PayPal Debit card with 5% categories?!

[UncleB]

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@unsungivy wrote:

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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.

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This is a great point.

I had considered getting rid of my PP 'Business' debit card to free up a spot for the 5% version, but truthfully I pretty much have all the 5% categories covered already by a credit card (or two, or three...) so my use case would probably remain the same, which is for the occasional purchase where I don't want to use a credit card. 

Since I'd go from getting 1% back on these occasional purchase to -zero- I'm probably better off where I am. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Anonymous]

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@UncleB wrote:

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Since I'd go from getting 1% back on these occasional purchase to -zero- I'm probably better off where I am. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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The issue with the Business debit is the need to have the funds in your paypal account, right?  A fairly recent change meant it no longer pulls from another funding source.

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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Since I'd go from getting 1% back on these occasional purchase to -zero- I'm probably better off where I am. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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The issue with the Business debit is the need to have the funds in your paypal account, right?  A fairly recent change meant it no longer pulls from another funding source.

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Yep, and that part is mildly annoying, but I usually just do a quick transfer using my bank's debit card to load the PP account so it's not the end of the world (I did like the old way much better, though).

I might have missed something in all the chatter... does the 5% card not require a PP balance to work?  If it functions like the Business debit used to (auto-fund from an external deposit account) that would change my thoughts on the matter.  I'd be willing to forgo the 1% on my occasional small random purchases if I didn't have to pre-fund the account.

[Anonymous]

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@UncleB wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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Since I'd go from getting 1% back on these occasional purchase to -zero- I'm probably better off where I am. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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The issue with the Business debit is the need to have the funds in your paypal account, right?  A fairly recent change meant it no longer pulls from another funding source.

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Yep, and that part is mildly annoying, but I usually just do a quick transfer using my bank's debit card to load the PP account so it's not the end of the world (I did like the old way much better, though).

I might have missed something in all the chatter... does the 5% card not require a PP balance to work?  If it functions like the Business debit used to (auto-fund from an external deposit account) that would change my thoughts on the matter.  I'd be willing to forgo the 1% on my occasional small random purchases if I didn't have to pre-fund the account.

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@UncleB wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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Since I'd go from getting 1% back on these occasional purchase to -zero- I'm probably better off where I am. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

---

The issue with the Business debit is the need to have the funds in your paypal account, right?  A fairly recent change meant it no longer pulls from another funding source.

---

Yep, and that part is mildly annoying, but I usually just do a quick transfer using my bank's debit card to load the PP account so it's not the end of the world (I did like the old way much better, though).

I might have missed something in all the chatter... does the 5% card not require a PP balance to work?  If it functions like the Business debit used to (auto-fund from an external deposit account) that would change my thoughts on the matter.  I'd be willing to forgo the 1% on my occasional small random purchases if I didn't have to pre-fund the account.

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Right, for now(!) it will pull from a funding source.

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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Since I'd go from getting 1% back on these occasional purchase to -zero- I'm probably better off where I am. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

---

The issue with the Business debit is the need to have the funds in your paypal account, right?  A fairly recent change meant it no longer pulls from another funding source.

---

Yep, and that part is mildly annoying, but I usually just do a quick transfer using my bank's debit card to load the PP account so it's not the end of the world (I did like the old way much better, though).

I might have missed something in all the chatter... does the 5% card not require a PP balance to work?  If it functions like the Business debit used to (auto-fund from an external deposit account) that would change my thoughts on the matter.  I'd be willing to forgo the 1% on my occasional small random purchases if I didn't have to pre-fund the account.

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Right, for now(!) it will pull from a funding source.

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ooh... looks like I may have an old debit card that needs canceling!

(Thanks for the heads-up!)

[unsungivy]

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@UncleB wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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Since I'd go from getting 1% back on these occasional purchase to -zero- I'm probably better off where I am. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

---

The issue with the Business debit is the need to have the funds in your paypal account, right?  A fairly recent change meant it no longer pulls from another funding source.

---

Yep, and that part is mildly annoying, but I usually just do a quick transfer using my bank's debit card to load the PP account so it's not the end of the world (I did like the old way much better, though).

I might have missed something in all the chatter... does the 5% card not require a PP balance to work?  If it functions like the Business debit used to (auto-fund from an external deposit account) that would change my thoughts on the matter.  I'd be willing to forgo the 1% on my occasional small random purchases if I didn't have to pre-fund the account.

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Right, for now(!) it will pull from a funding source.

---

ooh... looks like I may have an old debit card that needs canceling!

(Thanks for the heads-up!)

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Uh, to be clear, you can set the auto-reload to happen when your balance is under a certain amount. It doesn't happen if you try to make a purchase that is higher than your current balance... based on recent experience with a DoorDash order. Just to check, has it pulled the amount needed for anyone else? We had to manually tell it to add the money, then it worked (it was above the autofill amount).

[Anonymous]

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@unsungivy wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@UncleB wrote:

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Since I'd go from getting 1% back on these occasional purchase to -zero- I'm probably better off where I am. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

---

The issue with the Business debit is the need to have the funds in your paypal account, right?  A fairly recent change meant it no longer pulls from another funding source.

---

Yep, and that part is mildly annoying, but I usually just do a quick transfer using my bank's debit card to load the PP account so it's not the end of the world (I did like the old way much better, though).

I might have missed something in all the chatter... does the 5% card not require a PP balance to work?  If it functions like the Business debit used to (auto-fund from an external deposit account) that would change my thoughts on the matter.  I'd be willing to forgo the 1% on my occasional small random purchases if I didn't have to pre-fund the account.

---

Right, for now(!) it will pull from a funding source.

---

ooh... looks like I may have an old debit card that needs canceling!

(Thanks for the heads-up!)

---

Uh, to be clear, you can set the auto-reload to happen when your balance is under a certain amount. It doesn't happen if you try to make a purchase that is higher than your current balance... based on recent experience with a DoorDash order. Just to check, has it pulled the amount needed for anyone else? We had to manually tell it to add the money, then it worked (it was above the autofill amount).

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Oh, thanks for that clarification!   That is not nearly as useful as I thought.  I was just lucky that my amount was below the balance (and then it auto-reloaded).  So @UncleB probably not worth it

[Wavester64]

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@unsungivy wrote:

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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.

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Apologies All, I made a mistake here. My "Discotheque" issue was not for PayPal Debit card, it was for Redstone CC. 

[unsungivy]

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@Wavester64 wrote:

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@unsungivy wrote:

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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.

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Apologies All, I made a mistake here. My "Discotheque" issue was not for PayPal Debit card, it was for Redstone CC. 

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Ooo! Thanks for swinging back to update! Now I don't feel as bad that they changed the rules the day I joined Redstone so I couldn't get the card 😁

[Anonymous]

I used my card for gas today, the 1st of the month.   About 3 hours later I receive "It's time to chose your categories" email.  Oops!   Charge still shows as pending but I expect not to get any % back, but maybe.....

If I were truly hardcore the Subject would be "TERRIBLE MISTAKE!!!!" etc, but I think in the worst case I have lost a $1 in rewards.  Wait a minutes, that's TERRIBLE!!!