Credit Cards

Paceline Announces Closure of Fitness-Linked Credit Card

A unique credit card offering that enabled customers to earn greater amounts of cashback by reaching their fitness goals has announced that it’s shutting down. Last week, Paceline sent a letter to users informing them that their Paceline Card would stop working as of February 23rd.

According to an FAQ about the sunsetting, upon the card’s closure, any existing rewards would be applied to the final statement balance. With the Paceline Card carrying a $60 annual fee, the company also notes that cardholders who paid this fee within the last 90 days will see a refund applied as a statement balance as well.

Unfortunately, while the card offered weekly statement credits toward the purchase of an Apple Watch via the Qualifying Fitness Device Purchase Reimbursement program, Paceline states that these payments will be halted by March 31st or until a customer’s card is closed — whichever comes sooner.

In the letter sent to customers (as shared by a Doctor of Credit reader), Paceline states that the closure of the card is due to their credit card partner. As they write, “Our current credit card program manager, RailsTech, Inc., is not able to achieve [our] vision, so we are parting ways.” While RailsTech has “powered” the Paceline Card, the product itself was issued by Evolve Bank and Trust. Following this card’s closure, Paceline states that they plan to launch a new credit card program “in the coming months.”

The Paceline Card was an innovative rewards credit card that allowed users to earn extra cashback when they attained a weekly workout goal. Specifically, when cardholders reached their Paceline Streak goal — meaning the app recorded an elevated heart rate for at least 150 minutes during the week — they could earn 5% back on qualifying Health & Wellness purchases (including athletic apparel, gym memberships, sporting goods, and groceries) as well as 3% back on all other purchases. Otherwise, these rewards would be halved to 2.5% and 1.5% respectively. As mentioned, rather than offering a traditional welcome bonus, Paceline Card customers could purchase a new Apple Watch Series 7 and earn weekly statement credits when they met their Paceline Streak. These credits were meant to add up to the full $429 purchase price over the course of 12 months.

Ultimately, the Paceline Card’s perks always sounded ambitious to the point of being unsustainable. Yet, while this result may have been inevitable, it’s unfortunate how quickly the card’s demise came about — leaving cardholders in a lurch. On that note, although Paceline promises that a new card is in the works, that could be a tall order. Still, we’ll have to wait and see what’s ahead for the company and its apparent credit card aspirations.