Choice Rewards World Mastercard®

Choice Rewards World Mastercard® Review

The Choice Rewards card is an appealing credit card for many consumers as it offers a long list of benefits. On top of providing cardholders with a competitively low interest rate, First Tech waives annual and fees on foreign transactions, cash advances, and balance transfers. Additionally, cardholders can take advantage of a 0% introductory APR on balance transfers. This in addition to a straightforward rewards program.

No Fees for Using Your Credit Card

Perhaps one of the most attractive features of this credit card is that cardholders don’t have to pay any surcharges for performing many common transactions. First of all, there is never an annual fee associated with this credit card, which isn’t so common among rewards cards.

Additionally, cardholders aren’t responsible for paying a fee when they take out a cash advance. This particular feature is very rare among any class of credit card.

There are also no balance transfer fees. Coupled with First Tech’s 0% introductory APR on balance transfers for the first 12 months, this card can save you a lot of money when you transfer over a balance from a high-interest card.

Travelers will rejoice knowing they can freely use their Choice Rewards card when they travel abroad without having to worry about additional fees. Considering that Mastercard is one of the most widely-accepted credit cards in the world, this is a great card to have in that one personal item that airlines allow you to bring on board.

0% Introductory APR on Balance Transfers

New cardholders can take advantage of zero interest for one year when they transfer a balance over from another credit card. This applies to balance transfers made within the first 90 days from the date of opening a new account. Afterwards, the regular interest rate applies to any remaining balance.

That being said, this is an excellent balance transfer credit card. If you intend to pay off a balance from a high-interest credit card within 12 months, you can potentially save a lot of money in the long term.

Double the Points on So Many Things

First Tech FCU offers a few other rewards cards, but the Choice Rewards Mastercard® is the only one that offers two points for ever dollar spent on a wide selection of purchase categories. These double point categories include:

• Groceries
• Gas
• Electronics
• Medical expenses
• Household goods
• Telecommunications (like cellular and cable services)

Any other purchases that don’t fit into the above categories qualify for one point for every dollar spent. What’s more, there is no end to the amount of points you can earn. Furthermore, points never expire as long as your account is open. This means you can rack up points to redeem huge rewards, like merchandise, travel vouchers, gift cards, and even cash back.

There are some limitations on the types of purchases that can earn you points, however. Transactions like cash advances, balance transfers, and purchasing travelers’ checks do not qualify you for points. Additionally, you cannot earn points on gambling transactions, which include buying lottery tickets or casino credits or chips.

Hit the Ground Running with 20,000 Bonus Points

The Choice Rewards card let’s you accumulate extra points when you first sign up for this credit card. If you spend $3,000 on your card within the first 60 days of opening an account, you automatically qualify for 20,000 bonus points.

That’s the equivalent of over six points for every dollar you spend. If you take advantage of this offer, you’ll be that much closer to cashing in your points for some great rewards.

Lower Interest Rates

Because First Tech is a member-owned credit union, it offers some very attractive interest rates to its members. The APR range for this card is competitively low, and applicants can be approved for an interest rate that is over five percentage points lower than the national average. Even the highest APR is on par with the national average, so you don’t have to worry about paying too much interest on your balances.

What’s more, the APR is virtually the same regardless of the type of transaction you perform. The lowest interest rate for cash advances is only one percentage point higher than the regular purchase APR, and the highest interest rate is identical to that of the purchase APR.

Should You Apply for the Choice Rewards World Mastercard®?

This credit card offers an attractive package of features to cardholders. Its biggest draw is its lack of fees, which makes this card almost free to use. This isn’t common among rewards cards, which often charge hefty annual fees for the privilege of earning points.

No cash advance fees is one of the most striking features of this card. This detail can be useful to cardholders who need to pay cash for big-ticket items or services, like home repairs. The fact that the APR barely changes between purchases and cash advances, makes this an almost ideal cash advance credit card.

This credit card doesn’t offer the Mastercard® perks that First Tech’s Odyssey card offers, but cardholders do save on having to pay an annual fee. The fact that cardholders also earn double points on such a wide array of purchases is also another advantage of this card over the Odyssey card.

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