Bucks Blog: Debit Cards With Rewards Not Extinct (Yet)

Even though debit card reward programs are getting harder to find, most of the programs remaining haven’t changed much — at least, not yet.

Banks are cutting back their loyalty programs, because of new caps on what they can charge merchants for processing debit card purchases. (Some banks are adding new fees for customers as a result of the rule, which took effect Oct. 1.) A survey by Bankrate.com found that the availability of the programs declined by about 30 percent from last year.

The study included the five largest banks and the five largest thrifts in 10 major markets, as well as the five largest credit unions.

But the findings weren’t all bad. Many of the remaining programs are still offered without charge, and the most common payout remained 0.5 percent back (or one penny for every $2 spent), with a range of 0.25 percent to 1 percent. Among banks that do charge for participation in their loyalty programs, fees ranged from $1.50 to $10 per month, the study found.

Also, most institutions still don’t place a cap on the rewards customers can accumulate.

Does your institution still offer a debit rewards program? For a look at a couple of the most generous programs, see Ron Lieber’s recent column about PerkStreet and Kasasa. Some banks only offer the high-interest checking version of Kasasa, but there are also debit rewards programs that its parent company offers through community banks and credit unions.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=7de43f251f9e841a328bf9da557501ce