Upgrade Life Rewards Visa®
REVIEW

The Upgrade Life Rewards Visa is a no annual fee cash back credit card that allows you to earn 3% cash back on payments for gas, grocery, streaming services, utilities and 1% on everything else. You can earn unlimited cash back with the Upgrade Life Rewards Card.

While other cash back credit cards have bonus categories that the Upgrade Life Rewards offer, none offer all of them in a single card. This makes the Upgrade Life Rewards Visa arguably the best bonus category cash back credit card for "everyday use".

The average Upgrade Life Rewards Visa cardholder has a FICO score of 640 and above. If you have credit scores in this range, the Upgrade Life Rewards is one of the most rewarding bonus category cash bak credit cards.

In this review, I will prove why I think this card is one of the best cash back cards and also explain how Upgrade cards works (hint: they are different from regular credit cards).

Card Details

Credit Limit	$500 to $25,000
Annual Fee	$0
Foreign Transaction Fee	Up to 3%
Balance Transfer Fee	Up to 5%
APR	14.99% - 29.99%
Term Maturity	Up to 3 Years
Bank Issuer	Cross River Bank
Serviced by	Upgrade Inc
Customer Service Phone Number	1-800-353-5920
Corresponding Address	Upgrade 275 Battery Street 23rd Floor, San Francisco, CA94111
Email	contact@upgrade.com

Credit Limit Ranges from $500 to $25,000

The Upgrade Life Rewards Visa will give you a credit limit ranging between $500 and $25,000. Upgrade says that most will get a credit limit of $15,000 or less.

Term Maturity

All Upgrade credit cards operate like lines of credit and loans. When you use your Upgrade credit card, Upgrade considers it a draw. You will have to pay this "draw" in equal installment payments over a fixed period. If you are pre-approved for the Upgrade card, you will be given your interest rate and also your term maturity. For example, you may get a 15% interest rate to be paid over a 36 month.

Early Pay Option

Unlike other Upgrade Cards, the Upgrade Life Rewards Visa makes it easier to pay your bills in full every month rather than paying back over the term maturity that is given to you. You will have to sign up to autopay to enable Early Pay. In fact, with this Upgrade card, you would want to use Early Pay because putting your monthly utility, streaming service, gas and grocery purchases on this card would earn you 3% cash back and these items should always be paid off. You should never carry a balance on any of these expenses that are listed in the bonus categories.

Cash Back Program

The Upgrade Life Rewards Visa has a bonus category cash back program.

3% Cash Back On the Following Bonus Categories

• 3% on Gas - These include traditional gas service stations, automated fuel dispenser and even EV charging stations. Merchant examples include Shell, Exxon/Mobil, CircleK, Speedway, Chevron etc


• 3% on Grocery - This includes grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and specialty stores. Grocery shopping at Walmart and Target do not earn 3% cash back but only 1% instead. Merchant examples include Kroger, Publix, Meijer, Safeway etc.


• 3% on Streaming/Monthly Services - This includes cable, satellite and other pay TV and Radio. Example merchants include Comcast, Spectrum, AT&T, Google, Netflix etc.


• Utilities - This includes utilities, telecommunication and data utilities. Example merchants include AT&T, Verizon, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint etc.

Up top 10% Cash Back with Upgrade Shopping poweredf by Dosh®

Upgrade has a shopping portal that is powered by Dosh. When you use your Upgrade Life Rewards to shop there, you can earn up to 10% statement credits.

How is Cash Back Redeemed?

Cash back is applied to your balance after your next scheduled monthly payment. If you do not have a balance and your card is in good standing, you can elect to have cash back applied as a deposit into your bank account on file.

Competition

I am now going to compare the Upgrade Life Rewards Visa with some competitors. Though there are many bonus category credit cards with just one or two bonus categories, I am going to compare it with those who have many and similar bonus categories to Upgrade. The table below highlights some of Upgrade's competitors.

Card	Annual Fee	Bonus Categories	Cash Back on Other Purchases
Upgrade Life Rewards	$0	3% on gas, groceries, streaming, utilities	1%
US Bank Cash Back Plus	$0	5% on 2 categories that you pick: Fast Food, Home Utilities, TV,internet & Streaming, Department Stores, Cell hone, Electronic Stores, Sporting Goods Store, Gym, Movie Theaters, Furniture Store, Ground Transport, Select Clothing Stores 2% on one everyday category: Grocery store and delivery, Restaurants, Gas and EV chargning stations	1%
BOA Customized Cash Rewards	$0	3% cash back on gas and EV Charging stations, online shopping/cable/internet/phone plan, dining, travel, drugstore/pharmacy, home improvement/furnishing   2% at grocery stores and wholesale clubs Earn 3% and 2% up to $2,500 in combined purchases each quarter for one choice in 3% category and every 2% category	1%
Citi Customized Cash	$0	5% on TOP spending category for up to $500 each month. Categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs, live entertainment	1%
Amex Blue Cash Preferred	$95	6% supermarket for up to $6,000 in annual spending 6% on streaming 3% on transit ( taxis, rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses etc 3% on gas at gas stations	1%

Compared to "You Choose" Bonus Category Cash Back Credit Cards

There was a trend in the last few years where credit card issuers came up with what I would call "you choose" bonus category credit cards. This is best explained an examples I have listed in the table above.

Let's take the US Bank Cash Back Plus. There is a 5% bonus category on fast food, Utilities, TV/Internet/Streaming, Department stores, Cell Phone, Electronic Stores, Sporting Goods Store, Gym, Movie Theaters, Furniture Store, Ground Transport and select clothing stores. But you can only choose 2 categories to earn that 5% cash back. You can also earn 2% cash back on ONE of the following categories: Grocery store and delivery, restaurants, gas and EV charging stations. As you can see, while the US Bank Cash Back Plus has many categories where you can earn 5% and 2% cash back, you can only choose a couple of categories. In contrast, the Upgrade Life Rewards allow you to earn the 3% bonus categories in ALL categories.

The BOA Customized Cash Rewards is another "you choose" bonus category credit card. They have a 3% and a 2% bonus category. They restrict you to picking one choice in the 3% category and but allow you to earn 2% cash back on all the 2% categories. But you can only earn up to a combined spending in the 3% and 2% category for up to $2,500 a quarter. The Upgrade Life Rewards Card has no such restrictions.

Another "you choose" bonus category credit cards is the Citi Custom Cash. You can only earn 5% one only ONE category a month for up to $500. In contrast, Upgrade Life Rewards allow you to earn 3% in many more categories.

Compared with Standard Fixed Bonus Category Credit Cards

Unlike "you choose" bonus category credit cards, most traditional bonus category credit cards have a few categories where you can earn more than the standard 1% cash back. One example is the Blue Cash Preferred from American Express, which has a $95 annual fee. You can earn 6% at supermarkets for up to $6,000 in annual supermarket spending, 6% on streaming services, 3% on transit expenses and at gas stations.

Compared to the Blue Cash Preferred, the Upgrade Life Rewards offer more bonus categories (though at a lower earning rate of 3% vs 6%) with no annual fee.

Our Take: Arguably the best bonus category cash back credit card for everyday use

The Upgrade Life Rewards Visa has one of the best bonus category cash back credit card because they offer more "everyday spending" bonus categories than other similar credit cards. As you can see from the competition above, a typical bonus category cash back bonus credit card on;ly offer two to three bonus categories where you can earn more than 1% cash back.

There are other bonus category credit cards that on the surface appear to offer a lot of categories where you can earn more than 1% cash back. However, upon closer examination, you either have to choose just one or two categories to earn the bonus cash back or the credit cards will simply take the highest spending category for the month and you earn bonus cash back on just that highest spending category.

Other bonus category cash back credit cards also have some form of spending caps on their bonus earnings whereas the Upgrade Life Rewards Visa simply does not have.

To sum up, based on our review and evaluation of the Upgrade Life Rewards Visa, we give it a 4.5 starts out of 5 for the number of bonus category it has, the absence of spending caps on those bonus categories, the fact that the bonus categories are all "everyday spending" ones and the lack of annual fee. We really cannot find any weakness in this card. If you want to maximize your cash back earnings from credit cards and are looking for a bonus category cash back card, then the Upgrade Life Rewards would be at the top of our list. It is great as a standalone bonus category credit card because it covers so many everyday spending categories. You could also pair it with other bonus category cards if you are really serious about maximizing your cash back earnings from credit cards. Most Upgrade Life Rewards applicants who are approved have a 640 score or higher. If your credit score is at least 640, then I would highly recommend this card.

How to Use the Upgrade Life Rewards Visa?

All Upgrade credit cards (including the Life Rewards Visa) and all of them function like a line of credit and are different from regular credit cards. With regular unsecured credit cards, you are given the choice of paying in full or paying over time. If you choose to pay over time, you can choose how much you want to pay every month and how long you want to pay off your balance. In contrast, the Upgrade Life Rewards Visa (similar to all other Upgrade credit cards) requires you to pay a fixed amount over a fixed term (rates and maturity will be given to you after you apply for the card). Alternatively you can also pay in full.

With regards to the Upgrade Life Rewards Visa, since you are earning 3% cash back on everyday purchase items, you should be paying in full for these purchases. You should never be carrying a balance when you make such purchases. Hence, you should always set up early pay option for this card and use it only to charge items that fall under the 3% categories. Since there are other 2% flat rate credit cards, you should combine the Upgrade Life Rewards with another 2% cash back credit card to maximize your cash back earnings.

How to Apply?

Apply for the Upgrade Life Rewards is a simple process and these are the steps you have to go through.

1. Submit basic information (name, dob, address, and email).
2. Consumer is approved for a credit line and selects continue.
3. Verifies social security number and employment information.
4. Reviews agreements.
5. link your bank account for auto pay.
6. Card Issued.

Most credit card issuers use third party employment verifiers to verify the information you have given. Some of you might be asked to upload W2s if your income and employment cannot be verified. It might take a couple of days before you are finally approved. Below is a screenshot of the online application page.