United and Netspend Partner on a Mileage-Earning Prepaid Card

Netspend has partnered with United Airlines to launch a prepaid card which will earn United miles on qualifying purchases. The MileagePlus GO Visa Prepaid Card is set to launch this summer. The card is issued by Republic Bank & Trust Company and is FDIC insured.

Direct Link

Press release

The press release only says that the card will “earn miles for qualifying purchases,” without specifying the exact earn amount. It’s improbable that the card will offer rewards better than the Chase United card, though I guess the prepaid card can be better for someone allergic to annual fees. (See also this post.) At best, they’ll offer one mile per dollar spent – if I had to guess I’d say it’ll be 1 mile per two dollars. If it does offer one mile per dollar, it could be an intriguing alternative to the Chase card.

The main angle of this prepaid card will be if the card will earn miles on PIN-based purchases, but more likely it’ll exclude that. Also interesting would be if they have other sorts of promos, like 1,000 bonus miles for signing up, 500 bonus miles for making your first purchase, etc.

We shall see.

Hat tip to OMAAT 

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18 Comments
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Carl
Carl (@guest_418930)
June 11, 2017 18:06

Is this good for earning united if you are at 5/24?

Carl
Carl (@guest_418928)
June 11, 2017 18:00

Is this good for 5/24

William Charles
Admin
June 11, 2017 19:37

It’s not out yet

The Value Traveler
The Value Traveler (@guest_409940)
May 24, 2017 10:34

If you can use reloadIT packs….I will be in luck

SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT (@guest_409807)
May 24, 2017 00:16

The real question is why?

Are the un/non-banked people flying United in droves to warrant the fees that Netspend typically charges with their prepaid products? Since Netspend will have to pay/purchase the miles, and most likely pay United an additional acquisition fee for each account that is opened under this program,
I can only assume the consumer is going to pay, pay and pay for the privilege of earning/paying for devalued United Mileage Plus miles with this Netspend offer.

Maybe this ties in with United’s roll-out of their copy-cat Basic Economy fare structure, similar to Allegiant/Spirit/Frontier.

In the past few months, we’ve seen the following from United:

United Polaris
United Basic Economy
United Black and Blue
United Coast
and now
United Mileage Plus Go

SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT

UPS guy
UPS guy (@guest_409680)
May 23, 2017 18:34

The real question is if, how, and where you can load this sucker.

Jeremy
Jeremy (@guest_409685)
May 23, 2017 18:52

Likely same as all NetSpend associated cards.

UPS guy
UPS guy (@guest_409690)
May 23, 2017 19:03

Here I was ready with the name Black and Bluebird ready to go. Ah well.

P
P (@guest_409654)
May 23, 2017 17:22

If only I was not banned by netspend

The Value Traveler
The Value Traveler (@guest_409651)
May 23, 2017 17:14

Still waiting for the Starbucks prepaid

Jeremy
Jeremy (@guest_409684)
May 23, 2017 18:52

I’m guessing this is dead. It was announced a year ago with no follow-up since then.

William Charles
Admin
June 6, 2017 23:56

I asked Chase about this and they had no comment.

TravelBloggerBuzz
TravelBloggerBuzz (@guest_409639)
May 23, 2017 16:52

The story first appeared here:

http://www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com/2017/05/united-airlines-introduces-first-ever-prepaid-credit-card-for-earning-miles/

Did not take long for OMAAT to notice and HT “Brad” at the VERY end of the post.

And this is how Titanhood & “expertise” is perpetuated.

Maybe you should expand your repertoire of blogs and stop linking to the Titans? Just a constructive tip 🙂

Saltine Cracker
Saltine Cracker (@guest_409642)
May 23, 2017 16:56

mmmmmmmm Salty

Doc Fan
Doc Fan (@guest_409693)
May 23, 2017 19:26

I guess we’re fortunate you only pimp yourself and not your daughters? Mind adding something positive when you shill your link?

William Charles
Admin
June 6, 2017 23:56

That’s an inappropriate comment. No need to bring somebodies family into this.

B
B (@guest_409942)
May 24, 2017 10:38

Maybe you should stop whining all the time about the “Titans” and write better content so you can compete. Just a constructive tip 🙂

Eric
Eric (@guest_410070)
May 24, 2017 14:31

Chuck gave a hat tip to OMAAT at the VERY end of this post. Are you criticizing him too or are you a hypocrite?