In March 2024, Robinhood held an event called The New Gold Standard. At the end of that presentation, in an obvious (if you’re nerdy enough) homage to Steve Jobs’ iPhone reveal, CEO Vlad Tenev teased that the company was introducing a starter card, an everyday card, and a premium card — only to then confirm that these were, indeed, one card: The Robinhood Gold Card. The big selling point of the card? 3% cashback across the board. But there was a downside, which was that there was a waiting list for the new product.
Little did I know that, when I joined said list at the first opportunity, it would be nearly 30 months before I was off of it! Yes, after all this time, an invite to apply for the Robinhood Gold Card arrived in my email inbox this week. Yet, now that it’s here, I need to figure out if I actually want it. Let me explain.
First, I should note that applying for the Robinhood Gold Card requires a Robinhood Gold membership. That comes at a cost of $5 a month or $50 a year. I’ve personally been paying for a membership ever since March 2024 just so that I could get this card! However, thankfully, my membership has more than paid for itself thanks to the 3% match you get on IRA contributions with Gold, so don’t think that I’ve been throwing money down the drain this whole time.
So, why would I not immediately jump at this offer? The short answer is that my credit card wallet is full. Not literally, of course — but my wife really doesn’t like how many different cards I have, so convincing her to let me get just one more (a phrase she’s heard plenty of times to date) could be difficult.
Of course, this isn’t just any card. With the 3% flat rate, it would beat what a lot of my other cards offer. So, perhaps I could offload some current cards in exchange for adding a new one?
The first target of any card purge I do would be the Barclays View. This was a replacement for the defunct Uber Visa card I had back in the day and doesn’t really have much to offer. That said, it is one of my older accounts and has a higher credit limit, so there could be a small credit impact. Meanwhile, another potential target would be the Capital One Venture card — which I only got last year — as it offers 2% back and has a $95 annual fee. If I can earn 3% with no annual fee, wouldn’t that be better?
There is one other consideration to make, though: longevity. I suspect that the reason that Robinhood has been so slow to roll out the Gold Card is that it’s not actually sustainable (even with the Gold membership requirement). Giving 3% back to consumers leaves very little, if anything, for the card issuers. That leads me to worry that, after I blow up my entire credit card strategy for this card, it could then blow itself up.
Just to complicate things even more, there is a time limit on my invitation. According to Robinhood’s email, my chance to apply will expire 28 days from when I received it. In other words, I guess I’ll be making my decision sooner rather than later. Stay tuned.