Abound Credit Union Adds 5% Rotating Categories To Their Visa Platinum Card

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• this old school and sometimes clunky, community driven, blog-era website is ironically way more informative than Abound's own site.
  I have had a surprising amount of problems with AboundCU.
  At first it was okay, all my gas station purchases, both in store and out of store would count towards 5%, and when I calculated my (cash back rebate)/(total monthly purchases), it was almost always 5%, since I only used this card at gas stations. smooth sailing for a few months with the occasional ~4.7% cash back due to seemingly random nonqualifying purchases which were impossible to pinpoint, since I shop around with apps and rarely filled up at the same place twice. wasn't able to find merchant level codes on their old website.
  Thats okay I thought, I loved how it instantly just shaved the balance off the top each month. But then they updated their website and I received a surprise 1$ fee for my savings account not being paperless? um okay?
  I switched it to paperless and then about 3 months later I received another 1$ fee for the same issue. This was when they were merging their old and new websites and all I can think of is they did not transfer my settings over. I opened up a ticket each time and was basically ignored by their customer service. Im not the most unreasonable person, but instead of giving me an unsatisfactory answer they would just ignore my occasionally monthly inquiry. whatever, its a small bank trying to do big credit card stuff.
  They added the 5% category and for the first year I thought this was the best credit card ever. occasionally I would hit an invisible cap on cash back, i believe they had an undisclosed cap on their 5% cash back, something like 100-150$ every 3 months. I could never find info on this on their website documents.
  and then the surprise rule change to pump purchases only, this took me months to figure out as I thought it was due to the previous undisclosed 3mo limit or merchant coding errors. they finally added the info to their website and I begrudgingly changed to only using the card for pump purchases only.
  but still, for 3 months in a row, I never got anywhere close to net 5% cash back. maybe it had to be tap to pay or something? who knows? there is no clear documentation I could find explaining what counted as a pay at the pump purchase and could not find merchant code breakdowns on my statements/the online portal.
  and now here we are, they got rid of the 5% categories, whatever, they were basically useless to me after the first year, except for maybe the amazon one for a single Christmas purchase. ironically I never got the 5% back on that since they dated my transaction as occurring after jan1st lol.
  I will keep the card in my wallet until they cancel me or I start to hear better data points on the reliability of the 5% cash back.
  maybe I will experiment with low balance cancelation and try to get my 2$'s back.
  it was good while it lasted... like 2018-2022?

  • I always pay at pump and have never gotten less than 5% credit.

• According to the terms, the 5% is $100 in up to rewards per statement cycle. Thus $2k in spend per month technically.

  2 Cash back rebates on purchases made with Platinum Visa® only. All rebates will not be shown at the time of purchase, but will appear on your monthly billing statement. 5% off fuel purchases paid at the pump and 1% off general retail purchases. 5% off merchants classified as Airlines, Car Rental, Lodging, Cruise Lines, Air Carriers, Airport, airport terminals & flying fields, Travel Agencies & Tour Operators, Lodging Hotels, Motels, Resorts not elsewhere classified, Timeshares, Auto Rental Agency- not elsewhere classified, Motor Home & Recreational Vehicle Rental up to $100.00 in rewards earned per statement cycle. Offer valid April 1 – June 30, 2022. After $100 is reached in rewards you will continue to earn 1%. 3% Visa® cash advance fee. Rates and terms are subject to credit approval. Subject to $10 Membership Fee if not already a member.

• How often can you redeem the cash back? Costco has 3% cashback on gas but you can only redeem it once each year. Meanwhile my other cash back cards I can redeem every cycle, which is preferable. Can anyone chime on how this one works?

  • They automatically credit your account each statement. Very convenient!

• Are there any recent data points on signing up for this card without becoming a member?

  • Any data points on application process where they require proof of income, and inquiry counts? I'm very interested but wondering if I'll get approved especially being out of state.

    • I forget what they required of me when I signed up but I live out of state. I do have a small deposit in their savings account to maintain my membership.

  • I spoke with a representative who said I'd be sent a card once I became a member, paid a one-time $10 fee, and deposited at least $5 into my account. But a few days later, the card showed up in the mail before I had a chance to send them anything. I guess I got lucky. YMMV.

• I wonder if health insurance counts as health

• Oh, nice. I didn't know there was another credit card that offered a constant 5% on gas after the Ducks Unlimited changed awhile back

  • The Sam's Club Mastercard is a constant 5% cashback on gas station purchases.

  • Penfed Platinum cash rewards. 5% at the pump only but need to be member and some other hoops like loans,mtg etc.

    • Isn’t their 5% earned in the form of points that aren’t even worth 1 cent each, though?

      • You're correct, points are worth less than 1c each.