Trade Republic launching a debit card with 1% cashback

Knuttell said:

I'm 1,322,966 on the "wait list"

Seriously what a load of codswallop.

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It's probably just scalability issues?

shipship said:

I've been in the queue since it started and I'm still at 250k.

I'm not sure I fully understand the cashback.

It sounds like you have to set up €50 min saving plan, up to 15 of which can be your cash back. Is that correct?

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I'm not sure about that. I spent 11 euros yesterday and saw that I got this in the app then. I haven't tried to do anything with it though so I don't know if there are restrictions

I just got my card today.

If you read through the saving plan, it will tell you that you have to set up a 50 per month savings plan to actually get the save back. You can earn up to 15 euro a month, and that goes into your savings plan.

I think I'd rather just get 0.5% cash from my AIB card.

I just got an email this morning to tell me I can now order my Trade Republic debit card. Trying to weigh up if it is worth doing or not. Like @shipship in the previous post, I already get 0.5% cashback on my AIB credit card. I don't know if I want to be locked into the Trade Republic savings plan at €50 per month with the headache of ETF taxation in this country.

Just got my card offer as well. So looks like they rolled it out to Irish customers this week maybe.

I already had a savings account for buying ETFs so linked that.

I had thought those savings would get the 1% up to €15 a month but no, it seems those do not count, you need to use the card to buy other items online (virtual card) or in person (physical card) to get the 1% cashback.

So if that is true, surely this is only worth if you have over 50K in your TR account, as you get 4% on uninvested savings up to 50K. So why would I spend some of that to only get 1% back?

Hi all,
Just wondering if I'm missing something here. Why would you want to run down a savings balance with a market leading 4% in return for 1% cash back on card purchases? I would prefer to make card payments from my existing bank's current account which currently attracts zero % and keep balances in the TR 4% savings account as high as possible.

PTSB are increasing charges on accounts

what am I missing here ?
What is the catch ?

Are Irish banks so out of touch or is it just greed again?

The card is a gimmick to get you to start to invest into one of their savings plans so that they get regular money off you.

The 1% saveback is just to entice you to create a savings plan.

Same as the 4%, they are in principle only for your uninvested money, it's not designed to be savings account, it's a brokerage account to hold funds you don't have invested.

The card is just another way to try to get you to use their brokerage system.

I don't really consider it a gimmick. It's an enticement to use their platform - and this seems to be a common thing with their competitors now too - like the recently announced Trading 212 card.

Motivation aside, there are a lot of positives here for consumers - the card is actually very good - unlimited FX including foreign cash withdrawals. And while it's not real cashback, you could choose to invest in the XEON ETF, let it build up for a while, earning its 3.99% return and then cash out.

Optimal use of TR is to max out the 50K cash earning interest. Then have your monthly spending cash on top of that. Then spend it on the card, earning the saveback, and do your normal ETF investing with them as a destination for the saveback.

It's not for everyone, and of course they make money when you trade (don't all brokers?).

Biggest issue for me, and I won't use it until they do this - is that you can't set a low spending limit or otherwise separate your bulk cash from being accessible by the card (other than completely freezing the card).

Innisfree said:

I don't really consider it a gimmick. It's an enticement to use their platform - and this seems to be a common thing with their competitors now too - like the recently announced Trading 212 card.

Motivation aside, there are a lot of positives here for consumers - the card is actually very good - unlimited FX including foreign cash withdrawals. And while it's not real cashback, you could choose to invest in the XEON ETF, let it build up for a while, earning its 3.99% return and then cash out.

Optimal use of TR is to max out the 50K cash earning interest. Then have your monthly spending cash on top of that. Then spend it on the card, earning the saveback, and do your normal ETF investing with them as a destination for the saveback.

It's not for everyone, and of course they make money when you trade (don't all brokers?).

Biggest issue for me, and I won't use it until they do this - is that you can't set a low spending limit or otherwise separate your bulk cash.

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interesting. I find their user interface a bit annoying. Up until the new month it made some sense but since something has reset to zero and it is harder to figure out one's cash and interest etc. If only they'd copy N26 on that.

Yeah, the app is not as nice as the N26 one for sure. Definitely reflects their broker-first history.

Anybody having issues with the app and login?

mmclo said:

Anybody having issues with the app and login?

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Got in ok now (Android)