United Bank of Missouri Credit Card 3x on Grocery, Restaurant, Gas & Discount Stores

Update 6/2/19: Card is now offering a 15,000 point sign up bonus as well. Hat tip to reader @telewatcr

Reader Jeff let us know about an interesting card from United Bank of Missouri (UMB) called the Simply Rewards Visa. We like highlighting some lesser known cards, and this one looks pretty interesting if it pans out as advertised. We’ll do a quick review of the card with the info we have, and hopefully readers will clarify if there’s any other important details.

Card Details

Direct Link / PDF

  • No signup bonus
  • No annual fee
  • 2% foreign transaction fee
  • Visa Signature card

Rewards

Card offers 3x at the following categories:

  • Gas Stations
  • Grocery Stores
  • Discount Stores
  • Restaurants and Fast Food

Everything else gets 1x.

MCC Codes eligible for 3 points per dollar are the following: 5411 (Grocery Stores), 5541 and 5542 (Gas), 5310 (Discount Stores), 5812 (Restaurants) and 5814 (Fast Food). Cardholders earn 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. (I’d guess that Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam’s, and BJ’s would code as Discount Stores.)

How much are points worth?

From poking around on the public Sneak Peek site (able to view without login), it appears 13,333 points can be redeemed for a $200 Visa gift card. That makes each point worth 1.5 cents and category spend worth 4.5% back. Wow.

There are lots of other redemption options too, such as gift cards, merchandise (e.g. an iPad), as well as experiences, live concerts/sports, theme parks, and travel. We don’t know the exact value of these redemptions. Gift cards can be redeemed for between 1.2 and 1.5 cents per point, depending on denomination; even small $10 denomination gift cards get 1.2 cents per point.

Reader David tells us that points are worth 1 cent when redeemed for gift cards. This is no Visa gift card or cash back option. Looks like there is a statement credit option.

Availability

Who can apply for this card? The bank has locations across the following eight states: Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas. It might only be available to residents of those states.

In the online application, there’s a dropdown which allows applications from any state which indicates the card is available nationwide, but a data point suggests that they don’t actually accept people from out of their footprint.

You can apply for the card online or over the phone at 800-821-5184.

Final Thoughts

This card sounds incredible, 4.5% unlimited cashback at gas, restaurant, grocery, and discount stores could easily be one of the best cards around. It’s not a bad card with 3% return on top categories, but in truth we’d have to discount some of the value since the redemptions are in gift cards (e.g. Disney, Sears, or Macy’s gift card), so the actual value would be closer to 2.5% which isn’t bad but there are other cards that earn that amount on all spend.

We still have to find out if it’s actually available nationwide or only for a small targeted area. The downside is no signup bonus. I’d easily apply for the card if I knew these reward rates are here for the long haul. It’s been around at least since March, not sure how much before that.

Anyone have experience with this card?
    Chuck
  • On June 2, 2019, 11:00

View Comments (45)

  • I'd like to share a data point about eligibility.
    As this comment mentioned, there are quite a lot affiliate bank issuing same product to bypass the state restriction.
    https://www.doctorofcredit.com/umb-simply-rewards-visa-credit-card-review-3x-gas-grocery-discount-restaurant-fast-food/#comment-330672

    I lived in VA and applied for this card through UMB official website on Sep 2019. Not surprised, I got declined. And I realized it's because out of market area. I applied second time one week later with affiliate link you mentioned https://www.fbvirginia.com/Personal/Bank/Cards/Credit-Cards
    This time I got an mail reply asked for general documents like SSN and address proof. I did and got another decline because "Unable to verify physical address". I was confused and I retrieved my TU report (Yes, they hard pull only on TU). There were two address in use and one is invalid as an authorized user. I thought I found the reason. Hence I cancelled my authorized user. After updating credit report on TU, I applied again on Nov 2019. I was immediately declined as the stating reason "Unable to verify physical address" in mail. I called the customer service and didn't get any meaningful reply. I told him I can provide any proof like bank statement, utility bill etc but they say no. Basically they can decline you with any excuse without explanation.
    That's a long and tough experience. Might be helpful if anyone is interested.

  • I FINALLY was able to log into the rewards section. 1cpp. for statement credit and several gift cards. AFIK, there are no discounted gift cards. 2500 points gets a $25.00 GC at a large number of places.

    Some samples that I selected
    https://i.imgur.com/9ALtU3Y.jpg

  • I got the UMB card via targeted-"Pre-Aprrved" mailer. I went for it based on one card covering a few 3% rewards reducing my 3% rewards card with one card.

    Rewards department is separate from the bank. Seems to be a service for several banks offering a .card reward program. Taking by telephone was useless to be polite. No real useable answers.

    UMB CC website - https://www.umb.com

    Customer Service (800) 699.8702 weekdays 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM / Saturday 8:00 AM - 5:: PM Central Time.

    • Target DID post at 3% reward rate. Not sure if coded as Grocery (like Discover) or Discount Store

  • Do any other cards exist that have Discount Stores as a bonus category? This sounds amazing for Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Kmart, Walmart, Family Dollar, and random dollar stores in general.

    The Terms & Conditions make reference to other states toward the end so maybe it really is open nationwide.

    • Not that I've seen. The 3x points for Discount Stores is a major reason I got this card (or, perhaps more accurately, an affinity version of this card) in the first place. I shop at Big Lots and a regional overstock/lots store quite a bit, so the 3x points has been a great benefit.

      Note that most Dollar Tree locations are coded as "Variety Stores" and are thus likely excluded from the 3x point earnings. You'll definitely also want to verify the MCCs of the stores you listed; for one, I know that only a portion of the Walmart stores in my area are coded as Discount Stores.

  • It looks like this is the same card that was reviewed in December 2016: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/umb-simply-rewards-visa-credit-card-review-3x-gas-grocery-discount-restaurant-fast-food/

    I applied for and was approved for this card a month ago.

    Note the comment in the original review about utilizing affiliate banks that cobrand with this card for those outside of UMB's footprint. I live in New York City and was approved by applying through Pioneer Bank: https://www.pioneerbanking.com/personal/loans/

    My experience:
    -My credit check went through Trans Union.
    -Bonus points were aworded as promised, though I was disappointed that two coffee shops and a brewery that I visited didn't receive 3x points, because I assume they aren't categorized as restaurants.

  • Just a note that the sneak peek Dreampoints site is for "demo" only. The point values are not accurate. Once you login to your UMB Dreampoints account, you will see the actual redemption values.

    For example, looking at a Macy's GC the sneak peek site says Starting at 2,000 points for $25.Logging into your account it is 2,500 points for $25. The VISA card is also not available once you are logged in.

    Proceed at your own risk.

  • Also please note, the 1.5x/point is a dis-ingenuous scheme by UMB. I had also posted in the comments section of the previous article here:

    https://www.doctorofcredit.com/umb-simply-rewards-visa-credit-card-review-3x-gas-grocery-discount-restaurant-fast-food/#comment-438094

    One of the users owning the card said they still see a 1c/pt redemption on which I did further research and came with this conclusion:

    > So I found the discrepancy. It seems like as of now UMB has 2 different websites discussing rewards redemption
    scheme. One is http://redeemsimplyrewards.umb.com which is where umb card holders are directed to for redemption.

    > The other is https://www.dreampoints.com/umbconsumer/ which is what visitors to the umb simply rewards application
    page are directed to.

    > The former has a redemption rate of 1c/pt, the latter has 1.5c/pt.

    > My guess is, atleast, as of now, the latter is just a fake demo site to show visitors how redemption works.

    • My login actually takes me to Dreampoints, but the redemption rates are different in the actual thing than the demo.

  • Chuck, this card has been around for very long (more than an year perhaps). You have already covered this card in one of your posts before: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/umb-simply-rewards-visa-credit-card-review-3x-gas-grocery-discount-restaurant-fast-food/

    There was a thorough discussion on this already. This card is location specific. There are lot of smaller banks that offer this card with their names. If you dont live in UMB bank area or one of their affinity banks you will surely be rejected. Source: Applied for it 3 weeks ago from non-covered state.

    • Ha, OMG, I searched the site but didn't find it. Probably because I searched "united bank of Missouri instead of UMB'. Thanks for the link.

      • If you go to the comment section of the original post, I posted a tip for how to search Google to find the affinity versions of this card. I was able to find one of the only banks in my state offering an affinity card by following this method.

        Hope this helps.

      • You can easily get a quick list by googling for the Simply Rewards card. You will see many small banks are offering an affinity version. That said, pretty much all the banks are in the same states.

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