Investment platform Robinhood is launching a new premium credit card, which it’s marketing as “the actual Platinum Card.” I’m sure you’ll be shocked to hear that the card has a high annual fee, with the idea being that credits and benefits can offset the cost. Do the perks justify the annual fee? Let’s take a look…
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Basics of the $695 annual fee Robinhood Platinum Card
The new $695 annual fee Robinhood Platinum Card is a Visa Infinite product made of 99.9% pure platinum plating (hence the claim that this is the “actual” Platinum Card). Beyond the physical card, is there any merit to getting the card, though?
It’s not yet clear if there’s a sign-up bonus. When it comes to the rewards structure, the Robinhood Platinum Card offers:
- 10% cash back on hotels booked through the Robinhood travel portal
- 5% cash back on flights booked through the Robinhood travel portal
- 5% cash back on dining, on up to $50,000 spent annually
- 1% cash back on all other purchases
Before we talk about the credits, the card offers memberships with Robinhood Gold, Amazon One Medical, Function Health, and Oura, described as a value worth hundreds of dollars. The card also offers an up to $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit every four years, plus a Priority Pass membership.
Beyond that, the card offers hundreds of dollars worth of credits, though clearly the goal is for there to be some breakage. The card is marketed as offering over $3,000 in value every year, and that largely comes down to the credits. The card offers:
- Up to $500 in hotel credits each year — get one $250 credit every six months, valid for a luxury hotel booking through the Robinhood travel portal
- Up to $300 in travel credits each year — get one $150 credit every six months, valid on rideshares, hotels, flights, and other travel purchases (this doesn’t require using the Robinhood travel portal)
- Up to $250 in DoorDash credits each year — get two $10 credits each month (three credits in December), each valid for an order of $50+
- Up to $250 in restaurant credits each year — get one $20 credit each month (a $30 credit in December), valid at around 15,000 restaurants nationwide
- Up to $250 in autonomous credits each year — get one $20 credit every month (a $30 credit in December), valid for select autonomous ride spending
- Up to $200 in wearables credits each year — get up to $200 in credits toward qualifying health wearables purchases, though details beyond that haven’t yet been revealed
Is the new Robinhood Platinum Card worth it?
The new Robinhood Platinum Card strikes me as being… okay(ish)? As I see it, it’s potentially worthwhile as a coupon book, but has limited value beyond that.
When it comes to actually spending on the card, the only exciting bonus category is 5% cash back on dining. Otherwise, a 1% return on everyday spending is not very competitive, while the 5-10% cash back on a portal booking is niche, and not much to get excited about.
So it sure feels to me like this card has been set up as a “coupon book,” where you can maybe recoup the annual fee (or even make money) if you put enough effort into using credits. I have a hard time getting excited about “oh, let me pay another $695 annual fee so that I can try to save a few bucks by using credits across dozens of transactions each year.” The credit card fatigue is real.
But for a certain type of person, there’s no denying the value will work out here. I suspect this card is largely more about appealing to those who are a fan of the Robinhood platform (which might cause them to get the card), rather than specifically being geared at value maximizers. It’s no different than how the Apple Card has been wildly popular, despite not actually being that compelling.
Bottom line
Robinhood is launching a new $695 annual fee credit card, which is being marketed as the “actual” Platinum Card.
The card’s return on spending isn’t much to get excited about, as it offers 5-10% back on Robinhood portal bookings, 5% back on dining, and 1% back on everything else. Then the card offers a large number of credits that can help offset the annual fee.
As I see it, making the math on this card works comes down to getting outsized value with the credits. How much effort are you willing to put into utilizing small credits with services like DoorDash, though?
What do you make of the new Robinhood Platinum Card?
I don't know about being beholden to RH's travel portal. Only travel portal I use is Amex, sometimes. But usually just book direct. Coupled with that annual fee, that's a no.
I know many RH account holders, but of them I would consider zero of them to be financially savy. This card may be lucrative to some, but I'll pass on partnering with a company that in my mind essentially gamifies investing. When a legitimate investment advisor (like Vanguard) that actually looks out for their fundholders opens up a premium rewards CC, maybe I'll be interested.
Can't wait for Pizza Hut to offer a $795 annual fee credit card with Priority Pass access and bonus points for using their travel portal.
No. Hell no! And where is the RH gold card at? I’m not paying for subscription for years just to have chance. Or be forced to apply thru some backdoor/hack.
I have their GOLD card which I use extensively for my business to get the 3% cash back on all categories. The fee is $5/mo billed as Robinhood GOLD. There are no other perks, but CASH IS KING! I recommend the card to basically anyone. Their platinum card is not compelling in the slightest
This is quite compelling, although not for readers of this site. Certainly is the for the free agent type. And since the AF can be paid out of your Robinhood account anyway, you won't feel the costs. A few small option plays will pay for it easy. The fatigue is certainly real, but for who this is marketed for, I'd bet they are not maximizing credit card and hotel/travel partner benefits at all anyway. They...
This is quite compelling, although not for readers of this site. Certainly is the for the free agent type. And since the AF can be paid out of your Robinhood account anyway, you won't feel the costs. A few small option plays will pay for it easy. The fatigue is certainly real, but for who this is marketed for, I'd bet they are not maximizing credit card and hotel/travel partner benefits at all anyway. They are not trying to maintain status at several hotels and airlines where the opportunity costs of switching to this would be high.
Robinhood Gold, travel and DoorDash credits are pretty much at face value. And 5% back on dining is great. True, if you are trying to maximize this with your Reserve and Amex Plat, airline card(s), hotel card(s), then it's fatiguing and will be hard to make it work.
It's a Robinhood card, not a travel rewards or cash back card.
What constitutes a "luxury hotel booking" (is this tied to a specific network and, if so, which one) and is there a list of the "over 1,500 restaurants" where one can used the dining credit (similar to my previous question)? I couldn't find this information in the description of plan benefits.
Not sure how you consider the 10% cash back on hotel bookings through their portal not so interesting?" That is fairly significant as I see it. if the portal offers all the Virtuoso/Prive/Luminous etc abilities it is basically giving the customer the commission instead of a travel planner.
Giving a lot of the commission back to the booker and offering Virtuoso like benefits would be game changing. Amex FHR and Chase Edit kind of do this with pre-paid stays as part of their top collection but that's only 5-8x back and the benefits are good but maybe not Virtuosos good depending on the hotel
Just compare its earn rates to those of the Citi Strata Premier. You'll have your answer.
Definitely not compelling.
I'm curious how much this card costs though? A friend who works in that space had told me the metal cards out there right now (Amex Plat, Chase Sapphire Reserve) are in the $8-20 per card range which honestly blew my mind given the volume they are purchasing. It's partially materials, but partially speed of manufacturing because they require laser etching for name and numbers, which is far slower than the...
Definitely not compelling.
I'm curious how much this card costs though? A friend who works in that space had told me the metal cards out there right now (Amex Plat, Chase Sapphire Reserve) are in the $8-20 per card range which honestly blew my mind given the volume they are purchasing. It's partially materials, but partially speed of manufacturing because they require laser etching for name and numbers, which is far slower than the printing that normal cards use.
I know they get a great marketing halo from the metal cards, but it was one of those rare situations where something was far more expensive than I would have guessed. Especially since they allow you to replace them quite easily (and for trivial things like switching designs with Amex).
No transferrable points, no signup bonus? Pass