Green Dot Cash Back Visa Debit Card Review:
The Green Dot Cash Back Visa Debit Card is one of the few prepaid cards that offer cash back. Are the cash back rewards worth the fees? Maybe.
Green Dot Cash Back — At-a-Glance
Pros
- Cash Back Rewards
- Free mobile check deposit
- Bill pay allows you to send paper checks
- Not available online
Cons
- Higher, non-waivable monthly fee
Overview of the Green Dot Cash Back Visa
It’s become commonplace in the credit card arena for cards to offer cash back rewards. It was unheard of with prepaid cards. But in 2016, Green Dot added its cash back version of its already popular Green Dot Prepaid Visa®.
The Green Dot Cash Back Visa offers a massive 5% cashback on purchases, but there’s a catch. The cashback reward is limited to $100 per year. Still, while the cashback rewards won’t put a bonanza of cash in your pocket, it can be a good offset to prepaid card fees.
Green Dot Cash Back Visa® Debit Card not what you are looking for? Check out other options in our Best Prepaid Debit Cards list.
The features and limits of the cashback version of the Green Dot Prepaid Card are the same as the Green Dot Prepaid Visa®. So are most of the fees. But the monthly fee of the cashback version is higher. So, in considering the Green Dot Cash Back Visa, it’s worth a comparison of the fees of the two cards factoring in the cashback reward.
A Little Cash Back Math
The Green Dot Cash Back Visa charges a monthly fee of $9.95. The Green Dot Prepaid Visa charges a monthly fee of $7.95. The $2.00 per month difference is offset pretty quickly with the cashback bonus though. During the course of the year, if you use the cashback version for $480 in purchases, the cashback reward is $24–the difference in the fees between the cards.
However, one of the best features of the Green Dot Prepaid Visa is that Green Dot waives the monthly fee if you load $1,000 or more during the prior month. So, if you plan to load that much, through direct deposit or otherwise, the Green Dot Prepaid Visa won’t cost anything in monthly fees.
The cashback card doesn’t provide a way to waive the monthly fee. You’re paying $9.95 per month no matter what. That means you’ll always pay $119.40 per year in monthly fees. Even if you max out the cashback benefit of $100, you’ve still paid a net amount of $19.40.
Green Dot Cash Back vs. Green Dot
So, is there a place in your wallet for the Green Dot Cash Back Visa? Well, if you’ve decided on a Green Dot card but won’t load enough each month to consistently waive the fee, then maybe. You need to consider how much you’ll use the card for purchases each month. If you’ll spend more than $40 per month, then the Cash Back version will be cheaper.
But one of the reasons we like the Green Dot card in the first place is the opportunity to waive the monthly fee. It makes the card pretty competitive for those that can qualify to waive the monthly fee. If you’re one of those, the plain old Green Dot Visa is your better choice.
Best For: Green Dot users that can’t qualify to waive the monthly fee for the non-cash back Green Dot Card
Not So Good For: Those that will load $1,000 or more per month to their card. The regular Green Dot Prepaid Visa is a better choice.