NTUC Membership

Previously I mentioned that a good membership to get is NTUC. I decided to provide more details on this membership in this post based on my understanding.

To be a NTUC member, one needs to sign up to be a union member or a member of the NTUC General Branch. There is a membership fee applicable for this. It is $117 per year ($9 per month for 12 months plus an additional month payable on the last month).

Feel free to go to NTUC U Portal and check out the membership benefits available. This includes workplace protection for being in the union, the ability to earn Linkpoints, eligibility for UTAP funding and more. Personally, I feel that if you are holding a non management post in your job, this membership is something I would get. It’s like a job insurance that I would pay $117 yearly for, without taking into considerations other benefits.

For Linkpoints, every $1 spent at NTUC Fairprice gets you 2 Linkpoints. Spending $75 will get you 150 Linkpoints which is equivalent to $1 offset your next purchase if you choose to redeem the points. This will work out to be 1.33% rebate. A minimum of $20 spending is required before any Linkpoints is awarded.

What most of us is also interested in, is the benefits that are available at NTUC Fairprice. To be eligible for the benefits at NTUC Fairprice, one needs a Fairprice membership which can only be gotten after being a general NTUC member. The fees applicable for this is a one time entrance fee of $3 plus 20 NTUC Fariprice share purchase at $1 per share. In the event this membership is terminated, the shares will be “sold back” NTUC Fairprice at $1 per share.

The extra benefits for being a NTUC Fairprice member is that one gets a patronage rebate. The rebate percentage may varies each year, but so far it has been pretty stabilised at about 4% base on my knowledge.

This patronage rebate is only computed at the end of each financial year and is only given for the first $6000 purchases at NTUC Fairprice.

A side note, at this point of time, NTUC Plus! Card also serves as Fairprice membership card.

So at this point of time, a quick summary for your spending at NTUC Fairprice. It is 1.33% worth of Linkpoints and 4% patronage rebate ($240 based on 4% of the maximum $6000 spending applicable). Making the total possible rebate to be 5.33% for your spending at NTUC Fairprice.

Apply the two memberships together and set up either a GIRO account so that your membership fee payment and your patronage rebates can be a hasslefree process.

While NTUC membership and Fairprice membership has a lot of privileges, is it a membership for you? It still depends on your lifestyle. If you are already in a management position, the union may bring little workplace benefits to you. Also, if you do not frequent NTUC, it might not be worth spending the membership fees as the potential rebates cannot cover this membership fees.

And you can also apply for OCBC NTUC Plus! credit card if you do not have a better card to use. There should be no annual fee for the card since you are a NTUC member. However, as your NTUC and Fairprice membership itself already awards Linkpoints and patronage rebates, there isn’t an extra benefit to using this credit card. You can also charged your recurring NTUC membership fees to this card and earn additional Linkpoints. For every $2 charged, 5 Linkpoints are earned. Based on an annual membership fee of $117, the total additional Linkpoints that could be earned is 292.5 Linkpoints ($117/2 x5 Linkpoints).

For credit cards, if you are not a NTUC member, you can still apply for OCBC Plus! Visa card to earn Linkpoints but there will be no patronage rebates.