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The "Upgrade Cash Rewards Elite Visa" offer of $400 Welcome Bonus from Credit Karma has undisclosed recurring fee from Unify Financial Credit Union

113 149 March 2, 2022 at 09:06 AM in Finance (5)
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Last Edited by mydorazio March 2, 2022 at 09:10 AM
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Credit Karma recommended I get the "Upgrade Cash Rewards Elite Visa." It is advertised as a no fee (annual or otherwise) line of credit. If I open an "Upgrade Rewards Checking Account" and make 3 transactions within 60 days I will get a $400 welcome bonus within the first two billing cycles.

Not stated in any of the ads is that in order to get this line of credit/personal loan I need to join the UNIFY Financial Credit Union. To do that I need to join one of two nonprofit foundations so they helpfully state that
"UNIFY will make your initial deposit ($5) and cover the first-year membership fee associated with joining one of their affiliated partnering nonprofit organizations: Surfrider Foundation or Friends of Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area."
Well, this was all BS that was not disclosed in the ads so I want to warn you about it. I don't know the membership dues of Surfrider Foundation but "Friends of Hobbs..." costs $25 per year.

Maybe there are people more careful than me who can navigate this and get the $400 welcome bonus successfully. But I think if they will lie to me about "no fee" they will probably figure out a way to deny the welcome bonus. So I canceled my incomplete application. (FWIW, I have a feeling they never actually did pull my credit score because I "qualified" for their $10k line of credit about 2 milliseconds after I clicked the "submit" button. I think they would have pulled my credit score during the next step that I never did, which is to apply for membership in the credit union.)

I don't know if this was smart or dumb but I thought I'd share because searches for this deal produce no results in Slickdeals.
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mydorazio
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YanksIn2009
03-02-2022 at 08:37 PM.
03-02-2022 at 08:37 PM.
Quote from mydorazio :
Credit Karma recommended I get the "Upgrade Cash Rewards Elite Visa." It is advertised as a no fee (annual or otherwise) line of credit. If I open an "Upgrade Rewards Checking Account" and make 3 transactions within 60 days I will get a $400 welcome bonus within the first two billing cycles.

Not stated in any of the ads is that in order to get this line of credit/personal loan I need to join the UNIFY Financial Credit Union. To do that I need to join one of two nonprofit foundations so they helpfully state that
"UNIFY will make your initial deposit ($5) and cover the first-year membership fee associated with joining one of their affiliated partnering nonprofit organizations: Surfrider Foundation or Friends of Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area."
Well, this was all BS that was not disclosed in the ads so I want to warn you about it. I don't know the membership dues of Surfrider Foundation but "Friends of Hobbs..." costs $25 per year.

Maybe there are people more careful than me who can navigate this and get the $400 welcome bonus successfully. But I think if they will lie to me about "no fee" they will probably figure out a way to deny the welcome bonus. So I canceled my incomplete application. (FWIW, I have a feeling they never actually did pull my credit score because I "qualified" for their $10k line of credit about 2 milliseconds after I clicked the "submit" button. I think they would have pulled my credit score during the next step that I never did, which is to apply for membership in the credit union.)

I don't know if this was smart or dumb but I thought I'd share because searches for this deal produce no results in Slickdeals.
There are a number of bank offers that do not involve getting credit cards (or in your case also having to join some credit union). You always need to read the fine print on the terms and conditions. Many will put up a myriad of nonsense like direct deposit, debit card transactions and min balances in the hopes that you do not meet one of them and they can get out of having to pay the bonus. Just make sure you read and understand all that before applying and do your due diligence.

https://www.hustlermoneyblog.com/...romotions/

Note: Despite what the list above says, imo, I would avoid Axos bank. They have a terrible rep online.
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Last edited by YanksIn2009 March 2, 2022 at 08:40 PM.
Joined Sep 2003
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mikedaley
03-06-2022 at 06:07 PM.
03-06-2022 at 06:07 PM.
Quote from YanksIn2009 :
There are a number of bank offers that do not involve getting credit cards (or in your case also having to join some credit union). You always need to read the fine print on the terms and conditions. Many will put up a myriad of nonsense like direct deposit, debit card transactions and min balances in the hopes that you do not meet one of them and they can get out of having to pay the bonus. Just make sure you read and understand all that before applying and do your due diligence.

https://www.hustlermoneyblog.com/...romotions/

Note: Despite what the list above says, imo, I would avoid Axos bank. They have a terrible rep online.
Another reason to run away as fast as you can from CK
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