Warning: Upgrade cards are lines of credit which must be prepaid to avoid interest charges. (See this comment.)
Upgrade 5% Card Review
Upgrade came out with a card that earns 5% on up to $3,000 each quarter in a category of your choosing. The category options include:
- Grocery
- Dining
- Travel
- Home Utilities
- Gas/EV
- Pet Care and Stores
- TV, Internet, and Streaming
- Drug Stores
- Cell Phone Providers
You can choose a new category each month and earn 5% on up to $3,000 per quarter in category spend.
Our Verdict
The card rewards are excellent with 5% in top categories with a generous $3,000 quarterly limit. However, as noted above, Upgrade cards are lines of credit which must be prepaid to avoid interest charges. You’ll have to decide if it’s worth the hassle for the $150/quarter.
Hat tip to reader fearthez
Can you get a second upgrade card? I have one due to a previous promo and kept it because they offered a promo every so often.
Sounds more like a downgrade.
Hard Inquiry, Pre-paid, needs to be paid in 2-days to avoid interest : Hard Pass.
Do you have to manually input the categories you want each month? That’s so f#$&ng tiring. Or do they let you pick a category once and it carries through.
The golden question: Can you prepay the card using a prepaid Visa/MC? heh.
the second part of your golden question is whether this card can function like a debit card to purchase MO.
Sadly not. I just looked into it. 🙁
The interest calculation is copied from that of credit cards issued in Taiwan; not new at all.
Can one prepay with debit? That’s the real question here.
Is there FTF?
Anyone know how strict they are for Manufactured Spending?
Pre paid $3,000
$3,000 at 5% for 30 days is $12.33 interest.
5% back of $3,000 is $150.
30 days: Opp cost $12.33 4.589% on spent ($137.67)
60 days: Opp cost $24.71 4.147% on spent ($125.29)
90 days: Opp cost $37.14 3.762% on spent ($112.86)