So lots of people seem to go after the Big Boys (Citi, Chase, Amex etc). Others would fall on their proverbial swords for CUs such as Navy, Penfed, Etc.
Is ther an advantage of one vs the other or is it the ooh-ahh factor?
Truly curious if the Big Banks have an advantage over the larger CUs.
thanks in advance.
@designated_knitter, this is kind of a bittersweet question for me; prior to our financial meltdown, I was rockin' the AMEX Platinum, which was exceedingly handy because when I travel it gave me access to many of the "Sky Clubs" in airports (in my mind, that benefit was worth the steep annual fee alone). Given the odds of me having an AMEX of any color ever again is pretty slim (they got burned for something north of $25,000 in my Chapter 13), my go-forward plan is to use cards which benefit me in other areas, particularly when it comes to rewards. Given not all rewards cards are created equal, my CapOne Quicksilver (1.5% on all purchases) gets pretty much all of my "normal spend", my TDCash card gets all of my "eating out spend" so I collect 3% there, and my PenFed card gets my Gas and Grocery spend (2.55% and 4.25% respectively).
Once COVID is in the rearview mirror, it looks like I'll start traveling again, so a travel card of some stripe might come in handy as well. I can probably get the CapOne Venture, but would prefer something like one of the "Priority Pass" cards, maybe the Citi Prestige given both AMEX Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve are both classed as "unobtainium" for me these days.
Echoing others, I choose the card based on its own merit first and foremost, and the issuing bank is secondary is secondary in that decision. That said, if I'm down to a close decision between 2 cards the bank/CU can (and has been the tie breaker). Some FI's work well for some and not so well for others.
For instance, when I was in the market for a flat 2% card, I chose the PPMC over the Citi DC and several other CU's because of my prior experience with Sync. That was early in my card journey, and I felt like I would be approved based on my history with them and felt like it would grow quickly, also based on my first Sync card. I ended being correct on both counts - I was able to nearly triple the CL in a year.
As I'm sure you know though - Sync has a black eye for a LOT folks these days, if given that choice again today, I'd probably go a different route.
We only have 4 CU CCs through 2 CUs (NFCU and AOD) but every other loan I have is through CUs, and most likely will continue to be from now on.
When it comes to credit cards, for me it's just a question of rewards, terms, and issuer quirks, so I don't have an inherent preference one way or the other. Rewards comparison does rule out almost all smaller CUs since, with the exception of unicorns like AOD, their cards are mostly going to have pretty lackluster rewards. Some ofc offer Elan cards, which have a couple of decent options, but that's really a card w/ a major bank, anyway. Local CUs can still be a good place to look for a lower-rate card, but in my own case I haven't had a need to add another one. For the larger CUs that do offer competitive rewards cards, I don't happen to have any, but that's just b/c the card that worked best for what I wanted at the time I did my app research happened to be a big bank rewards card. If the math had come out in favor of the Navy More over the BCP, I would have gone with that one for groceries, instead, and that it didn't is probably more a matter of my own spend than one card or type of issuer being inherently superior to the other. I do prefer credit unions to banks generally, and would prefer that any money an issuer makes off me go back to CU members than into shareholder pockets, but so far that preference hasn't been enough to tip the scales towards a CU card for me.
