I’ve had my perkstreet rewards card for almost a year and I really like it.  It has all the features you’re used to with a standard credit card or debit check card but with one key difference…they huge 1-2% cashback rewards for using the card.  The standard rate is 1% but if you maintain $5,000 in the account they will bump your rewards up to 2% on everything.

A 1% reward on everything you purchase is pretty rare in even the best credit cards.  Most of the times those cards will have specific categories you’ll get 1% but most of the time you get a substandard rate.

5% cashback rewards are also fairly common for certain purchases during certain times of year but the 1% isn’t adversly affected by this change.

Signing Up
Perkstreets’ online application is pretty easy and straight forward.  They use secure encrypted data transfer when you set up your account and they’ve tried to make it as simple as possible. The only downside to setting up and account is sending back a signature card via snail mail.  A signature is required for everyone on the account that wants to use the card.

Things to Remember
With any debit reward card you need to run the transaction as a credit card, making sure not to use your debit PIN.  Most stores will automatically try to run the card as debit. You need to get int he habit of pushing ‘cancel’ when the PIN prompt comes up on the screen.  You will then be able to run the card as credit.  The other option is to tell the merchant ‘credit’ when they ask credit or debit.

Advantages

• Great perks and cashback (the best anywhere).
• No credit card debt or interest fees
• Won’t allow things to go through if you run out of money on the account (they just deny the purchase instead of charging you heinous fees for the pack of gum you bought)
• No fees on minimum balance, or using your card.
• Introductory rate of 2% for the first 3 months
• Special cashback offers with up to 5% cashback
• Perks for music, coffee, and other areas
• Get the same protection from fraudulent charges like you would with a standard credit card.

Drawbacks

• Customer service seems to be a problem for some people.  When I called they seemed helpful but didn’t actually do what I needed them to do (they never got the signature card I sent them and when I requested another one they didn’t send it, I’ll call again).

• It’s difficult to add a new person to the card – After getting the card I wanted to add my wife but perkstreet’s customer service said she could use the card (by sending back a signature card) but the name on the card would only be my name.  Due to lax security and the debit option on the card my wife wouldn’t be completely stranded.
• They don’t support business expenses and will shut down your account if you’re using it for business.