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The Scratch Card is a digital bank and virtual debit card combo that earns cash back equal to the current inflation rate on your purchases. It charges no fees to create an account, and you can use the Scratch card anywhere a Debit Mastercard is accepted.
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Steven Dashiell is Senior Writer, Personal Finance at Finder specializing in all things credit cards. With more than 300 articles under his belt, he aims to help readers embrace credit cards and maximize their rewards. Steve is studying to become a Certified Educator in Personal Finance, and is a frequent face on Finder’s YouTube channel, offering the latest in credit card hacks and advice. His expertise has been featured on numerous outlets, including U.S. News & World Report, NASDAQ, Time, CBS, Fox Business, Lifehacker, Martha Stewart Living and more.
The Scratch Card is a new virtual debit card available for waitlist from Scratch. By loading funds into a digital account through direct deposit or your existing bank account, you can make purchases with the Scratch card and earn cash back equal to the current CPI inflation rate.
As of May 2022, this rate is 8.3%, which is a phenomenally high number for a flat cashback rate. There are no charges to start an account and create a card, no monthly minimums or inactivity fees and no credit checks to get started. As a bonus, Scratch will also enter consumers who sign up for the waitlist into a drawing for one year of free gas, valued at $3,000.
Scratch calculates the card’s cashback rate at the end of each month, adjusting for changes to inflation. In theory, this card will help even out any additional costs you might pay due to this inflation, though it also means the cash back you earn with this card can actually go down should inflation decrease.At the moment, this card’s cashback rate eclipses most rewards credit cards on the market. But there’s no guarantee this rate will stick around forever — and given it’s based on inflation, we’d hope for it to lower. But the Scratch Card won’t build you credit as you use it, a typical drawback to using a debit card for purchases.
Until the card launches, we can’t yet give our final thoughts on the card. But if the card performs as described, consumers might find a useful tool for keeping expenses down during rising inflation.
The Scratch Card isn’t yet available. Join the waitlist at the Scratch website, and doing so will enter you into a drawing for one year of free gas — valued at $3,000.
Earn cash back equal to CPI Inflation. When you use your Scratch Card to make a purchase, you earn cash back equal to the current rate of inflation. As of May 2022, this is 8.3% back.
Cash back is earned daily and doled out to your account at the month’s end. Scratch also adjusts the card’s cashback rate each month.
For a better idea of how the Scratch Card stacks up to other digital bank options, select up to four services and select Compare to see them side by side.
The Scratch Card doesn’t yet have customer reviews and complaints as it hasn’t been released. We’ll update this section as soon as more consumers get their hands on this card.
Deposit cash to your Scratch Card account through direct deposit or by transferring funds from an existing bank account.
Once you’ve deposited funds to your Scratch Card account, you can use the Scratch Card to make purchases anywhere a debit Mastercard is accepted. We don’t know at this time how or if you can retrieve funds moved to the Scratch Card account, but we’ll update this article when more details become available.
If the Scratch Card works as advertised, it can prove useful for mitigating some of the burdens of ongoing inflation. Unfortunately, we’ll need to wait for the card’s final release to make a final call on whether this card lives up to the promise. In the meantime, you can check out other digital banks on the market to see what other options are available.