Credit Cards Rewards On A Debit Card

In light of a recent move by credit card companies to penalize customers who pay their bill, it is far easier to abandon the temptation of the Rewards Credit Card. But on a less publicized front, many new programs have emerged, providing rewards for debit card users.

…several major banks have rolled out reward programs aimed squarely at their debit card customers.

As with credit cards, air miles continue to be a popular reward. Chase Manhattan, U.S. Bancorp, Citibank and Bank of America are among the banks that let customers earn air miles with debit card purchases.

After reading the article, I briefly looked at two national banks that I am familiar with: Suntrust & Regions.

Suntrust had two notable programs. The flagship program was a partnership with Delta Airlines. Since I already have some Delta Skymiles, this might be worth a shot. However, after a few punches on the calculator, I determined that a medium length, domestic flight would require approximately $40,000 in debit card expenditures. Keep in mind the program points expire and the SkyMiles debit card has a $55/yr annual fee. Huh…

The second program was more generic. No annual fee & no rewards expiration. Point accumulate and can be used to purchase a number of things from a catalog. With a little more calculator time, this program yielded a $15 Panera giftcard after $8,000 in expenditures. At least program doesn’t charge an annual fee.

Regions had only one debit cards reward program. It provided cash back for purchases from a host of retailers. I appreciated the cash back rewards (I’ll take cash any day of the week), however the percentages were small. Also, may of the retailers only provided the rewards on purchases through their website. Since this program also did not charge an annual fee, I suppose it is a ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ situation.

All & all, I was really excited to hear about the Rewards Debit Card notion. But after looking at the details, there wasn’t much to be excited about.

Anyone else have any experiences or programs to share? Post a comment.

via Earn rewards while deducting from your checking account.