Details on the Arco Website
Basically you get a Card that Links to your existing checking account and you can earn rewards.
Regular Card (No Annual Fee)
- 1 point per PIN transaction
- 2 points per Signature Transaction
- $24.99 Annual Fee
- 2 points per PIN transaction
- 4 points per Signature Transaction
The Rewards 5000 points = $5.00 onto your Debit Card
The Break Down:
| Points | Dollars Spent | Cash Returns |
| 1 | $ 5,000.00 | 0.10% |
| 2 | $ 2,500.00 | 0.20% |
| 2* | $ 2,524.99 | 0.20% |
| 4* | $ 1,274.99 | 0.39% |
*Includes Annual Fee
Why would you get one? To save a $0.45 transaction fee for using your Debit Card.
However the FINE PRINT is interesting:
** Rewards are not earned for ampm, ARCO and non-ARCO gasoline brand purchases.
So you save $0.45 at ARCO for purchasing their gas and you do not earn any rewards for it.
Let's look at the card with the Annual Fees.
24.99/0.45 = 55.5
If you filled your car with Gas 56 times via debit you'd get your "money back" from the annual fee, however you'd have no rewards points.
Long story short:
This is probably a ploy to get people to sign up for the Preferred card and earn DOUBLE points. I would say most people are better off getting a Credit Card that gives them Cashback on Gas purchases. And if memory serves correct you can still use your Debit Card like a credit card at Arco, Make sure you press Credit before inserting your card.
[Update]
There are actually some Arcos that accept Credit Cards, the one I've seen has a sign that says Credit Card price and Cash price.
There is a report that use of the Debit MasterCard can sometimes put a $100 hold for each gas purchase you do. It clears once the bank receives the sales draft. However that's still a $100 hold you may not expect when you've only filled up $30 worth of gas.
This still doesn't change my review.
