Most unusual Card

[Kostya1992]

Paying with a card that is purely meant to be used for balance transffers is somewhat strange I think.

[happypill]

I like the SSFCU Power Travel Rewards WMC. It's cool because it's unusual (restricted service area) and because the rewards are outstanding with 3.3% on dining, travel & gas, low APR and no fees of any kind.

I love to get the Golden 1 CU Platinum Rewards which also has restricted service area and also nice 3% rewards on gas, grocery & restaurant.

It's interesting to have a few cards that aren't available to everyone.

[Anonymous]

---

@happypill wrote:

I like the SSFCU Power Travel Rewards WMC. It's cool because it's unusual (restricted service area) and because the rewards are outstanding with 3.3% on dining, travel & gas, low APR and no fees of any kind.

I love to get the Golden 1 CU Platinum Rewards which also has restricted service area and also nice 3% rewards on gas, grocery & restaurant.

It's interesting to have a few cards that aren't available to everyone.

---

Umb simplyrewards beats both of them imo. 3x on more categories. 

Also geo. restricted. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Probably not an exotic card by today's standards, but for me, the long-defunct BofA PetRewards Card.

I got this card when it was introduced in early 2007, until it was unceremonially discontinued less than two years later. It was targeted to pet owners, so was perfect for us (we have six cats). It was unique for its time in that it:

1. Could net 4% in rewards on pet-related purchases (vet's office, pet stores, etc.) and 2% on everything else, when there were very few cards that provided >1% on general spending.
2. Allowed you to upload a picture (presumably of your pet(s)) for them to put on your card when they issued it (still a rare feature; CapOne is the only one I currently have that provides this).
3. To achieve the 4%/2% redemption level, you had to redeem your cash by submitting a veterinarian receipt which you had charged to the card and getting that reimbursed (in whole or part) with your accumulated rewards.
4. Came with a whopping $10 starting bonus (ok, as pathetic then as now).

I made pretty good use out of this card, although it took me a while to understand the redemption process and see that I was in fact getting 4% on pets and 2% on everything else. It set my new bar for general spending at 2% CB, and I've not been without a 2% (or better) card in my wallet since then. But with no warning, BofA discontinued the program in early 2009 and converted me to a useless 3/2/1 rewards card, which, except for the occasionally quarterly spending 5% offer or BankAmeriDeals offer, stayed in the sock drawer, until a couple of years ago when I PC'd it to a Better Balance Rewards card, which gives me $30 every quarter.

I'm still not sure why they killed the program. I figured either not enough customers saw the value in it, and/or certain gamers like me were making too much of it by consistently getting the maximum rewards redemption (having six cats, we never had a problem having vet bills to redeem).

Anyway, for me at the time, it was a novel concept, and one of the early stops on my road to maximizing CC rewards.

Chris.

---

Dang is that probably the first 2% card then...? 

4% for pet expenses sounds pretty awesome. 

And that sucks how they forced-PCd you to the 3-2-1. 

---

I know right?! What a cool card!

I havent had these, but I'd say the Amex Zync is probably pretty darn cool. Low annual fee charge card, but had user selectable packs that let them choose their bonus program.

Maybe a citi dividend card, or something like the citi premier pass elite level that had companion ticket with any airline....

For me, I'd say my CU card is unique. The rate on it will only go up to 7.9% after a year, and it is not affected by any of these federal rate hikes. It is attached to my checking and I can use it like a line of credit with no cash advance fees.  I can use it at an atm and make cash deposits into any of my accounts which is handy.....The strange thing is if I used it at an ATM for a withdrawal there would be a cash advance fee though.  Also the weird part is, it gets unlimited 1% back paid annually (yee haw, not), but there are tons of deals that are actually pretty relevant to my habits that pop up on their portal, but require the use of a debit card!  Believe it or not I have actually been using my debit card and it feels strange!!

I would also say another unique one that I have seen would be a relatives US Bank card. It had a rate of 6%, but also had 0 for 24 month balance transfer offers on it, and something like a 40k credit limit. Card was obtained immediately after a home purchase a few decades ago. The crappy part was it was earning these strange rewards points and they didnt even know it, but they kept expiring. I made a phone call and was able to get 25% of them back as a courtesy.

---

Any benefits of citi div over citi DC if you aready have discover/freedom? 

[Anonymous]

This is unusual in todays credit market:

Wells Fargo Prime for Life card

Got it back in 2007 or something like that. Currently at 3.50 or 3.75 %

Then also added a rewards program to it in the last few years. Small annual fee of like $75

[happypill]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@happypill wrote:

I like the SSFCU Power Travel Rewards WMC. It's cool because it's unusual (restricted service area) and because the rewards are outstanding with 3.3% on dining, travel & gas, low APR and no fees of any kind.

I love to get the Golden 1 CU Platinum Rewards which also has restricted service area and also nice 3% rewards on gas, grocery & restaurant.

It's interesting to have a few cards that aren't available to everyone.

---

Umb simplyrewards beats both of them imo. 3x on more categories. 

Also geo. restricted. 

---

I took a look at the UMB simplyrewards and it's pretty interesting, but would definitely disagree that it's more enticing than the SSFCU card.  The reason is that travel is a much more valuable category to get 3.3% on - probably the most valuable for big spenders and has no rival for those looking for cash or cash equivalent rewards.  The UMB has grocery, which is definitely nice but higher returns are available from other cards so essentially its worth nothing to someone who has a Sallie Mae or an Amex with grocery (unless you buy A LOT).  I'm not sure what discount store means, but added together, grocery + discount store combined is definitely not more valuable than travel, especially for big spenders and because these are not best in class rewards.

The SSFCU is better in the gas & dining categories as well because it gives a 10% bonus, so 3.3% rewards rather than 3%.  I guess it's possible that there are some people out there where discount store is so valuable that the UMB card is the best, but I bet there are 100x more people who would get more value from best in the business travel & dining cash rewards, espeically people who travel & entertain for business, which are some of the biggest spenders out there.

Still, the UMB card is pretty coold because its unique and restricted.  I want one!

[Anonymous]

---

@happypill wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@happypill wrote:

I like the SSFCU Power Travel Rewards WMC. It's cool because it's unusual (restricted service area) and because the rewards are outstanding with 3.3% on dining, travel & gas, low APR and no fees of any kind.

I love to get the Golden 1 CU Platinum Rewards which also has restricted service area and also nice 3% rewards on gas, grocery & restaurant.

It's interesting to have a few cards that aren't available to everyone.

---

Umb simplyrewards beats both of them imo. 3x on more categories. 

Also geo. restricted. 

---

I took a look at the UMB simplyrewards and it's pretty interesting, but would definitely disagree that it's more enticing than the SSFCU card.  The reason is that travel is a much more valuable category to get 3.3% on - probably the most valuable for big spenders and has no rival for those looking for cash or cash equivalent rewards.  The UMB has grocery, which is definitely nice but higher returns are available from other cards so essentially its worth nothing to someone who has a Sallie Mae or an Amex with grocery (unless you buy A LOT).  I'm not sure what discount store means, but added together, grocery + discount store combined is definitely not more valuable than travel, especially for big spenders and because these are not best in class rewards.

The SSFCU is better in the gas & dining categories as well because it gives a 10% bonus, so 3.3% rewards rather than 3%.  I guess it's possible that there are some people out there where discount store is so valuable that the UMB card is the best, but I bet there are 100x more people who would get more value from best in the business travel & dining cash rewards, espeically people who travel & entertain for business, which are some of the biggest spenders out there.

Still, the UMB card is pretty coold because its unique and restricted.  I want one!

---

Discount stores may include walmart + target + cvs...etc