Shop Your Way 5321 Visa Card
I started getting acquainted with the new Shop Your Way 5321 Visa card from First Bank & Trust late last year. My wife and I were each targeted via snail mail for 500k Shop Your Way bonus point offers. I promptly applied and was approved for the card, and my wife had the same experience at year’s end. First, I’ll talk about the highlights of this card and subsequently describe our experiences so far.
Shop Your Way 5321 Visa Card Highlights
Again, our targeted offers came with a 500k signup bonuses after spending $5k per card account within the first 90 days of opening. That welcome offer might seem eye-popping, but 1k points are worth a dollar. Big picture, the combination of that $500 offer value and the attractive card bonus categories made applying a no-brainer for each of us. I’ll get into the latter now.
The Shop Your Way 5321 Card earns as follows:
- 5% on gas, EV charging, and everyday transportation
- 3% on grocery, dining, and travel
- 2% on Shop Your Way Merchant purposes
- 1% everywhere else
Of course, we exclusively focus on the 5% and 3% categories on the Shop Your Way 5321 card, and I recommend others do the same. Confusingly, the spend categories’ rewards are advertised as percentages while they are awarded in points. In other words, the 5% categories earn 50 points per dollar and so on. But I think it’s easier to think of them as percentages. Perhaps the bank feels the same.
Point Post Quickly
I’m happy to play some music beautiful to avid points earner’s ears. All rewards from card spend post remarkably fast. In my experience, these points appeared in my account within a few days of the respective transactions. Certain banks operate under similar schedules, with PenFed probably being my favorite. Many other banks make cardholders wait until statement cut for access to their points. Not with the Shop Your Way 5321 Visa – cardholders can redeem on a quite-timely basis, with a catch (more on that in a bit).
Redemption Options
Shop Your Way 5321 primary cardholders have two options for redeeming Shop Your Way points: gift cards or statement credits. Gift card redemptions start at $5, and minimum redemptions can vary based on the gift card type. Valuations are generally 1k points per dollar. What I consider to be the better redemption for most cardholders is for statement credits at that same rate.
…Then Wait
Back to the catch. The site advises that statement credit redemptions process within 7 to 14 days. The redemption confirmation email advised the credit would appear in 10 business days. This side isn’t necessarily as prompt as other bank redemptions, but the redemption tracked in the promised timeframe. More importantly, taking into account the prompt points posting on the front end, the entire process can still be faster than certain other competing banks’.
A Bare-bones Website
The website for the Shop Your Way 5321 Visa card is very simple. Some might see this as a positive, but I find it a bit jarring. Online support is virtually non-existent. When I clicked on the “Contact Us” link within my profile, the site provided a snail mail address and 888 phone number. That’s it. As long as accounts and rewards appropriately post, I don’t see any issue here. But I expect any assistance will take longer than some may care for. Be warned.
Shop Your Way 5321 Visa – Conclusion
Some may not be keen on picking up what they consider an obscure card from a lesser-known bank. Others can see the easy win here by broadening their horizons with a new relationship. I can respect either decision. For us, though, signing up for the Shop Your Way 5321 card didn’t require much thought.
Do you hold the new Shop Your Way 5321 Visa? How has your experience been?
