Nusenda Reward Cards
No annual fee
None
5% Different Categories Each Quarter
1% Everything Else
1% Foreign Transaction Fee
If you like rotating category cards, like the Chase Freedom and Discover it cards, the Nusenda Cashback Card is yet another option. It earns 5% cash back on the first $1,500 of spending each quarter. It occasionally offers bonus rewards on less common and potentially useful categories, such as Education spending.
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Nusenda Reward Card Options
There are two interesting Nusenda reward cards.
- Platinum Cash Rewards. This is the one that gives you 5% cash back in the quarterly categories. Nusenda Webpage.
- Platinum Rewards. Only earns 3x "points" in the quarterly category and each point is generally worth less than 1 cent each. It does, however, have a small signup bonus of 10,000 points ($500 minimum spend). But, that is not enough to give you a reason to get this version. Official Webpage
Getting the Card
To get the card, you need to qualify for membership for and open a banking account at the Nusenda Credit Union. A savings account with a very small (such as $10) deposit should suffice.
The easiest way to qualify for membership is to be employed at a business (or go to a school) that has an association with Nusenda or live within their region of New Mexico. According to Doctor of Credit, if you don't otherwise qualify, you can join the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (for $10) to become eligible. But some people are reporting that they are still being asked to show up in a local branch.
Collecting the Signup Bonus
There is none.
Other Notable Benefits
None.
Quarterly Categories
While theoretically the quarterly categories can change every year, Nusenda has always used the same schedule of categories:
| Jan - Mar | Apr - Jun | Jul - Sep | Oct - Dec |
|---|---|---|---|
| Groceries
Gas |
Movies
Restaurants Home Improvements |
Gas
Education Expenses |
Restaurants
Hotels and Airfare |
Like other rotating category cards, the quarterly categories can be common bonus categories that are available from other cards. For example, in the first quarter of the year, the only options are Groceries and Gas. If you are optimizing your rewards and potentially interested in a card like this, chances are that you already have a card that earns good (or possibly better) rewards in these categories.
The second quarter "Home Improvement" and third quarter "Education" categories are less likely to overlap with the bonus categories of your other cards.