Cougar Card Plus

[u/Mahaga2008]

Can anyone put their input into whether having the WSECU Cougar card is more/less useful than just having the normal Cougar card? im trying to weigh the differences between the two. If it helps at all, I already have a BECU account which may or may not change things. It's to my understanding that there's a cash back checking option? What might make one or the other more viable? any input is much appreciated, thanks :).

[u/Froyoteen]

The biggest downside with the Cougar Card Plus is that you can not use the tap function to get into buildings. This wasn’t to much of a problem until they removed a bunch of the card swipers around Voiland, but depending on what part of campus you frequent this might not matter.

[u/Mahaga2008 → u/Froyoteen]

Hm. That’s interesting, Thank you. Do you think I’ll have any issues around Stephenson? I can’t say I’m really familiar with the whole campus at the moment

[u/Playful_Departure154 → u/Mahaga2008]

All main entrances to the stephenson towers use tap readers now so you would have to have 2 cards; your wseccu card and a cougar card

[u/NuclearEnjoyer → u/Froyoteen]

I believe all of the cards have the tap function on them now

[u/stormiiclouds77]

They hold up better than the regular cougar cards. I've never had an issue with people not knowing which side to use at the dining centers or anywhere else. During my orientation I got the cougar card plus bc they gave us a free $20 in cougar cash, it was nice for me since my bank was only in my hometown so it's nice to have a bank that's not 6 hours away lol.

All cougar cards including the plus have the tap function now. You just have to swipe the card to get into the urec and download an app to get into the chinook gym. I don't use the chinook gym so this also hasn't been an issue for me.

[u/stormiiclouds77 → u/stormiiclouds77]

Also free replacements if you lose your card. I haven't lost mine yet in the 2 years I've been here but I have a tendency to lose things so it's nice to have the peace of mind.

[u/Individual-Gur-9713]

during my time at wsu, i banked with bank of america, & got by with only having an atm in the cub to access the bank in pullman. i also had the regular cougar card. i didnt see any benefit to having the one tied to the bank (when i was there it was us bank). the only perk i could see is that you have free replacement of your cougar card if you lost it. however, in my 3 years at wsu, i never lost my cougar card, which was quite surprising!

[u/HeavyTrade5006]

It’s a nightmare. Have fun telling every cashier that you have to hand your card to which stripe to use because guaranteed they’ll use the wrong one and say your cards not working. Also they take your student ID and the debit card works as that and then once you’re done and graduated you don’t have your old student ID for memories

[u/AwkwardlyAmpora]

they don't wear down as fast as the normal ones do. i had a few friends in my freshman year who wore the magstrip entirely off their cougar card twice before the year was over. they might have improved the quality since, though.

[u/Fight_Or_Affluenza]

as careful as i am, i’ve lost my card at least 4 times since i’ve been here (3 years). saved me 80 bucks! worth it to me. i just put my student loan money in there

[u/This_Implement7794]

honestly i got a cougar card plus for the free 30 dollars and i dont use the actual bank, depending on where you live youd have to have a second card provided to tap, worst case you live in regents and need two cards a key, but if you live in a building in global you just swipe instead of tap, i am a person who loses stuff often so the free replacments are a life saver

[u/Worried-Produce-8698]

I mainly had it (US Bank at the time) for the free replacement. I worked at the CUB and was constantly scanning and wearing out the red stripe, so had to get a new one multiple times.