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“How to activate Robinhood card” is a common question that has been doing the rounds on the internet recently.
Users who set up a Robinhood account are now looking to activate their cards.
If you are one such user who wants to know how to activate their Robinhood debit card, you have come to the right place.
Activate your Robinhood card and do cashless payments without any hassle!
If you are someone who likes to eat out, travel, or shop frequently, the Robinhood debit card is perfect for you.
The card comes with the Cash Management feature of Robinhood and is partnered with Sutton Bank.
Moreover, it allows you to turn your brokerage account into an offline wallet using which you can spend the funds that you have managed to acquire from your investments.
Everyone can invest using Robinhood since it makes it so simple. And now with the debit card option, spending your earnings has never been more fun.
In this article, we will discuss the basics of the Robinhood card and how you can get it activated. Keep on reading!
What is Robinhood?
You may already be familiar with Robinhood as a financial services company.
Robinhood is among the best investment platforms available presently. Earlier, investing was more of a chore.
Resources were less and investors always had to reach out to their broker for placing any order. However, today it is a whole lot easier.
With Robinhood, you can trade a wide variety of stocks, ETFs, equities, and shares, both online and through an application.
Who knew you could so easily trade using just your mobile phone? Download their official app and submit your application.
Once your application gets approved, you will be ready to invest in stocks!
Rather than just having a basic brokerage account, it is better to upgrade to Robinhood Cash Management, which offers more features and a debit card.
Using Robinhood, you can earn more as you invest more. But, once you enable the Cash Management feature, your earnings will have interest added to them as well.
Besides using the debit card, you can spend as well as make ATM withdrawals anywhere a Mastercard is accepted. This makes it easier for users to properly manage their funds.
Cash Management Features
The Cash Management Account is a checking and savings account in one. It provides a pretty high rate of interest, similar to a savings account, and it also includes a debit card, similar to a checking account.
Cash Management is a feature that you can avail yourself through your online brokerage account, allowing you to earn interest for unused funds.
With Cash Management, you can use a deposit sweep feature where Robinhood’s partner banks ”sweeps” or places your unspent funds into deposits.
Presently, Robinhood has ties with seven program banks that offer 0.30 percent APY on your swept funds.
Moreover, there are several other features that you can avail with Cash Management.
Some of them are as follows:
- Account numbers and routing numbers for initiating transactions
- A physical debit card through Sutton Bank
- Access to Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay
Before you go ahead and create a Robinhood Cash Management Account, you must have a brokerage account with Robinhood.
Before this feature was available, users had to retain their funds in their brokerage accounts as long as they needed to before they could invest in a bond or stock.
However, your options are much more since you can use up your funds anywhere you like.
Robinhood Debit Card
As already mentioned, you get access to a physical or virtual debit card if you set up Cash Management on your Robinhood account.
If you opt for a physical debit card, you will get the opportunity of choosing from four different colors – Green, White, Black, and American flag.
Furthermore, you will be able to use your card for in-person transactions, and online and smartphone transactions.
If you think that you are not comfortable with having a physical debit card, you can also opt for a virtual card.
With that virtual debit card, you will be able to initiate online payments through Samsung Pay, Google Pay, or Apple Pay.
However, there’s no need to worry since you can always request a physical debit card in case you change your mind later.
Once your physical debit card arrives, activate it and start spending immediately! But, a lot of users do not know how to activate Robinhood card.
We have got your back!
How to Activate Robinhood Card
You cannot use your Robinhood card if you do not activate it first. Just follow the detailed steps below to activate your card.
Step 1: Sign Up For Cash Management
As mentioned already, if you wish to get a virtual or physical debit card through Robinhood, you have to first set up an account on Cash Management.
But, you have to go through a bit of a thorough process before you can set up your account.
Much like most payment platforms, you have to verify your identity. For that, Robinhood will ask you for your Social Security Number.
The platform might also ask for additional information such as verification that you are 18 years old, documents suggesting that you are a citizen of the United States, a permanent resident, or a visa cardholder.
You can get all this information on the official website of Robinhood.
Step 2: Apply For the Card
After you have upgraded your account to Cash Management, you need to apply for a debit card. The application will take a bit of time, hence have patience.
In a couple of days, you will get an email to your registered email ID notifying you whether the application you put in has been approved or rejected.
Furthermore, the email can also ask you for more personal information in case the information provided by you was insufficient.
Submit the requested documents as necessary. Final approval can take anywhere from five to seven days.
Step 3: Add a Payment Method
Next, you must fund your brokerage account. You can do this either through a transfer or direct deposit.
Your Robinhood card will fail to support any check deposits or cash.
Hence, you need to add a payment method to the account you use. The card pays for purchases using the account’s balance.
Therefore, if your account doesn’t have any balance, you will be unable to use your Robinhood Card.
Step 4: Navigate to Cash Tab
Once your application for the Robinhood card has been approved, it will take anywhere between two to five days to be delivered to you.
After you have received your card, launch the Robinhood application on your device.
If you are more comfortable using your PC, you can also visit the official website of Robinhood.
Log in with your credentials. Now, navigate to the Cash tab.
Step 5: Go To “Have You Received Your Card?”
The Cash tab displays the available balance, transaction history, and other information related to the user’s account.
Over there, you will find a section labeled “Debit Card”. Under that section, click “Have you received your card?” Next, tap on Yes.
If you feel like it, you can also enable Location Protection and Spend Alerts. However, these are optional and there is no obligation to turn these on.
Step 6: Make Online Purchases
There you go! Your Robinhood card has now been activated! Wasn’t that easy? Make sure that you have sufficient funds on your account for making offline or online purchases. Use your card to the fullest!
How Can You Use A Robinhood Debit Card?
You can start using your Robinhood card anywhere, be it for in-person transactions or online transactions.
You can also use your card for ATM withdrawals.
As long as you have enough funds on your account, you can use your Robinhood debit card anywhere you see the Mastercard logo.
This applies to the majority of the nations around the world. However, there are a couple of nations that do not accept the card.
Hence, when traveling, it is always best to see beforehand whether the country you are traveling to accepts the card.
The Robinhood debit card is a versatile card with which you can pay for items online, book hotel rooms, pay in restaurants, etc.
If carrying around your physical debit card seems too risky for you, there’s also something else you can do.
Just connect your wallet to either of the three payment platforms- Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay.
This way you can spend your Robinhood funds in any place that accepts mobile payments.
Whenever you make any purchase using your Robinhood debit card, it withholds funds from your account in order to compensate for the purchase.
You will get a notification regarding this under the Cash tab. Just go to the section labeled “Recent History”.
Next, navigate to the “Pending Transaction” section. Over there, you will find your transaction amount that is pending.
This will appear like this until the purchase is complete and the fund has been moved from your balance.
This entire procedure is offered in the event that the total sum differs from the initial figure upon payment.
While, in most instances, the initial price of the transaction remains unchanged, merchants may levy a fee on purchases to meet incidental expenses or tips.
Because these markups might not be reflected in the original agreed payment, we might reject the purchase if the first markup surpasses the sum you can pay.
If you pay such fees in advance, your final computation may be lower. The payment should go through without a hitch in this scenario.
Advantages of Robinhood Debit Card
Now that we have discussed how to activate Robinhood card and how you can use it, let us go over some of the benefits it serves.
Optional Debit Card
Issuing a debit card with the Cash Management feature is not mandatory at all, but it sure helps.
Robinhood has ties with Sutton Banks which issues debit cards to users who have registered with a Cash Management account.
However, the best part is that you can choose whether you wish to have a physical debit card or a virtual one.
Your virtual debit card needs to be linked to Samsung Pay, Google Pay, or Apple Pay for you to use it.
However, if you go for a physical card, you will have four designs to choose from.
Massive Investment Forum
If you register yourself as a Robinhood user, you get access to an investment forum that is one of the biggest on the market.
With Robinhood, you have access to over 5000 stocks for investing. Users get accessibility to 650 stocks worldwide through the American Depositary Receipts.
Bankruptcy Protection
Another great thing about using the Robinhood debit card is that there are no overdraft charges. The debit card is designed to prevent overdrafts at all times.
Hence, during a transaction, if you are pushed to a negative action because you don’t have enough funds in your account, the transaction will be rejected.
You also don’t have to concern yourself with a rejection cost.
Zero Card Recovery Charges
If you happen to lose your Robinhood debit card, we assure you that it’s not the end of the world.
Anyone can lose their important belongings, hence it is always good to keep them safe.
However, the good news is that even if you lose your Robinhood debit card, you will not be charged any replacement.
Whereas conventional banks charge their customers for card replacement, Robinhood makes sure not to.
If your card ever gets stolen or damaged, Robinhood will get you a new card with absolutely zero fees.
Solid Interest Rate
As mentioned above, the interest rates you get with your Robinhood debit card are pretty high.
Robinhood has ties with seven program banks that offer 0.30 percent APY on your swept funds.
This is a great rate of interest and rivals several high-yield saving accounts.
Disadvantages of Robinhood Debit Card
While the Robinhood Debit Card is a wonderful asset in many ways, there’s no denying that it has its fair share of flaws. Let’s address them below.
No Rebates
One of the biggest downsides of using the Robinhood Debit Card is that it does not reimburse fees from non-affiliated ATMs.
Many Cash Management services like Aspiration Spend & Save and Betterment Cash Reserve reimburse almost all of the ATM fees.
The Robinhood firm has over 75,000 MoneyPass and AllPoint ATMs under its affiliation. Moreover, it has 15,000 ATMs outside the US under its network.
Customers are allowed to withdraw their funds from these ATMs without any fee.
However, when it comes to ATMs that are out-of-network, the firm refuses to reimburse fees.
No Cash Deposit
Robinhood presently does not accept any checks or cash deposits. Hence, you need to fund your account using some other valid payment method.
You can do this either through a transfer or direct deposit.
Robinhood Brokerage Account Is Mandatory For Accessing the Cash Management Feature
Users cannot access the Cash Management Feature without first setting up a brokerage account with Robinhood.
The cash management feature is not mandatory to avail, but if you earn interest on your uninvested funds, you have to first create a Robinhood Brokerage account before you can go ahead with it.
Surrounding Controversies
Robinhood has an F rating from the Better Business Bureau. The BBB attributes the low score to a substantial number of outstanding concerns.
Robinhood has not had any problems involving the cash management program, however, it has attracted attention for its investing platform.
Because you must have a brokerage account with Robinhood to be eligible for the cash management program, you may be interested in its investing platform difficulties.
When prices for AMC Entertainment (AMC), as well as GameStop (GSE), skyrocketed in January of 2021, Robinhood suspended trading, and it is now facing litigation as a result.
A young customer of Robinhood committed suicide in 2020 after losing money on investing.
Following that, Robinhood faced controversy, but it has now pledged to offer additional instructional resources.
Final Thoughts
There you go! That was everything you needed to know about the Robinhood Debit Card.
If you are looking to spend your investment earnings in a safe way, there is no better way than a Robinhood smart card.
We hope we have been able to make you understand how to activate Robinhood card so that you can start using it without any hassle!