Yeah, I’d steer clear of Smartly.
Milo said:
Yeah, I’d steer clear of Smartly.
True, it feels more like Stupidly 
Lol, these are just personal experiences. The little work to jump through the hoops was worth the 18 minutes it took to double my cashback and reduce the number of cards I used to keep track of my spending. I applied for the card, set up a Smartly Savings account, moved $100k from my high-yield savings account that’s down to 4%, to a 5-month 4% CD at US Bank 
Not a hassle in the slightest.
When the CD matures, I’ll transfer it to an investment account. 100 trades is about 90 more than I make in a year, so I’m not worried about their limit. $50 account fee? No problem, I earned that back the first time I used the card. This fits my spending habits and profile perfectly.
@Sully
Awesome that it lines up so well with your financial situation! I wish it worked for me too, but I think my extra cashback from the 4% card will likely be less than the $50 annual fee, so it wouldn’t make sense for me (though I should calculate it better instead of assuming).
I guess I should apologize for sharing my personal situation? I wanted to discuss my concerns, but I see I should clarify between personal stories and more general feedback in future posts.
@Reece
Sounds like the Smartly card isn’t for you at the 3%-4% level. Let’s look at whether it makes sense at the 2.5% level.
Let’s say you have a high-yield savings account at 4.5% and move $5,000 to the Smartly savings account at 2.86%. That’s a difference of $5,000 * (0.045 - 0.0286) = $82 a year. Adjust if you don’t have a high-yield savings account or get a different rate on your current savings.
So, you break even if you spend $82/.005 = $16,400 a year on this backup card, assuming your previous backup offering was 2% cashback.
If your spending is well over that, then it’s worth it. If you’re near that point, look at how your spending will grow and see if it’s worth the hassle of opening two accounts and moving $5,000 (which doesn’t take much time). And, if you’re significantly under that, then the Smartly card isn’t for you.
All these fees were a dealbreaker for me, to be honest.
Vick said:
All these fees were a dealbreaker for me, to be honest.
Thanks for sharing!
Yep, the fees and restrictions are ridiculous. It’s so complicated that it’s almost certain you’ll be hit with a big fee eventually, even if you have $250k with them. If I had that kind of cash, I still wouldn’t go for it because it’s too risky.
Thanks for sharing the fee info. I noticed they also have a $95 fee for closing accounts. Imagine trying it out and then getting stuck with a fee after realizing it isn’t worth it, then having to pay again for closing it. It really feels like a scam almost.
@Rohan
u/ColorMonochrome yeah, that closure fee is serious too.
They really shouldn’t even have tiered cashback with the Smartly card if you have to pay a $50 fee for 2.5% or 3% cashback.
Check the brokerage reviews here before diving in.
Monty said:
Check the brokerage reviews here before diving in.
Thanks! I looked deeper into the brokerage stuff… I would only use it for retirement stuff and wouldn’t use it for active trading.
But I can’t believe you can’t do things online and phone trades cost over $25! What is that, the Ryanair of brokerages?
Big scary fees, but avoiding them isn’t too hard. Just read the terms closely (plus another $150k for taxable accounts).
- The self-directed brokerage is so limited that to do many common tasks you need to call.
- When you do call, you’ll get different answers often. Just look up how many conflicting statements people got about waiving the annual broker fee.
- Most functions need you to fill out a PDF and email it to a random generic email. There’s no request tracking or any way to confirm if your request is processed.
4% sounds great, but wow, this setup is really something: Imgur: The magic of the Internet
The Smartly card might not be for you. There are plenty of good alternatives like the Fidelity Visa.
daniel said:
The Smartly card might not be for you. There are plenty of good alternatives like the Fidelity Visa.
I already have a 2% catchall, so I don’t need the Fidelity Visa… people also suggest it isn’t great (the way the company operates). Yeah, I’m thinking my likely extra cashback with Smartly wouldn’t go over $50 a year, but that’s just a hunch for now. I’ll need to check some numbers for more clarity.
@Reece
Yeah if it’s only $50, it’s simply not worth the hassle.
Definitely too much work and potential stress.
I applied for my second credit card with US Bank in 2019 having a score around 650 and 1-2 years of credit history. They denied me even though I called for reconsideration and they said it was because I had no debt. Now, I have 7 cards (Chase trifecta, BOA321, Discover, Citi, and Mil Star) with 800+ FICO. You all have no idea how satisfied I get whenever I see a pre-approval letter from US Bank come in. I can’t wait to tear it up.
Now I get why they got rid of the USBAR when I read things like this. You can’t move money and end up paying an effective $75 fee a year for a 3x card on Apple Pay with points worth only 1.5 cents.