X Money and X Card: 6% APY, 3% cash back, and the catch
By Alex Compton · Updated
X Money is rolling out a Cross River-backed account with up to 6% APY and an X Card paying 3% cash back on eligible purchases. The headline rates are real, but access, paid X subscriptions, deposit rules, and debit-card exclusions determine whether it is actually a good deal.
At a Glance
What X Money actually is
X Money is not a new bank and the X Card is not a credit card. X Payments provides the experience inside X, Cross River Bank holds the primary deposit account, and the X Card is a Visa debit card that spends the balance in that account. Users get U.S. routing and account numbers, direct deposit, ACH and wire transfers, mobile check deposit, cash loads, bill pay, mailed checks, and instant payments to other X Money users.
How the 6% APY works
Premium+ users receive the advertised 6.00% APY. Premium users start at 4.00% and can boost the rate to 6.00% after receiving at least $1,000 in qualifying deposits during the previous 34 days. Qualifying deposits are payroll-type ACH deposits or eligible X Creator payouts. The rate is variable and can change.
- X Premium currently starts at $8 per month or $84 per year on the web.
- X Premium+ currently starts at $40 per month or $395 per year on the web.
- If you already subscribe, the account fee is effectively zero. If you subscribe only for the yield, include that cost in every comparison.
What 3% cash back really covers
Eligible X Card purchases earn cash back after settlement, with rewards credited on a weekly cycle. The terms allow reward rates and caps to vary and exclude several categories that optimizers often use for large payments.
- Rent, taxes, government services, wires, money orders, ATM cash, account funding, securities, gambling, jewelry, and several other merchant categories do not earn rewards.
- Refunded purchases lose their rewards, and X can withhold or claw back rewards tied to fraud, self-dealing, or manufactured spending.
- The virtual and physical cards use different card numbers, and both can be managed inside X.
FDIC insurance and the $10 million claim
Deposits at Cross River Bank are eligible for standard FDIC coverage up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category. X Money also enrolls deposits in an IntraFi sweep program that can spread funds across participating banks and provide up to $10 million in aggregate pass-through coverage, subject to program conditions and any deposits you already hold at those banks. X Payments itself is not an FDIC-insured bank.
Credit Compound's verdict
For an existing Premium subscriber who can route $1,000 of payroll or creator income every 34 days, X Money is genuinely compelling. A 6% yield plus 3% debit cash back and global ATM rebates is hard to match in one account. Premium+ is much weaker as a banking proposition because the $395 annual subscription buys the same APY that Premium can unlock. New subscribers should compare net interest after the subscription cost, and everyone should keep a second bank account until X Money's service record is established.
Before You Open It
- 1Confirm the Money tab is available to your X account before changing direct deposit.
- 2Choose Premium instead of Premium+ if banking value is the only goal and you can meet the $1,000 qualifying-deposit rule.
- 3Review the excluded merchant categories before routing a large debit purchase to the X Card.
- 4Keep another bank account open for backup access, bill pay, and emergency cash during the rollout.