Boost Your Rakuten Earnings with the Rakuten Visa Credit Card

Boost your Rakuten earnings with the Rakuten Visa Credit Card and earn outsized cash back or American Express Membership Rewards points.

By simply using the Rakuten Visa Credit Card on Rakuten, you can increase your Rakuten earnings by 3% cash back/3 Membership Rewards points over and above whatever cash back or points your desired retailer is currently paying.

Which makes using the Rakuten credit card for purchases via Rakuten a no-brainer if earning the maximum cash back or Membership Rewards points is a goal.

Let’s take a closer look at the card and its benefits.

Rakuten Visa Credit Card

While the Rakuten Visa Credit Card is touted as a cash back earning card, don’t forget it can earn American Express Membership Rewards points, too, depending on the type of Rakuten account you’ve set up. Read our post “Earn Cash Back or Membership Rewards Points with Rakuten” to learn more.

As we discuss the benefits of the Rakuten card, keep in mind the numbers discussed can be considered cash back or Membership Rewards points depending on the account to which the credit card is attached.

Sign Up Bonus – Receive $10 cash back or 1,000 Membership Rewards points after the first purchase with the card.

Ongoing Earnings – Earn 3% cash back (or 3 Membership Rewards points per dollar) on qualifying purchases made through Rakuten.com, via Rakuten’s in-store cash back offers, and with Rakuten Hotels and Rakuten Travel.

That 3%/3 MR points is in addition to the current cash back/points earning being offered on the Rakuten site.

For example, if Macy’s is offering 10% cash back and you used the Rakuten Visa Credit Card to make a Macy’s purchase via Rakuten.com, you’d earn 13% cash back (or 13 Membership Rewards points per dollar spent) on the purchase.

Earn 1% cash back on purchases everywhere else Visa credit cards are accepted.

Earn unlimited cash back on all purchases made with your Rakuten Visa Credit Card.

Annual Fee – No annual fee

You can read more about the Rakuten Visa Credit Card and apply at the link below.

Rakuten Visa Credit Card Link

Application Cautions

There have been numerous reports that approvals for the Rakuten credit card can be hard to come by.

Which is somewhat odd since the card is issued by Synchrony Bank, a financial institution not necessarily known for stringent underwriting standards.

Nevertheless, even applicants with high FICO scores and more than adequate incomes should be aware that a denial may result for no good reason.

Weigh the card’s advantages with the potential for a hard pull on your credit with no card to show for the temporary 3-5 point hit to your credit score.

Earn Cash Back or Membership Rewards Points

In our post “Earn Cash Back or Membership Rewards Points at Rakuten” we discussed how individuals can have both a cash back earning Rakuten account and a Membership Rewards earning Rakuten account at the same time, switching between the two depending on your earning preference.

The Rakuten Visa Credit Card, however, can only be linked to one of those accounts.

So you’ll have to decide which “currency” you want your Rakuten card to earn – cash back or Membership Rewards points – and link your card to that account.

This will take place during the card application, specifically as it pertains to which email address is used with the card application. And, of course, name, address, etc., will have to match the account to which you want to link the credit card as well.

If you only have one Rakuten account, this isn’t an issue.

Cash Back/Points Earning Payouts

You can follow your regular Rakuten earnings and your Rakuten Visa Credit Card earnings in your Rakuten account.

Payouts, no matter how the earnings occurred (via Rakuten or the Rakuten credit card) follow the regular Rakuten quarterly payout schedule.

As long as you’ve earned at least $5.00 cash back or 500 Membership Rewards points during a posting period you’ll receive a payout according to the above schedule.

Cash back will be paid via the method you’ve chosen – mailed check or PayPal – and Membership Rewards points will be deposited directly to your linked Membership Rewards account.

Wrap Up

If you’re a fairly regular Rakuten user, adding the Rakuten Visa Credit Card to your cash back earning strategy just might make sense.

For those who currently earn, or want to earn, Membership Rewards points via Rakuten, it’s likely obvious how the Rakuten card can significantly boost your points balance.

Advanced Miles and Points hobbyists just need to look for gift card retailers on Rakuten to understand the potential benefit of using the Rakuten credit card to pay.

No matter if your goal is to maximize your cash back earning, or add to your American Express Membership Rewards points, the Rakuten credit card is worth a look.