Robinhood introduced a credit card Tuesday with no annual or foreign transaction fees and a minimum 3% cash back to the general public. However, the card is only available to Robinhood Gold subscribers who pay $5 per month or $50 per year for a membership.
Robinhood announced the card and its waitlist on Tuesday, marking the first time the online trading app has expanded to credit cards. The company began offering a debit card two years ago and last year acquired fee-free credit card startup X1 Inc for about $95 million.
The card offers 5% cash back on travel bookings through Robinhood’s new portal.
Credit: Robinhood
Similar to the Apple Card, the Robinhood Gold Card has a clean look with no numbers, so users won’t have to worry about their information being stolen if they lose their cards. Other cards, such as Mastercard’s, also have this type of design.
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Robinhood allows the same family signups as the Apple Card but with up to six people able to access a shared account.
The Robinhood card has a similar sheen to the American Express Gold Rewards card, without the $250 annual fee, and offers the same 3% cashback rate as the Apple card, which also has zero fees.
Robinhood aims to “open up” a “high net worth experience” with its Gold membership, which costs $5 a month, according to co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev.
Instead of requiring an income or balance minimum, Robinhood is trying to make its offers available to “as many people as possible,” Tenev told CNBC.
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For example, Tenev said that when Robinhood looked at the entire credit card landscape, it found that the highest uncapped cashback percentage was usually around 2%.
According to NerdWallet, most 2% cards have some issues. Bank of America and US Bank credit cards offer 3% cash back but in limited categories.
“The 3% is beyond what anyone else offers with no limits, no minimum balance, no net worth requirements to be part of the program,” Tenev said.
How to get a real 10 karat gold card
Robinhood rewards its Gold members who share credit card news by offering a solid gold version of the card.
If Gold members share the news with their network and manage to convince 10 people to sign up for the card, they will receive a 10-karat real gold card that weighs 36 grams.
Plain paper is available in stainless steel.
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