NTUC member worth it??

[Squaredot]

Hi

When is the next annual dividend payout for member?

Iris

in June 2015

 

[battledome64]

They just deducted membership fee of 27 dollars is this monthly?

 

[Sunnydae]

5% rebate in LinkPoints at Unity.

Not cash rebate

More specifically, you can redeem 150 linkpts as $1 at NTUC fairprice. When NTUC advertises their rebates as 5% etc, it means you get linkpoints which can be redeemed as 5% of the amount.

Eg.
1$ spent at Unity = 7.5 linkpoints (if you spend min $400)
Spend $200 at Unity = 1500 linkpoints = $10 (ie. 5% rebate)

They'll issue you 3 linkpoints per $1 first and then the remaining 4.5 linkpoints later if you exceed 400 on the card.

You get 4% rebate annually on all expenditure at NTUC Fairprice, independent of the credit card used if you are an NTUC Fairprice share owner (automatically registered if you're an NTUC member).

NTUC does get quite a lot of "small" promotions (eg. get $10 off for $80 spent at Unity, extra linkpoints for buying drinks etc), and a lot of "patterns" so a bit of maths needed to see if worthwhile or not.

(NTUC) Membership fee should be $9 per mth ($18 in Dec) so if you paid $27, maybe they charged you for 2 mths when you first applied etc.

It used to be a straightforward card

 

[battledome64]

Thanks Sunnydae

 

[hanneng]

If you are under some NTUC affiliated unions, you will receive annual gift as well.

 

[beri stupid idiot]

need to spend abit out of ntuc ... tnc abit wierd

 

[iamverybuaysong]

Just cancelled my membership.

Never use at all as my mum us doing the groceries and she has her own NTUC card.

Never use their benefits too.

 

[battledome64]

If you are under some NTUC affiliated unions, you will receive annual gift as well.

What do you mean?

 

[keywin]

first off, want to confess i only read the last 5 pages of this thread... got 2 qns, not sure if anybody can help:

1) from some bros' posts, is it right to say because of membership fee, it's only worth to get the plus cards if spend more than around $1k a year at fairprice?

2) if i do not make actual payment with the Visa function, is there any diff between the basic plus! card and the OCBC plus! Visa card? I only interested in clocking points/rebates and will make payment on my other cards...

 

[Sunnydae]

What do you mean?

NTUC actually consists of many different workers unions (eg. Singapore Maritime Officers Union, DBS staff union etc) so some of them actually give free annual gifts to all its members.

Depends from union to union and obviously you need to belong to (or have worked in) the industry to join.

Btw, you don't actually need to pay the membership to get the card. Just the card alone would get you 5% at NTUC (if you spend $400).

If you have ntuc membership, then show your member card and use another credit card for payment.

 

[derrickgoh]

1) from some bros' posts, is it right to say because of membership fee, it's only worth to get the plus cards if spend more than around $1k a year at fairprice?

IMO it is worth getting if you fall under at least 1 of the following:

1) You are covered by union. Noted that Executives & above are NOT as they fall under General Branch. They can give you advice but will NOT fight for you if there is any dispute.

2) You make use of the discounts offered to union members.

3) You spend a lot at Fairprice so earn the extra Linkpoints.

I used to be a union member and I applied for the uPlus card as I fell under category 1. Later I got promoted and after 2 years I found myself neither in category 2 or 3. So what was I paying the monthly membership fee for?

The little bit of extra Linkpoints I earned was definitely a lot less then my total membership fees i.e. I was making a loss. So I cancelled my union membership and went with a regular Plus card.

But if you make use of many of the discounts given plus you grocery shop a lot and after calculating you realise the amount saved is more than the membership fee paid, then of course its worth it.

 

[tatose]

NTUC membership cards used to be straightforward, nowadays it is a semi-complex "cash rebate" card. If you do use NTUC membership features, membership benefits can easily > membership costs.

I don't bother to use it as a grocery credit card anymore (now deploying it purely as membership discount card), since there are too much personal administration involved to optimise the cash rebate.

 

[battledome64]

Am I supposed to renew ntuc membership manually?

If I don't renew will they cancel?

On the U Portal my membership says valid till DEC 2099

 

[therat]

Btw, you don't actually need to pay the membership to get the card. Just the card alone would get you 5% at NTUC (if you spend $400).

You still need to pay membership. Some company subsidy the membership fee, some subside 75%. It depend on the company.
The membership fee will deduce directly from your payroll.

Am I supposed to renew ntuc membership manually?

If I don't renew will they cancel?

On the U Portal my membership says valid till DEC 2099

It will automatic renew, unless you cancel it.

 

[GoldHawkz]

in June 2015

anyone can share how much is the divident ?

i heard that the divident earn can offset the monthly bill.. I am still contemplating whether to apply or not.

 

[Sunnydae]

You still need to pay membership. Some company subsidy the membership fee, some subside 75%. It depend on the company.
The membership fee will deduce directly from your payroll.

Thought I should clarify a bit since I think I detracted slightly from original poster. There are 2 cards.

Fairprice Plus! Visa: No need to pay membership fees. 5% at NTUC fairpirice ($400min), can get link points, cannot enjoy any other NTUC benfit (subsidised courses etc)
NTUC Plus! Visa: pay $117 membership fees. 5% at NTUC fairprice, got linkpts, got all other ntuc benefits (eg. Yearly rebates from NTUC fairprice)

So its not necessary to get NTUC membership for the 5% monthly rebate (which is comparable to other supermarket cards).

 

[battledome64]

Anyone know when they giving out dividends?
Is it sep?

 

[Allen_C_Sharp]

Thought I should clarify a bit since I think I detracted slightly from original poster. There are 2 cards.

Fairprice Plus! Visa: No need to pay membership fees. 5% at NTUC fairpirice ($400min), can get link points, cannot enjoy any other NTUC benfit (subsidised courses etc)
NTUC Plus! Visa: pay $117 membership fees. 5% at NTUC fairprice, got linkpts, got all other ntuc benefits (eg. Yearly rebates from NTUC fairprice)

So its not necessary to get NTUC membership for the 5% monthly rebate (which is comparable to other supermarket cards).

This plus cc min 400 5% need to pay using this card? If use it to pay, only 5%+link points 1.33%, then too many cards better in the market.
If ntuc plus member $117 pa, can swipe the card n use other higher rebates card 6-7.3% + linkpoints 1.33% + yearly bonus 4% + add discount for fairprice items, total rebate easily >11%, then minus about $10 per month member fee cost, so each month >200 purchase will be worth it.
E.g. Monthly spend in ntuc $400 x at least 11.33% - 10$ =$35 about 50% more rebates than the plus cc monthly rebate $400 x (5%+1.33%) =$25.

 

[tiny]

Anyone know when they giving out dividends?
Is it sep?

- Sept 2012
- Sept 2013
- Jun 2014

I guess dividends should be given out in Jun 2015 for this year.

They wrote to you about aligning the calendar in the same letter which declared the 2014 dividends. You threw the letter away?

 

[ossify1]

Thought I should clarify a bit since I think I detracted slightly from original poster. There are 2 cards.

Fairprice Plus! Visa: No need to pay membership fees. 5% at NTUC fairpirice ($400min), can get link points, cannot enjoy any other NTUC benfit (subsidised courses etc)
NTUC Plus! Visa: pay $117 membership fees. 5% at NTUC fairprice, got linkpts, got all other ntuc benefits (eg. Yearly rebates from NTUC fairprice)

So its not necessary to get NTUC membership for the 5% monthly rebate (which is comparable to other supermarket cards).

This plus cc min 400 5% need to pay using this card? If use it to pay, only 5%+link points 1.33%, then too many cards better in the market.
If ntuc plus member $117 pa, can swipe the card n use other higher rebates card 6-7.3% + linkpoints 1.33% + yearly bonus 4% + add discount for fairprice items, total rebate easily >11%, then minus about $10 per month member fee cost, so each month >200 purchase will be worth it.
E.g. Monthly spend in ntuc $400 x at least 11.33% - 10$ =$35 about 50% more rebates than the plus cc monthly rebate $400 x (5%+1.33%) =$25.

the annoying thing about these cards is the min spend on non-fairprice items. i just use the card to collect and redeem linkpoints.