How to make money on a debit card

Cashback

To increase customer loyalty, banks offer them cashback - a return of part of the money spent. In fact, this is more of savings than income. However, you have a little more money, you can't argue with that.

What to look for

Mandatory spending

Often, in order to get cashback, you have to spend a certain amount of money from the card. Pay attention to this parameter, because not every bank offers conditions that suit you.

For example, advertising promises to return a lot of money, but at the same time you need to spend at least 50 thousand a month. It won't be easy if you only make 20 thousand.

You don't need such a cashback. It is better to choose a bank card that returns less money, but the limit is within your power.

Card service

The cost of servicing the card should be significantly lower than the amount that will be returned as a cashback. Calculate in advance how much you will receive on average from the bank.

Cashback limit

Usually there is a limitation: some banks return no more than 2 thousand rubles, others - no more than 5 thousand.

If you spend a lot, it makes sense to get several cards with cashback and first pay with one until you reach the upper return bar, then switch to the second.

Categories for calculating cashback

Some banks return a fixed percentage on all purchases, while others the amount of charges varies depending on the category of goods. Increased cashback can be obtained for purchases in partner stores of the bank.

Analyze where you spend most of your money and choose the option that suits you best.

For example, 14 thousand are spent a month on purchases, six of them - for groceries, two - for cinema tickets, one each - for paying for public transport and household chemicals, two - for clothes and shoes, and another two thousand go to no one knows where.

Bank 1 offers a cashback of 10% for movies, 7% for buying clothes and shoes, 15% for buying gasoline; bank 2 - 5% for groceries and 1% for other expenses; bank 3 - 3% on everything.

	Cashback
Bank 1	200 rubles (cinema) + 140 rubles (clothes and shoes) = 340 rubles. You are not interested in gasoline, you use public transport
Bank 2	300 rubles (food) + 80 rubles (rest) = 380 rubles
Bank 3	420 rubles

The table shows that there is no need to chase the numbers, it is better to weigh everything. Or pay attention to the bank in which you yourself choose the categories of spending with cashback.

Interest accrual on the balance

Some banks charge interest on the card balance. This is usually the minimum amount that was on the account during the month. And this can be fully called income. You can get it in two ways.

No extra effort

You just keep the money on the card and get interest.

For example, at the beginning of the month you had 17 thousand rubles on your card. By the 13th, you spent 14 thousand and were left with three. On the 14th, 15 thousand were transferred to you (the total was 18 thousand), and you met the end of the month with 7 thousand in your account. Interest will be charged on the minimum balance, that is, 3 thousand.

Often the interest rate depends on the balance on the card: the more money on it, the higher the interest.

Using a credit card

You do not touch the money on the debit card and pay for purchases by credit. When it's time to pay with a credit card, you transfer money from your debit card to it and fit into the interest-free period.

In this case, you will be charged a higher interest on your debit card, since you have not spent funds from it for a month. For the example from the previous paragraph, the minimum balance on which interest would be accrued was 32 thousand (17 + 15).

The method looks promising, but there are subtleties here:

You must be very disciplined to avoid credit card delinquencies.
Your income must be regular, otherwise you will not be able to pay off your credit card debt on time.
The cost of servicing a credit card must be lower than the interest income.

In addition, to make money on a debit card and not lose anything, pay attention not only to the words of bank managers and advertising brochures, but read the agreement carefully. This is one of the secrets of success in everything.