The X1 Card used to be notable for offering a minimum of 3x rewards for all spend as long as you completed at least $15K of spend on the card each cardmember year. If you spent less than $15K, you would earn a minimum of 2x everywhere. Now, though, X1 is sunsetting its 3x everywhere capability. You’ll still be able to earn 3x, but only for spend between $1000 and $7,500 each calendar month. For example, if you spend $2,000 in April, you’ll earn 2x on the first $1,000 of spend and 3x on the remaining. That’s an average of 2.5x on your spend. You can maximize rewards by spending exactly $7,500 per month so that $6,500 of the spend will be at 3x. That would give you an average of 2.87 points per dollar. And that results in points that are, at best, worth a penny each. Personally, I’d much rather earn a minimum of 2.63% cash back from Bank of America (details here). If you signed up for the X1 card before 1/18/23, you can continue to earn 3x everywhere until you reach your next card anniversary date post 1/18/23. At that point you’ll be on the new “3x sometimes” scheme. Full details about the 3x transition can be found here.
X1 points are worth 1 cent each when used to erase statement charges from select merchants, less for select other merchants (like Amazon, Best Buy, and Costco), and 0.7 cents each for cash back. One of the card’s most outstanding features is the easy ability to create virtual credit card numbers, including single use cards or quickly expiring cards which can be used for free trials without risking getting charged later.
Please note that the X1 card is not the same as the Capital One Venture X.
X1 Overview
Here’s an overview of the X1 Card (some details come directly from X1’s website):
- iPhone or Android: When X1 first came out it was only available for iPhone users, but it is now available for Android users as well.
- Heavy metal: 17g “Pure Stainless Steel”
- Card network: Visa Signature
- Earn minimum of 2x on all spend: All purchases earn at least 2 points per dollar
- Earn 3x on $1K to $7,500K of spend per month: Each month, you will earn 2x on the first $1,000 of spend and 3x thereafter unless you exceed $7,500 in spend.
- Earn up to 5x with boosts: Earn up to 5x with various “Boosts”
- Earn more with referrals: Earn a mystery reward when a friend signs up with your link: 4x, 5x, or 10x.
- Annual Fee: $0
- Late Fee: $0 (but you will be charged interest on the balance of course)
- Foreign Transaction Fees: $0
- Welcome bonus: Earn a mystery bonus for the first 7 to 30 days by signing up using a friend’s referral code. Earn 4x, 5x, or even 10x. Most people will earn 4x for 7 days.
- Virtual card numbers: Easily create virtual card numbers in the X1 app with several options:
- Singe-Use Card: Auto-cancelled after 1 purchase
- Free Trial Card: Auto-cancelled in 24 hours
- Standard Virtual Card: Cancellable at any time.
- Advanced:
- Optionally set a monthly limit
- Make the card Anonymous
- Auto cancel: Never; after 1 day; after 7 days; after 30 days
- Higher credit limits: My X1 card has a $30K limit which is considerably higher than most of my other cards.
- No hard credit inquiry: X1 does a “soft pull” of your credit (Note: one reader says that they issued a hard pull so YMMV).
- Benefits:
- Purchase Security: 90 day protection from theft or damage
- Extended Warranty Protection: Double warranty, up to 1 extra year
- Return Protection: Up to $250
- Cell Phone Protection: Max $500 per claim, $50 deductible. Requires paying your monthly cell phone bill with the card.
- Trip Interruption or Cancellation: Up to $2,000 per person.
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver: Secondary. No coverage in Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, or Northern Ireland.
- X1 adds to your Chase 5/24 count: The X1 card will appear on your credit report as a new account and so it will add to your 5/24 count.
Chase's 5/24 Rule: With most Chase credit cards, Chase will not approve your application if you have opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months.
To determine your 5/24 status, see: Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely.
Earning Rewards
2x Rewards
The X1 card defaults to earning 2x everywhere.
3x Rewards
Each calendar month, earnings bump up to 3x after you spend $1,000. The first $1,000 only earns 2x, but you then earn 3x spend after that. Any spend above $7,500 within a calendar month reverts to 2x. The whole thing resets every calendar month.
4x, 5x, or 10x Rewards via Friend Referral
There are two ways to earn 4X, 5X, or even 10X rewards:
- Upon startup: If you join X1 using a friend referral, you’ll earn a mystery bonus of 4x, 5x, or 10x on every dollar spent for the first 7 to 30 days.
- Ongoing: For every friend you refer with an in-app invitation, you get 7 to 30 days of 4x, 5x, or 10x earnings.
X1’s reward program terms state that “At least 85% of participants will receive a multiplier of 4x Points; at least 5% of participants will receive a multiplier of 5x Points; and at least 2% of participants will receive a multiplier of 10x Points.” In other words, expect to get 4x rewards. I couldn’t find any details about how many people will get more than 7 days of increased earnings, but in my experience referring others, 7 days is the norm.
4X or more via Boosts
The X1 app offers greater rewards for purchases with certain merchants or within certain categories of spend. To earn up to 5x, you have to enroll in “Boosts”. Here are some example Boosts I’ve had available:
- Earn 4x Points on your next Amazon.com purchase
- Earn 5x Points on your next Apple Pay purchase
- Earn 5x Points on your next gas purchase
- Earn 4x Points on your next restaurant purchase
- Earn 4x Points on your next grocery purchase
- Earn 200 More Points on your next $500+ purchase
- Earn 400 More Points on your next $1,000+ purchase
Boosts typically go away after you’ve used them, but new Boosts then appear over time. To earn a Boost, simply activate the boost in the app before making your purchase. I’ve activated a boost while in line to check-out at a store, for example.
When I first signed up for the card, and even before receiving the physical card in the mail, I picked an Apple Pay 5x Boost and then bought a couple of items at CVS using Apple Pay. A few things were notable about this:
- I immediately received an email confirming that the Boost worked. Subject: “Boost Completed: 5X Points Earned”. Content of email: “Merchant: CVS, Amount: $17.50, Total Points Earned: 87”.
- Points showed up immediately in the X1 app. Most rewards programs wait until your statement closes before awarding points. In some cases (such as with Capital One, I believe), points are awarded once a purchase moves from pending to actual. In this case, the purchase was still pending.
- I was immediately able to select a new Boost after the CVS purchase. Apple Pay 5x showed up again, so I picked it again. I thought that maybe it would always be available, but after using the Apple Pay Boost one or two more times, it was no longer an available option.
Not only are these Boosts very rewarding at 5x, but I found the whole process fun. There’s a bit of strategy involved in picking your Boost: will my next purchase be with Apple Pay, or dining, or grocery, or online? If online, will my purchase be in an eligible category or should I pick a generic boost that offers points for a $100+ purchase (for example)? Another option is to wait to pick your Boost until you’re about to make a purchase. I guess that some may find this stressful, but for me it’s like a fun little puzzle which, when solved correctly, means bonus points. If you mess up, you still earn strong rewards.
What are points worth?
The value you get for your points depends upon how you use them. You can offset purchases with specific merchants for 1 cent per point value or you can redeem for cash back for 0.7 cents per point value.
Redeeming Points for Eligible Purchases
Points are worth 1 cent each when used to pay for items with select merchants. At the time of this writing, here is the full list of qualifying merchants:
| TECH | FITNESS | RETAIL | TRAVEL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | Adidas | Allbirds | Airbnb |
| Beats | Cannondale | Anthropologie | Alaska Airlines |
| Bose | Lululemon | Aritzia | American Airlines |
| Masterclass | Nike | Asos | Delta |
| Nintendo | Outdoor Voices | Casper | Hotels.com |
| Playstation | Patagonia | Crate & Barrel | Hotel Tonight |
| Sonos | Peloton | Etsy | Southwest Airlines |
| Xbox | Rogue Fitness | Everlane | United Airlines |
| REI | Glossier | JetBlue | |
| Trek | Ikea | Vrbo | |
| Reformation | Zipcar | ||
| Sephora | |||
| Supreme | |||
| Uniqlo | |||
| Warby Parker | |||
| Wayfair |
Redeeming points for merchant charges works in a similar way to Capital One’s ability to redeem Miles for travel purchases or to Chase’s Pay Yourself Back. In other words, you make the purchase first and later use points to erase the charge. Here’s how:
- Open the X1 App and go to the Rewards tab (FYI: the Rewards Tab is labelled as either 2X, 3X, or 4X, depending upon your current earnings).
- Select “Redeem” to see a list of eligible purchases from Rewards Partners that can be paid off with your Points
- Choose an eligible Rewards Partner transaction and select “Pay Off”.
- You must have enough Points available to redeem against the entire transaction amount (partial redemptions are not accepted).
- The amount you paid with Points will be applied to the selected transaction as a statement credit and will reduce the outstanding balance on your account.
I’ve erased several purchases so far and found that it works exactly as advertised.
<1 Cent Per Point Merchants
X1 offers less than 1 cent per point for the following merchants: Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Home Depot, and Uber. I don’t recommend redeeming points for charges with any of these merchants since you are likely to get only about 0.7 cents per point value.
Redeeming Points for Cash Back Statement Credit
If you prefer cash back, points can be redeem for 0.7 cents each. Cash is applied instantly to your card balance. If you choose to redeem points in this way, then you can calculate your earnings as follows:
- Earn 2x = 1.4% cash back (not good)
- Earn 3x = 2.1% cash back (good)
- Earn 4x = 2.8% cash back (excellent)
Review: Is this card worthwhile?
Based on using the card for over a year, here are some pros and cons:
Pros
- No annual fee
- No foreign transaction fees
- No late payment fees (but you will be charged interest if your balance isn’t paid in full within 21 days of the close of each billing cycle)
- Awesome virtual card number features. I love using auto-expiring virtual cards to sign up for free trials without any risk of being charged when I forget to cancel.
- Higher credit limit than most other cards
Cons
- No longer has the wow factor of 3x everywhere. Boo.
- Unproven start-up. There’s a real risk to earning points with a start-up company. If they suddenly fold it is likely that you’ll lose all unredeemed points.
- Shutdown risk. Early on, there were a number of reports of X1 shutting down people without any obvious reason. I don’t know if that’s still happening.
- Possibly poor customer support. I haven’t had to deal with customer support so I can’t speak from experience, but several readers reported problems early on. It’s possible that these issues have since been corrected. I don’t know.
- Rewards worth full value only if you shop with their qualifying merchants. If you want cash back, you’ll only get 0.7 cents per point.
- No welcome bonus (unless you count the ability to earn 4x in the first month).
- Adds to your 5/24 count
Chase's 5/24 Rule: With most Chase credit cards, Chase will not approve your application if you have opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months.
To determine your 5/24 status, see: Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely.
- No hotel partners. As things stand today, you can redeem points at full value towards Hotels.com, Airbnb, and Vrbo, but I don’t see Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, Wyndham, Choice, or any other hotel brand on the list.
- No transfer partners. Regular readers know that I love points that transfer to airline and hotel partners. X1 doesn’t offer this option.
As a reminder, the card earns 2x by default, 3x for spend between $1K and $7.5K monthly, and 4x for a short time after a referral activates their card. So, I’ll break down my advice by these buckets:
- 2X: If you think that you’ll only earn 2x most of the time, then skip this card altogether and go with something like the Citi Double Cash to get a total of 2% cash back plus the option to transfer points to airline and hotel programs by adding the Citi Premier card to your collection in the future.
- 3X: If you’re sure you’ll spend close to $7,500 monthly without going over then X1 is worth considering but only if you’re interested in redeeming points against qualifying merchant charges where you’ll get 3% value from your X1 spend. If you’re only interested in cash back there are better options like through Bank of America.
- 4X or more: If you’re pretty sure that you can refer people regularly to the X1 card, then the X1 is a great option for you. Let’s assume that your normal earn rate will be 4x. If you cash out your points for 0.7 cents each, the X1 becomes a 2.8% cash back card while 4x earnings are in place. That’s excellent. And if you redeem for qualifying merchant charges, you’re looking at 4% value. That’s awesome.
Regardless of whether you earn 2x or more with the X1 card, it’s possible to do better with other cards within certain categories of spend. For example, some cards offer bonuses for grocery purchases, others offer bonuses for dining, etc. See: Best Category Bonuses — Which card to use where? X1 doesn’t try to compete on that level. Instead, X1 competes against cards that offer excellent rewards for all purchases. See: Best cards for everyday spend.
Bottom line
The X1 Card has lost most of its luster since abandoning its 3x everywhere capability, but it still has some uses. I love using X1’s one-time-use virtual card numbers when signing up for free trials. When I forget to cancel before the free trial is over, I still don’t get charged. That’s great. I’m not a big fan, though, of having to spend with specific merchants to get 1 cent per point value. I have other cards that earn great rewards for everyday spend and so I prefer to use those cards when I’m not earning 4x or more with X1. And, of course, when I can earn more with other cards thanks to great category bonuses, that’s another reason not to turn to my X1 Card.
Most readers would do better to skip this card and to continue to earn lots of points by signing up for the best credit card offers. With a single great welcome bonus you can quickly earn more rewards than with a year of spending on the X1 card.
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When the earning programs are confusing to begin with, and then a few months later they change the rules….hard pass from me.
Already filed a CFPB dispute against X1 for them changing their 3x “for the entire year” program mid-year.
I am a US citizen living in Europe for a few years and this seems like a great card for somebody in my rather niche situation. All the straight 2% cards seem to have a foreign transaction fee or other major drawbacks. If others have a good expat card that beats this I am all ears but after about 45 days I am sold.
Typically, all of these cards are available only to US residents — residents, not citizens. If you have charges that are predominantly non-US and a card issuer suspects you are not a US resident, you might well be shut down. Kind of like cell phone usage.
That being said, take a look at the Greenlight Financial Family Cash Card. 3 percent cash back on all purchases and no foreign transaction fees. And, the Credit One Bank Wander Card, which offers 5 percent cash back on travel and dining purchases.
Not sure if anyone else got the email, but the rewards is getting a major downgrade. https://x1creditcard.com/legal/program-terms#x1-card-rewards-program-rules
X1 will measure the total USD dollar amount of your Eligible Purchases each calendar month and, when your Eligible Purchases total $1,000, you will earn three (3) Points on your next $6,500 of Eligible Purchases during that calendar month. All Eligible Purchases in excess of a total of $7,500 during the calendar month will earn two (2) Points per dollar.
For Example:
Ugh
I have the X1 card and the customer service is horrible. They will almost randomly disable your card and merchant disputes will basically never go your way.
This became my primary card quickly, mainly for two reasons.
1: 3X Points. I was initially a bit worried about not being able to redeem them against the small list of vendors, but it hasn’t been an issue yet as I use them to redeem against airlines mostly (Nike once too). I am unaware that any other cards can let me get 3X points.
2: I like the app. I get a notification whenever there is an activity, and I now use virtual card features for trial, etc. I also had an issue with fraud; they handled it reasonably smoothly (definitely more streamlined than BOA).
For some reason, I also like the weekly payment option; I like to see my bank balance reflect the latest state instead of getting a significant deduction once a month.
The only other card I use is Amazon Chase now.
Maybe add the below sentence at the top in bold instead of half way in?
“When signing up for X1, it’s necessary to connect the bank account where your salary is deposited so that they can determine your credit limit from that.”
And, add that ONLY traditional payroll is considered and not business net income (or investment income). In spite of substantial income, I was declined. No reconsideration. Don’t contact us. Period.
One of my favorite features is that you can set up a weekly autopay. I’ve been using it as my “everything else” card for almost 9 months and I love it. It’s hard to beat 3X and I haven’t had any issues redeeming the points for AirBnB, Ikea, Delta or Alaska Airlines charges at 1c a point.
When it comes to redeeming points to erase charges, are gift cards bought for Apple, Hotels.com, etc also eligible to be erased?
Only if you can buy the gift cards directly from those merchants
With all the cons, looks like a hard pass for me.
Looks like there’s now a monthly limit on the 3% rewards at $7500. Drops down to 2% and will reset at the beginning of the next month.
If you’re interested, I believe my code is zeZ3kTT
Thanks for catching that. I see it in the program rules (https://x1creditcard.com/legal/program-terms#x1-card-rewards-program-rules):
Monthly Spending Limitation: The three (3) points per dollar will only be available on the first $7,500 of Eligible Spend each calendar month. All Eligible Spend in excess of $7,500 during the calendar month will earn two (2) points per dollar, even if the 3x Annual Spend Bonus has been activated.
Major limitation. Typical devaluation after such cards mature. Just like Cardless.
As a practical matter, this is really a 2X card plus 90k per year. If the play is cash back, remember that payout is 0.7 cent. At best, it’s 2.1 percent cash back. Redemption for certain purchases is 1 cent. At best, 3 percent.
Now consider Bilt’s double points on the first of the month. You have the Up to 10k extra points per month, 120k points per year. Simply time purchases. Cash back is 1 cent and certain travel purchases 1.25 cents. Plus transferable points. Maybe combine it with the Citi Double Cash Card.
Where’s the gong?
Absolutely horrible card and even worse customer service. Loved the virtual card option. That’s the only plus. Received a 30K limit. Used the card for six months only to have a hold placed on the account. Told I need to make more payments to remove the hold. Account not past due. 100% on time payment history but now I need to pay payments total to 8k of a $12k balance to begin using the card again. May as well say the CL is $4k not 30k. Racked up rewards but can’t use them because of the hold. No clear explanation for the hold other than the fact I started using the card so my spending activity triggered the hold. Huh? Wish I never got this junk. Gimmicky.
Just a head’s up. X1 seems to have removed the ability to refer someone. It is no longer an option on the app. Looks to be the end of 4X points at least for now.
I still have 3 invites available, feel free to use my code PqY2AVf
Hello. I am interested in getting the X1 invite but the referral code 6cuoIC is no longer valid. Please help.
oZhZp8t is out of uses. Can you please post another? Thanks so much!
Looks like the code is not working.
The invite code is out of uses.
This is a very bad credit card. It is by far the worst-run operation I’ve ever experienced. 80% of my attempted (normal) transactions were declined. The only thing I’ve successfully ever used the card for is a parking meter. Restaurant? Declined. Grocery? Declined. $20 of Crypto? Declined. A newspaper subscription? Declined.
I complained to customer service. They closed my card.
By far, the absolute WORST of the WORST. There is nothing good about this credit card. You also have to manage everything from the app, as there is no website.
Code out of use as of sat may 21, please change
That’s a good thing. You don’t want this horrible credit card anyway.
This card has strict underwriting in this way. If you dont show a bank account that gets regular deposits (Ie Payroll) they will decline. They will check that. Its part of their deal with their underwriter.
AVOID! Does not have a customer service phone number. Does not send statements by mail or e-mail; you have to log in, on your phone only, just to see a statement. No website access. Did not send me a payment e-mail notice — they admit it was their mistake — and then charged me some ungodly amount in interest paying one day late. TWO HOURS of texting back and forth did not change that result. And now they have reneged on their penny-per-point redemptions. Possibly the worst credit card operation I have ever seen.
Here is what I suggest you do for statements/transactions. I have another card (Paceline) that does the same thing. Paceline is 3% Cash everything 5% groceries and fitness. Anyway forward the statements to your email. Drop them into good drive. If you open them in google drive you can copy paste the transactions into Google sheets. I find 3X every day and the chance to get 4X as a decent benefir base don their partner offers.
I also have X1 with a $30k limit. Rarely use it as I prefer 2x Amex points for everyday spend. However the single use numbers are quite handy.
At 4x point I would use it much more but I don’t have time or inclination to shill it. Not sure it was worth wasting a 5/24 slot
Ha! That’s exactly my situation. I have the Amex BBP card (2x points on everything, and I value MR points at 1.5-2 cents each). So I’m struggling to think what I’d actually use this X1 card for.
I already have the ability to create expiring / single-use credit cards with privacy.com. So… what other benefit would X1 bring me?
As you post this, X1 changed their program today without notification and I’m not happy. I don’t see that list of merchants that 1c redemptions are good towards. I now see other merchants where I can redeem at much less. I emailed support last night about it and they responded with a non answer that the merchants can change at any time. I guess we’ll see if this card is dead to me shortly.
Here’s a more well-explained version of what I’m calling a major devaluation:
It looks as if X1 quietly overhauled their rewards system overnight with no warning. I had been cashing out my points by buying Nike GC and redeeming at 1c against those charges. While I still see Nike on the list of merchants, they added some merchants that weren’t there before like Amazon, Best Buy, and Home Depot. If they were all 1c merchants, I’d be stoked. But my charges that show up from those merchants have a cashout rate of ~.00715. I have no current Nike charges so I can’t see if perhaps those would still be 1c, so I emailed support to ask them and got back a very telling response this morning:
“Points values may change over time and can differ by merchant depending on our partnerships. You will always be able to see the points needed to pay off each individual eligible transaction on the redemption screen in the app.”
As far as I know, Nike is still 1%. That is a generic BS response you got from some offshore rep most likely. The other merchants pay it off are merely like as if you did cashback, so they did not add those vendors to the preferred list. You might think they did but its really like other cards that let you credit for example travel purchases with points or something. Why were you redeeming for Nike GC? To use in store?
New invite code JUSR8vf is out of uses as well. Thanks!
Just got an invitation (via email) to apply. I’m 17 months from being under 5/24, so I don’t think it’s worth it for me. My biggest expense every month is rent and my BILT card takes care of that, fee-free. Plus, I have a couple of 2x cash cards already, so I’ll sit this one out. I, too, have felt the burn from a Capital One closure, so I’m snake-bitten.
New invite code 6JIfx55 is out of uses as well. Thanks!
Try now
Everyone — if the code/link here doesn’t work, try searching your email for an invite from X1.
I completely missed their email from March but the link in the email still worked even though email said “invitation will expire April ##”.
Perhaps I’m incredibly old school, but the primary reason I’ve barely used my X1 (and don’t plan to use it much at all) is because I found out after opening the account that they don’t support Quicken. If I can’t automatically download my transactions into Quicken, it would become an operational nightmare to manage this account with the 20+ other cards I have.
Several of the new FINTECH cards/programs dont support Quicken/Mint etc. They dont want to pay the fees.
Yikes. May I ask what other major cards/programs? Asking so that I avoid the trap I fell into with this one (i.e. wasting a 5/24 slot).
Paceline for one. Brex as well, although Brex downloads to Quickbooks online. Brex has CSV.By the way I have been in the miles points game for 25 yrs? What is the big deal with 5/24. Is Chase a life and death carrier that people panic over that? Not me. There are many other good programs out there and I have held many or most of the Chase cards over the years. 5/24 this or that? How many of those cards to people need. I have their business and personal cards.
I guess if you’ve never been rejected for a Chase card that you really wanted, then I could understand why it may not be such a big deal. When CSR initially launched with a 100,000 sign-up bonus, I was rejected for being over 5/24. Since then, I’ve strived to stay under in order to not miss out on great deals like that.
Its a rolling 24 months. Its not a big deal. Tell me how many Chase cards are must have life and death cards? INK cards have 80K bonus. Its 24 months rolling regardless. I get what card programs that work for me and over the years had just about any and every major card that exists. Not only that but Chase business cards dont count toward that 5/24. As underwriters tighten up as we head toward a recession that may also cause carriers like Chase to tighten as well as they have in the past. For example for a straight cashback program Paceline at 3%/5% is one of the very best for those whofollow the process there.
I asked support about this on 1/26 and got the following answer. Take it for what you will. Should be noted that Quicken isn’t even owned by Intuit anymore.
“We are in the process of finalizing our integration with Intuit so that apps like Quicken and Mint will be supported. This should be live in February and we will make an announcement when it is ready.”
Wow. Since it’s May, perhaps they meant February 2023?
Current invite code l6sPse6 is out of uses.
Updated
Current invite code is out of referral uses. Able to change the code? TIA
Thanks for letting me know. It’s been updated. Please try again
Hmm, it’s still populating the same invite code: l6sPse6
If you have another one that isn’t full, would love to use it, thanks again!
Nice writeup, Greg. Thank you. I received an invitation finally, but it expires on Monday. Would there be any reason to go with this card over the Paceline Visa that you reviewed? I have it and I’ve been getting 3% back everywhere and 5% on groceries, sporting stuff (broad category), etc. The metal card is cool, but wouldn’t Paceline be a better option? For those on the fence, if you have an Apple Watch, it is insanely easy to meet the 150 minutes of exercise, it counts slow walks even.
I’d much prefer the Paceline card unless you plan to spend a lot of time out of the country (if I recall, the Paceline card charges foreign transaction fees).
nope, pass.
Only attractive redemption for me would be air fare, and if I have to redeem for the entire transaction, it will take forEVER.
Was just thinking about that. I wonder if purchasing gift cards from the airline could be offset, so you could cash out in $25 (maybe even $10) units. If not, on Southwest (and increasingly on other airlines) it’s possible to “build” a more expensive fare by buying a cheap one and changing it in increments to what you actually want. Extra work, yes, but it lets you consume credits below the threshold of the flight you actually want.
Android yes. I have it. Customer service took six hours to respond my only and small inquiry and denied charges which turned out was not for fraud alert rather they require an account to season. I have a $33k credit limit. My first month I forgot to make any charges (was away from home to receive physical card and forgot about virtual). Second month I made a $1k purchase and then subsequent attempts at $1k+ we denied and told to wait till next month. Second month I had my recurring $1k, have paid that immediately, and in a few days will have another large purchase to attempt.
Great to know, thanks! Will update post now.
X1’s application express states that it will only consider employment income and that applicants must EXCLUDE investment income. My wife’s application was immediately rejected.
They just sent an email out about Visa Signature benefits. They look pretty good to me on first glance.
I have had the card for 2 months, I don’t recommend it. Will go back to my Chase freedom unlimited. I prefer getting my cash out on a 1:1 basis for my points, 0.7cents is a ripoff. Also, this is only in the form of statement credit not a check or cash that u get to spend however u like.
There is no actual person u can speak with if u have a dispute, they only do text or email. This makes resolving a dispute a nightmare. I had an unauthorized charge and was told to wait 2 weeks for the vendor to respond?? I have never had any other credit card company tell me this, the charge is credited back to me pending their investigation which has always been in my favor.
For anyone considering this card, I would highly recommend you find another card. All the marketing is a bunch of hype and loud noise that needs to be blocked out. It seems like they are targeting a younger demographic as well, in which case u should definitely stay clear. Consider the Chase/Citi/or Wells Fargo credit card competitor instead.
This is a critical comment. Disputes and customer services matters much more important than an extra 1% in “cash back”.
My card is in the mail. I have a 15.5k limit. I’m trying to do the math to figure out how I want to use this card. I can’t find this answer on their app and I don’t see it in your article. What amounts to 1 point? Does $1 equal 1 point? I see amd understand how the points are “cashed out.” But for me to figure out of this is worth it for me i need to understand how do I get 1 point.
You’ll earn at least 2 points per dollar you spend with the card. If you complete $15K spend in
a calendaryour membership year, you’ll earn 3 points per dollar. If you refer a friend, you’ll earn 4 points per dollar for a month.Clarifying that it’s membership year, not calendar year, can see it in the points section of the app.
You are correct, thanks!
I’ve had the card for about 2 weeks after being on the waiting list for almost a year. My highest credit limit prior to this card was my Amex at 7500. I applied and was given 19.500. I was able to use the card right away by adding it to Google Pay. within 24 hours I bought a Denon receiver and a few “Home” wireless speakers, gas for my car and a trip to Longhorns. No problem with the card at all…paid off the balances as they posted. Most of the people I have seen being shut down are people sharing those invite codes with people they don’t know…for some reason, that always seems to come up.
Great to hear. My card is still alive and kicking too, but I haven’t actually used it very much since I have several big spend offers on other cards.
I got the X1 after waiting for month… I spend a good amount of money within the first days and posted my code in social media for people to skip the waitlist. Suddenly all the transactions were declined and I got in touch with customer service. All they told me was that they’ll have to look into it. After days of no response I got in touch with them again via text. The feedback was that I would receive an email with the explanation by end of day. As expected again no answer. I reached out to them again the following day and the answer I got was the following:
Hope you’re well. I just wanted to give you an update that the team did their review and your account has been flagged for potential misuse of our rewards program. As a result, we will sadly need to close your account.
You’ll receive another email in the coming days with more details.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Best,
X1 Team
I’m super disappointed because I was such a fan and very excited to use the card… and now it was all for nothing and I wish I would’ve done my big purchases on another card!
They don’t seem to care that I’ll take my business elsewhere and just apologized for the inconvenience. Not sure what’s going to happen with the points I accumulated!
I hope nobody else is going to have such bad experience with this card! I won’t recommend the card anymore and wish I didn’t get friends to sign up since I can’t stand behind it!
Best,
Patrick Hanser
So you got shut down for what exactly? By sharing your codes or using the card? For now its like I need another card in my hand just in case this one gets shut down while buying gas……what a joke. I read about a guy given 40 grand….he spent 25, then sent in his payment before anything posted…they shut him down.
This is normal for them. I didn’t do anything sketchy and was shut down the same way for even less.
I have been reading points blogs for almost a decade, and while they got me into a “hobby” the increased competition and need for content definitely poisoned the well. Obviously they were always funded (and nothing wrong with it) by credit card referrals & similar ads. No doubt covid thinned the herd even more.
That said, has it gotten to the point that I have to read a long “review” only to find out at the end the author doesn’t even have the card? Have the bloggers fallen so far that now the referral isn’t even for cash, but now to move up in the wait list?!?!
When was the last time a credit card has to go through a “private beta test?” And the only proof of the card is some guy on youtube talking about it? As the saying goes, if it’s too good to be true, it is. Expect this to debut with an annual fee and bizarre fee structures and rules. This will be on par with the visa “black cards” that are hocked on late night tv. I hope I am wrong but I will check back on the progress..
Good luck, godspeed, and never drive faster than you can see.
The second sentence of the post was “I had moved up to position 124,105 on X1’s waiting list.” – so if you had to wait until the end to find out that Greg doesn’t have the card, I think you must have skipped the first paragraph.
Just for critical thinking purposes, how much money would Greg have to spend for the incremental benefit of 4% on this card (assuming perpetual referrals) over the next best card in his wallet to be enough to be worth writing about this card just for referrals? We’re talking an extra 1.375% more than he can get with his Bank of America Premium Rewards card or 1% more than one can get with a first year Discover card and as 4% on the X1 card it can only be used for the included brands. It’s not that I don’t want the card or think it is valuable — I do want it and I do think it is valuable. But if you think the referral was the reason for the post, you’re mistaken.
To do the math for you, he’d have to spend $74,074 on the card at 4x for it to earn an extra $1,000 in cash back over the Premium Rewards card (with Platinum Honors). As a point of comparison, anyone with an Ink Business Preferred can refer 5 people to that card and get 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (worth $1,000 at a base level, no $74K spend required). If referrals or commissions were what dictated the content of this site, we wouldn’t be writing about the X1 card (or about Choice Privileges gems or Hyatt peak and off-peak pricing or many of the other topics we cover). We write about what we find interesting and think other people will also find interesting or useful or both.
In terms of cards going through “private beta tests” – Brex, Bilt, the SoFi Money card, and the Venmo card are a few that immediately come to mind as examples that have beta tested and then successfully launched from that place. The Curve card similarly has been building on the waiting list model and it sounds like they plan to launch very soon. Most credit cards in the market are issued by banks like Chase, Citi, Amex, Synchrony, Comenity, etc — but we’ve seen FinTechs start to enter the space and of course they have a different model. I don’t find that particularly surprising.
Will this card work out? Nobody knows and about that you’re absolutely right. The thing about the “if it’s too good to be true it probably is” sentiment is that if I followed that sentiment I would have missed out on many thousands of dollars and probably well over a million points over the years. We frequently see those “too good to be true” things in this game and often they *are* too good to last, so the key is to strike while the iron is hot and take advantage of those deals while you can. That’s why we write about something like this now instead of only after it has launched and been around a few years — those readers who might be interested in taking a swing at it would miss out on the opportunity to strike while the iron is hot if we wait until someday down the road to discuss it. Does that mean you should join the waiting list and/or apply for the card? Absolutely not. Don’t do anything that you’re not comfortable with doing. But the way that venture capital has been thrown around through FinTechs in recent years (again, see Brex and SoFi and the many banking apps that have thrown out big new account bonuses for new users), I think you’re missing out if you write off every new player in the game.
This card feels pyramid scheme-ish. If its main value proposition is for those with very large pools of referees, then who exactly are they supposed to refer? Other people who also happen to have exponentially many referees? Or suckers who will end up with a subpar product? Of course, most cards in the market aren’t as valuable as Citi Double Cash or Amex Blue Business Plus, but my concern with this card is its incentive structure for holders to market on its behalf dishonestly.
Another thought is that this referral bonus sucks. Even if you can manufacture $10k within the month after a referral, you get $70 (+1x 0.7 cents x 10,000). It’s pretty low compared to what you can get from referring people to some cards that are actually good.
The diss is to the card, not this post. Always appreciate reviews and analyses here for a wide range of products.
I get why it feels pyramid-scheme-ish, but I disagree with the idea that the card is only good if you refer people. I think that people should evaluate it based on 3x earnings (which you get with $15k annual spend). I think that’s excellent and I wouldn’t hesitate to refer people to it for that 3x. I wouldn’t recommend it to people who want transferable points. Nor would I refer people who would have trouble meeting the $15k threshold. But for those who can spend $15k per year easily, the 3x rewards are worth 3% back for solid things like airfare with popular carriers, Airbnb, etc. Worst case, you cash out for 0.7 x 3 = 2.1% and that’s still better than a 2% card.
Personally, I’ve been using my BOA Premium Rewards card for 2.62% cash back for all non bonused spend, but even if there was no 4x option, I’d seriously consider earning 3x with this card instead if I think that I’ll spend enough with airlines and other full redemption merchants in order to get full value from the rewards. To earn enough rewards to book a $300 flight, I’d have to spend:
Woohoo a direct response from Greg!
Well don’t blame me when I started my thought process with your “It’s possible to do better than that, but usually with big hoops involved.” under the 3x discussion… 😉
And this blog definitely conditioned me to consider 2x TY points to be superior to 2.1% cb (or even 3.0% cb). Of course, dealing with transferrable currencies is extremely headachy. X1 sits somewhere between the simplicity of 2% cash back and the value of 2x transferrable points.
$9,750 spend on BBP, redeemed with Business Platinum Pay with Points.
True, great example! The combo of the Blue Business Plus and the soon-to-cost $695 card (Business Platinum) gives you slightly better redemption power for airfare, but with far more limitations:
To be clear: I’m not knocking this example, its a great one that shows how valuable the Amex approach can be and it has the huge advantage over X1 of allow transfers to many partners.
I’m not sure this card is for me, but with no annual fee, might as well give it a try.
Hey Greg, when I click on your link it asks for a referral code? Do you have one?
You click on “Request an invite”, you don’t have a code. This is the relevant section of the post (under the heading “How to get the card”:
If you’re willing to wait, then you’ll want to join the waitlist (you’ll also get 4x rewards for your first 30 days once you get the card). Here’s how:
Note that the comment here doesn’t have the invite link, but you’ll find it in this section in the post.
How do you see your spot on the waitlist? It looks like I already signed up a while ago but I can’t figure out how to view my position.
The only way I know how is to find an email from them that listed my position in the waitlist at some point in time and then click through to see my current standing.
Given that my go-to airlines for domestic travel are all in the 1% cash-out list this would be a 3% cash-back travel card for me. That’s better than any airline card, plus no dealing with award availability and all flights would count towards status.
Seems like a pretty good deal for anyone who flies a reasonable amount. If you can be assured of the 4x earning (if you have a steady referral network, which I don’t) I think it’s a no-brainer.
No benefit to this card at all…. its just a Millenials are excited for nothing event. X1 card lol. 4x points if you refer someone…sorry I do not like having to work for my points. My brew card pays that at all restaurants with no annual fee and the points are worth the fell 1%. oh and the 8x at Uber… cant beat that.
Forget the 4x option and evaluate this based on 3x rewards with $15K annual spend. If you like the full value redemption options, then you can’t do better than this as your “everywhere else” card (e.g. use this one when not at restaurants or whatever other category you earn better than 3% with other cards). Obviously if you wouldn’t naturally spend $15K per year on an everywhere else card then this isn’t for you.
Hard pass for me. This is a ponzi scheme. Gonna be some unhappy customers when this collapses and all their accumulated points vanish like a fart in the wind.
The way they offer 4x rewards for referring others does sound like a Ponzi scheme, but I actually think it’s brilliant. Instead of spending millions of dollars on advertising and affiliate marketing, they’re using the same budget to give referrers an extra 1x on spend for 30 days. My bet is that their overall cost to acquire new customers will be much less than with competing products.
Greg, you never addressed Dick’s real concern: can we trust these guys enough that they would not just abandon ship and leave us be with thousands of worthless points?
It’s certainly possible. My point was that I didn’t think it was an unsustainable approach. But yes, caution is warranted here unless/until they prove themselves longer term
“Please don’t post referrals in the comments.”
“Click here for my “invite a friend” link”
There’s nothing new here. We never allow referrals in our comments because the discussion then devolves into hundreds of people saying essentially “pick me! pick me!”
Don’t think this is for me, but i do know a few ppl at work who have a lot of AA spend that gets reimbursed, so this might be a good no-fee option for them yo just cash out points that way. Making it essentially a 3% cb card.
Greg you’re letting faux marketing scarcity suck you into a mediocre offering. 2.1 % cash back not exciting esp with min spend each year to get it. Most of the big 1 cent merchants are travel and get better bonuses / value elsewhere.
That 0.7 per point value is like Ralphies decoder telling him to drink his Ovaktine.
I agree that 2.1% is not exciting, but it is better for many people than other options. Most 2% cards have foreign transaction fees. This does not. Cards with better than 2% rewards usually have big hoops to overcome (like BOA $100K investment requirement), are hard to get approved, or have earning caps.
Where this card is exciting is for those who would use the rewards for 3%. If you pay for lots of flights, for example, you can erase those charges at full value. Or if you like buying “stuff” with your rewards (Apple, REI, etc.) you not only get the full 3% but you can combine with shopping through portals for extra rewards, use coupons for lower prices, etc.
Agreed with Greg. I’m mostly interested in this as my domestic flight awards card. I typically don’t want to use miles on domestic flights as I don’t get great value for my miles that way (I’d rather save the miles for international trips). Instead, I could use rewards from this card to book paid flights and earn miles on those flights. I’d also generally be happy with 3% back toward Airbnb / Vrbo.
I’m likely to naturally shop at enough of a handful of the other 1% merchants that there are enough back-ups for me to be satisfied (especially since I don’t have to redeem the points through X1 for merchandise or gift cards but rather I can go through a shopping portal and link my X1 card to a card-linked program and stack with all of my usual tricks and then cover the charge).
I don’t know where this will go long-term, but I’m intrigued enough in the short term.