Popular investment app Robinhood is launching its first credit card, promising an industry-leading 3% cash back on most purchases.
Image courtesy of Robinhood
The waitlist is open for the Robinhood Gold Card, issued by Coastal Community Bank. It won’t have an annual fee, but to get the card you must be a Robinhood Gold member, which costs $5 a month as of this writing. A Robinhood Gold subscription offers various perks, including a 5% APY on uninvested cash, a 3% match on Robinhood retirement IRA contributions and more.
As part of the announcement, Robinhood also introduced a new benefit for Gold members: a 1% unlimited deposit boost on all incoming brokerage deposits starting in early May 2024. Terms apply.
Robinhood will begin slowly rolling customers off of the waitlist and shipping cards within the next few weeks, said Deepak Rao, general manager of Robinhood Money, in an email.
Here’s more on what the card will offer.
The Gold Card’s features
The Robinhood Gold Card will have an abundance of incentives for those who can qualify. A minimum credit score of 690 is required to reserve a spot on the waitlist.
Future cardholders can expect:
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No annual fee: Technically, the card’s annual fee is $0 — but the required Robinhood Gold subscription costs $5 per month, meaning you’ll pay $60 a year to hold the card.
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Rewards: Cardholders will earn 3% cash back on all purchases, with the exception of travel booking done through Robinhood’s new travel portal, which will earn 5% cash back.
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Flexible redemption options: Rewards are issued as points that can be redeemed at 1 cent a piece for travel, gift cards, shopping with eligible retailers or as cash that can be instantly transferred to the cardholder’s Robinhood brokerage account.
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Travel perks and protections: The card will offer benefits like trip interruption reimbursement, an auto rental collision damage waiver, extended warranty protection, return protection, roadside dispatch, travel and emergency assistance, Visa Signature concierge service and purchase security.
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Virtual cards: Cardholders will have access to virtual cards with disposable numbers as an added security option when shopping online. You’ll also be able to request a new card in the app if the physical card is misplaced.
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Options to simplify free trials and subscriptions: The card will enable you to easily cancel subscription payments, end free trials automatically and authorize cards for one-time use.
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Family-friendly features: You’ll be able to add up to five family members to the account as cardholders, regardless of their age. Every cardholder will receive their own card, and the primary cardholder may set spending limits, track users’ spending and lock lost cards instantly.
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A new app: The card will be managed in an app separate from Robinhood’s app. The new app will provide a financial overview of spending patterns, real-time spending insights and more.
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A referral incentive: Cardholders who refer 10 friends who sign up for the Robinhood Gold Card will get a version of the physical card that is made from real 10K gold.
Terms apply for all of these features and benefits.
Is it a good deal?
Yes. On some levels, it’s an outstanding deal, even. Among credit cards that offer a flat rewards rate on all purchases, the industry standard rarely exceeds 2% back, especially for credit cards from major companies.
In this case, yes, you’ll have to pay a monthly subscription fee for a Robinhood Gold membership. But if that fee remains $5 a month, then you’ll break even with the Robinhood Gold Card by spending just $2,000 per year — and that’s before taking into account the card’s 5% rate on eligible travel bookings or the various other perks that a Gold membership offers, independent of the credit card.
You will, however, have to commit to the Robinhood ecosystem to get the most out of the Robinhood Gold Card. (For instance, it’s unclear what offerings cardholders may expect from Robinhood’s new travel portal.) But the card does offer both redemption flexibility and steady point value regardless of the redemption you choose, which isn’t always the case with other rewards credit cards.
