Golden 1 Credit Union Credit Card 3% Cash-back on Groceries, Gas, and Restaurants

Update 11/12/23: Card now earns 4% on gas, up to $5,000 per year.

Golden 1 Platinum Rewards Visa

Direct Link

Annual Fee:  none.

3% Categories: Grocery, gas and restaurants.

1% Categories: Everything else.

Credit Line: up to $50,000.

Golden 1 Credit Union has a credit card called the Platinum Rewards Visa which offers an unlimited 3% cash-back on gas, groceries and restaurants. All other purchases earn 1%.

This card most resembles the Consumer Credit Union Visa Signature card. That card offer 3% on groceries and 2% on gas. It has a cap of $6000 in rewards per year.

The three advantages of the Golden 1 card over the Consumer’s card are:

• 3% on gas, as opposed to 2%
• 3%  on restaurants, as opposed to 1%
• no cap on amount of rewards which can be earned.

[Related: Best Credit Card for Grocery Store Purchase]

[Related: Best Gas Credit Cards]

We’re very interested in Visa or Mastercards with grocery stores as a bonus category since many Target stores and even some Walmart stores are categorized by Visa/Mastercard as grocery stores. Particularly Target is interesting due to the fact that you can load Redbird and Amex For Target with a credit card at Target. Those Targets will probably earn 3% with the Golden 1 card.

You can see the Visa Supplier Locator for specific store info. More on the Visa supplier Locator here.

Eligiblity

This card is available to all by becoming a member of the credit union. If you live in certain parts of California, you can become part of the credit union. Otherwise, you need to shell out $5 to join the Financial Fitness Association in order to become a member.

Reports on myFicoForum indicate that this card may not be available in all areas. One member from Massachusetts was reportedly told that his state is not eligible. If you’re thinking of applying, we’d recommend calling first to verify that your area is eligible.

Payout Details

One down-side of the card which I saw on myFicoForum is the fact that that rewards are only paid out once a year. That’s an inconvenience for anyone, but it’s a death-blow for those who want to manufacture spend with the card. Sure, you probably won’t be shut down within the year, and you’ll probably get your rewards by the year’s end, but it would be hard to justify using the card under those circumstances.

However, Maximizing Money reports that as of Feb. 2015 cardholders will receive rewards monthly. This brings the card back into the world of interesting credit cards.

[UPDATE: This is now confirmed, see our follow-up post here.]

My Thoughts

I’ve been looking for a credit card which offers more than the baseline 2% at supermarkets, due to my heavy spend recently at Target, between Redbird and AFT. I wanted to go for the above-mentioned Consumer’s CU card – $200,000 of spend/ $6,000 of rewards is enough for me – but I read report on myFico that it’s hard to even get into the credit union, and then harder to get approved for the credit card.

As far as Golden 1 is concerned, it doesn’t sound hard to get into the credit union from what I’ve read, but getting the credit card sound a little tricky. Another big question to me is which credit bureau they pull, because I can’t afford an Experian pull anytime soon. On creditboards.com there are mixed reports of Equifax and Experian, the more recent reports being Equifax. I’m going to sit on this for a little bit, maybe I’ll apply in a couple of months. I’ll definitely call before to see if my area is eligible.

On a more general note, the card actually sounds like a pretty solid all-around card. Of course, we all like signup bonuses, which this card doesn’t have, but aside from that it gives a solid 3% cash-back on groceries, gas and restaurants, all popular categories. Those who are in the designated area of California should have an easier time getting approved for the card, and it may be something to consider. For the rest of us, it may be worth waiting to see more data-points on myFico to see how easy it is to get approved for this card.

HT: Maximizing Money