Ace Flare Prepaid: 6% APY up to $2,000 ($5 Monthly Fee) + $100 Direct Deposit Bonus

Update 10/23/22: $100 direct deposit bonus is back (ht Dominique)

Update 8/2/22: Bonus no longer offered; Update 5/6/22: Signup bonus extended through May 31, July 31, 2022 (ht Alex and Ostrich Rider); Update 1/24/22: Deal is back with the $100 bonus. Valid until March 31, 2022. Hat tip to reader Davis

Update 9/10/19: Account currently comes with a $100 sign up bonus as well. I think that makes this worth opening. After paying the $5 non waivable fee if you have $2,000 in there you’d earn $60 in interest of 3% APY. Not the best but given you only need to do the direct deposit once and you get a sign up bonus it makes it worth opening. Hat tip to contributor Don L

  • Interest Rate: 6% APY
  • Minimum Balance: None
  • Maximum Balance: $2,000 (after that .5% APY)
  • Availability: Nationwide
  • Direct deposit required: Yes (one-time $500)
  • Additional Requirements: None
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft
  • Credit card funding: No
  • Monthly fees: $5-$10 (non-waivable)
  • Insured: FDIC

The Offer

Direct Link to offer

  • The Ace Flare prepaid card earns 6% APY on balances up to $2,000; any portion of the balance above $2,000 earns a lower .5% APY rate

You do need to first receive a $500+ direct deposit in order to be able to open the saving account which has the 6% rate. I believe you’ll only need one direct deposit or ACH transfer of $500 within a single calendar month, and then you’ll be eligible for the 6% account even without subsequent direct deposits.

Ace is one of the various prepaid cards that run under the Netspend brand and backed by MetaBank (FDIC insured). This specific variety called the Ace Flare has this special 6% APY account on up to $2,000.

Avoiding Fees

There is a $9.95 monthly fee. However, if you receive a $500 direct deposit, your fee will be then lowered to just $5 per month. You only need one direct deposit and thereafter your monthly fee will be just $5 forever.

Our Verdict

Back in the good old days, some of us had multiple Netspend accounts and were earning 5% APY on each one, up to $5,000 each. That ended when Netspend capped the 5% at $1,000. Some people still maintain their accounts for the $50 interest yearly, personally I dropped them to simplify my life.

This is interesting as the interest rate is even excellent at 6%, and the limit is double at $2,000. This could have been a worthwhile option…if not for the fees. Most Netspend cards offer the option to choose the Pay As You Go plan which has no monthly fees. Unfortunately, this cards seems to have a minimum $5 monthly fee. The fee essentially cuts the earnings on the account in half to 3% as you’ll get $120 in earnings per year and pay $60 in fees. Worse yet, you might end up paying taxes on the the entire $120, the amount which will show on the Form 1099 INT.

We’ll add this to the list of Best High-Interest Savings Accounts, though to my mind this card is not not worth getting for it’s interest rate. Check that list for more worthwhile options.

Hat tip to reader T.
    Chuck
  • On October 24, 2022, 14:00
Tags: high yieldnationwide bank bonuses

View Comments (339)

  • Was on hold with them for 30 minutes, went through two agents, and finally got disconnected. Horrible customer service, not even sure what they are charging $5 a month for. I never got my bonus and wonder what third party I can utilize to force them to make right on their end of the agreement. Anyone have any thoughts?

    • My go to is CFPB. You could always try submitting via CFPB to actual bank that holds your funds (Pathward?) since your account is with them. Or try submitting to both entities via CFPB.

  • Completed the requirements and no bonus posted, sent a secure message and was told, "If you are unable to find the referral email and have opened this account through other means, I regret to inform you that you will not qualify to get the referral incentive credit. "

    • I wonder if there's a way to avoid the $5/mo fee. I'm trying to find another no/low requirement account like this. Similar to DCU.

  • For account closure, I guess you have to call in...they straight up ignored my secure message for more than two weeks, and my checking went into the negative. Lmao

    • Actually, you do NOT have to call in, there's a little button you press that says "Close account"......idk how I missed it. whoops

      Also, when I closed, they sent me an email a few days later saying "there is something wrong with your account," but a CSR confirmed that it was just that it had been closed.

    • @guest_1353709 What happened, did they eventually end up closing your account? Did you have to do anything about the negative balance or did they waive the last fee for you?

      • Haven't closed my account yet, didn't waive fee. Account balance showed up as negative with the -$5 "pending," then it posted when my transfer in posted. I decided to keep it open to knock out the $25 targeted bonus, closing now that that's posted.

  • I received the bonus:

    3/25 - Account opened
    5/26 - (5) 50 cent Amazon reloads
    5/26 - $5 monthly fee
    5/26 - $500 DD Astra
    6/23 - (5) 50 cent Amazon reloads
    6/26 - $5 monthly fee
    6/29 - $500 DD Astra
    6/29 - $25 targeted email DD bonus
    7/3-7/11 - (5) $1 AT&T bill payments with debit card
    7/26 - $5 monthly fee
    7/27 - $500 DD Wise "Payroll"
    7/29 - $100 Incentive posted

  • Mostly phone bill microtransactions for the debit requirement and Wise with "Direct Dep" in the memo field for direct deposit did not work

    • Update: I got "re-enroll" language in my targeted $25 email, so I tried the exact same DD method for that and received the $25 same day. So I think the problem was not the method, but rather the range of the offer. (It did have that "non-transferable" language...maybe it would've been possible to get targeted by an ad? Something for next time)

  • These idiots initially said I didn't satisfy the bonus since they say I didn't open through their link. Now they are saying that my (5) 1cent Paypal transactions per month for three months don't count. Horrible company to deal with, should have skipped this bonus.

  • So I'm going to be very reluctant in future to do these small accounts like Ace Flare, Varo etc

    AFAIK, I met all requirements, yet no July interest posted.

    Their customer service via "secure messaging" is crazy making. Poorly trained agents giving answers all over the map and not giving direct answers to questions (such as when a month begins and ends for the account).

    Then having 3 agents say the bonus would be paid by 7/28/22. it wasn't paid and then a supervisor gave the runaround about it.

    will probably be filing BBB and CFPB complaints. With rapidly rising rates in other accounts, I am not seeing these poor customer service / gotcha accounts as worthwhile.

      • Great so you won't know if they're going to deny it on a technicality for 3 months?

        Nothing drives me more batty than customer service agents who are so poorly trained that you can't count on their promises or who spew out straight up Orwellian nonsense ... I've got a list of companies with which I never wish to do business again due to their crazy-making horrible CS - comcast, sirius xm, FirstData, Synchrony bank, Suddenlink, USC, and a few others. This account is soon to be added to that ignominious list.

Leave a Comment