Tomo Credit is the new company here to change the credit card game. I’m most excited about them because you can get up to 20% cashback on your purchases for up to 3 months base on their referral system. Yeah, 20%! This makes it the best cashback credit card available (if you can refer 19 people). They are absolutely going to lose money on this once the credit card community finds out about this. Okay, things changed. I first wrote this Tom Credit review in July 2020 after seeing the founder’s AMA on Reddit. Just one month later, they changed the 1% cashback to 2% back (but you have to refer 2 people). This is pretty reasonable for a business to survive.
The Tomo credit card (actually a charge card) markets itself as a card you can get to build your credit score and credit history. It’s the only credit card (still a charge card) that you can get without a credit check and you don’t need any credit history. Which is why it’s great for people trying to establish their credit because the card reports monthly to credit bureaus.
Additionally, Tomo credit doesn’t use the predatory fees and tactics that you see with a lot of subprime lenders. The only thing you actually need to get approved is to have cash in the bank to pay off your purchases.
Tomo Card Features
Fees:
- No Annual Fee
- No Foreign Exchange Fee
- No APR / This is a chargecard and the balance must be paid in full every month.
Cashback:
- 1% cashback on all purchases.
- Cashback is called “Tomo Points”
- Additional 1% cashback if you refer 2 people (previously 1% for 3 months for every referral. Up to 20% cashback)
Other:
- No credit score / credit history needed
- No credit report pull
- The Tomo Mastercard reports the status of your account every month to the major credit bureaus (just like all other credit cards). Since this requires
- Fun Fact: “Tomo” means “friend” in Japanese. This is the friendly credit card because it helps you build your credit score
- Approved applicants will get a credit line between $100 to $10,000 based on how much available cash they have in the bank.
Sign Up:
Tomo Credit Lines:
The Tomo credit card offers credit lines from $100 to $10,000. Once again, this is marketed as a credit card but it’s really a charge card. With a charge card you have to pay the balance in full every month and you have up to 21 days after the statement date to pay off the full balance. Since you will have a credit limit, you’ll still need to consider your credit utilization when using the card. See: Common Credit Card Mistakes
For example, when applying for the Tomo credit card I wrote in that I was unemployed but had $60k in savings. With that, I was approved for the maximum available credit line of $10,000 with Tomo credit. If I can get at least 4% cashback this will be my every day credit card, with the exception of products were I want purchase protection and warranty.
How to get 20% cashback with Tomo?
The Tomo MasterCard comes with 1% cashback on all purchases. For each person that you refer and gets approved for the card, you get an additional 1% cashback bonus for 3 months. Since you can get up 20% cashback, you can refer up to 19 people every 3 months to get the most out of the credit card. As you know, 20% cashback is a lot!
A “good” sign up bonus with a bank is get a $500 bonus after spending $3000 on the card. But the Tomo card is so much better than that because you’re getting 20% back on all spend. With 20% back, after spending $3000 you would have $600!
As I’m writing out this article and completing my research on the card, Tomo has not stated any limits on the amount of cashback you can earn. Which means this can potentially be a big money maker for some credit card enthusiasts.
Other benefits:
The Tomo credit card is targeting the entry-level credit card users who need to build up their credit. Since it’s a chargecard, it’s really short-term loans and they plan on making their money back through merchant fees. There aren’t any additional benefits with the Tomo Mastercard besides cashback.
This would be an excellent credit card for anybody, but since there is no purchase protection and extended warranty with the credit card, I will not be using it to make large purchases on items like a digital camera or television. I would probably use this card for booking hotels and airfare. Although, the Tomo card doesn’t offer any trip protection/insurance, you should keep that in mind and decide how valuable that benefit will be.
You can find more details at the TomoCredit FAQ Page.
What is the difference between a charge card and a credit card?
A credit card allow you to keep a balance and pay the minimum amount monthly while charge you interest (APR). If you hold a balance, you’ll get hit with finance charges which is a waste of money.
With a charge card, you have to pay your balance in full every month. There is no interest because you can’t keep a balance. Saying that there’s no interest on the card is just a marketing tactic. That information is just as valuable as saying “the card is not radioactive.” You will have up to 21 days after your statement date to pay off your balance on a charge card.
What is the difference between a charge card and a secured credit card?
A secured credit card is kind of like a debit card. You have to put money in the bank and you use those funds every month. At the end of the month, you need to repay the amount you used to get your account to have the same balance every month. This is just a form of building your credit while showing the bank that you are responsible enough to make payments.
It works great for the bank because they are making money of interchange fees and their not even loaning you money. YOU ARE loaning the bank money in this scenario.
Who is the Tomo Credit Card for?
According to the founder of Tomo credit, the card is for people that have the means to buy things but don’t have an established credit card history. She ran into this problem when she was fresh out of college, had a high paying job, but couldn’t get approved for a credit card or an apartment rental. So she decided to fix this and create a new type of card for people that don’t have a credit history so they can create one.
Tomo targets the people with no credit history. Since they are a charge card, they can’t rely on making money from charging their customers interest. They plan to make all their money on interchange fees (merchant fees when you use the credit card).
I found out about the TomoCredit company through their AMA post on Reddit. See TomoCredit Reddit AMA
Why I like the Tomo Credit Card?
I love the Tomo credit card because it’s giving people with bad credit/no credit history a chance to build their credit score. It’s super easy to apply because applying for the card won’t result in a credit pull (which will cause your score to drop a few points). The Tomo card also boasts the highest possible cashback I’ve seen on any credit card. For every 19 referrals, you can have 20% cashback on all purchases for 3 months. Then you just need to refer another 19 people for another 3 months of 20% cashback. They will lose so much money…
Otherwise, the credit card has 1% cashback on all purchases. That’s still pretty good for a starter credit card. If you’re trying to build your credit, the Tomo card is a great place to start.
Why I don’t like the Tomo Credit Card?
It’s honestly too early to tell if there will be any negatives with the Tomo card. There could be problems or everything can run perfectly. For now, I can honestly say that this is potentially the best credit card that uses MLM tactics to build up your cashback rates. But, if you have good credit and can’t refer anyone to the Tomo card, 1% back on a chargecard isn’t worth your time.
I have applied for the Tomo MasterCard and have been approved.
TLDR
I really like the Tomo credit card’s crazy cashback promotion. Of course they are going to take a loss on the credit card for the super users, but that’s a very small amount of people who will get that 20% cashback rate. I’m hoping I could be one of those people so if you’d like to use my referral link for Tomo Credit, that would help. You would be helping me take advantage of a new company. Please do your part.
The Tomo credit card is for users that want to get a credit card (actually a charge card) to help them build up their credit history. It’s one of the few cards you can get without needing a credit check…maybe the only one? The card gives you back 1% on all purchases and has limited benefits, but there is no annual fee so it’s a credit card you want to keep open forever.
I’ll only be using the Tomo credit card if I can get 2% back on my purchases, otherwise, there are many better credit cards (see: Top 20 Credit Cards Reddit Users Love). BUT, if you’re looking for really good cashback I suggest looking at my Cash App Review. You can get 10% cashback or more on purchases.