Written by
Garrett Yarbrough
Bankrate expert Garrett Yarbrough strives to make navigating credit cards and credit building smooth sailing for his readers. After regularly featuring his credit card, credit monitoring and identity theft analysis on NextAdvisor.com, he joined the CreditCards.com and Bankrate teams as a staff writer to develop product reviews and comprehensive credit card guides focused on cash back, credit scores and card offers.
Edited by
Emily Sherman
Emily Sherman is a former senior editor for CreditCards.com and Bankrate Credit Cards, specializing in product news and recommendations. She has worked as a writer and editor in the credit cards space for several years, covering any and all topics related to how cards work, rewards programs, card benefits, travel, cash back and more.
Aug 13, 2024 / 6 min Share on social mediaAt Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity , this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money .
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Rating: 3.2 stars out of 5The Green Dot Unlimited Cash Back Bank Account Visa Debit Card is a unique blend between a prepaid card and an online bank account. It’s a good choice for anyone wants to earn unlimited 2 percent cash back on purchases. Plus, its separate savings account earns 2 percent annual interest (APY) on balances up to $10,000, offering users a nice boost of up to $200 with interest.
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Intro offer is not available for this Green Dot credit card.
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On This Page Jump toDebit card and checking account rewards are pretty rare nowadays, but they can be a convenient way to earn some extra cash back. Just don’t expect to rake in as much as you would with a solid rewards credit card.
The Green Dot Bank Unlimited Cash Back Bank Account Visa® Debit Card earns an impressive 2 percent cash back on online and mobile purchases, plus it throws in a 2 percent APY savings account (on up to a $10,000). These are fantastic rates compared to checking accounts and high-yield savings accounts we’ve seen, but continue reading our Green Unlimited Cash Back Card review to see how the fine print affects your rewards potential.
Merchant category codes (MCCs) and Green Dot Bank’s qualifying purchase definition exclude many reward-earning opportunities
Credit card cash back programs generally offer better cash back and benefitsUnlimited 2 percent cash back is excellent, even for cash back credit cards. But cash back-earning purchases in the online and mobile spending bonus categories are limited by merchant category codes (MCCs) and Green Dot’s restrictive qualifying terms.
In order to receive the unlimited 2 percent cash back on online and mobile purchases, the merchant category code—a four-digit number used to classify businesses based on their primary products/services—must describe it as a strictly online or mobile purchase.
The issue here is that there aren’t many specific MCCs in Visa’s entire list specifically outlining goods and services that fit the description for online and mobile purchases. The card agreement says that depending on the retailer’s MCC, “some online and in-app purchases appear to us as non-qualifying purchases.” If the merchant’s code doesn’t categorize itself as an online or mobile merchant, then you won’t earn cash back.
For example, if you order from a brick-and-mortar bookstore online, its MCC doesn’t indicate it was an online merchant and the Green Dot app doesn’t notify you that it was online purchase either, your purchase won’t earn rewards.
Your other reward opportunities are further limited by Green Dot’s sprawling list of which online purchases don’t qualify:
That means that even if you shop on Amazon.com or make in-app purchases, you can’t earn cash back while guarding your card with a digital wallet or another third-party P2P payment service. This strips away a strong layer of identity theft protection when you’re shopping online—which is especially concerning since debit cards don’t have the same protections as credit cards.
Cash back can only be added to your account after 12 months of use, meaning upon your account anniversary each year. You then have one year to redeem the rewards before they expire.
This is remarkably less flexible than how many rewards credit cards operate. Usually, you receive your new rewards and can redeem them shortly after each month’s billing statement.
Once you consider the $7.95 monthly fee, any returns you make from cash back take a huge cut. It would take spending $397.50 each month on online or mobile purchases to break even. Otherwise, you can spend $1,000 each month to waive the monthly fee and save nearly $8 of rewards. If you usually spend less than $1,000 with your debit card each month, you’ll be losing almost $100 in rewards each year in monthly fees.
To decide if these rewards are worthwhile, you should evaluate your budget and gauge how much you spend shopping online and via mobile each month.
The Green Dot Unlimited Cash Back card carries a number of fees, many of which are common, but avoidable with the right product.
*On top of other ATM and merchant fees, etc.
Green Dot may also place limits on the number of checks or the dollar amount that you can deposit (outside the direct deposit). Depending on the retailer you deposit cash at, they may also have their own limits and could charge up to a $5.95 deposit fee.
The Green Dot Unlimited Cash Back card offers a high cash back and APY rate compared to other rewards debit cards and savings accounts at its level. In fact, we’ve found the Unlimited Cash Back Account’s 2 percent APY is much higher than the 0.09 percent average savings account APY (as of Sept. 23, 2020) and many other high-yield savings accounts we’ve reviewed.