New Credit Card Rewards You for Working Out Regularly

Paceline, a fitness rewards platform, has expanded its product line to offer a new credit card. The Paceline Card is designed to incentivize cardholders to exercise regularly. In addition to offering up to 5% cash back on purchases, the card may also reimburse you for an Apple Watch over time.

The New Paceline Card Rewards You for Getting to the Gym

Paceline began by offering rewards and discounts to users when they meet weekly exercise goals, and now the company is offering a much bigger incentive.

With the new Paceline Card, you'll start by earning 2.5% cash back on health and wellness purchases and 1.5% cash back on everything else. However, if you meet your weekly activity goal in the Paceline app, you'll double those numbers, resulting in 5% back on health and wellness purchases and 3% back on everything else.

To qualify for the double reward bonus, you simply need to get at least 150 minutes of elevated heart rate activity each week between Monday and Sunday. Cash back is automatically redeemed as a statement credit to your account.

Paceline uses supported fitness trackers to monitor your activity when connected to the Paceline app. Options include:

• Apple Watch
• Fitbit wearable (must have a heart rate monitor and track activity minutes)
• Garmin watch (must have a heart rate monitor and track intensity minutes)

If you don't have one of these devices or you want an upgrade, you can get reimbursed up to $429 for an Apple Watch. Simply purchase the watch with your Paceline Card, keep your card account in good standing, and meet your weekly activity goals. For each week in which you meet the activity goal, you'll receive 1/52 of the purchase price at a statement credit. For example, with a $429 watch, you'd get $8.25 for each week that you exercise for at least 150 minutes.

The card charges a $60 annual fee, but you can easily make up for that by spending at least $4,000—or $2,000 during weeks in which you meet your activity goal. Finally, as a cardholder, you'll be upgraded to an elevated level of membership with Paceline's core platform, though it's unclear what benefits you'll receive.

Note that while the company does gather data about you, including your age, gender, workout activity and spending habits, it doesn't sell the data to other companies.

Should You Consider the Paceline Card?

If you exercise regularly or simply need an extra nudge to start a regular exercise program, the chance to earn 3% cash back as a base rewards rate could be an attractive incentive to add this card to your wallet. There are no other cards that offer that high of a rewards rate on everything, with or without an annual fee. The elevated rewards rate could even encourage you to work out more than you already do.

Just remember that if you don't meet your activity goal in a certain week, you'll only get 1.5% back on most of your purchases.

The card's approach to a sign-up bonus in the form of reimbursement for an Apple Watch is unique, not only because it comes in weekly statement credits but also because it's tied to your exercise activity. Just be sure that your habits align with your aspirations before you make the purchase. Otherwise, you may end up footing most of the bill. Even if you can get most or all of it reimbursed because you exercise regularly enough, you'll still need to make the upfront purchase.

Overall, the Paceline Card is intriguing as the first credit card to offer cash-back rewards tied to your fitness habits. For Paceline's part, the company may be counting on most cardholders not consistently meeting the weekly 150 minute exercise requirement. Otherwise, paying the high cash back rate on most accounts would likely be unprofitable unless unless most customers also carried card balances and paid interest. Regardless, for those who are disciplined about their exercise habits this is a rich offer.

As with any credit card, be sure to consider all of the card's features and compare it to other options to determine the best fit for you.