If I have an NRA credit card do I keep it?

Have you been using it? If so, why would you cancel?

but since there is an agreement with the NRA that I assume benefits the NRA..

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I don't get this part. Are you saying that your membership in the NRA requires you assume any and all benefits they offer? If so, that's certainly not true. If you decide to cancel the account, you'd be doing it through the bank, as your credit line (and its terms and conditions) lies with them, and not the NRA.

Is this card issued by a bank that is severing ties with the NRA?

Is this card issued by a bank that is severing ties with the NRA?

Not a bad question. Of course, I use a debit card with a local credit union and never really looked into any of the NRA credit cards because I have no need. The news media want you to think all banks are severing ties and NRA members credit cards are kaput. What is the true story?

I called them and cancelled mine and let them know why I was cancelling. In my opinion, FNB Omaha placed blame wrongly. The NRA had nothing to do with "Gun Free Zones."

I had that card for awhile. The benefits of the card weren't that great to you or the NRA. If you have good credit and don't carry debt on it cancel it and go get a better card with better benefits. If you feel that strongly about donating to the NRA, there are multiple cash back cards that you could use and get a higher percentage of cash back. Then donate your cash back directly to the NRA at a rate higher that Omaha Bank ever did with the card.

barnetmill said:

I do have the NRA Omaha VISA card. I was going to cancel, but since there is an agreement with the NRA that I assume benefits the NRA, SHOULD I HANG ON TO THE CARD AND USE IT FOR NOW?

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If the interest rate is low enough I would keep it.

barnetmill said:

I am trying to find out if anyone actually knows anything about the benefits to the NRA. I never use debit cards and never carry any debt. I use credit cards routinely and if that helps the NRA I would continue it. This is separate from any donations that I decide to give them.

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My understanding is there was some tiny small percentage donation made to the NRA with every transaction you made (I never was able to find out what that was other than a vague statement about supporting NRA programs). They gave you a credit on your first statement for $35 or $40. They also have your standard, you get points for spending money and can redeem them for crap you don't need system. None in my opinion were necessarily good in comparison to other rewards cards.

The donations comment I made was just to say you could go out and get a better cash back or rewards card and likely use your reward from a better card to make a donation to the NRA that would be vastly higher than the Bank of Omaha Card vague "help the NRA programs" statement.

I'm canceling mine if they renew it without the NRA affiliate program and will tell them why. In the meantime I assume there is a contract in place that is still valid for the current cards. If someone can show me that this is not the case I will cancel it immediately.

I've always paid all credits card in full every month, about the only worse way to borrow money is from cousin Vinny the loan shark.

barnetmill asked:
SHOULD I HANG ON TO THE CARD AND USE IT FOR NOW?

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For the moment, I suggest that you hang on to it. My reasons are:

• You got the card for a reason and those reasons probably haven't disappeared, so until you can arrange other credit, hang on.
• Canceling a credit card reduces your "available credit" and that can adversely impact your credit score.
  
• The bank benefits from the card when you use it, so if you keep it, pay it down and don't use it (any more than necessary) the bank doesn't benefit.
• If you are carrying a balance on the card, pay it off. It's the sky-high interest the banks want, so paying down your balance deprives them of revenue.
  
• The NRA will probably have arrangements with another bank to issue an NRA "affinity card" in eight to twelve weeks and they'll probably make it easy to switch to the new card and transfer your balance. That will be the time to move your account.

Once you transfer to a new card, you can write the bank a polite letter telling them you left because they bowed to political pressure to paint you and fellow lawful gun owners as responsible for a tragedy that was not of your own making.

I also have to believe that the bank's management sat down before they canceled their arrangement with NRA and concluded that they wouldn't loose enough business to hurt. Plenty of people will cancel their card right away out of anger. What will get the bank management's attention is not a bunch of people who cancel in the heat of the moment, but a steady stream of cancellations over the next few months.

What difference does it make? Used to be when using a CC you had to 'hand it over' and the clerk saw the logo and there was a bit of advertising. Now you stick the chip in and no one sees your card.

P5 Guy said:

What difference does it make? Used to be when using a CC you had to 'hand it over' and the clerk saw the logo and there was a bit of advertising. Now you stick the chip in and no one sees your card.

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The main thing is the ~1% "cash back" you can get with many cards goes to the NRA instead of you with this card. Easy way for me to contribute ~$10+ a month to the NRA without my wife nagging "why are you giving so much to the NRA"

As of the date of termination of the arrangement between the NRA and First National Bank, the NRA will cease to receive the financial benefits it had been receiving. Since the bank wants the card holders' business, it won't cancel their cards. I expect they will receive new cards bearing First National's logo instead of the NRA's. That's what happened to us when First National acquired the credit card operation of the bank from which we had gotten our cards.

I expect the NRA will be able to come to a similar arrangement with another, hungrier bank that believes it's in the banking business rather than the gun policy business. (The Kroger supermarket chain and Federal Express have taken this position. Warren Buffet has said he won't be his employees' and stockholders' nanny on the subject.)

There remains the question of what to do about your (formerly) NRA card. After acquiring a card from the NRA's new partner, you could cancel the old one and explain your reason in a letter with the cut up pieces of the card enclosed. It would be an extra twist of the knife to tell them that their rejection of the NRA prompted you to cancel a non-NRA card in order to get an NRA one. If you want to do First National some actual harm, keep their card but charge only a token amount (e.g. $1) each month. Billing you and processing your payment will cost them more than they made on the charges.

Comment about credit cards in general. Short of pawn shops and payday lenders, they are the most expensive way to borrow money. If you have been running a balance from month to month, do what you must to pay it off. Then, except for emergencies, pay off the balance in full every month so that they don't charge you interest. It helps your credit score to have a high credit limit but only charge a small fraction of it.

On Feb. 23 the Bank of Omaha withdrew from their credit card agreement with the NRA. Nothing will be going to the NRA.

I don't have a NRA credit card but if I did I would simply quit using it and put it in a safe place. I would also call the bank and let them know that I was very unhappy with their decision and just leave it at that. That way it doesn't affect your credit score and the bank gets nothing from you. That means that they have to deal with your account and to make sure they don't close it because of inactivity I would make a couple of very small purchases a year and pay them off when I received my credit card bill. It's called getting back in a small way. They have to maintain the account but receive no profit from it

What exactly did the NRA do to you, for you to feel that you need to severe ties with them, "even third party ties". They have been protecting our second amendment rights for 100 years. Did you see the ban that these low life senators and congressmen tried to push through, it bans every semi auto gun. Pistols Rifles, just like they said world happen. The NRA understands that as soon as you give them anything, they want everything. Now if you don't mind being unarmed during the worse time in our history for mayhem, then go on and continue buying into the bullcrap that the Democrats are pushing. Just remember when something happens that you had a part in their trying to take all guns away. If you look at the past 24 hours there were about 100 shootings around the country, so it's not like this is getting better, and with no way for good people to deter criminals from walking into your house, how are you going to justify that to your kids or wife? How do I protect my family , One of which was in that school, with no gun? The bad guys aren't giving up their guns, just the PC white folks.

I support the NRA but never applied for their credit card. I use a credit card for virtually everything that I buy, and the card that I use pays me 1.5% back on all purchases. This often comes to about $100 month. So in the course of a year they pay me about $1,200 and by paying the balance in full each month I never incur any interest charges. If an NRA sponsored card offered that benefit I would gladly switch to their card.

george burns said:

What exactly did the NRA do to you, for you to feel that you need to severe ties with them, "even third party ties". They have been protecting our second amendment rights for 100 years. Did you see the ban that these low life senators and congressmen tried to push through, it bans every semi auto gun. Pistols Rifles, just like they said world happen. The NRA understands that as soon as you give them anything, they want everything. Now if you don't mind being unarmed during the worse time in our history for mayhem, then go on and continue buying into the bullcrap that the Democrats are pushing. Just remember when something happens that you had a part in their trying to take all guns away. If you look at the past 24 hours there were about 100 shootings around the country, so it's not like this is getting better, and with no way for good people to deter criminals from walking into your house, how are you going to justify that to your kids or wife? How do I protect my family , One of which was in that school, with no gun? The bad guys aren't giving up their guns, just the PC white folks.

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Was this post directed at me?

doubleh said:

Was this post directed at me?

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No the Bank that rescinded it's deal and failed to send out new cards that disassociate it from the NRA, I should have made that clear

barnetmill said:

I do have the NRA Omaha VISA card. I was going to cancel, but since there is an agreement with the NRA that I assume benefits the NRA, SHOULD I HANG ON TO THE CARD AND USE IT FOR NOW?

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If your card is like mine, you get "points" for your purchases. When I called on Monday to check, I only have ~2100 points and you need 2500 for gift cards or cash back. So I am starting to use this one more to get to that 2500 pts. as quickly as I can. After getting those points redeemed, I plan on closing the account.

WAIT!!! I have worked in the credit card industry for 40 years. If they severed their agreement with the NRA, this is what would typically happen. There is probably a notice period that the bank has to give the partner or visa versa when terminating the agreement. Minimally 90 days.

After the notification period is up, the bank will re-issue you another card for a generic card.
Don't cancel it till then. Let them go through the cost of the reissue, then cancel.

There are plenty of better cards out there anyway, Citi double cash, Chase Freedom unlimited, Chase Amazon rewards, Bank of America cash back, and Capital One Quicksilver are the best in the industry for everyday cards. and you don't have to accumulate a set number of points before you cash in for any of these... you cash out whenever you like..

JohnKSa said:

Whatever you plan to do, let the company know NOW what your plans are and why.

Silent boycotts are pointless.

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Oh, I will most definitely let them know the reason.