PayPal has launched a new debit card where cardholders can choose one category to earn 5% cash back on, up to a limit of $1,000 per month in spend. Currently it seems that the card is invite only mode and you can check your PayPal account to see if you’re eligible. Some things to note:
- There is no annual fee
- You have to select your category each month, otherwise you won’t earn 5%
- Categories you can choose are here:
- Grocery
- Dining
- Gas
- Clothing
- Health/beauty
- Full terms here
After selecting a cashback category and going to the Paypal Offers section, the Paypal app will flag any merchants in that cashback category with a “+5% with Paypal Debit” tag. These tags cannot be seen on the Paypal website, unfortunately.
The tags may or may not be reliable. We’ve got multiple reports of McDonald’s not triggering 5% even though it has a 5% tag in the app when Restaurant category is selected.
When I first signed up for the debit card I had selected Restaurants. I used it once via Google Pay before I got my physical card. I received my physical card over the weekend. Since I have activated the card it seems I can’t load money into my account and it’s asking me to choose my new category but Restaurants are not an option 🤔 Anyone else have these issues?
Yes. My restaurants choice has also disappeared and I was asked to choose new category.
And I didn’t even use it yet
This is probably a stupid question. Those who are doing this, can you describe the steps to keep the *least* amount of money in paypal possible using the auto-reload feature? I generally keep $0 in paypal before thinking about this 5% debit
Add the exact amount needed with debit card on-demand just before making the transaction
Thank you for the suggestion, I’m looking for an automated method
lol the PPDMC was being advertised on the radio.
I’ve seen it in a TV ad a few times. The 1st time that I saw it, I had to do a 2nd take.
A few datapoints for the “health/beauty” category:
So it seems that doctors and healthcare providers do not fall under this category. I tested with small amounts (like $10) because I still wanted to pay with a 2% rewards credit card in case the paypal debit didn’t work. Might test a few more in the future. But according to chatgpt, the mcc codes for “health/beauty” are 5xxx and 7xxx, while healthcare bills use 8xxx.
Is there any roundabout way to load to PayPal Balance using a credit card (e.g. using CF in Q4 for the Q4 5%)?
Used the debit card today to pay for groceries. Transferred money into my PayPal account via a debit card and used Apple Pay to pay. My 5% bonus was credited to me immediately.
Has anyone tried using the instant debit card loading from a debit card with 1% cash back like the Discover Checking card? I wonder if the loading transaction would trigger the 1% cash back to effectively make this a 6% card.
Discover excludes paypal/venmo, 3rd party payments, and “cashlike” transactions https://www.discover.com/content/dam/dfs/online-banking/documents/NationalDepositAccountAgreement.pdf , page 15 of the pdf, page 22 using discover’s page numbers
Be the data point you wish to see.
Has anyone tried this at a Walmart to see if the Paypal debit is coded as grocery or not. I know with the Venmo credit card, if I use it and pay at the WM SCO, it gets coded as grocery. That is why I try to use the WM SCO whenever I make purchases there so that it can be coded as grocery.
However strangely with the Venmo credit card, if I check out at a regular cashier lane at WM, it gets coded as “Other” which is strange and doesn’t qualify for a category.
Ordered groceries online with it and got 5% instantly. Also activated an additional 5% @ Walmart deal (on PayPal app) and I believe its pending now a few days later but shows as -0 points right now.
Ever since I activated my PP Debit card, I’ve been required to have a text sent to me (or some other options) in order to login. I don’t recall this happening before. I’m just curious if this is a coincidence. Have any of you noticed the same thing?
Yes on my computer I have to do the same thing as like a 2FA. Its is pretty annoying. But of course on my phone with biometrics, I don’t have to do the text thing.
Check the security section of your account settings. See if 2-step verification is enabled.
I checked and it’s not enabled. I don’t login to PP that often so it’s that big of a deal. I do wish that they offered an email option though like some others do.
Opted into the card on 9/4, selected “Restaurants” as category and used it yesterday (9/6) 5% cash back posted on my account this morning. Physical card that I opted into day of sign-up arrived this morning as well (9/7).