Do you not have the best credit score but you still want to be able to swipe and earn rewards on a charming credit card?  There’s a new credit card being released this upcoming winter created by Thrive called the X1 card. The card is not available yet but you can get onto a waiting list to get early access. 

What Is The X1 Credit Card?

The X1 credit card is a card redone from the bottom up. The physical card is made out of 100% stainless steel. Plus, you have the option of creating virtual cards to use online or for one-time use for signing up to free membership trails, etc. 

Approval and credit limits will not be based on your credit score. It will rather be based on your income and expenses. X1 claims that consumers can expect to be approved for credit limits up to 5X higher than other credit card issuers. As per X1, the approval process will work as follows “By looking at current and future income instead of credit score, the X1 Card can responsibly set smart credit limits up to 5 times higher than traditional credit cards and have limits rise automatically as cardholders advance in their careers. The higher limit also gives cardholders the opportunity to have a lower utilization rate, allowing them to increase their credit score faster.” 

And just like the Apple Card, the X1 card has no fees, no foreign transaction fees, no late fees, and no annual fee.

Rewards

The X1 card will earn 2 points on all purchases and a mega 3 points on all purchases if you spend $15,000 or more in a calendar year! Plus, you’ll earn 4 points on all purchases for 30 days for each friend you refer.

Rewards will be redeemed for gift cards at many popular merchants including Apple, Delta, Airbnb, and over 100 other merchants. Each point will be worth 1 cent (as per Charlie from Running With Miles who spoke to the CEO, the rewards may go up to a 2 cents value with some merchants)

Benefits 

Benefits will include the ability to create virtual cards, lower interest rates, instant notifications on refunds, and attach receipts to purchases.

The X1 card will be a Visa Signature Card so benefits will include the standard Visa signature benefits, including auto rental insurance, extended warranty protection, and more.

Will I sign up?

After reading the details of the card, I added myself to the waiting list. But will I sign up?

Probably not.

Here’s why:

The only exciting part of the card for me, are the rewards (the benefits part is pretty striped, plus, I thank god have good credit so no need for the no-credit-score-needed part). 

The card earns the following rewards:

• 2 points on all purchases
• 3 points on all purchases if you spend $15,000 or more each year
• 4 points for 30 days for each friend you refer

But here’s the thing.

The rewards are not cashback. They are points that can be redeemed for gift cards at popular merchants. As popular as these merchants are, I do not spend too much at these merchants annually (as far as the merchants included in the image on the X1 credit card website). Plus, if you use a gift card to purchase an item, we’ll use an Apple item as an example, you then lose purchase protection and extended warranty protection. Or if you book a ticket on Delta, you will lose travel protections. So gift cards have no face value to me.  But what might yes be a strategy for me would be getting the gift cards to resell them on sites like CardCash.com or CardPool.com for an 80% cash value. 

So let’s assume I do that, my real cash value for the rewards will be: 

• 1.6 cents on all purchases
• 2.40 cents on all purchases if I spend $15,000 or more each year
• 3.20 cents for 30 days for each friend I refer*

I already earn the following rewards on my existing credit cards (please note I value my Amex Membership Reward points and Chase Ultimate Reward points at 1.5 cents each):

• 2 points on all purchases with the Amex Blue Business Plus card (3 cents cash value)
• 3% cash-back on gas with the Amex Blue Cash Preferred and Bank Of America Cash Rewards Card
• 3 points on travel with the Sapphire Reserve card (4.5 cents cash value)
• 3 points on dining with the Sapphire Reserve card(4.5 cents cash value)
• 5 points on office supplies and phone bill with the Chase Ink Cash Card (7.5 cents cash value)
• 6% cash-back on purchases at US supermarkets with the Amex Blue Cash Preferred

So as you can see based on the cards I already have, there’s no need for me to get this new card based on the rewards. 

*Referring it to a friend won’t make much sense either as if it doesn’t work for me, why would it work for my friend. Unless if he then refers his friend as well. So you see how this is going (unless you have friends with no credit:))

The only reason I would consider the card would be if the points value will really be 2 cents per point with gift cards at certain merchants and if I find I’m able to resell these gift cards for a decent value. If that’s the case, then the rewards on the X1 card might potentially beat the rewards I currently get. We’ll wait and see.

If you do decide to sign up for the card then please use my refer a friend link.

Thanks