topic Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents? in Credit Cards

Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

Green456 — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 12:06:23 GMT

So according to their website membership is now available for out of state members through Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society (PRPS)

https://www.psecu.com/about-psecu/become-a-member

Now has anybody who is out of state tried to apply for their credit products?

I particularly like their 2% founder's card.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

ALP — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 14:17:03 GMT

Hi, long-time lurker, finally able to contribute to something!

IME, as long as you are a PSECU member, you can apply and have their credit products. I have both the Founders Card and Classic Visa and I live in Georgia, and lived in Georgia when I applied for both.

**Edit** It may be worth noting that I have been a PSECU member since 2010. I got in through Recreation and Park Society Membership that was linked. My understanding is that sometime after that time frame, they disabled membership through that avenue for out of state residents, but if they are bringing it back, that is awesome!

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

forestgreenrover — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 13:57:55 GMT

This membership avenue definitely looks new, seems like I checked on their field of membership within last month or so. Hopefully their products aren't restricted like Golden 1's. I might just give this a shot later this year. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

creditfan — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 17:01:23 GMT

you have to DD at least $500 monthly to qualify 2%. otherwise, 1.5%

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 17:51:39 GMT

Any idea who they pull for membership and or credit card/ loans? Thanks

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 17:58:43 GMT

@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Any idea who they pull for membership and or credit card/ loans? Thanks

Experian. I believe FICO Score 2.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

AverageJoesCredit — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 19:19:53 GMT

Thanks, i may give it an out of country try tonight lol

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Aug 2019 20:28:44 GMT

Ugh, another one of those $500 in checking deals. Three checking accounts is enough for me.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 00:43:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@AverageJoesCredit wrote:
Any idea who they pull for membership and or credit card/ loans? Thanks
Experian. I believe FICO Score 2.

Yep. Can use same HP for membership and card. I applied for membership and then card but you mise well apply for card and membership at the same time. If denied for card they still continue the Membership process.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

Green456 — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 13:51:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Ugh, another one of those $500 in checking deals. Three checking accounts is enough for me.

I have 3 checking accounts as well. And I feel your pain. But I do need a CU that offers 2% cash back. Right now my top contenders are PSECU and SDFCU. I don't qualify for navy and other military associated CUs and we all know PenFed all too well. Besides I think that is $500 in direct deposit and not minimum balance to keep. So I guess you can transfer out that money to your main account.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

TheBoondocks — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 08:13:37 GMT

Hey bro, just looked at the PSECU now, overlooked it for a while but looking for a 2% CB card. I was thinking I might get Penfed, SDFCU or this. I think this card would be better, I just need to have at least $500/m in total within a month to get the 2%. However, do they offer early direct deposit? Thanks.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

TSlop — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 23:48:48 GMT

Side note: I was told be another member that PSECU doubled everyone's cashback from 2018 (at the beginning of 2019). I got my card in August of 2019 so I missed out on that. It appears that this year they did not give any bonuses out; I'd probably direct everything to this credit card to get 4% if I knew it'd happen consistently.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 19:17:10 GMT

I have several 2% cards, and they all have a nit or two:

Citi Double Cash - the catch is you only get the second 1% when you pay, so there's a slight lag to earning it. They offer the opportunity to apply your cashback to the balance, but if you do that then you don't get the 1% earned by paying. Min cashback redemption of $25.
PenFed - you have to be military or have checking activity to get 2% instead of 1.5%. I do the latter by pushing $500 via ACH and pulling it back a few days later, which does count as a direct deposit. Slight annoyance, but I put up with it because the minimum redemption is $5 instead of $25. Redemption is easy.
State Dept - very straightforward earning, and this is a nice card especially for foreign travel as non-categorized spend because it does EMV (chip & PIN primary). However, they don't take electronic payments from a lot of billpay services. So, paying is special... I transfer the balance into my savings account and then set up a transfer from savings to the card to pay it off. It's a bit of a dance, so I don't tend to use the card because I can just pay the PenFed card from my billpay portal. Redemption was kind of wonky the time I did it. Not hard but it wasn't as easy as Citi or PenFed.
I don't have the PSECU founders card but am a member of PSECU. It looks similar to the PenFed card in that you have to have direct deposit activity. I don't know if an ACH push counts as DD. As somebody pointed out upthread, for 2018 activity, PSECU gave a special dividend of 50% of what you earned, which would have made it a 3% card in 2018. Here's the PSECU description of their member reward: https://www.psecu.com/about-psecu/newsroom/pennsylvanias-largest-credit-union-issues-record-breaking-$22-million-reward-to-its-members. There was no announcement in January 2020 about a special member dividend for 2019. (I joined in October 2019, so I didn't have much activity and wouldn't get a lot out of a dividend.)

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

TheBoondocks — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 19:25:14 GMT

Thank you for your write up. As far as Penfed, you could set up to where it does monthly ACH back and forth right? Okay, so you still use the SDFCU card but just use Penfed bill service to pay the SDFCU card off? I also heard that the SDFCU only does statement credit.
When I was new to the game, I would always transfer from checking to my credit card. But now, I just use bill pay cause it's more easier. I just login my banks and have everything line up lol.
Honestly, I think as of now I would just opt for the Penfed or I might just get the Amex 2% business card.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 22:30:57 GMT

@TheBoondocks wrote:
Thank you for your write up. As far as Penfed, you could set up to where it does monthly ACH back and forth right?

Yes, that's how I have mine set up. Every month there's an ACH that goes in on the 1st and comes out on the 5th.

Okay, so you still use the SDFCU card but just use Penfed bill service to pay the SDFCU card off?

My billpay service for SDFCU sends a paper check, which I find very annoying. The check is slow and not trackable. One of the reasons I prefer my PenFed card to the SDFCU card is that PenFed works my bank's billpay system.

I also heard that the SDFCU only does statement credit.

No, you can definitely redeem for cash, because that's what I do. They may not make the option to get cash super obvious but it can be done. However, it might only go to an SDFCU account so you then need to transfer the cash out to the place where you really want it.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

AlpedHuez — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 23:32:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
State Dept - very straightforward earning, and this is a nice card especially for foreign travel as non-categorized spend because it does EMV (chip & PIN primary). However, they don't take electronic payments from a lot of billpay services. So, paying is special... I transfer the balance into my savings account and then set up a transfer from savings to the card to pay it off. It's a bit of a dance, so I don't tend to use the card because I can just pay the PenFed card from my billpay portal. Redemption was kind of wonky the time I did it. Not hard but it wasn't as easy as Citi or PenFed.

I just use ACH pull from an external account via SDFCU's interface to directly pay the card, it works and hasn't failed me. I'm not sure why you are using a long method by transferring money into your SDFCU saving account first then paying the card from that balance.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

Jnbmom — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 23:36:17 GMT

I have a savings with them and was able to apply , however instant auto denial . Too many inquires

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

TheBoondocks — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 02:57:43 GMT

Flyingfico, if you had to choose for simplicity, which one would you choose?

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 09:55:36 GMT

@TheBoondocks wrote:
Flyingfico, if you had to choose for simplicity, which one would you choose?

Sorry for the late reply. I've by default chosen PenFed. I'm not a veteran, so I need to transfer $500 in every month to get 2% instead of 1.5%, but I have that scheduled automatically. I like the fact that paying the bill is easy with my bank, and that the redemption amount is low. Ranked in terms of hassle:

1. PenFed - very easy redemption, low threshold, works with bill payment. The annoyance of needing to deposit money can be automated, so it's not a big deal.

2. I expect PSECU would go next, but I'm guessing since I don't have the card. I do like that there was a special dividend one year that pushed it beyond 2%, though that appears not to be common.

3. Citi DC. High minimum threshold, and they have the wonky thing where you get the second 1% when you pay. So it takes time to "earn" your cash.

4. SDFCU - the lack of electronic bill payment is a big obstacle. Otherwise, this would be my favorite one. I also like that it's chip & PIN so that it is easy to use internationally, but that's not a big consideration for me any more.

Re: Is PSECU 2% Founder's card avaiable for out of state residents?

TSlop — Sun, 16 Feb 2020 15:12:31 GMT

Ya, there wasn't a bonus this year, which makes me hesitant to put all my spend on it. Someone else pointed out it might have been 50% bonus (3% overall), which is still pretty decent; I only heard from a friend who said they doubled the cashback, but he might not have recalled his totals correctly.

Anyway, since I likely won't have a CFU until next year, all my non-category spend goes to PSECU currently, so hopefully next year I'll get a nice surprise. I might not even app for a CFU if we get a bonus next year.