Alaska USA Visa Credit Card

Alaska USA Visa Credit Card Review

The Visa Credit Card from Alaska USA Federal Credit Union is this financial institution’s only regular personal credit card. This is a rewards card that earns cardholders points on their purchases. Cardholders can them redeem their points for travel or merchandise. One of the standout features of this card has to do with interest rates. Firstly, this Visa Credit Card features competitively low rates. However, that’s not the most unique feature. What sets this card apart from many competitors is the fact that the same APR applies to several types of transactions. That means that whatever APR you’re approved for will be the same for purchases, cash advances, and balance transfers. While this card doesn’t offer introductory APR promotions, this detail almost makes up for that deficiency. This card also waives the $50 annual fee for people who do their banking with Alaska USA Federal Credit Union. There is also no foreign transaction fee with this credit card. To learn more about this credit card, read the sections below

Earn Points on Your Purchases

The Alaska USA Visa Credit Card earns cardholders points whenever they purchase something with their card. You can then use these points to obtain merchandise or travel vouchers through the ScoreCard Website. ScoreCard is the company that manages Alaska USA’s rewards. What’s great about earning rewards with this Visa Credit Card is that there are little to no restrictions on how you can earn points. Many other credit cards only let you earn points on certain types of purchases. Additionally, there are other cards that earn you different amounts of points for purchases made at different merchant categories. This can get confusing, and there is sometimes the surprise of not receiving the points you thought you earned because you shopped at the wrong merchant category. With the Alaska USA Visa, you don’t have to worry about that. You can use your card to pay bills or shop for groceries knowing that you’ll be earning the same amount of points. You earn one point for every $1 you spend with your card. This is pretty standard among rewards cards. In fact, it’s the bare minimum most rewards cards offer cardholders. That said, you may find rewards cards with higher earning rates. However, they may not include many of this card’s unique features.

Redeeming Points

When it comes time to redeem points, ScoreCard gives you a lot of flexibility in booking travel. You have no requirements for when you need to stay at a hotel or where you can travel to or from. Additionally, you can book travel just three days in advance. You can also redeem your points for merchandise. A positive feature of the ScoreCard rewards program is that you can actually browse through the catalog before you apply for this card. This is becoming a rarity among many rewards cards. Many don’t let you even see what kinds of rewards are available until you are officially a cardholder. Now, there is a drawback to redeeming points with this card. There is no apparent option for redeeming points for cash back or gift cards. These redemption options are mainstays with many competing credit cards. If you’re looking for these options, you may want to consider another financial institution. Remember that this is the only personal credit card Alaska USA offers customers besides its secured card (which doesn’t offer rewards). You can start obtaining merchandise for as little as 2,000 points. One of the lowest cost items on the catalog is a pair of Sonnet 4×30 binoculars valued at around $10. The ScoreCard catalog doesn’t mention how many points this item costs. However, assuming that it is one of their lowest valued items, one can assume that it would cost about 2,000 points. With this in mind, each point has a value of about $.005, which is about a quarter of a cent. This is actually a pretty low value for points, especially considering you have to spend $2,000 to earn a $10 piece of merchandise.

One APR for Everything

Rewards may be at the top of the Alaska USA Visa Credit Card’s features on this credit union’s website, but it’s actually far from the best feature of this card. This card’s standout feature is its singular interest rate. In this case, singular means that there is just one APR for all your transactions. This is actually rare among many credit cards. Many competing cards will offer cardholders different interest rates for different types of transactions. There is an APR for purchases and one for balance transfers, although many cards feature the same APR for both transactions. Where many credit card issuers don’t budge, however, is cash advances. These transactions usually feature APRs that are several points higher than the regular purchase APR. What’s more, the cash advance APR on many credit cards is the same regardless of your creditworthiness. If you need to withdraw emergency funds, you can end up paying a lot of money in interest. With the Alaska USA Visa, you don’t have to worry about that. No matter how you use your card, you’ll still incur the same interest.

Save Money with No Fees

Lastly, the Alaska USA Visa Credit Card can save you money by waiving certain fees. If you love to travel, you’ll love the fact that this credit card features no foreign transaction fee. Coupled with this card’s travel rewards, this makes it an almost ideal credit card to take with you on trips. Additionally, Visa is the most widely accepted payment network in the world. Armed with Alaska USA’s Visa Card, you can see the world knowing you have a trusty method of payment at your side. This card normally charges a $50 annual fee. However, you don’t have to pay this fee if you have a checking account with Alaska USA Federal Credit Union. Doing your banking with Alaska USA can be a good idea if you plan to open a credit card account with them. It can facilitate credit card payments and simplify your finances.

Should You Apply for the Alaska USA Visa Credit Card?

One of the good things about Alaska USA FCU is that membership in this credit union isn’t limited to people who live in Alaska. In fact, this financial institution has branches in other states. Additionally, the credit union services customers in all 50 states. That being said, there are few things holding you back if you really want to apply for this card. And there are some real reasons to apply for this Visa credit card. However, the rewards may not be one of them. The earning rate isn’t so great with this card, and it appears as if cardholders are limited on how they can redeem points. The most outstanding feature of this credit card is its single APR for all transactions. That, in itself, makes it worth having this card in your wallet