Robinhood Gold Card

Robin Hood Gold Card: Is It a Game Changer?

Robinhood is launching its own branded credit card called the Robinhood Gold Card. This card offers 3% cash back on all purchases, which would make it one of the most rewarding credit cards available today. The big question is whether there are any gotchas, or can this card really compete with the likes of Chase, Capital One, and American Express. Let’s find out.

Robinhood Gold Card Features and Fees

Cash Back

The Robinhood Gold Card features an unusual rewards rate: 3% cash back on all eligible purchases. Since there is currently no card on the market that can match this, I was understandably skeptical. I immediately checked the fine print and the terms and conditions and having read all of these carefully, I found that it does indeed earn 3% cash back card on all eligible purchases.

It does exclude some types of transactions, of course, as all credit cards do. For example, it excludes balance transfers, cash advances, and purchases related to gambling such as lottery tickets and chips at your local casino. You won’t earn 3% cash back on any of those transactions.

Fees

This card doesn’t charge an annual fee, which is remarkable given its cash back rewards, but there is a catch. To qualify for the card, you must be a Robinhood’s Gold program member. This program costs $5 a month (or $50 if paid annually). One could see this as a $60 annual fee for the credit card, plus you get some premium investing features.

As annual fees go, $60 is reasonable. One way to look at it is that you would have to charge an extra $6,000 a year to break even compared to a no annual fee credit card that pays 2% cash back on all purchases. These include the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card and the Citi^® Double Cash Card.

What is the Robinhood Gold Program?

Robinhood Gold’s $60 annual fee does get you some extra features. Most notably, it gives you access to its high-yield savings account, which currently pays 5.0% APY. It also gets you a 1% bonus on deposits at Robinhood and up to a 3% match on contributions and transfers to an IRA. Of course, these benefits are only valuable if you already use Robinhood’s trading platform or plan to use it.

One final thing to remember is that the rewards are paid in points and can be redeemed for cash at one penny per point. However, the cash is deposited into your Robinhood account. You can withdraw the cash from your Robinhood account, but Robinhood will not deposit the rewards directly into a bank account.

How does the Robinhood Gold Card stack up?

I’m a big fan of credit cards that pay a high reward rate on all eligible purchases. For those looking to maximize credit card rewards, the first card you should get is one that pays at least 2% cash back on all purchases.

Some cards pay more than this, but they are rare. One example is the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite Credit Card. I carry this card and earn over 2.6% cash back on all purchases. To qualify for this reward rate, however, you must have a Bank of America checking account and keep a minimum of $100,000 at Bank of America and/or Merrill Edge.

A second high-paying card is the Alliant Cashback Visa® Signature Credit Card. This card pays 2.5% cash back on all purchases, but it does have a monthly spending cap of $10,000. After that, the rewards drop to 1% cash back.

Some credit cards pay a higher rate of cash back, but only in certain categories. There are hundreds of examples in our database. For example, Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express pays up to 6% cash back on streaming services and groceries (up to $6,000 per year in purchases at U.S. supermarkets, then 1%), the Capital One Savor Rewards Credit Card pays up to 4% cash back on dining, streaming and entertainment and the Prime Visa card pays 5% cash back on purchases at Amazon and Whole Foods.

However, none of these cards have a base rate of an uncapped 3% cash back on all purchases. Most of them default to 1% cash back if the purchase doesn’t fall into one of the higher payout categories or if you exceed the monthly cap.

Conclusion

The Robinhood Gold Card is a real competitor. It pays the highest base rate on cash back rewards of any card in our database. While it does require a Robinhood Gold membership at $5 a month, this fee seems reasonable, particularly given the other benefits that come with membership.