Card Details

Regular APR:	14.74 – 24.74 (Variable)
Intro APR (Purchases):	0% for 12 months
Intro APR (Balance transfers):	None
Rewards Rate:	1.25% cash back: earn on every purchase, every day, with no limit Earn a 25% bonus on any cash back rewards earned from your top two purchase categories each month
Credit Needed:	(670 – 850) Good/Excellent
Annual Fee:	None
Card Brand:	Mastercard

*See online credit card application for details on the terms and conditions.

Offer Highlights

Click APPLY NOW to apply online
The credit card that automatically gives you extra cash back on your top spending categories each month
1.25% cash back: earn on every purchase, every day, with no limit
25% More cash back. Earn a 25% bonus on any cash back rewards earned from your top two purchase categories each month
Instant rewards. Unlock additional rewards with responsible financial behavior
Become a Sallie Mae Accelerate cardholder and you?ll have the chance to win $10,000 to help pay down your student loans. We?re choosing one winner every month for 12 months?for a total giveaway of $120,000
$0 annual fee
0% Introductory APR for purchases for 12 months

Is Sallie Mae Evolve worth it?

Sallie Mae Evolve is a solid card for people who want unlimited flat-rate cash back on all purchases. There is a 25% bonus on any cash back rewards earned from your top two purchase categories each month, providing a cash back rate of 1.56%. Categories are determined by Merchant Classification Codes, MCC, and the benefit is for the for the top two MCCs.

Utilities, rent, a mortgage, or an auto loan, are big monthly costs, but if they charge fees on credit card transactions, which they typically do, it’s not recommended to regularly pay them with a credit card unless you are trying to increase your spend to meet the spending threshold for a valuable sign up bonus, for a new card you are going to add to your wallet.

As an example of the value of Sallie Mae Evolve?s 25% bonus, in other words the 1.56% cash back bonus rate, let’s say the categories where you spent the most were gas, $150/month, and groceries, $400/month, and you spent the same amount each month for two years. Over the course of two years you would have earned 1.56% x 24 months x $550 = $205.92, over $200 from gas and grocery purchases. That?s solid.

However, even better would be if you had a cash back card that gets 2% cash back across all purchases, which the Citi Double Cash gets, because you would have earned: 2% x 24 months x $550 = $264, an extra $58 and change by having the higher rewards rate Citi Double Cash. And that?s only looking at gas and grocery purchases.

Let?s say you spent $550 in other categories, not counting gas and groceries, each month, after 2 years you would earn 1.25% x 6 months x $550 = $165 from the rest of your spending. Thats $165 + $205.92 = $370.92 cash back from using Sallie Mae Evolve for two years.

The difference from getting high flat-rate cash back is clear: If you used Citi Double Cash for those two years with it’s unlimited 2% flat-rate cash back on your $550 + $550 = $1100 monthly spend, you would get 2% x 24 months x $1100 = $528 in cash back. That’s $528 – $370.92 = $157 more in your pocket for just swiping a better card.

Sallie Mae Evolve might be a good card for people who have solid but not the highest credit, or for people who have a Sallie Mae account, but everyone else will get better rewards elsewhere.

Pros

1.25% cash back: earn on every purchase, every day, with no limit
Earn a 25% bonus on any cash back rewards earned from your top two purchase categories each month
0% Introductory APR for purchases for 12 months

Cons

Not the highest cash back rate
foreign transaction fee

Why 4 Stars?

Regular APR

4 Stars

Intro APR

4 Stars

Fees

4 Stars

Perks

5 Stars

Overall

4 Stars

Fees

Foreign Transaction Fee	3%
Balance Transfer Fee	Either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater
Cash Advance Fee	Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each cash advance, whichever is greater
Penalty APR	None

Benefits

$0 Fraud Liability

Cell Phone Protection

Get Started with Sallie Mae Evolve

Editorial Note: This content is not provided by the issuer. Any opinion, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed on this page are those of the author?s alone, and may not have been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer.

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