topic Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question in Credit Cards

Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 17:22:21 GMT

Hey guys,

Just looked at a chart from themanwhocan saying that this card offers 3.3% on both gas/travel as seen in this chart. Is this still the best restaurant/gas card?

Thanks!

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 21:23:32 GMT

best restaurant card (all restaurants, I believe you can still choose Fast Food as a US Bank Cash+ category) yes.
Gas - nothing special.

As soon as I can figure out if the points earned with this card can be used as a statement credit, I may need to walk into my local branch and become a member.

If they do, I probably won't need to apply for anything with Chase after all. For now, I was planning on going for an AARP Visa for 3% back on dining, and eventually a Sapphire Preferred for the bonus, and travel (will be flying to South Korea once or twice per year for the forseeable future).

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

FinStar — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 21:33:31 GMT

OP - even if it were the "best" card (depending on the individual and spend profile), keep in mind that membership may not be available for a variety of individuals based on geographical restrictions.

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

kdm31091 — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 21:36:35 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
OP - even if it were the "best" card (depending on the individual and spend profile), keep in mind that membership may not be available for a variety of individuals based on geographical restrictions.

+1.

This card is not very widely available.

The other thing to keep in mind is simply spreading rewards around. Yes, 3.3% dining is nice, but if you have a 2% card, it's not going to be a massive difference and depending on spend may not even be important.

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 21:39:20 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
OP - even if it were the "best" card (depending on the individual and spend profile), keep in mind that membership may not be available for a variety of individuals based on geographical restrictions.

Right, and other caveats for dining, e.g. if you value URs highly enough, 2UR per $ on CSP will outdo 3.3% And if you have a Citi 5x Forward, that is also better!

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

Themanwhocan — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 22:02:27 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
best restaurant card (all restaurants, I believe you can still choose Fast Food as a US Bank Cash+ category) yes.
Gas - nothing special.

As soon as I can figure out if the points earned with this card can be used as a statement credit, I may need to walk into my local branch and become a member.

If they do, I probably won't need to apply for anything with Chase after all. For now, I was planning on going for an AARP Visa for 3% back on dining, and eventually a Sapphire Preferred for the bonus, and travel (will be flying to South Korea once or twice per year for the forseeable future).

I was once told by someone who has that card, that there is no statement credit option. You can redeem for Amazon gift cards at 1 point = 1 cent.

If someone can provide more details on the redemption options, that would be useful.

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

Revelate — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 22:42:27 GMT

@Themanwhocan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
best restaurant card (all restaurants, I believe you can still choose Fast Food as a US Bank Cash+ category) yes.
Gas - nothing special.

As soon as I can figure out if the points earned with this card can be used as a statement credit, I may need to walk into my local branch and become a member.

If they do, I probably won't need to apply for anything with Chase after all. For now, I was planning on going for an AARP Visa for 3% back on dining, and eventually a Sapphire Preferred for the bonus, and travel (will be flying to South Korea once or twice per year for the forseeable future).
I was once told by someone who has that card, that there is no statement credit option. You can redeem for Amazon gift cards at 1 point = 1 cent.

If someone can provide more details on the redemption options, that would be useful.

It's documented on their website pretty extensively; was just options for giftcards at 1:1 demoninations when I looked into it 2ish months ago. Amazon GC's spend same as cash but given the easy options for 5X there, I would've personally chased other GC's... the problem of course being most of those would be restaurants, which again, would rather have it applied to a default spend thing but c'est la guerre.

Ultimately I skipped it.

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 04:02:09 GMT

@Revelate wrote:
@Themanwhocan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
best restaurant card (all restaurants, I believe you can still choose Fast Food as a US Bank Cash+ category) yes.
Gas - nothing special.

As soon as I can figure out if the points earned with this card can be used as a statement credit, I may need to walk into my local branch and become a member.

If they do, I probably won't need to apply for anything with Chase after all. For now, I was planning on going for an AARP Visa for 3% back on dining, and eventually a Sapphire Preferred for the bonus, and travel (will be flying to South Korea once or twice per year for the forseeable future).
I was once told by someone who has that card, that there is no statement credit option. You can redeem for Amazon gift cards at 1 point = 1 cent.

If someone can provide more details on the redemption options, that would be useful.
It's documented on their website pretty extensively; was just options for giftcards at 1:1 demoninations when I looked into it 2ish months ago. Amazon GC's spend same as cash but given the easy options for 5X there, I would've personally chased other GC's... the problem of course being most of those would be restaurants, which again, would rather have it applied to a default spend thing but c'est la guerre.

Ultimately I skipped it.

So which restaurant card did you go for?

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

Revelate — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 04:46:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Revelate wrote:
@Themanwhocan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
best restaurant card (all restaurants, I believe you can still choose Fast Food as a US Bank Cash+ category) yes.
Gas - nothing special.

As soon as I can figure out if the points earned with this card can be used as a statement credit, I may need to walk into my local branch and become a member.

If they do, I probably won't need to apply for anything with Chase after all. For now, I was planning on going for an AARP Visa for 3% back on dining, and eventually a Sapphire Preferred for the bonus, and travel (will be flying to South Korea once or twice per year for the forseeable future).
I was once told by someone who has that card, that there is no statement credit option. You can redeem for Amazon gift cards at 1 point = 1 cent.

If someone can provide more details on the redemption options, that would be useful.
It's documented on their website pretty extensively; was just options for giftcards at 1:1 demoninations when I looked into it 2ish months ago. Amazon GC's spend same as cash but given the easy options for 5X there, I would've personally chased other GC's... the problem of course being most of those would be restaurants, which again, would rather have it applied to a default spend thing but c'est la guerre.

Ultimately I skipped it.
So which restaurant card did you go for?

CSP and called it good; had the Freedom and Ink already and what travel I do aligns pretty much exclusively with Chase partners so made sense for me to go that route, even if losing .8% or thereabouts if I redeem restaurant spend UR badly. If I redeem it well, definitely outstrips it though admittedly it'd be a heavy restaurant spend to make up the AF alone if I weren't getting other benefits out of the CSP.

Otherwise might've picked this card or more likely the laudable AARP card to push my Chase marker a little further... and that's only because I was too dumb to pickup a Forward back in the day when I had the chance.

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

Ron1 — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 04:50:53 GMT

It is a good card to have. They offered me 5K points when I signed up.

Ron.

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

happypill — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 07:11:15 GMT

Ok, here are some answers.

Points cannot be redeemed for statement credit. Points can be redeemed at 1c per point for a variety of gift cards including Amazon, Best Buy, Cabela's, pretty much any chain restaurant I've ever heard of, Macy's, Exxon Mobil, Starbucks, Shell, etc. I think most people will have no trouble getting fully value for their points. The minimum redemption appears to be $25 (2500 points). I've cashed in for a couple gift cards since opening the account in July and turnaround seems pretty quick.

Points can also be redeemed for a MC debit card, but not at full value. It takes 12k points to get a $100 debit card. You'd only have to worry about that if you literally never shopped at any of the places they have gift cards for. Like many reward programs they also offer merchandise and travel. I believe, those selections are all rip-offs (not just for this program but for any I've seen).

Rewards for dining are 3% + 10% bonus for total of 3.3%, which as far as I can tell is the best available currently. The rewards apply for restaurants as well as fast food. The 3.3% on gas isn't that compelling, but it is uncapped just like the dining. The card also offers 3.3% on Travel, which again is the best going as far as I can tell for those of use who do not like the hassle of MR/UR/TYP programs.

Regarding the comment that 3.3% isn't that big of a deal because there are many 2% cards out there, I think that's a silly statement. In response I'd ask, why get a 2% card when there are hundreds of different cards out there that all offer 1% rewards? If the extra 1.3% from a 3.3% card is no big deal, then the extra 1% from a 2% card is even less of a big deal. For people with big travel & dining spend (an awesome combination for business travelers), the extra 1.3% per year could easily be hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year.

There are limitations, as others have pointed out. The biggest is the geography where the card is offered. I think it's just Northern Texas, Utah and parts of Colorado. I don't live in any of those areas and was able to get the card. I travel often to Denver for work and opened a checking account in person. I ran some charges through the checking account for 3-4 months and applied for the card after that. When I applied there was a $50k minimum income to apply for this card but I don't see it on the site any more. They did ask for income in the application but they did not ask for any additional income information. One other drawback is that the online interface is a bit primative, although not too bad compared with other credit unions.

If you can get the card (and if you travel or dine out at all), it's really pretty awesome. In addition to the 3.3% rewards on gas, dining & travel, the card benefits are stellar. These are the ones that stand out to me:

No fees of any kind, no AF, no FTF, no BT fee, and get this, no cash advance fee; can't recall seeing that anywhere else. Also, for those who compared the rewards from the CSP, keep in mind the spending you'll need to beat 3.3% and $95 AF.
APR of 10-11%, the lowest APR I've seen on a card with higher than average rewards. Also 7.9% for BT. Most rewards cards have much higher APR. This card could serve double duty as a BT or emergency balance card that many people have.
120 day price protection. I think most other cards offer about 60 days for this. Useful if you need it.

As you can tell, I'm a big fan. In conjunction with my Sallie Mae card, I have all of my biggest spend categories covered with at least 3.3% or 5% rewards.

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

kdm31091 — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 11:07:39 GMT

@happypill wrote:

Regarding the comment that 3.3% isn't that big of a deal because there are many 2% cards out there, I think that's a silly statement. In response I'd ask, why get a 2% card when there are hundreds of different cards out there that all offer 1% rewards? If the extra 1.3% from a 3.3% card is no big deal, then the extra 1% from a 2% card is even less of a big deal. For people with big travel & dining spend (an awesome combination for business travelers), the extra 1.3% per year could easily be hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year.

Because with this card, it's not a flat 3.3%....it's 3.3% on a few categories. Now, if your travel or dining or gas spend is high, then yes it will make a big difference -- but if you are spending a lot on travel, you will probably come out ahead with MR/UR/etc.

For dining spend, this is probably the "best" overall card if you are skewed towards restaurants vs fast food. If not, doing 5% fast food/2% restaurants with cash+ may average out ahead (although it is capped, but $667 a month should be enough for most people).

Anyway, doesn't matter much since this card is very limited in availability, or else more people would probably have it!

Re: Security Service Power Travel Rewards Credit Card Question

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 04:37:48 GMT

Good insight guys. I'm still not sure between this and CSP which one makes more sense for me. In general i like this card, and i don't love annual fees but since UR points can become Korea Air miles... Kinda seems like CSP still wins, no?