Chase is set to issue a co-branded Starbucks visa credit card later this month. We’ve known this card was on the way for a while but we didn’t know about any of the details. Now it looks like some of the details of the Starbucks Credit Card have leaked so we can know somewhat of what to expect.
The Starbucks credit card details
The Starbucks credit card will come with the following perks:
- Automatic Gold Status
- 1 star for every $4 spent outside of Starbucks
- Up to 3 stars for every $1 spent in Starbucks stores
- 8 “Barista picks” for card members throughout the year
Starbucks gold status
Green status is the standard Starbucks status level and comes with perks like free birthday rewards, free refills on hot or iced brewed coffee, special email offers, etc. You achieve this status level just by joining and walking in the door.
Gold status requires you to earn 300 Stars in 12 months. As a Starbucks rewards member, you earn 2 stars for every $1 you spend at Starbucks. So you normally need to spend $150 in a year to be a Starbucks Gold member.
With Gold status, you’re given a free drink with every 125 Stars you earn and are given opportunities to earn double the rewards on a certain day of each month. I wouldn’t consider this a major perk for the average person, but if you like to frequent Starbucks, you’ll appreciate the quick jump to Gold status.
Bonus spending
The Starbucks credit card will earn the following rates:
- “Up to 3 stars” for every $1 spent in Starbucks stores
- 1 star for every $4 spent outside of Starbucks
- 8 “Barista picks” for card members throughout the year
Up to 3 stars?
We don’t know what “up to 3 stars” means right now.
It’s possible that there will be a tiered rewards structure (my guess) where you’ll earn 3 stars per dollar at Starbucks if you spend $X amount on your Starbucks credit card. If that stacks on top of the 2X you earn as a Starbucks Rewards member, this could actually be very lucrative for Starbucks fans.
I’ll show you why.
If it takes 125 points for a free dink and if you assume a $5 cost for a drink, that means that if you spent $25 at Starbucks, you’d earn a free drink for a 20% return.
If instead the “up to 3X” really amounts to 1X + the standard 2X then that means you’d need to spend ~$42 for a free drink for a return of around 12%.
Both of those would be good returns for Starbucks customers. You can often get Starbucks gift cards for 10% off, so these returns would offer better savings opportunities in many cases. Also, since you can earn 2X stars without the card, the returns from the card itself would about be 1/3 of the above percentages.
1 Star for every $4?
Earning 1 star for very $4 spent outside of Starbucks is not very appealing.
That amounts to at best a 1% return, which is well below what many cash back cards offer. So this is definitely not like the Uber credit card, which is a co-branded card that earns great cash back on many purchases.
8 Barsita picks
Again, we don’t know what these barista picks will entail.
Could they be special drink only available to cardmembers, or how about discounted or even complimentary drinks? I can’t see them giving out 8 free drinks a year with this perk but it will be interesting to see how this perk develops.
Final word on the Starbucks credit card
Depending on how the “up to 3X” works, this could be a lucrative card for people who shop at Starbucks on a normal basis. But outside of some potentially worthwhile earnings on Starbucks purchases, this does not look like it will be a cashback credit card worth getting excited about. Also, while it’s possible the Starbucks card will be subject to 5/24, I don’t think that it will.
H/T: DOC
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
