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United Airlines just introduced a debit card that earns MileagePlus miles.
The card certainly won’t be for everyone — especially those looking to maximize their benefits and perks with airline co-branded credit cards — but there are likely still some travelers who will find value in the new United MileagePlus® Debit Rewards Card.
The card is powered by Galileo, SoFi’s technology platform, and offers all the traditional benefits of a debit card with unique MileagePlus benefits.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Information for United MileagePlus Debit Rewards was collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
United Debit Card Benefits
Before you get too excited, this isn’t one of those lucrative credit cards that offers dozens of bonus miles and perks.
The economics of debit cards (thanks in part to… The Durbin Amendment makes it so that United and its issuing bank (Sunrise Banks) would not make as much money from interchange and revolving credit as they do from a credit card, so the card would not be as generous. When asked how the economics of this card work, United executives basically said, “It works, but we’re not going to tell you how.”
However, even with a limited set of perks, here’s what the card includes:
- Earn 1 mile for every $1 you spend on United purchases
- Earn 1 mile for every $2 on all other purchases
- Earn 2,500 bonus miles after spending $10,000 annually on your debit card
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United will waive the $4 monthly fee as long as the average daily account balance in your debit account is $2,000 or more.
As with other popular debit cards, you’ll be able to lock and unlock the card, as well as set spending limits.
United will also offer a sign-up bonus of 10,000 bonus miles when you open an account and spend $500 within the first four months of card membership.
There are no travel or Premier benefits with the card, but you are allowed to open a United debit and credit card.
Bonus miles from United Debit Card
United will also award bonus miles to those with certain qualifying account balances in their accounts receivable.
The full bonus rates are as follows.
| Average daily balance | Annual bonus miles |
|---|---|
| <$2000 | nothing |
| $2000 – $2499 | nothing |
| $2500 – $4999.99 | 2500 |
| $5000 – $9999.99 | 5000 |
| $10,000 – $24,999.99 | 15000 |
| $25,000 – $49,999.99 | 30,000 |
| $50,000+ | 70,000 |
Personally, these bonus mileage rates aren’t compelling enough to warrant me depositing money into my United debit card account. With high-yield savings rates of around 4% using apps like Wealthfront, I’ll be earning a lot more cash interest than I would from MileagePlus miles. In addition, the value of cash cannot be devalued at any point like MileagePlus miles.
Bottom line
Debit cards that earn miles may seem like a blast from the past. (They are).
Since the Durbin Amendment, we haven’t seen many travel rewards debit cards. United believes this card will provide compelling value for young travelers who want the simplicity of a debit card while earning miles. (It’s a similar argument made by Southwest when it was recently, too Provide a debit card.)
As for you and me, you’re probably better off sticking with the co-branded United credit card — unless, of course, you have a problem following the golden commandments of owning a credit card.
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