How does the PerkStreet Visa Debit Rewards Card work? Should you apply for the PerkStreet Financial Debit Card? Read this PerkStreet Financial Visa Debit Rewards Card review and decide for yourself! Either click on the apply button above to submit a secure PerkStreet Financial debit card application or use our free comparison tool to compare debit cards and credit cards today!
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About PerkStreet Financial
With headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, PerkStreet Financial is an online banking institution that was formed to give consumers excellent and convenient customer service. The premise behind their name is to offer excellent perks to their customers by rewarding financial responsibility. Their Visa Debit Card offers a variety of perks that can be changed at anytime and rewarded online in less than one minute.
The Bank behind the Business
PerkStreet Financial is FDIC insured and backed by The Bancorp Bank. One of their main investors is Highland Capital Partners. Together with all of their alliances, PerkStreet Financial has over fifty years experience in the banking industry.
Although PerkStreet Financial has headquarters in Massachusetts, they don’t actually have a branch location there or anywhere else. All banking is done online, reducing overhead costs and passing on the savings to its customers through its perks program. Not having a branch to visit means not having to drive your car somewhere and wait in line. You can make deposits and withdraw funds just like any other checking account, but with lower fees and higher rewards than most banks offer.
Online bill pay is available and you can deposit money into your account through direct deposit or you can transfer funds between other bank accounts. You can also make deposits for no charge at UPS® and Mailboxes Etc® or mail your endorsed check(s) directly to their Deposit Operations in Wilmington, DE.
The PerkStreet Visa Debit Card
The PerkStreet Financial checking account works like a traditional checking account where you can write checks or use your debit card. In addition to being FDIC insured for up to $250,000 per person, their Visa Debit Card includes protection from fraud through Visa’s Zero Liability policy.
You can use your debit card to withdraw cash from any ATM that accepts the VISA logo, but you also have the benefit of not having any transaction fees at 37,000 STARsf® ATMs. In addition, you can request cash back from select merchants without incurring a fee for the withdrawal transaction. ATMs outside of the network will cost a $2 transaction fee and may also be subject to fees charged by the ATM owner.
Your Visa Debit Card comes with a Perk; it has a reward program that gives you a choice of earning cash back or redeeming your rewards for music or coffee. When you first open your account you will decide which type of reward you want to receive. You are not obligated to stay with your initial selection and you can switch whenever you like.
1% cash back is redeemed through gift cards from Visa as well as Amazon, Best Buy, GAP, Target, and Ticketmaster. Music is redeemable through Amazon, iTunes, and Rhapsody. Coffee rewards are available through gift cards from Bruegger’s Bagels, Dunkin Donuts, Peet’s Coffee and Tea, and Starbucks.
Perks are earned through the Visa payment network, so in order to earn rewards, you only need to make purchases with your debit card that do not require your pin number. Whenever you make a purchase over the internet or via telephone you will be using the Visa network. You can also choose this option in stores by selecting credit instead of debit. Since you are using your debit card, choosing credit will simply allow you to earn your reward, but the transaction will still be a debit to your checking account.
The Cost of the PerkStreet Visa Debit Card
The PerkStreet Financial checking account does not have account minimums nor charge you fees for having a low balance. There are also no charges associated with making purchases with your debit card or any monthly maintenance fees. Your first book of checks is sent to you for no charge. If you lose your debit card it will be replaced for free provided you do not need it in a rush. If you need your debit card expedited you will be charged $50 per request.
Although there is no monthly maintenance fee, there is an inactivity fee if you do not use your account at least once every month. The $4.50 monthly inactivity fee can be simply avoided by having at least one transaction each month that includes either using your debit card, writing and clearing a check, paying a bill through the Online Bill Pay system, making a withdrawal, or making a deposit.
Overdraft Protection is optionally available. If you do not have overdraft protection and you bounce a check you then you will be charged a $30 fee for insufficient funds. If you need to cancel a check that has not yet been cashed, you can do so for $15. If the Federal Reserve pulls funds out of your account for depositing a bad check, then you will incur a $7 charge. Cashier’s checks are available for $8 each. If you require any research from the bank on your behalf, such as for a legal request or subpoena, then you may be charged $25 per hour with a $10 minimum for the research time.
There is no fee for incoming wire transfers. However, if you transfer money into your checking account from a credit card, you will be charged 2.5% of the amount funded, which is reimbursement for fees the credit card company charges the bank. There is also a foreign exchange transaction fee of 1% for purchases made on your debit card outside of the United States.
If you like the idea of online banking and having a debit card with greater rewards than offered by others, then the PerkStreet Financial Visa Debit Card fits your needs. Apply online now for free by clicking on the PerkStreet Debit Card application at the top of the page or use our free comparison tool to start comparing debit cards and credit cards now!
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There are several problems with this bank, so I would warn potential customers to be aware of the fine print. Although PerkStreet’s website has the appearance of being clear about their policies, I found that not to be the case. These “fine print” policies seem designed to (1) make it difficult to move money out of the account, and (2) to limit the cashback that you can earn. Below are examples.
(1) They have a limit of $1500 on incoming online transfers in an entire *month*! They don’t tell you about this anywhere except when you actually try to move money into your account. When I called them about it, they said that they have this restriction for new customers and I was still in my first month. After a couple more calls, I realized that they will increase this limit to $2500 after six months.
Stated reason: Security.
Suspected motive: To limit the amount of money you can spend to get cashback.
(2) They have a limit of $500 on outgoing online transfers. So, say you move $5000 into your account to get 2% cashback. You are stuck with that money with them for the rest of the month (unless you adopt a slower paper check route).
(3) They have a limit of $1500 on daily expenses and explicitly say on their website that it can be waived simply by making a phone call. I had to book two one-way international flight tickets that cost a total of over $1500. I booked these and called them to waive the limit. They refused to do so because I was still in my first month. There is no notice about waivers not being allowed in the first month anywhere. As a result, I have to now spend much more money re-booking that ticket just because PerkStreet does not allow me to spend my own money.
Stated reason: Security for new customers. They claim that all banks have spending limits on debit cards. Really? Bank of America did not.
Suspected motive: Limiting spending => limiting cashback.
(4) When I tried to circumvent the limitation in (1) above to move more money into my account using FedEx, there was another surprise! The first FedEx check takes not 1 day as stated, but about 9 days for some reason. Again, some vague security reason that is incomprehensible to rational beings is given as an explanation.
Bottomline: It is not easy to get much cashback because of their restrictive policies on what you can do with your money. And they make it harder to move money out of the account while not giving any interest on it. As for the 5% cashback, they are on such specific and tiny items that I have never been able to get 5% cashback so far.
WARNING ON PERKSTREET: If you take the “cash” rewards option they send you a visa check card. If you never receive or lose your check card YOUR MONEY IS GONE AND THEY CANNOT REPLACE IT. I just got off the phone with a PerkStreet customer service rep because this happened to me. A $50 card never arrived (although I did successfully receive two $100 cards prior to this). I was apologetically told there was nothing they could do. Essentially, someone in their shipping department can take the cards, list them as shipped and you are S.O.L.
I’m quite pissed.
For those who do keep your account (I’m going to kill mine), you should take the amazon.com gift cards. The codes are supposedly emailed.