Debit Card Rewards Programs? [Post Durbin amendment]
 

Any decent debit card deals out there? I know there was the suntrust/delta deal for 30k recently (which is now 5k and not really worth it to me in case they offer the 30k again in the future). How common are they? I'd imagine since the Durbin amendment they won't come around all that often.

Aside from the DL/SunTrust card, there's an AS/BofA debit card. As far as I know (though I'd love to be proven wrong), those are the only ones left.

You are way behind on your research/reading. See revelations in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...hout-mint.html. It's entertaining too.

Any Airline Branded Debit Cards Still Out there?
 

Hi,

Would love to be able to take advantage of those great credit card offers where you can basically get enough miles off the bat for a free flight or two. For those whose credit is not good enough to take advantage of these offers, I was wondering if there are any debit cards out there that offer free airline miles for enrolling? TIA.

Bank of America has debit card for Alaska Airlines. You can use Alaska Airlines miles on AA.

Theres also a Delta debit card, I'm not sure with which bank though

Suntrust has the Delta debit. But the signup bonuses for debit cards are either small or non-existent.

I opened an account with Bank of America and am waiting for an Alaska Airlines debit card to arrive. I believe it gives 1/2 a mile per dollar spent with certain conditions. Once I get the card I'm going to figure out how to us it -- I hope.

I didn't think the banks were allowed to issue rewards, including airline miles, on debit cards anymore.

Banks are allowed to issue rewards for debit, however banks issue rewards to try to influence your behavior to their more profitable products, since debit cards fees have been reduced for the banks they are not as profitable and so banks do not want to incentivise their use, since so many people make mistakes using credit cards they are very profitable to the banks, the banks in turn want to promote people using them so they offer rewards.

i would be real careful signing up for a devit card that offers rewards and see if the cost is worth the rewards. so at .5 miles per dollar and spending 1500 per month on debit gives you 750 per month or 9000 per year for a 50 dollar fee you have to ask if its worth it?

Yeah, when I looked at the Delta debit card that was suggested, the .5 miles per dollar along with an annual fee didn't seem like it was worth it to me. If anyone knows of any debit cards that earns airline miles that DON'T have an annual fee or of any checking account that I can earn miles, I would appreciate it.

I think you meant to say the Alaskan Air card.

Be careful, be very careful! There are checking accounts that have signup offers for miles, and guess what? You get hit with a giant IRS bill that costs you about the same as the value of the miles (maybe even more?), because the bank (Citi, at least) issues a 1099 form. They're saying they're required to do that for checking account signup offers, but not for credit card offers.

But in case you want to go for it inspite of that, here's the thread on it (from the MilesBuzz! forum):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...g-account.html

So IMHO the world of debit / checking account signup offers is horrible, compared to credit card offers.

I suggest you work more on fixing your credit, and don't worry about pursuing debit /checking account signup offers, less they end up costing you precious money instead of saving you money.

Citi is notorious for inflated 1099s, be very careful!

But Citi started that suddenly (without advance notice) last year, and says that it's because it's a checking account. So I wouldn't trust any other bank's offers for a checking account bonus, because what's to stop them from (in the near future) adding inflated 1099s just as suddenly (and without advance warning) as Citi did?

Citi did this to people in retrospect, ie, people had applied for the checking account with the signup bonus before there was any mention of 1099s, then after people got the bonus, they suddenly started getting 1099s they hadn't been expecting.

Can you really trust that no other bank will do this in retrospect either, if their lawyers look at it and agree with Citi's lawyers that checking account bonuses are subject to taxes?

I've got a $200 offer from Chase for opening a checking account. It states that I will receive a 1099 for the $200. So Chase is also doing it too.