New Emigrant Direct Cash Back Credit Card
Big news from Emigrant Direct Savings Bank… They’ve finally rolled out their new cash back credit card. This card, which is issued by Juniper Bank, offers:
• Up to 1.25% cash back on all purchases
• Rewards are credited directly to your American Dream Savings Account (twice annually)
• No limit to the amount of cash back that you can earn
• 0% APR on balance transfers for six months
There is, however, a pretty big catch… In order to receive the maximum cash back amount, the primary cardholder has to maintain an average daily balance of ? $10k in their Emigrant Direct savings account over the six months prior to the reward being deposited. Dip below $10k and your rewards will fall back to 0.50% of net purchases. Ouch. That’s a pretty big hit.
[Via: Neo's Nest Egg]
Published on January 20th, 2006 - 5 Comments
Filed under: Credit Cards
email this article
- add to tip'd - digg this - stumble it - save to del.icio.us
Related articles...
» Emigrant Direct Improves Their Reward Credit Card» Old Emigrant Direct Accounts Numbers Still Work
» Thoughts on Frequent Flyer Credit Cards
» Linking ING Direct and Emigrant Direct
» Emigrant Direct’s New Interface: First Impressions
» Opening an Emigrant Direct Savings Account, Part II
» Opening an Emigrant Direct Savings Account
» New Emigrant Direct Website, Access Code
Get via RSS
I will stick to my 3% and 5% cash back or auto insurance credits, I think. Very good idea, though. Maybe once I have that kind of a balance in my emergency fund I might look into it; in the meantime, my money is going to chase the extra .25% at HSBC.
Comment by Blaine Moore — Jan 20th 2006 @ 2:37 pmAgree with Blaine. I don’t think the math adds up here. The difference between 10k at HSBC @ 4.25% vs. 4.0% at emigrant is 0.25% or $25.
Assuming you already have a 1% cash back card with some other bank, all you are really gaining is an additional 0.25% interest.
You would need to spend at least10k annually to earn that $25 that HSBC is already paying you.
For every 10k you charged beyond the original 10k would earn you an extra $25. Of course, if you are ever late or carry a balance you just lost all that interest in fees! What is worse is if HSBC raises their rates to 4.5% or 4.75% then you’re better off with HSBC!
Comment by Guest — Jan 20th 2006 @ 3:45 pmGuest offers a good point. The lower rate at Emigrant, the high account minimum, and lackluster rebate don’t make this the best deal.
If you simply go with Citi Dividends or AmEx Blue, you can get 5% back on your groceries, gas, and drugstore purchases and 1% back on everything else. Combine that with an HSBC account at 4.25% and you probably have a better deal.
If you want to check the numbers, there’s a tool to check the rebate you’d recieve from different cards based on your spending.
Comment by Jeremy — Jan 20th 2006 @ 9:06 pmBut it does have that sweet hat on it!
Comment by Easy E — Jan 22nd 2006 @ 1:06 am