PayPal Debit card with 5% categories?!

[Wu-Credit]

I'm getting 5% back at Walmart with groceries as my category, plus an extra 5% from their offers for checking out with PayPal online. Can't beat that when I do pickup.

Kind of difficult from someone to do a fraud purchase if my PayPal Balance is always at zero until I fund it to use at groceries. Also, PayPal has it's own fraud protection (includes the debit card).

All in all, it's a nice debit card to have as a 5% option when the CCC has a lower cap, so I rotate restaurants/gas with that now.

There's no downside other than having an extra debit card. If that's a deal breaker for some, that is okay. Many (including myself) will find it beneficial in contrast.

[Curious_George2]

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@galahad15 wrote:

I'm not sure I'm 100% understanding all of the excitement of this particular FOTM card?  

It seems to have quite a few downsides...?

1.  It is a debit card, as opposed to a credit card?

2.  Because it is a debit card, as others on the thread have established it needs to be self-funded (i.e., put up your own money in advance)?

3.  Doesn't it have the same fraud risks as a regular debit card, meaning that after 2 days of not reporting fraud, you are liable for all of it?

4.  Several posters had mentioned it as interfering with their regular PayPal payments?

Given the above drawbacks and possibly more, why would anyone want or have a viable need for this card, if you already have 5% CB cards like US Bank, Redstone, AAA, Citi CCC, etc.?   Am I possibly missing something here or is there another major advantage of the card that I am not getting?

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Great analysis, as always, @galahad15. I won't try to answer for everyone, but for me this card filled particular gap nicely. One of the grocery stores I frequent doesn't accept credit cards. (It's WinCo, but presumably there are others.) Up until now, the best rewards rate I could get there was 2%, using a Kasasa checking account's debit card. Now I can get 5% cashback there, with the PayPal debit card.

I'm not worried about fraud risk because I keep my PayPal balance low.

You are correct that this interferes with using PayPal Bill Pay, so I have abandoned that. Its utility had diminished anyway, when PayPal purged most payees several months ago.

As a small bonus, I have found I can still effectively get the 2% Kasasa rewards, by using that account to fund my PayPal balance. So I'm basically getting 7% cashback on this portion of my grocery spend. It's only a few extra bucks per month, but it makes me feel

clever, so I like it. 

[Anonymous]

Costco accepted payment is Visa or "Most Pin based Debit Cards" and a quick look says Costco gas codes as gas.

Has anyone yet tried the "Paypal Debit Card" with 5% "Gas" choosen as the monthy catagory at a Costco gas station?

[Anonymous]

DPs:

Used Paypal Debit inside a CircleK and inside a BP for non-gas convenience store junk food.

Both posted 5% cashback today

So at least these 2 DPs show the "Gas" category is "Gas Stations" and not just Pay-At-Pump

[unsungivy]

Have thoroughly tested the Restaurants category:

It has given 5% for standard "Eating Places & Restaurants", "Fast Food", and "Alcoholic Drinking Places (bars taverns nightclubs etc)", as well as Food Delivery (regular restaurant) via GrubHub (which is not a specific MCC, but can get flagged weirdly sometimes). MCCs for the places tested were verified via the CCC, also a MasterCard. So safe to say that unless a place codes as a Bakery or something weird, it's good for all Restaurant purposes.

[Wavester64]

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@unsungivy wrote:

Have thoroughly tested the Restaurants category:

It has given 5% for standard "Eating Places & Restaurants", "Fast Food", and "Alcoholic Drinking Places (bars taverns nightclubs etc)", as well as Food Delivery (regular restaurant) via GrubHub (which is not a specific MCC, but can get flagged weirdly sometimes). MCCs for the places tested were verified via the CCC, also a MasterCard. So safe to say that unless a place codes as a Bakery or something weird, it's good for all Restaurant purposes.

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Thanks for this @unsungivy 

I had an odd one at one of my favorite steak places. It came up as "Food Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) Bars, Taverns, Nightclubs, Cocktail Lounges, Discotheques" and didn't trigger the 5%. And believe me, this ain't no "Discotheque" 

[unsungivy]

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@Wavester64 wrote:

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@unsungivy wrote:

Have thoroughly tested the Restaurants category:

It has given 5% for standard "Eating Places & Restaurants", "Fast Food", and "Alcoholic Drinking Places (bars taverns nightclubs etc)", as well as Food Delivery (regular restaurant) via GrubHub (which is not a specific MCC, but can get flagged weirdly sometimes). MCCs for the places tested were verified via the CCC, also a MasterCard. So safe to say that unless a place codes as a Bakery or something weird, it's good for all Restaurant purposes.

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Thanks for this @unsungivy 

I had an odd one at one of my favorite steak places. It came up as "Food Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) Bars, Taverns, Nightclubs, Cocktail Lounges, Discotheques" and didn't trigger the 5%. And believe me, this ain't no "Discotheque" 

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Hmm. Based on my testing it should have, since that's all the same MCC (I was just summarizing it above). Ugh.

[tiniwings]

Hi, I have tried today at Costco gas and PayPal notification popped up confirming gas purchase with 5%.

[yam1rts]

I was thinking about paying my AAA insurance renewal with this Paypal DEB card, does anyone know have an idea of what category to choose from and would it work?

[unsungivy]

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@yam1rts wrote:
I was thinking about paying my AAA insurance renewal with this Paypal DEB card, does anyone know have an idea of what category to choose from and would it work?

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Sorry, the PayPal Debit card will not give you any money back for an insurance payment. None of the categories would work for that, and it doesn't have a base 1%.

However, there are several 1% cash back debit cards that might work, such as the Affinity cashback debit. And, you can buy gift cards and then apply them to the balance (in a round about way, you could use the PayPal card for Groceries, buy MC or Visa gift cards at the grocery store, then apply them to your insurance, assuming there is a "waive the activation fee" sale happening that is.) You're better off buying from Staples when they have a sale, with either a card that gives you cash back on Office Supply stores or a flat rate card, and then using those to pay your insurance.