The Rocket Visa Signature Card Helps Homeownership Dreams Become Reality

A big piece of the American dream is having a place of your own and so many of us put a ton of emphasis on saving for a home. Once we’re in it, there is an incentive to pay it off early to save on interest. However, this typically requires trade-offs, perhaps delaying other financial and lifestyle goals.

The Rocket Visa Signature Card is a credit card designed to put your homeownership goals front and center. With your everyday purchases, you’ll earn rewards that can be used to save on a down payment or closing costs. If you already have a home loan through Rocket Mortgage^®, the rewards you receive may be applied to your mortgage balance and could shave years off your loan.

In this blog post, we’ll touch on the challenges that come along with getting or paying a mortgage. Then we’ll take a look at the benefits of using your credit card rewards for a long-term investment in your future. We’ll next cover some extra shopping perks and finish with some additional info.

Obstacles To Homeownership And Early Payoff

While we’ll get into specifics in a minute, the Rocket Visa Signature Card is focused on helping people with their down payment and paying off their mortgage faster. It might help to set the scene to understand the importance of these goals. Let’s start with home buyers.

Each year, the National Association of REALTORS^® publishes a study of people who bought or sold homes in the previous year. Among those first-time home buyers surveyed, 26% said coming up with the money for a down payment was the biggest impediment to homeownership.

The challenge shows up elsewhere in the numbers. Repeat buyers averaged a 17% down payment, while first-time home buyers averaged just 6% down. First-time buyers also said they had to cut back on luxury goods, entertainment and clothes to save for a down payment.

After you’ve been in a home for a while, you might wish to pay off the balance early. This could both save you years of mortgage payments, and also could mean saving thousands of dollars in interest compared to paying for the full term.

Prioritizing early mortgage payoff might mean having to put other financial or lifestyle goals on hold. What if you didn’t have to?

Rewards Centered On Home

There are many different credit card reward programs out there. Some cards are best for those who want to travel the world. Others offer a great selection of rewards you can redeem at specific stores and restaurants. The Rocket Visa Signature Card is the one you want if you’re looking to make homeownership or paying off your mortgage your next big goal.

Unlike other credit cards, there’s no need to worry about spending categories. With the Rocket Visa Signature Card, you earn credit card reward points¹ on everything you buy. But the real game changer is how you can use those points:

• Get 5% cash back toward the purchase of your next home with Rocket Mortgage.²
• Clients who already have a loan through Rocket Mortgage can earn 2% cash back toward their mortgage balance.³

Financial Prep

The benefits of having extra money to go toward buying a home or saving on interest by paying off a loan early are pretty obvious, but we didn’t want to stop there. Another huge key to accomplishing your homeownership or other major goal is making sure you’re financially ready. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some other features:

• Powered by Rocket Money^SM: This is the only credit card that features complete integration with a top finance app: Rocket Money. This helps you to be fully aware of how your spending fits in with your overall budget and investments. You can also easily cancel unused subscriptions.
• Building credit with SmartPay: You’ll have the ability to make several micro payments over the course of the month. In addition to helping make your bills more manageable, this can actually help raise your credit score by lowering your credit utilization.⁶ If you prefer, we also have traditional auto pay and single payment options.

Even More Benefits

As part of your Rocket Visa Signature Card account, you’ll get access to a variety of Visa Signature benefits that will enable you to shop with the confidence that you’re protected on multiple fronts:

• Porch Piracy Protection: We’re all so used to getting deliveries to our front porch, but other people know how often our packages come as well. If someone takes your package when you’re not home, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 for your stolen item. ⁵
• Extended Warranty Protection: Buying new appliances or other big-ticket items? When purchased with your Rocket Visa Signature Card, the warranty coverage can be doubled (up to a year) depending on the length of the original warranty. ⁵
• Cell Phone Protection: Many of us live in fear that we will drop our phone and break it at any moment. If you pay your monthly cell phone bill on this card, your phone can be protected against theft and damage up to $750 with a $50 deductible.⁵

FAQs

We’ve gone over the basics, but before we finish, let’s make sure you have a few more important details.

Can this be used to make a mortgage payment?

While you cannot make a mortgage payment with the credit card itself, the rewards can be used to make additional payments toward your mortgage principal to pay off your loan faster.

Is there an annual fee?

If you’re a Rocket Mortgage client, this is waived. For others, the annual fee is $95.⁴

Will applying impact my credit?

Because applying involves a soft credit check, looking into and qualifying for the Rocket Visa Signature Card doesn’t affect your credit. However, we have to make a hard inquiry if you decide to accept the card upon approval.

Although the effect of a hard inquiry on your score will vary, it’s generally a temporary drop of just a few points. Assuming you keep up with good credit habits like low credit utilization and payment by the due date, your credit score should rebound within a few months.

Do you have an introductory offer?

Newly approved clients will receive a $200 credit toward their monthly statement if they spend $3,000 on the Rocket Visa Signature Card within 3 months of opening it.⁴

The Bottom Line

The Rocket Visa Signature Card prioritizes your homeownership journey with rewards to be used toward the purchase of a new home or to pay down your existing mortgage balance as a Rocket Mortgage client.

Beyond the monetary benefits, Rocket Money and SmartPay integration allow for you to be confident in your homeownership or financial goals. You also have access to various benefits including phone damage and delivery protection as well as extended warranties on qualifying purchases.

Are you looking for a credit card that allows you to put money into a home without having to rearrange your entire budget? The Rocket Visa Signature Card could be for you! Apply today at RocketCard.com!

¹ Customers earn 5 points for every $1 spent. Points are redeemable toward a new Rocket Mortgage transaction (excluding refinance), an existing Rocket Mortgage additional principal payment, or a statement credit, at different values. Subject to Cardholder Rewards Terms of Use.

² Up to $8,000 in card points value can be redeemed toward a new Rocket Mortgage transaction, applied as a credit to the applicant’s closing statement, offsetting applicant required funds to close. Not available in conjunction with third party-originated or Charles Schwab partner loans. These points may be combined with an additional $2,000 in engagement points which will apply as a Lender Credit. Subject to Cardholder Rewards Terms of Use.

³ Redemption available toward additional principal on existing retail Rocket Mortgage loans. Not available for third party-originated or Charles Schwab partner loans. Subject to Cardholder Rewards Terms of Use.

⁴ Rocket Card, LLC charges a $95 Annual Fee for use of the Rocket Visa Signature Card, which will be waived for customers that have an existing mortgage serviced by Rocket Mortgage, LLC. The amount and terms of the Annual Fee are included in your Cardholder Agreement. Similarly, the Rocket Visa Signature Card reserves the right to offer bonuses and benefits and the terms of any offer will be provided separately. The APR range for the Rocket Visa Signature Card can be found in the Cardholder Agreement.

⁵ These benefits are available when you use your card. Restrictions, limitations and exclusions apply. Most benefits are underwritten by unaffiliated insurance companies who are solely responsible for the administration and claims. There are specific time limits and documentation requirements. Once your account is opened, we will send you a Guide to Benefits, which includes a full explanation of coverages.

⁶ Impact of using SmartPay to boost your credit may vary; credit scores are determined by credit reporting bureaus and rely on a number of factors that we cannot predict. Increases or specific changes to your credit score are not guaranteed.

All Rocket Visa Signature Cards are powered by Deserve and issued by Celtic Bank, a Utah-Chartered Industrial Bank, Member FDIC.

VISA is a registered trademark of VISA Inc.

Rocket Card LLC | 1050 Woodward Ave. | Detroit, MI 48226 www.RocketCard.com