topic Re: Best federal employee credit union (for CC)? in Credit Cards

Best federal employee credit union (for CC)?

h4ldol — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:57:35 GMT

Just curious which ones are considered the best ones (for credit card purposes) since there are so many out there. It seems that many federal employees are eligible for the NFCU, but the annual redemption of rewards (or just cashback rewards) is not really very appealing.

Re: Best federal employee credit union (for CC)?

bichonmom — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 04:08:06 GMT

If you can get into Navy, their rewards actually are really good. Their cash reward card gives you 1% cash back on everything. You can get even higher %s by using their online mall, but I haven't tried that yet. As soon as you've accumulated $20 in rewards (which means spending $2k), you can get your cash back. I'm new to Amex, but I have yet to see any rewards even post. And if you want to trade your points for a cash card, you only get half of the value (e.g. 5000 points for a $25 card; whereas w/Navy, spending $5000 gives you $50 cash back right away).

IMO, Navy has really good rewards. Also, you don't have to juggle a gazillion different cards and try and figure out/remember which card gives you the highest % at which month. I know people do that, but for me at this point, it's become a pain to do that.

Re: Best federal employee credit union (for CC)?

Anonymous — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 04:56:13 GMT

@bichonmom wrote:
If you can get into Navy, their rewards actually are really good. Their cash reward card gives you 1% cash back on everything. You can get even higher %s by using their online mall, but I haven't tried that yet. As soon as you've accumulated $20 in rewards (which means spending $2k), you can get your cash back. I'm new to Amex, but I have yet to see any rewards even post. And if you want to trade your points for a cash card, you only get half of the value (e.g. 5000 points for a $25 card; whereas w/Navy, spending $5000 gives you $50 cash back right away).

IMO, Navy has really good rewards. Also, you don't have to juggle a gazillion different cards and try and figure out/remember which card gives you the highest % at which month. I know people do that, but for me at this point, it's become a pain to do that.

NFCU is excellent if you can qualify for it.

I think CU cards generally dont have the best rewards but they do give higher limits and they usually have lower interest rates

Re: Best federal employee credit union (for CC)?

h4ldol — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 06:20:27 GMT

@bichonmom wrote:
If you can get into Navy, their rewards actually are really good. Their cash reward card gives you 1% cash back on everything. You can get even higher %s by using their online mall, but I haven't tried that yet. As soon as you've accumulated $20 in rewards (which means spending $2k), you can get your cash back. I'm new to Amex, but I have yet to see any rewards even post. And if you want to trade your points for a cash card, you only get half of the value (e.g. 5000 points for a $25 card; whereas w/Navy, spending $5000 gives you $50 cash back right away).

IMO, Navy has really good rewards. Also, you don't have to juggle a gazillion different cards and try and figure out/remember which card gives you the highest % at which month. I know people do that, but for me at this point, it's become a pain to do that.

Ah, I must have gotten that NFCU mixed up with USAA, which does the end of the year reward redemption thing. NFCU does sound great for CL and good APRs though.

Re: Best federal employee credit union (for CC)?

score_building — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:18:44 GMT

n/m

Re: Best federal employee credit union (for CC)?

score_building — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:27:49 GMT

@h4ldol wrote:
@bichonmom wrote:
If you can get into Navy, their rewards actually are really good. Their cash reward card gives you 1% cash back on everything. You can get even higher %s by using their online mall, but I haven't tried that yet. As soon as you've accumulated $20 in rewards (which means spending $2k), you can get your cash back. I'm new to Amex, but I have yet to see any rewards even post. And if you want to trade your points for a cash card, you only get half of the value (e.g. 5000 points for a $25 card; whereas w/Navy, spending $5000 gives you $50 cash back right away).

IMO, Navy has really good rewards. Also, you don't have to juggle a gazillion different cards and try and figure out/remember which card gives you the highest % at which month. I know people do that, but for me at this point, it's become a pain to do that.

Ah, I must have gotten that NFCU mixed up with USAA, which does the end of the year reward redemption thing. NFCU does sound great for CL and good APRs though.

I adore NFCU and when it comes to rewards- more is more, but I think 1% is typical / generally considered somewhat unremarkable to rewards afficionados. +1 on not being up for the juggling act apparently required to keep up with categories in the rewards market.

Thanks for highlighting the redemption info on their cash back card, reminds me I should probably consider trying for a PC from the platinum to their cash rewards to try to eek out a bit more value. Initially went for the platinum to have a low rate option but wasn't approved for the lowest rate (am currently at 9.XX was shooting for the lowest offered which was 7.XX IIRC)