topic Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1 in Credit Cards

Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

PullingMeSoftly — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 20:31:48 GMT

Happy New Year all!

FYI for those who have or may be interested in the Affinity Federal Credit Union Cash Rewards Visa Sig, the Q1 5% rotating "Hi5" categories are:

Wholesale includes Costco, and as a Visa makes a nice combo with the Chase Freedom original flavor.

The cap is $3500 for the quarter.

I usually mention this card when an Amazon discussion occurs, since this is a 5% alternative to the Chase card, but the rotating categories are often overlooked. Cheers!

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 03:19:46 GMT

Thanks for sharing! This seems like a really solid card given the 5% on Amazon + bookstores, rotating 5% categories, and $200 SUB. I was instantly approved for membership this evening and am debating whether I should try going for the card now or later.

Any idea how sensitive they are to new accounts and inquiries? My Experian is currently showing 0/6, 5/12, 11/24 for new accounts and 1/6, 4/12, 10/24 for inquiries.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

PullingMeSoftly — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 06:28:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for sharing! This seems like a really solid card given the 5% on Amazon + bookstores, rotating 5% categories, and $200 SUB. I was instantly approved for membership this evening and am debating whether I should try going for the card now or later.

Any idea how sensitive they are to new accounts and inquiries? My Experian is currently showing 0/6, 5/12, 11/24 for new accounts and 1/6, 4/12, 10/24 for inquiries.

Awesome @Anonymous , congrats on the membership! They are somewhat sensitive to new accounts, but your 0/6 will probably be sufficient for an approval. At the time I applied for membership I also applied for the card, and I was easily 5+/6 and 10+/12, and was initially denied for the card. I called in and had to do my best recon performance to get approved for the minimum SL (5k). But the fact that it was approved after recon shows that you'd be in far better shape and have a good chance for approval.

Anither great thing about the card, the Hi5 quarterly bonus categories stack on top of the existing 2% categories and the 5% Amazon. So for Q1 you'd actually get 7% on supermarkets, and in Q4 (if they keep the same schedule) it will be 10% on Amazon. Pretty sweet.

Amazes me to see so many people still pursuing the Chase Amazon card, Whole Foods is a rip, and I'd take 5% rotating categories any day over that.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 07:49:47 GMT

Hmmm...I might just have to give it a shot then as this seems like a real gem of a card.

The 5% on Amazon alone is fantastic as it doesn't force you to pay for Prime like the Chase card does, and the $3,500/month spend cap is quite generous. The *stackable* rotating categories on top of that — coupled with the 5% bookstore and 2% restaurant, grocery, gas, and streaming/rideshare rewards — really take it to another level. And all that with no AF and a $200 sub! Hope this card sticks around for awhile.

Will report back after I apply 👀 Appreciate all the info!

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 09:36:29 GMT

@PullingMeSoftly Thank you for sharing this card! I really appreciate it and will consider adding it to my line up for this upcoming year.

There are a number of Amazon cards (3 that I am aware of excluding this card), but this card can fit the niche of being an option if one is over 5/24 and can't be approved for the Chase card.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Otto77 — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 13:28:07 GMT

I started taking a hard look at this card but found some posts saying you can't setup automatic statement balance payments from an external account. Is that still true? Unfortunately that's a requirement for me for all the account juggling I have, especially with a quarterly setup.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

AlpedHuez — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 17:25:10 GMT

It seems like they added 5% rotating to this card last year, good to see they are continuing with it. Maybe it's a permanent feature now?

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Taurus22 — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 17:49:08 GMT

@Otto77

I'm a bit confused about your inquiry....

@Otto77 wrote:
I started taking a hard look at this card but found some posts saying you can't setup automatic statement balance payments from an external account. Is that still true? Unfortunately that's a requirement for me for all the account juggling I have, especially with a quarterly setup.

I understand that you want to pay from an external source, but given that this is a CU, you would need membership to the CU to even apply for the CC which means you would have checking/savings accounts established with them from the start. Affinity FCU is also part of the Shared Co-op network which means you can check the list of any Co-ops near you and use one near you as a hub to manage your deposits/withdrawals etc.

Here is the link for that site:

https://co-opcreditunions.org/locator/?ref=co-opsharedbranch.org&sc=1&utm_source=co-opfs.org&utm_medium=cta&utm_campaign=b2bsite&utm_term=locatorpage

I am in SC, (Affinity FCU is in NJ) so I have to use my Co-op here to make deposits etc. I will be altering my direct deposit from my job soon to do automatic deposits, just haven't done so yet. So, sure it's an extra trip to the Co-op to make deposits but it's not such a big deal as long as you're on top of your finances. I haven't tried to make payments from external sources with Affinity so I can't speak on that, just confused to why you would need to, if you have checking/savings with them anyway.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Otto77 — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 17:58:14 GMT

@Taurus22 wrote:
@Otto77

I'm a bit confused about your inquiry....

@Otto77 wrote:
I started taking a hard look at this card but found some posts saying you can't setup automatic statement balance payments from an external account. Is that still true? Unfortunately that's a requirement for me for all the account juggling I have, especially with a quarterly setup.
I understand that you want to pay from an external source, but given that this is a CU, you would need membership to the CU to even apply for the CC which means you would have checking/savings accounts established with them from the start. Affinity FCU is also part of the Shared Co-op network which means you can check the list of any Co-ops near you and use one near you as a hub to manage your deposits/withdrawals etc.

Here is the link for that site:

https://co-opcreditunions.org/locator/?ref=co-opsharedbranch.org&sc=1&utm_source=co-opfs.org&utm_medium=cta&utm_campaign=b2bsite&utm_term=locatorpage

I am in SC, (Affinity FCU is in NJ) so I have to use my Co-op here to make deposits etc. I will be altering my direct deposit from my job soon to do automatic deposits, just haven't done so yet. So, sure it's an extra trip to the Co-op to make deposits but it's not such a big deal as long as you're on top of your finances. I haven't tried to make payments from external sources with Affinity so I can't speak on that, just confused to why you would need to, if you have checking/savings with them anyway.

For me it's less about the extra account and more about the automatic payments. If I can only auto pay with their internal account, then I either need to remember to manually pay with my external account or remember to keep the internal account funded. I've got enough accounts that I don't really want to add any extra steps in maintaining them.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Taurus22 — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 18:18:53 GMT

@Otto77

Ok, I can totally feel you on that. Hell, I have plenty to manage with one bank and 2 CU's. Once I get my direct deposit split between all 3 it should be easier, less Co-op activity needed. I really should check out the external payment options and see how (or if) they handle those...might come in handy in the future.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 04:24:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hmmm...I might just have to give it a shot then as this seems like a real gem of a card.

The 5% on Amazon alone is fantastic as it doesn't force you to pay for Prime like the Chase card does, and the $3,500/month spend cap is quite generous. The *stackable* rotating categories on top of that — coupled with the 5% bookstore and 2% restaurant, grocery, gas, and streaming/rideshare rewards — really take it to another level. And all that with no AF and a $200 sub! Hope this card sticks around for awhile.

Will report back after I apply 👀 Appreciate all the info!

Applied this morning...and I was approved! Don't know my SL yet, but very happy to have this card added to my cashback lineup. The 5% + 2% supermarket rewards this quarter are even better than my Amex BCP. Thanks again for the DP, @PullingMeSoftly!

For anyone else interested in this card, I'll post my full stats in the Approvals forum once I find out my SL.

Update: SL is $18,400. See my post in the Approvals forum for more details.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

AllZero — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 02:23:52 GMT

Thank you for sharing the information!

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

JNA1 — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 02:51:23 GMT

I let this card fall through the cracks on me! I knew about it, but I missed the rotating categories. I knew it was great Amazon card, but didn't realize it was that good. This cards seems more attractive than the Freedom Flex to me after learning more about it.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Taurus22 — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 23:10:43 GMT

@Otto77 So, after looking around on the website I discovered that Affinity now has "NEW! External Funds Transfer" Thought you might be interested in this.....

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

LawStudentCivilis — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 05:35:05 GMT

@JNA1 wrote:
I let this card fall through the cracks on me! I knew about it, but I missed the rotating categories. I knew it was great Amazon card, but didn't realize it was that good. This cards seems more attractive than the Freedom Flex to me after learning more about it.

Sigh +1, I'm not interested in adding new cards (other than Vantage West, and that was moreso a goal for within the next year). I also didn't want a card that would overlap with or make other cards redundant regarding Amazon. So I will just monitor with interest for a while.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

LawStudentCivilis — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 12:48:19 GMT

@Otto77Affinity has Zelle too, fyi.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

PullingMeSoftly — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 18:22:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hmmm...I might just have to give it a shot then as this seems like a real gem of a card.

The 5% on Amazon alone is fantastic as it doesn't force you to pay for Prime like the Chase card does, and the $3,500/month spend cap is quite generous. The *stackable* rotating categories on top of that — coupled with the 5% bookstore and 2% restaurant, grocery, gas, and streaming/rideshare rewards — really take it to another level. And all that with no AF and a $200 sub! Hope this card sticks around for awhile.

Will report back after I apply 👀 Appreciate all the info!
Applied this morning...and I was approved! Don't know my SL yet, but very happy to have this card added to my cashback lineup. The 5% + 2% supermarket rewards this quarter are even better than my Amex BCP. Thanks again for the DP, @PullingMeSoftly!

For anyone else interested in this card, I'll post my full stats in the Approvals forum once I find out my SL.

Update: SL is $18,400. See my post in the Approvals forum for more details.

Congrats @Anonymous way to go! Great SL and you'll see how quickly the rewards will rack up, nice addition to your lineup. Was going to congratulate you on your approval thread, but don't see it there (link doesn't appear to be working either) Cheers!

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 21:23:11 GMT

@PullingMeSoftly Thanks! For some reason, my post in the Approvals forum appears to have been marked as spam. Not sure why as nothing about it was spammy and the mods didn't seem to have any issues with it, but I did message them so hopefully they'll bring it back soon.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Remedios — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 21:28:23 GMT

@Anonymous No one marked your post as a spam.

You've made multiple edits which made filter chomp chomp.

Re: Affinity FCU Cash Rewards 5% Cat’s for Q1

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 22:00:11 GMT

@RemediosAh, didn't know that (and the site showed me a big orange banner saying my post was marked as spam). Thanks for fixing it though! I was just adding additional details about my app.