Aspiration Zero Credit Card

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Our Review

Did you know that you could fight climate change with your credit card? With a growing demand for environmentally friendly products in the financial space, there’s finally a credit card designed for those seeking greener options to reduce their carbon footprint. Aspiration is determined to help you reduce your carbon footprint.

Here’s what you need to know about the Aspiration Zero Credit Card.

About Aspiration

Aspiration is a fintech company founded in 2013 that partners with sustainable companies that are working towards similar goals when it comes to reducing your carbon footprint and the use of fossil fuels.

The Aspiration Zero Credit Card is a unique cash back credit card for those seeking environmentally friendly alternatives. There aren’t many credit cards committed to sustainability with an emphasis on being socially responsible. It’s for environmentally-conscious people who are actively looking to make a positive impact on the planet.

Aspiration helps you go green by combating deforestation. You help plant a tree with every purchase you make with your Aspiration Zero Credit Card. You can even plant an additional tree if you’re willing to round up every purchase you make.

Aspiration Zero Credit Card Features and Benefits

The Aspiration Zero Credit Card has interesting features you won’t find anywhere else with a credit card:

Fight Climate Change With Aspiration Zero Credit Card

The main benefit of the Aspiration Zero Credit Card is that you’re working on reducing your carbon footprint by using your credit card. Aspiration is focused on being environmentally friendly by planting a tree every time you use your credit card to make a purchase.

Aspiration also has a Plant Your Change program that allows you to opt-in so you can round up every purchase to the next dollar. When you round up to the nearest dollar, you plant another tree on top of the one planted with your original purchase. This means you could potentially plant up to two trees with every purchase. How’s that for a unique benefit of a credit card?

Aspiration has partnered with Eden Reforestation Projects for this tree-planting initiative to battle the threat of deforestation.

Sustainable Card Design Made From PLA Bioplastic

You go green immediately when you switch to the because it isn’t made from typical plastic. Your Aspiration card is made from about 84% corn-based PLA (a sustainable plastic substitute) instead of the PVC plastic used in every other credit card. PVC plastic isn’t biodegradable, but PLA is compostable. PLA bioplastic helps with reducing your carbon footprint because it doesn’t generate toxic fumes during incineration as PVC does.

Why does this matter? If you’re looking to neutralize your carbon footprint and fight climate change, it all starts in your wallet and the small changes you can make to contribute to the greater cause.

Earn Cash Back Rewards Being Environmentally Responsible

When looking for a cash back credit card, you’ll want to ensure you can earn a decent percentage to make it worth the switch. Cardholders can earn up to 1% cash back on all purchases.

Aspiration Zero entices users to become “carbon neutral” by offering 1% cash back for those who earn 60 planted trees in one billing cycle. If you enable the Plant Your Change feature, you can reach this threshold with 30 purchases. If you don’t enable this, you’ll have to make 60 purchases in a billing cycle to reach 60 planted trees to earn 1% (instead of 0.5%) cash back.

Go Carbon-Neutral With Your Aspiration Zero Credit Card

If you use your card once a day, you can plant enough trees that will eventually counteract your daily negative carbon footprint once they’re grown. You can even track your progress on the app to see how you measure up. You get your own personal sustainability score to match your dollars with your values.

Use Cash Back Rewards To Plant Additional Trees

You can combat deforestation even further if you’re concerned about climate change. Your cash back rewards with the Aspiration Zero Credit Card are automatically redeemed monthly to your account. However, if you’re intent on improving the environment, you can use your rewards to plant additional trees. Every $1 in cash back rewards can be redeemed for one tree planted.

Other Perks of Aspiration Zero Credit Card

As we looked through the mission of Aspiration, we uncovered additional perks you’ll want to consider.

• Mastercard ID Theft Protection
• Compatible with Google Pay and Apple Pay
• Monthly reporting to all of the major credit bureaus
• Aspiration mobile app can help you track your carbon footprint
• Aspiration gives back to society by giving 10% of the fees collected to nonprofits that help American people who need it.

Aspiration also offers identity fraud protection. You’ll be reimbursed for any expenses that you incur from identity fraud.

How To Sign Up for an Aspiration Zero Credit Card

You can go through the application process if you’re a U.S. citizen over the age of 18. You must have your annual income and social security number handy for the application process.

It’s important to note that you need to check your credit score before applying because you need good to excellent credit to be approved. Aspiration Zero does a hard credit inquiry – that’s something to keep in mind also.

What’s considered a good credit score? You’ll need a FICO score of 670 or higher since the Aspiration Zero Credit Card is designed for people with a higher credit score.

The company will also consider your credit history to determine your creditworthiness. If you don’t get approved for the credit card, Aspiration also offers other bank accounts for you to go with an environmentally friendly financial product. The Aspiration Spend & Save™ accounts also come with green features. You can use these accounts while you build up your credit so that you can apply again in the near future.

Aspiration Rates

• Annual fee: $60
• Annual Percentage Rate (APR): 13.15% to 22.95%, variable APR depending on your credit.
• Foreign transaction fees: 2% of each transaction in U.S. dollars.
• Late payment or return payment fee: $10

Pros and Cons of Aspiration

Pros

• It’s an ideal credit card for those looking to save the planet. You assist in planting trees with every purchase you make. You can also round up every purchase to the nearest dollar to fund another tree planting.
• The card is made of PLA bioplastic. This is notable because most credit cards are made of PVC plastic, which isn’t biodegradable. PLA is obtained from corn, plant leaves, and other renewable sources.
• You can redeem your rewards to plant more trees. For every $1 in cash back rewards, you can plant another additional tree.
• Aspiration reports monthly to the major credit bureaus. This benefits those looking to build their credit with a credit card.

Cons

• You need good to excellent credit to be approved. This means those who want to make a difference in the environment will have to work to build their credit.
• There are no 0% introductory APR deals, so you may not be interested in a balance transfer.
• The annual fee is on the high end at $60. According to Aspiration, the annual fee goes towards covering the cash back for the monthly trees-planted quota. However, this fee is still something to consider when making your decision.
• The cash back rewards rate is fairly low. The starting rate is 0.5% cash back, which is lower than many other cash back credit cards we have reviewed. You have to essentially use your credit card every day and have the Plant Your Change feature enabled to get your rewards increased to 1%. You still may not hit this threshold for 1% cash back rewards.
• The card has a 2% foreign transaction fee. This makes it more expensive to use your card when you’re traveling.

There are many pros and cons to consider with the Aspiration Zero Credit Card. On one hand, you’re reducing your carbon footprint with every swipe. On the other hand, you have to accept the realities of the annual fee and the low cash back rewards.

The Verdict on Aspiration Zero Credit Card

The Aspiration Zero Credit Card is a good choice for those with excellent credit looking to make a difference in the battle against climate change. No other credit cards are currently proactively working to plant trees and help you reduce your carbon footprint.

However, if your main focus is to optimize your cash back rewards while not paying an annual fee, then there are better credit cards with many additional features.

But, if your primary goal is to be environmentally responsible with your spending and you place importance on saving the planet, you can’t go wrong with a credit card that’s concentrated on creating a better environment.