Piedras will have service back by the first or second week of November.

Regarding the island-municipalities, Ramos said Culebra is running at 99% power provided there is fuel for the plant, while Vieques only has 25%.

According to data provided by the government on Wednesday, Prepa is generating 19.1% of the energy needed by Puerto Rico, and some 231 utility brigades and private contractors are still working to continue repairing transmission and distribution lines. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers has seven brigades and 200 additional brigades are expected after the hiring of Fluor Corp. The goal is to have a thousand brigades working to achieve the target of 30 percent by Oct. 30 and 95 percent by Dec. 15.

The following is a map of the places in Puerto Rico that have had power restored. Click on an icon for more information.

Prepa Executive Director Ricardo Ramos 
By Yanira Hernández Cabiya 
San Juan metro area expected to have power service stabilized by next week

Nielsen Cancels Fall 2017 Ratings For Puerto Rico.

Nielsen will not issue Fall 2017 ratings for Puerto Rico as the U.S. Island territory continues to deal with the after-effects of Hurricane Maria’s widespread destruction. Nielsen, which suspended survey operations in the area prior to the storm making landfall, said, “Due to the very severe and extensive damage from the storm, operations have remained suspended.”

Hurricane Maria caused unpredented devastation on Puerto Rico upon making landfall, knocking electrical service completely offline and making it difficult to get an initial assessment of how many broadcast stations were off the air. Among the few outlets that maintained the capability to broadcast amid the ferocious storm was Wifredo Blanco Pi’s WAPA Radio “La Poderosa” network.

Besides the fact that many radio stations continue to deal with damaged facilities and power issues, Nielsen said, “We do not expect to be able to complete a survey that meets Nielsen quality standards given the extent of the ongoing disruptions to power, phone and mail services in the market.” Many prospective diary keepers simply cannot perform the requirements even as stations come back on-air.

The ratings company plans to put out the Summer 2017 results as planned on Tuesday (October 10), as only the final week of the summer ratings period was affected by Hurricane Irma. The Summer Ratings period runs June 22-Sept. 13.

“Nielsen carefully monitored performance metrics before, during and after [Irma],” the company said Monday in a memo to clients. “Although the hurricane may have disrupted individual diary keepers, the Nielsen Data Science review of sample performance metrics for the survey supports the release of audience estimates for the full twelve-week Summer survey period.”

The company did note that “some stations may have experienced technical difficulties or offered special programming in response to the Hurricane,” which could affect ratings performance.

Nielsen said it is working to “assess and restore operations as soon as possible.” The measurement giant said it will provide an update regarding the Winter 2018 and Spring 2018 surveys when they have information available.

Nielsen Cancels Fall 2017 Ratings For Puerto Rico.