It's a fair bet that you haven't heard of SGE Credit Union, unless you're a public servant in New South Wales or Victoria. The SGE stands for 'State Government Employees', but SGECU also offer services to the general public (specifically the communities of Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, Newcastle, Lismore, Wollongong, Liverpool and Parramatta).
I hadn't heard of them either, prior to a reader question from Nicholas on the
question board. Nicholas is looking for a card which offers cash back rewards (or similar) and interest free days, and he intends to spend about $4,000 a month on the card.
So is it any good?
Like a lot of cards from small banks, credit unions and building societies, it's a bit eclectic. If banking is like free-to-air television, these sorts of institutions are like ABC or SBS - they offer a lot of creativity and innovation, some of which works (a la Spicks and Specks) and some of which does not (a la Swift and Shift Couriers). When something does work, it's picked up by a commercial network (or in the case of credit cards, one of the big four banks).
The innovation of the Gold Solution Visa is the 'Rewarder' rewards program. When you receive the card, you'll also receive an EFTPOS Rewarder Card which is linked to your reward points. As you earn points (one point = one dollar) they are credited to your rewards account.
You'll earn one point per one hundred dollars spent and because points are credited to an EFTPOS card, you can redeem them on anything you want.
The Rewarder Card works like any other EFTPOS card, with one key exception: you cannot withdraw on your card from an ATM or through EFTPOS cash out facility.
Nicholas mentioned this in his question: "I have yet to try taking cash out from this card so i may yet be able to do so." and he may be disappointed, particularly as he was looking for a card which offered cash back rewards. Still, the lack of a cash option probably isn't a big deal: there are plenty of ways to spend money using EFTPOS.
Like most credit union cards, the interest rate is quite low (14.95%) and you get 55 days interest free (as long as you pay your account in full each month). The card also comes with extended warranty insurance, purchase security insurance and passport security insurance (whatever that is - presumably insurance cover against losing your passport, which is normally covered by your travel insurance anyway).
There are a few negatives. As Nicholas mentioned in his question, in order to get the card, you must have a $2 share in SGE credit union (which you can do by opening an account with them). There is also no BPay option to pay your credit card each month: you must either pay by cheque or direct deposit into your credit card account. The 3.5% minimum repayment each month (or $20, whichever is greater) is also much higher than most cards.
The annual fee is $100, which is about average for this range of features but perhaps a bit higher than we would have expected from a credit union.
Bottom line: the interest rate is good and the rewards program is clever (expect to see it adopted by a major bank soon), but the SGE Gold Solution Visa is let down by a few small inconveniences such as the lack of a BPay option and the requirement to open an account. If you're already an SGE member, or if you live in area readily serviced by their branches, this may be the card for you.
