My experience with getting the Nusenda Platinum Cash Rewards Credit Card

[fliphusker]

This card does not get much love on here based on earlier posts that I read. So let me clear some things up as I just went through the process.

The process I went through. 

I am from Nebraska and told them I might be moving to New Mexico. Anything is possible, right?

Applied for the card online with no issues. 

After I was approved (800 FICO) they gave me the $5K credit limit which I think may be standard. A hard pull of course. 

Then I made the donation to the wildlife fund of $10. (Default is $25 so I changed it. Nusenda sent me the link.) I did pay the $0.30 processing fee which I could have ignored and not paid. 

You need to send them a receipt so I went to print it and changed my default on my print page to save as PDF. They will take the confirmation email that is sent too. Almost forgot, at the bottom of the wildlife page you will see a link for Nusenda members. Nusenda people were very nice on helping out. 

Now you have to apply to become a member of the credit union and open up a savings account of a min of $5. I put in $100 just to make things run smooth. Get dividends not sure how much, daily. I think it has to be kept open, not sure. 

Just waiting for final approval with the savings account and hope to get my card by the 1st when the new rotating categories start. 

If you are not familiar with them these are the reasons I applied for the card.

I never carry a balance so do not care what the APR is. Think it is only 12-14% after 5% 6-month intro.

Oct-Dec restaurants at 5%. I watch football with my buddies on Sundays and can be expensive depending on how carried away I get.

April-June also restaurants. So 9 months covered out of the year at 5%. (CF July-Sept.)

Groceries 5% Jan-March. So 6 months covered with CF from April-June. Barclays getting rid of their grocery card sucked. 

For me, it was a great card as it gives me sweet spots in 3 different rotating categories that I was not getting 5% in. Also, they have not changed their rotating categories

in three years. That was a huge draw for me right there. If they change them they change them and I deal with it. 

Good luck if you are going to apply for it. It is not as simple as most credit cards but it has been worth my fime. 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I like the 2 quarters of restaurant at 5%, the rest is pretty meh.  I thought about this card, but with no sign up bonus and the tedious process of applying, not worth the hard inquiry (which I value at a couple hundred dollars) + the work involved.  Since I have the Discover IT, this card would only be used for 1 quarter and capped at $1500 in purchases, not worth the additional ~$45 I'd make in a year using this card.

[fliphusker]

I do not put as much emphasis on HP, as my FICO is high enough to get me what I want. But for me, there are no cards out there worth the signup bonus that I already do not have. (Disc, CF, Slate, Chase Amazon, Barc, Amex every day, Citi and QS.) Only 3rd HP for two years. 

Really was not a hassle signing up. Under a half hour total. Would have been shorter but did not have instructions laid out like I did here. 

I do not look at rotating category cards, especially one that has not changed in three years, as a one-year card. I play the CC game well and am smart and long-sighted about it. (Not intended as a dig.) Only filling up major spending categories as have got solid signup bonus already. There are of course other categories that I just would not use associated with it. 

[Anonymous]

It's not my credit score I'm worried about with the HP, as I'm also ~ 800  its the 5/24 chase guidline and its impact on churning.  Hard inquiries impact that heavily.  Regarding sign up bonuses, there are many very lucrative ones, but they are miles not cash.  I travel free from them, many times a year - but I'm careful about when its worth it to get a hard inquiry, the payoff has to be very good.  These cards give a much higher % money on spend return and hence I'm fine with the HP.  I'm all about finding cards that give a better return, but after doing the math:hassle ratio, this one doesn't make sense imo.  The Alliant card, which was a hassle (also CU), I recently got.   Was it worth it?  I think so, as 3% for the first year and 2.5 after is pretty solid.  Basically if a reward/bonus card doesn't net me more than $200 in the first year, its not worth it.

[Anonymous]

It's not advertised anywhere, but the nusenda card actually gives you 6% back on its rotating categories. I only noticed this when I put $800 on restaurant gift cards in q4 last year (my favorite place is a Japanese fusion restaurant with hibachi and a sushi bar, it's not a buffet, and on Sunday and Thursday every week except for like 2 weeks in December it's all you can eat for $25. The deal's been around for a few years now. Half price sushi during the week at lunch too. In December they gave you bonus value on gift cards, with the more spent getting more value. $400 would get you a $600 GC so I got 2 lol). So when I dropped $800 I actually got $48 in cash back which is 6%.

I also see this as a long term keeper card, while there's no sign up bonus, it just makes sense to me to keep as a baseline. Between it and the vantage west connect rewards, not to mention freedom and discover it, I'm good without a card dedicated to gas (5% gas card would get me maybe $12 a year) and the blue cash everyday is all I need as a grocery fallback, as with the rotating category cards the bcp just doesn't make sense for me, especially since the nusenda card has grocery in q1 every year.

[Anonymous]

So did you actually apply for the credit card FIRST...?

[fliphusker]

Not sure about others but I followed my initial steps exactly. 

[Anonymous]

@wired765 I applied for membership with the NM Wilderness Alliance first, then Nusenda CU, then the credit card. You should be able to apply for CU membership and the CC at the same time to combine hard pulls - might be best to do that with the banker over the phone, but email the same banker your proof of membership with the qualifying local group or charity first.

[Anonymous]

What CR do they pull?

[fliphusker]

Experian only for me.