SuperCash™ Card review: A good alternative to secured cards?

Like a secured card, the SuperCash Mastercard is linked to a deposit account you open with the issuer, funded via transfers from external accounts and offers a credit limit that matches the funds in your deposit account. But the card also differs from a secured card in several ways.

Though it can help you build credit, the card is more like a prepaid or debit card than a traditional credit card. When you make purchases with the SuperCash card, you aren't borrowing money in the same way you are with a credit card, so you won't have to worry about racking up debt or facing interest charges. There's also no credit check required, no minimum deposit requirement, and the opportunity to increase your limit simply by adding more funds to your linked deposit account (up to a $5,000 maximum monthly).

This can make the SuperCash Mastercard  a safer, more flexible credit-building tool if you're wary of common credit card fees and interest charges. But since you'll need to keep an eye on your deposit account balance and add funds to cover purchases, the card may prove too high-maintenance for some users, especially if earning cash back isn't a priority. If you're looking for a simpler experience and feel confident you can pay off your charges in full each month to avoid interest, a traditional secured card may be the better fit.

• Rewards rate: Unlimited 10 percent cashback on SuperTravel bookings, 5 percent cashback on purchases from SuperShop and 2 percent cashback on all other purchases
• Welcome offer: None
• Annual fee: None
• Purchase intro APR: N/A
• Balance transfer intro APR: N/A
• Regular APR: N/A

Like most secured and credit-building cards, the SuperCash Mastercard doesn’t come with a welcome offer. But if you’re still working on your credit score, such offers probably shouldn’t be your top priority. 

That said, a handful of credit-building cards carry rewards and sign-up bonuses, which could make them extra appealing if you’re looking for a low-cost way to build credit. For example, the Discover it® Secured Credit Card carries a potentially very valuable welcome offer that sees the issuer matching all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year. Although there is no minimum spending requirement to earn this bonus, it could tempt you to spend more than you're comfortable with. 

The SuperCash Mastercard earns cash back at a generous rate on purchases made using the issuer’s travel portal and its online storefront. It also earns at a solid flat rate for every other purchase you make. These rates could make the card an especially lucrative credit-building option.

How you earn

You’ll earn the card’s best rewards rate – 10 percent back – on purchases made using SuperTravel, the issuer’s travel booking site. While you can only use SuperTravel for hotel bookings, 10 percent back is a very impressive rate for a no-annual-fee rewards card — much less a credit-building card.

You also get 5 percent back on SuperShop purchases. SuperShop is the issuer’s online retail store that carries deals for cell phones, apparel, computers, home goods and other merchandise. The SuperShop offers new deals daily that you can take advantage of, making it a potentially fair alternative to popular online retailers like Amazon. 

While the card’s best rewards rates are reserved for purchases made using portals that Super provides, you’ll still earn a solid 2 percent back on every purchase you make. This is a great cash back rate for a secured credit card and even compares favorably with some of the best unsecured cash back cards on the market, including the Citi® Double Cash Card, which consistently holds a top spot on Bankrate's list of best cash back credit cards and earns up to 2 percent back on every purchase (1 percent as you buy, plus another 1 percent when you pay off your purchases). 

Compared to the average secured card, the SuperCash card’s cash back program is quite impressive, so if earning rewards as you build credit is a priority for you, the SuperCash Card is definitely worth a look.

How to redeem

When you make purchases with your card, Super places cashback you earn into your card account’s “virtual wallet.” Once a purchase you make is completed and posted to your SuperCash account, you can transfer your cashback earnings from your SuperCash card’s virtual wallet to your deposit account. 

When it comes to cashback redemptions this is a pretty barebones offer, but you can’t ask for a simpler approach. If you’re looking for hassle-free rewards that aren’t oversaturated with choice, then the SuperCash card can be the right choice for you. 

While it might be beneficial to occasionally redeem cashback for gift cards, like on other cash back cards, the quick turnaround on the SuperCash card redemptions makes it easy to get a payout that can fund your next purchase.

How much are the rewards worth?

As far as cashback cards go, the value of your rewards can only be as high as the rate at which you earn them. When you make purchases with a cashback card, you earn a percentage back as cash. You should expect to earn 10 cents back for every dollar spent on hotel bookings made using SuperTravel, 5 cents back for every dollar for purchases made using SuperShop and 2 cents back for every dollar on all other purchases.

If you spend $300 on a hotel room with SuperTravel, you’ll earn $30 cash back. A $100 purchase in the SuperShop will net you $5 cash back, and if you use your SuperCash Mastercard to make $1,000 worth of purchases everywhere else you’ll earn $20 back. With this example, a total spending amount of $1,400 earns $60 of cashback, which is pretty generous for a card of this caliber. 

Other cashback cards carry various redemption options because they may actually award points that cardholders can use to redeem for gift cards or merchandise. Depending on the type of cardholder you are, you might prefer the flexibility offered with cashback programs like those. However, if you want straightforward rewards and for the issuer to show you the money when it comes to what you earn with your spending, you can’t go wrong with the basic cashback program on the SuperCash card.

The SuperCash Mastercard comes with few major cardholder perks or benefits that carry outstanding value. However, the card stands out as one of the few debit-style cards that helps you build credit and carries a few helpful features:

Flexible like debit, but builds credit

Your SuperCash account has a spending limit (determined by your total deposit account balance) and a card balance tracked in your SuperCash account. This is similar to the connection between a credit card balance and credit limit on a traditional credit card, but without the risk of racking up credit card debt and interest charges. Still, your payments are reported to credit bureaus and can help you improve you credit score over time through positive payment history.

Automatic enrollment in auto-pay 

Super will automatically debit your SuperCash account or linked external accounts each month on your due date in the amount equal to your statement balance if you enrolled in autopay when setting up your card You can opt out of this service, but it’s a great feature for credit building if you have a busy schedule and might not always remember to pay your bill.

Fund with Venmo, PayPal and CashApp

Along with external bank transfers, you can fund your SuperCash account using Venmo, PayPal or CashApp. You’ll need to add your SuperCash account as a linked bank account in either of these apps, but this adds a layer of convenience if you have income from multiple sources. For instance, instead of transferring from PayPal to your external bank account, then to your SuperCash account, you can transfer directly to your SuperCash account. The same goes for CashApp and Venmo, which makes the SuperCash card a convenient card option for you if your friends are always paying you back.

The SuperCash Mastercard comes with neither monthly nor annual fees, but if you’re making purchases outside of the United States, it charges an exchange rate conversion fee determined by Mastercard at the time of your purchase. Since you can’t carry a balance with the SuperCash Mastercard, you won’t have to worry about an ongoing APR.

Comparable secured cards come with minimum deposit amounts, low annual fees and a number of other fees associated with card use. This can make them a hassle for anyone with a low savings balance or who can’t reliably pay their balance and will therefore be subject to interest charges and late fees. 

Considering most unsecured and secured cards for bad and fair credit come with a number of fees and high interest, this is a generous offer. However, you can only use the SuperCash Mastercard for purchases using the available funds in your SuperCash account, which you transfer from an external account. This means you can’t spend money you don’t have. While this is beneficial for anyone prone to overspending, if you’re a good faith borrower with every intention of paying your credit balance, the SuperCash doesn’t give you a line to lean on.

The SuperCash Mastercard is a unique entry into the cards landscape, with the functionality of a debit card but the practicality and credit-building help of a secured card. It can be a great choice for anyone who won’t qualify for an unsecured card and who'd rather not tie up funds in a traditional security deposit. But since you'll need to keep funding your deposit account to offset purchases, it may require some legwork. Here are a few alternatives to consider if you're looking for a more streamlined experience.

SuperCash Card vs. Petal® 2 “Cash Back, No Fees” Visa® Credit Card

The Petal 2 “Cash back, no fees” Visa Credit card issued by WebBank is a great alternative if you want to avoid credit card fees, earn some cash back and build credit. You don’t need any credit history to open a card account and the issuer will provide a credit limit anywhere between $300 and $10,000, depending on your creditworthiness. On the high end this gives you potentially more credit than you can deposit into your SuperCash account, which can be a nice cushion for large purchases. However, the Petal 2 card comes with a regular APR of 17.49 percent to 31.49 percent variable. If you miss or are late on payments you’ll need to pay interest charges. That said, it’ll be easier to spend money you don’t have with a credit card than it is with a debit card, like the SuperCash Mastercard, and interest can add up quickly.

A major benefit of the SuperCash Mastercard is that it doesn’t charge interest. Although this is mostly because you can’t spend money you haven’t funded your account with, it makes it a safe choice for anyone who is apprehensive about extra fees and interest charges. However, if you don’t have the money to fund your SuperCash card, then you don’t have any funds to spend because Super does not provide you with a credit limit. You provide your own limit.

The SuperCash also has better cashback rates for purchases. At its lowest rate, the SuperCash earns 2 percent back on all purchases, beating the Petal 2 card’s best rate of 1.5 percent on eligible  purchases – which you need to work towards from its base 1 percent by making 12 months of on-time payments.

SuperCash Card vs. Discover it® Secured Credit Card

For anyone willing and with enough money to invest into a security deposit, the Discover it® Secured Credit Card is the most rewarding option you’ll find. It earns 2 percent for gas station and restaurant purchases on up to $1,000 in combined purchases each quarter and 1 percent on all other purchases, making it a pretty fair competitor with the SuperCash Mastercard if the majority of your purchases are for gas and dining. But it does have some sharp limitations when it comes to your credit limit. You can only deposit anywhere between $200 and $2,500 into your card account to open a line of credit. This is half as much as you can deposit into your SuperCash card account, so it won’t be an ideal choice if you spend over $500 per transaction, $1,000 per day, $2,000 per week or $5,000 per month.

If you’re building credit you should probably keep your credit card use to a minimum anyway, so the Discover it® Secured Credit Card’s credit limitations aren’t necessarily a huge drawback. You’ll also benefit from an intro APR of 10.99 percent on purchases for six months before the card’s substantial regular APR of 27.49 percent takes effect.

Since the SuperCash Mastercard isn’t really a credit card you can’t compare the utility of being able to borrow money against the amount of your security deposit, with having to actually use your own money. The Discover it® Secured Credit Card and other secured cards give you an opportunity to open a credit account and borrow funds from your credit limit on a month-to-month basis. You’ll pay interest until you pay your balance in full, which is the cost of the convenience of having a credit card and credit limit. The SuperCash Mastercard is essentially like using a debit card linked to your bank account, but you’re funding it on your own and you can’t carry a balance from one month to the next.

If you’re looking for a way to work on your credit score while avoiding interest charges and other common credit card costs, the SuperCash Mastercard is a viable option. Not only is the card low cost, but it can help you make the most of your own money via cash back.

But if you're looking for a more straightforward credit-building experience, a traditional secured credit card may be a better fit. A secured card with a decent credit limit won't require you to continually add new funds to your account, can give you access to additional tools like credit monitoring and may even help you graduate to an unsecured card down the line.