2% debit card rewards! Plus Discover IT bonus now at $150, and First Bankcard to offer free FICOs

A 2% DEBIT CARD: One mile per two dollars spent is for suckers! The Justice Federal Credit Union is offering 2 points per dollar spent on its debit cards from November 1 through December 31. And if two months doesn’t sound like a lot of time, keep in mind this isn’t the first time JFCU has run this promotion this year.

JFCU’s target customers are in law enforcement. Here’s a list of who’s eligible to join–it’s court employees, police officers, that sort of thing. You can also join by being a member of law enforcement association, such as the National Sheriff’s Association.

If this thread is to be believed, however, being a member of the NSA or some such group does not make joining JFC a slam dunk, as at least one person has reported being denied for not being a citizen. There is also apparently a hard pull to join the credit union, though you may be able to use that same pull for your debit/credit application.

Finally, please note that the points are CU Reward points, and redemption levels vary from credit union to credit union. As far as I can tell you can usually at least come close to one cent per point, but I don’t have any data on Justice.

So is joining worth it? Not for me, probably not for most of you, though I imagine some of my more creative readers could come up with some ideas for a two-points-per-dollar debit card promotion.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: (Thanks Slickdeals!) Yesterday I mentioned that you could get $100 for the Discover IT card, but now the bonus is up to $150. Since I like to extrapolate trends, I’ll be disappointed if we don’t see a $200 bonus tomorrow.

SPEAKING OF 2%: Did you know the no-annual-fee FNBO Direct Visa card effectively gives you 2% cash back on everything for the first 12 billing cycles? Obviously the Fidelity Amex is a better choice since there’s no expiration of the 2% cash back, but it’s nice to know there’s an alternative out there, even if it’s only a year-long alternative.

SPEAKING OF FNBO: FNBO subsidiary First Bankcard will start giving out free monthly FICO scores:

First Bankcard is working with Fair Isaac Corp., creator of FICO scores, starting Monday to provide customers with free access to their scores. Also provided will be information about the factors contributing to their scores and recommendations to improve it.

All of the information will be updated monthly at no cost to customers and they can see their scores and other information when they log into their credit card account.

…”This is a significant step forward for consumers,” Jay Seaton, president of Consumer Credit Counseling of Northeast Ohio, said today.

“I would anticipate offers such as these will spur some additional financial institutions to do the same,” Seaton added. “This will pick up speed quickly as a competitive offering.”

Let’s hope so! First Bankcard underwrites a bunch of cards you probably don’t have in your wallet, such as the Chrysler cards, the Sheetz card (I don’t live anywhere near a Sheetz, but the card gives 5 points per dollar spent there in case anybody’s interested), the Orvis card, the La Quinta card, the Alitalia card, and some others. Oh, and of course there’s the World of Warcraft Visa for some reason. The oddest card of their I found was the Independent Purchasing Cooperative MasterCard for Subway franchisees, which gives 3 points per dollar at this list of businesses.

SPEAKING OF THE IPC: I’m pretty sure I just became the first blogger to provide coverage of the Independent Purchasing Cooperative MasterCard.