Today Stonegate Bank announced that they were the first U.S. credit card issuer to allow their cards to be used in Cuba, in addition they have announced a limited edition (first 1,000 only) card design (see image below) to celebrate.
Accessing funds in Cuba has been difficult, most people have been bringing U.S currency with them and then exchanging it at a state institution, although this comes with a massive 10% fee so others have been exchanging their currency on the black market instead. Cuba is currently preventing cardholders for using the card for a cash advance, so it will only be able to be used at state run businesses with a point of sale machine (a few private businesses also have access to these machines). Stonegate were also the first to issue a debit card that could be used in Cuba, it was even briefly possible to use this at ATMs in Cuba before the government shut it down citing security concerns.
It’s important to note that the 10% fee the government usually charges is not charged on these credit card transactions. Stonegate issue three different consumer credit cards, they are as follows:
- Stonegate Bank Platinum MasterCard
- Stonegate Bank World MasterCard
- Stonegate Bank World Elite MasterCard
Let’s take a look at each card in a bit more depth.
Contents
Stonegate Bank Platinum MasterCard Review
- No annual fee
- No annual spend requirement
- No sign up bonus
- Card earns 1x point per $1 spent
Stonegate Bank World MasterCard Review
- No annual fee
- $10,000Â annual spend requirement
- No sign up bonus
- Card earns 1.25 point per $1 spent
Stonegate Bank World Elite MasterCard
- $35 annual fee
- $40,000Â annual spend requirement
- No sign up bonus
- Card earns 1.5x point per $1 spent
Our Verdict
I’ve never seen cards with hard spending requirements quite like this before. Considering there is no sign up bonus and the maximum earn rate is 1.5x, these cards aren’t that interesting. Probably really only makes sense to apply if you’re travelling to Cuba a lot in the near future as I’m sure all of the major credit card issuers are working to enable Cuba payments.
