Yes, it's a travel card. But that seems a little harsh and hasty a review of the Flagship card. Pardon my off-topic diversion. I don't have it but have considered it. I think it can be a great card depending on what else is in someone's wallet. For someone who can get qualify for membership in NFCU, who doesn't want a high-priced travel card but wants to save rewards for travel, who doesn't yet have a 3%+ travel card and/or a 2%+ all-purpose card, it's certainly a worthy contender.
First off, it has a 50K point ($500 SUB) that effectively pays the annual fee for more than 10 years if you keep it! (Regardless of all other benefits you get from the card.)
Yes, it has $49 AF but for someone who uses that Global Entry credit you mentioned, the effective AF is actually $24 ($100 credit every 4 years = $49-25.)
For that $24, you get a lot of other Visa Signature "value" items you neglected to mention that are sometimes not available in sub-$50 AF cards including basic travel protections like secondary rental car CDW, Accidental Death & Dismemberment travel insurance($250K), Lost Luggage Reimbursement, plus also Purchase protection, Extended Warranty coverage, Cell phone protection, Visa Signature Concierge, Roadside Assistance Dispatch, and Emergency Travel Assistance hotline. For someone who can use those things, it easily pays the other $24 in AF for being able to decline CDW, cancel cell phone insurance plans, or file claims for purchase protection or extended warranty coverage. Some other no-AF Visa Signature cards may have some of those benefits but there are probably few that have all.
Also, no FTF's, no BT fees, and even no Cash Advance fees! That can really add up if you ever do BT's alone.
And what other rewards cards have APRs as low as 11.99%? That is exceptional for a card that also pays 2-3%. (PenFed Power Cash is 11.74% and no FTF ... but they also have 3% BT and 5% Cash Advance fees.)
There are only a handful of cards that give 3% or more back on travel in CASH at a penny-a-point with either no-AF or that low an AF. My Citi Costco does, but Costco membership is required. WF Propel and Barclays UBER do, but they don't offer a base of 2% on anything, so it's more cards to carry with less-favorable terms. That appears to me to be one of the strong suits of this card: the ability to consolidate in one place all the cash back awards for future travel usage. Someone can combine their 2% and 3% cashback categories and allow it accumulate for major travel purchases like vacations, hotel stays, airfare, rental cars.
NFCU also advertises "Member Deals" for shopping redemptions that can amplify reward points value. The website shows an example of up to 5% bonus on top of the 2% base earning, so points could be worth effectively 7% for shopping with the Flagship, if you chose to redeem them that way. I believe the CITI DC is the only card that allows something similar, since they just began allowing conversion of DC to TY points.
Navy FCU is known for generous approvals, generous SLs, generous CLIs, and good customer service. All this really counts. From what I've read, I've rather deal with NFCU for customer service issues more than any of the well-known national 2% card products, including Synchrony (PayPal), Citi (DC), Elan Financial Service (Fidelity), Alliant CU (Visa Signature), or even PenFed (Power Cash), which is also on my radar. I've read some pretty negative reviews on all of those from some customers. (*I do wish USAA would bring back the 2.5% Limitless Cashback, though!)
Yeah, the $50 minimum redemption is high, and that turns me off in some ways. But as I said, I think it's intended to be a program where rewards are allowed to accumulate for major travel redemption. If you don't spend enough to accumulate rewards quickly enough or travel often enough, it's not such a good card for you. Also, depending on what else is in your wallet, the overlaps may make the AF an unnecessary expense. But for the right consumer, it's a highly competitive product to those $89 and higher-AF travel cards.
