Update 02/13/18: Cardholders should have received a letter informing them that the 3% cash back categories are changing on February 18th. The new categories are as follows:
- Gas
- Grocery
- Travel / Entertainment
- Restaurants
- Auto Part / Service Stores
- Utilities / Office Supply Stores
- Electronics, Computer, and Camera Stores
- Home Improvement Stores
- Discount and Warehouse Stores
- Department Apparel, and Sporting Goods
They have removed the Drugstore category and also Walmart.
This is another post in our Weird Wednesday series where we have a look at unknown or little known credit cards to see if they are worth applying for or not. You can view more posts in the series here. Today we are going to be looking at the Huntington Voice credit card.
The Huntington Voice credit card is a bit different than other cards on the market, first of all you get to pick between earning 3x points on a category of your choice or having an APR of 3% less. All of my readers should know that you should always pay your credit card in full and as such only the 3x point option should be appealing.
Contents
Rewards Program
Earning Points
As we mentioned you get to choose your own 3x rewards category. They have a total of 13 different categories to choose from:
- Apparel/Soft Goods
- Department Stores/Electronics
- Discount Stores
- Gas
- Grocery
- Home Improvement
- Office Supply
- Pharmacy
- Restaurants
- Sporting Goods
- Travel & Entertainment
- Utilities
- Wal-mart
Unfortunately there is a cap on the amount you can spend in these categories and still get the 3x points. You get 3x points on the first $2,000 in purchases per quarter (maximum of 6,000 points). If you make purchases that aren’t within the 3x category, you’ll only earn 1 point.
You choose the category you earn three points in and can it within 30 days of opening your account. You can also change it prior to the start of each quarter for the next quarter (e.g you can change Q3’s category in Q2). If you don’t make a change, then you will keep the same category you had the previous quarter (no need to enroll every quarter like other cards, I’m looking at you Chase Freedom & Discover it). Â The dates for each quarter are as follows:
- 1st Quarter – January 1st
- 2nd Quarter – April 1st
- 3rd Quarter – July 1st
- 4th Quarter – October 1st
10% Bonus
Huntington Bank gives you a 10% bonus on all points earned (making this a 3.3% card in the category of your choosing) if you have a Huntington 5 or 25 checking account open. Unfortunately due to the fees, this bonus isn’t worth doing. You can read more about why here.
Redeeming Points
Points are worth 1¢ a piece when redeeming for cash or statement credit. If somebody gifts you points then they will expire within 12 months, if you earn points from another promotion that Huntington is running these points might expire (keep in mind points are redeemed on a first in first out basis when trying to use up points). Points that are earned normally do not expire as long as your account stays in good standing.
When you redeem for statement credit there is no minimum amount of points you can redeem for (e.g you can redeem a single point for a penny). It takes 4-6 business days for this statement credit to post to your account. It’s also possible to redeem for a check with no minimum. Checks take 4-6 weeks to arrive.
It’s also possible to redeem for merchant gift cards and product rewards. Neither of these options are particularly attractive compared to the cash rates (you get the same 1¢ per point rate on gift cards). There is one final redemption option and that is for airfare and travel, this is the same 1¢ rate though and there are various fee and charges that are applied, so redeem for cash instead.
You can learn more point redeeming these points at their official website (no login required):Â http://www.myhnbrewards.com/
Fees &Â Application Information
Technically you can apply from any state you want, but sometimes they require you to come into a branch to verify your identity. They have branches in: Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania & West Virginia.
- Card has no annual fee.
- Huntington pulls Equifax exclusively.
- You must be a U.S Citizen to apply and be approved for this card.
- No foreign transaction fee, although the card does not come with any EMV chip
- Late fee grace. Get an extra day on your grace period (no idea why they don’t just add the extra day), they also don’t have a penalty rate if your payment is made late.
- This is a World Mastercard, click here for a summary of those benefits
- APR of 9.99%-23.99% on the rewards option version of the card (take 3% for the low APR version)
One good thing about this card is they don’t really seem to be picky at all about your credit score, one person with a bankruptcy on file was even approved (although in general you will be denied if you have a bankruptcy on file for this card. This person had 16 years banking history with them).
Final Thoughts
Obviously the flexibility to choose your own category is great and they actually have some decent categories to choose from unlike the U.S Bank Cash+ card which is unlovingly referred to as the Nerf+, although that card lets you pick two categories and also gives 5% cash back instead of 3%.
The problem with this card is that 3% cash back is marginal at best, everybody should have a card that earns 2% cash back on all purchases (Double Cash or Fidelity American Express) so you’re only really getting an additional 1% cash back on these purchases.
The card also does not come with any sign up bonuses, although Huntington bank does regularly have checking bonuses. If you value a hard pull at $200, you’d need to spend $20,000 on this card before you got that value. Given that you can only spend $2,000 per month, this would take you 3 and a bit years. Because of that I wouldn’t recommend this to most people, if Huntington bank suddenly offered a sign up bonus then this would be a completely different discussion.
That being said this might be an OK option for somebody with not great credit that is trying to build a bit of positive credit history. The rewards program is pretty solid and the points never expire.
$100 sub added, also added a crappy 1.5% card
FYI the linked checking bonus is now defined as followed in the terms: “If you choose the Rewards option and you also open a Huntington 25 Checking account, you will get a 25% bonus. If you open a Huntington 5 Checking account, you will get a 5% bonus.” So 3.75x if you have Huntington 25… still pretty bad and worse for the Huntington 5 option.
There is now a business version of this card with the same ten categories except it earns 4% back on up to 7k per quarter.
Not sure why this wasn’t mentioned in the post but you can redeem for cash in $25 increments and have that money sent via ACH to the bank account of your choice. The statement credit option would cut into your rewards because you would earn no reward for the amount of the credit(called CSR and asked). The 2,000 point cap per quarter is more than enough to cover all my utility/office supply bills for the quarter and almost no card covers utilities on a ongoing basis. I can get 5% on just about every other category listed using other rewards cards so this card is best for utilities.
Can’t believe I never thought of that depositing rewards angle. Also, US Bank Cash+ Visa Signature (no annual fee) pays 5% on 2 categories of your choice all the time ($2000 per quarter). There are 12 categories to choose from that don’t change, and you choose them every 3 months. One category is “Utilities” , another is “TV, Internet, Streaming services”. You also get to choose one 2% category from a different set of 3 categories. I have been using it for years.
Received an email in January:
“Keep your card active & earn 2,500 Rewards Points.
We noticed that as of XXXX, you haven’t used your Voice Credit Card® ending in XXXX in at least six months.
If your card remains inactive, your account will close automatically on XXXX and any accrued rewards points will be forfeited.
But we’ve got a much better option to offer you:
Start using your card today, and we’ll give you an extra 2,500 Reward Points if you make $500 in purchases before XXXX”
A $500 grocery gift card purchase, earned 8x (3x category bonus + 5x targeted offer).
If you remember, or if by chance you still have this email, I’m wondering how long they gave you between your last charge and automatic closure (basically the dates that are XX’d out). I haven’t used Voice card in over 6 months and was hoping for an offer like the one you received, but I imagine Covid changed their willingness to dole out such offers. Now I’m trying to decide if I should wait longer or throw a charge on there for some activity.
Just tried applying for this card and wanted to give an update on their eligibility requirements.
According to 2 different representatives whom I spoke to on the phone, they can only process an application if you live in one of their “footprint states” (IL, IN, KY, MI, PA, or WV – note that WI is no longer included). Living anywhere else and visiting one of their branches is supposedly not an option.
I do not have an account with Huntington. If anyone knows whether the application process is handled differently once you have an account and if there is a way to obtain one from outside of their footprint, I would appreciate in hearing about it. I am not interested in opening any bank accounts which have fees or usage requirements or more than a trivial minimum balance.
Tried a payment to mortgage via plastiq to see how it would code w/utilities as my category. Did not get 3x.
I have a Huntington Voice CC that I use exclusively for grocery. 3% is not bad and our grocery spend is about $350 a month,. Of course in the first quarter of 2019 Discover-It has 5% on Grocery which is doubled for the first year for new members (that’s my wife). Now that Huntington Voice has eliminated pharmacy that card will remain unused Jan-Mar 2019. The Sam’s Club CC gives 5% on gas. Costco is 4%. Usually have Kroger rewards of 30 cents/gal so that is 30 cents a gal less plus 5% off the remainder. In Central Ohio the Kroger rewards are good at Shell which is Top Tier gasoline. I keep a GM Card and a Hyatt Card as they have occasional killer promos.
Anyone have data points on the merchant code for Simon Malls (w/Huntington Voice card)?
Bump
They don’t offer the card online for new customers anymore. And also, they didn’t approve out of service area apps.