United MileagePlus Debit Rewards Card
United has officially launched a new MileagePlus Debit Rewards Card, a Visa card issued by Sunrise Banks. The card earns United MileagePlus miles on debit spend and includes both spending and saving bonuses.
- Fees: $4 monthly fee, waived with a $2,000 average monthly balance.
- Welcome bonus: 10,000 MileagePlus miles after spending $500 within the first 4 months.
Key Details
Earning structure:
- 1 mile per $1 spent on United Airlines purchases, including flights and the like
- 1 mile per $2 spent on all other purchases
Benefits:
- Spend bonus: 2,500 bonus miles each anniversary year after $10,000 in annual debit purchases
- Savings bonus: Up to 70,000 bonus miles each year based on your average account balance:
- $2,500 = 2,500 miles
- $5,000 = 5,000 miles
- $10,000 = 15,000 miles
- $25,000 = 30,000 miles
- $50,000 = 70,000 miles
Other Notes:
- No credit check required
- Funds are FDIC insured up to $250,000 through Sunrise Banks, N.A.
Our Verdict
This product is mostly similar the recently-released Southwest debit card and the Wyndham debit card, and it’s as we expected.
The 10,000 miles launch offer is solid for a simple debit card signup. Longer term, these debit cards will mainly appeal to debit-only users. For hobbyists this might be a way to get some rewards for certain types of purchases which don’t allow credit cards.
It’s yet unknown whether someone can hold the United, Southwest, and Wyndham debit cards or if there’s some sort of limit. Also unknown what happens if you cancel these cards and eventually sign up again in terms of signup bonuses.
The card adds the option of earning miles from keeping deposits in the account. At current savings APY rates, the savings bonus tiers don’t seem competitive, but maybe if the miles are non-taxable (???) then it can start making sense. Or if interest rates drop.
