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I’ve had my eye on Nearside Checking for some time. It’s a free, FDIC-insured business banking platform with a Mastercard debit card that offers a generous, unlimited 2.2% cash-back rate on all eligible purchases in 2022. There are no fees and no minimum balances. By itself, that’s pretty compelling, but things just got a little more exciting,
Nearside is currently offering a $40 bonus on your first deposit of $200. This is stackable with their normal referral offer which gives each side a $50 bonus after the new account holder spends $100 on the debit card within the first 30 days. By using a referral link, making a $200 deposit and then spending $100 on the debit card in the first 30 days, you’ll end up with $90 (and 2.2% cashback uncapped for the rest of 2022). I signed up today. The application process took about 5 minutes and I was approved within 15 minutes without a hard pull and with a virtual debit card number in hand.
The Deal
- Get $40 welcome bonus on your first $200 deposit when signing-up for a new checking account and making the deposit within 7 days.
- Stack with a referral link to get an additional $50 when spending $100 in the first 30 days on the debit card.
Direct Link to $40 offer WITHOUT $50 referral bonus
Key Terms
- $40 welcome bonus offer may only be redeemed once per user.
- Must download photo ID to be approved for checking account.
- Must link bank in order to transfer funds (nice to see you again, Plaid).
- $200 deposit must be made within 7 days in order to qualify for bonus
- Both your and your referral’s accounts must be open and in good standing to qualify for referral promotion. Statement credits will appear on your and your referral’s statements within ninety (90) days of qualifying spend, provided that we receive information about the qualifying transaction. Statement credit will be reversed if a qualifying transaction is returned or cancelled.
Quick Thoughts
I’ve been wanting to sign-up and write about Nearside ever since they started offering 2.2% uncapped cashback for 2022, this welcome offer makes it a no-brainer in my opinion.
I went through the entire process this morning and it took about 5 minutes to apply. After that, I received an approval e-mail in about 15 minutes and was able to get a virtual card number on the app which I added to my Apple Wallet.
I specifically did not use any of my actual business information when I applied, as I wanted to find out how stringent the business qualifications would be. I used my own Social Security number as a sole proprietor and downloaded my ID, but didn’t link any website or social media identifying the business. When asking for the type of business, I put travel and leisure. There was no hard pull.
Compared to the underwhelming Amex Debit rollout this week, this seems like an easy home-run. Even after the bonus, uncapped 2.2% cashback on debit will keep this card close at hand for the remainder of the year. Will it last beyond that? Who knows. But for the near-term, Nearside is a winner.
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This looks to already by done. They’re not taking any applications. At least not using your links.
Are they sending out 1099s?
If I apply for this to pay my taxes today, it sounds like I can get the virtual card right away… but I’m assuming that my funds will not be available until they have fully transferred, correct?
Yes. If you’re looking to make a payment today, don’t do Nearside.
You need to stop advertising Nearside as “unlimited 2.2%” cash-back. They are not.
Learned hard way they are offering “2.2% cash back at participating merchants”
Don’t even dream on cash back on tax payment or regular online payments with the card. But you could have 2.2% at PANDA EXPRESS
Sorry to hear that. Which merchants did you not receive cash back on? I haven’t yet run across that yet with any of my purchases (including utilities) and haven’t heard any reports of cash back being denied, so would love to get more specific DP’s from you.
Noticed this in small print on one of their welcome emails “The virtual Nearside Debit Mastercard has a daily transaction limit of $1,000. If your virtual card limit is reached, no additional transactions will be approved for the remainder of the day.”
Website T&C doc says: Point-of-Sale Daily Limit – $10,000.00. I’ll test that today and post the results here. The total daily withdrawal limits (ATM and cash) are $1000.
Be the data point you want to see. Thanks for digging into that, Geoff.
this is for the virtual card. The physical card which has a different number doesn’t have this restriction.
Anyone having trouble getting deposit to credit? I initiated an ACH, money left my bank but Nearside still shows it pending for days. Is this how they avoid paying out the bonus?
This is an unfortunate quirk of Nearside. It usually takes me 5-7 days to get a deposit to credit. It’s crazy. Point debit, in the other hand, is almost instant. I’m not sure why it takes so long with Nearside, but it can be frustrating. Don’t worry about the bonus, they’re very prompt about paying it once the deposit goes through
my bank lets me pay my mortgage with a debit card. Would this allow me to earn 2.2% cash back on my mortgage payment?
Would paying the IRS be considered an eligible expense?
Do we know which if any merchants/categories are excluded? There are some fairly obvious ways to manufacture spending with a debit card (that don’t require any effort for liquidation whatsoever) and I can’t imagine Nearside will offer 2.2% cashback on those transactions?? Or will they???
Thus far I haven’t found any (but they do specifically exclude “cash-like” transactions: “You will not earn cashback on ATM withdrawals, cash advances, money transfers, transfers to yourself, payments made to affiliated accounts or peer-to-peer payments, or on purchase of travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, gift cards, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, unauthorized or fraudulent charges”).
Start small and if it tracks, vroom, vroom.
I went for this and I see the $40 already added to my balance. Do I still need to spend $100 on the debit card within 30 days?
There are two separate bonuses. The $200 deposit gets you the first $40. Spending $100 gets you another $50, so if you’d like the full bonus, yes.
Wow, I didn’t realize. Thanks !!
Happy Friday! Tim, I signed up your referral link and got approved today. I’d like to make sure both of us could receive $50. Can you help verify it from your end?
Thanks Ozzi! The $50 referral bonus isn’t awarded until you spend $100 on the debit card. Once you transfer $200 into the account, you are eligible for a $40 bonus from Nearside, though.
Hello Tim, I have completed all tasks and received the bonus last weekend. Hope you get yours too. Thanks for the info.
Terrific! Glad it worked out, Ozzi.
Will this be a soft or hard pull on your credit
Soft pull
Tip If you have trouble getting their site to validate a jpg of your ID: use a pdf instead.
Thanks, Tim.
Their site says “qualifying merchants” and then links to the main debit card page with no description of what that means. Have you guys found a better source for what that entails?
This is the only thing I saw, fairly standard:
You will not earn cashback on ATM withdrawals, cash advances, money transfers, transfers to yourself, payments made to affiliated accounts or peer-to-peer payments, or on purchase of travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, gift cards, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, unauthorized or fraudulent charges.
Could you point to where you saw that Tim? The reason I ask is that once you log in they have the rewards page where you can search for local businesses with “rewards”. It’s not clear to me if these are somehow “extra” rewards or if it’s referring to the extra 1.2% that you’re supposed to get. Very few businesses in my area so I don’t know that I’ll be able to take advantage of this.
For anyone curious about the process with a business, I applied under an LLC and my application was approved instantly.
Tim – thanks for this write up. Curious what angles you have for putting spend on this card that you wouldn’t otherwise put on a credit card category bonus?
Great question. For me, unbonused spend and/or spend that either doesn’t allow CC or that charges a fee for CC (utilities, taxes, service providers, etc).
Some people prefer cashback to a 2x transferable currency card. In that case, this would pay out above the Citi Double Cash or Amex Blue for Business.
Gift cards are officially excluded, but I’m not sure if that actually holds true in practice (it doesn’t on some other debit cards). I’m sure other folks will find out soon 🙂
What are the terms and conditions for “eligible purchases”? I’m assuming tax payments are restricted?
You will not earn cashback on ATM withdrawals, cash advances, money transfers, transfers to yourself, payments made to affiliated accounts or peer-to-peer payments, or on purchase of travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, gift cards, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, unauthorized or fraudulent charges.
Hrm, I wonder if it would fall under “similar cash-like transactions” or if it would really be allowed and earn 2.2%
I seriously doubt it. Normally “cash-like” only applies to purchases of things that double as cash, ie money orders, coin purchases (sometimes), travelers checks, etc. Taxes are pretty common on debit/credit and usually earn rewards (I do it every year).