This post is part of our series called “Weird Wednesdays” where every Wednesday we look at unknown or little known credit cards that might be useful. You can view more posts in the series here. We’ve looked at the Huntington Voice & NMEFCU 5% Cash Back Card so far.
Security Service Federal Credit Union (SSFCU) offers several credit cards to their members, the only one of interest is the “Security Service Power Travel Rewards World MasterCard”.
Contents
Card Benefits
It has a few interesting features that are as follows:
- Earns 3x points per $1 spent on gas, travel & dining (1x point per $1 on all other purchases)
- Gives an annual 10% bonus on all points earned (effectively making it 3.3x points on bonused category spend)
- No points earning cap
- No balance transfer or cash advance fees
- No annual fee
- 120 day price protection
- Identity Theft Resolution Services
- World MasterCard benefits
- Credit limits up to $50,000
Card Negatives
- You need an income of $50,000 or above to qualify.
- Membership is quite restrictive (see below)
Becoming A Member
Membership is quite restrictive, which isn’t unusual for credit unions. You can view the full eligibility requirements here. Basically you need to either:
- Live, work, worship, attend school, volunteer, or your business is located in select areas of Texas (San Antonio, Austin, El Paso, Rio Grande Valley, Corpus Christi), Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Fort Collins, Loveland, Boulder, Broomfield), or Utah (Salt Lake and Utah counties) or
- Be a member of select military branches/units or a Department of Defense employee at specific military bases within our service areas
- Have a family member (spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step and adoptive relationship)
How Much Are Points Worth
They give you access to the rewards catalog where you can have a browse of what’s available. Here is a summary:
- Points are worth 1¢ a piece when redeeming for merchant gift cards
- Points are worth 1¢ a piece when redeeming for travel, although you have to use their travel platform
- Points are worth 0.625¢ a piece when redeeming for MasterCard gift cards
The 10% annual bonus should cover any loss of value you get it if you redeem for merchant gift cards and then resell those. This will mean that it’s basically a 3% cash back card on travel, gas & dining with a bit of extra hassle.
Our Verdict
I’ve been looking for a new dining credit card ever since U.S Bank announced that the cash+ card would no longer have restaurants as a 5% cash back category. There are a lot of credit cards that earn 3% cash back without the hassling of dealing with gift cards (the Sam’s Club card also earns 5% on gas purchases as well). There is also a lot of credit cards that earn at least 5% cash back on gas purchases.
Because of this, I’ll be giving this card a miss. If one of the categories was grocery stores then I’d reconsider, but it’d be difficult for me to apply anyway since I don’t live within the service area. SSFCU also offers a rewards earning debit card, you can either earn 10¢ Cash Back or 1 Rewards Point for every $2 spent on signature purchases.
View Comments (9)
Hi william, I love this series...wonderful way of getting to know obscure, but useful cards...I am planning on getting the Huntington voice card soon...have one about a stone's throw away from my house
Also, FYI, Security Service has an offer for $200 bonus for signing up for a checking account. You get $10 bonus per debit card swipe up to 20 swipes the first 75 days. Might as well sign up for the checking account the same time as the Mastercard.
Can't find any information about this bonus, can you link me please?
ssfcu.org/200
Thanks Michelle. Do you know if it's a hard pull to join the credit union/open this account? Do you remember if you were able to initially fund with credit card?
No hard pull for just the checking account, as long as you qualify to join. I funded with a MO, so indirectly a credit card. The Mastercard does require a hard pull, so I'm on the fence deciding if this is the best use of a credit inquiry. Really curious about the travel platform, like I said. I'd like to see redemptions that offer better than 1:1 and competitive pricing.
Just wondering if anyone has used the travel platform yet? Any sweet spots?
Love this series. Just so happens that my auto lender is Security Service. Never thought to look at them for a cash back product. Thanks!
Glad to know some people are enjoying it, I think some people were expecting an awesome game changing card every week but the idea is just to look at new cards and hopefully find a few that work for different people.