Sallie Mae Accelerate Card Review
Why trust us? Investor.com has no financial relationship with any of the credit card providers whose products we analyze and review. Our opinions are based solely on data and our own extensive independent research — that means unbiased guidance for consumers. Rewards cards in our cashback credit card calculator are listed in descending order according to how much money they pay out annually based on the inputs.
If paying down your student loans is a priority, this cashback card from Sallie Mae offers an incentive — a 33 1/3% rewards rate booster (turning a 1.5% cashback rate to 2% cashback) to direct the money towards any federal or private loan.
Spend money to pay down your student loans faster? This is the way with the Sallie Mae Accelerate rewards card. The card pays a higher cashback rate (2% vs. 1.5%) if you put your earnings toward your student loan balance, thus using rewards to accelerate your debt payoff. The deal applies to private or federal student loans from any lender, too, not just Sallie Mae ones.
The Accelerate rewards card setup works for those who need more incentive to throw extra money towards student loan debt. Otherwise, you could probably earn a similar or higher cashback rate (even from Sallie’s other rewards card — the Evolve card) and have more flexible rewards options.
The basics: Redeem 2% cash back to help pay down any student loan, or earn 1.5% cashback for everything else.
Sallie Mae Accelerate pros and cons
Pros
- Earn 2% cash back when redeemed to help pay down a student loan
- No annual fee
- $200 bonus for spending $1K in first three months
- No cap or expiration on rewards
- Secondary cell phone coverage and other Mastercard bennies
Cons
- Limited redemption options (which is kinda the point, but still)
- The 1.5% base cashback rate is pretty basic
- $25 reward redemption minimum
- No welcome bonus or 0% intro APR on transfers or purchases
- The 3% foreign transaction and 5% cash advance fees will leave a mark
- Not really worth it if you don’t have student loan debt
Sallie Mae Accelerate cashback rewards spending categories
The following table shows the cashback rewards rate per $1 spent in the six most common spending categories. The “Bonus Rate” refers to the amount you can earn in excess of the card’s standard rewards rate.
Some cashback cards limit the spending amount eligible for the bonus rate (a.k.a. the “Spend Cap”). Once you hit that cap (e.g. $1,500 spending in a particular category during a defined time period), the rewards rate on future purchases in that category reverts to the lower “Default Rate.”
Category | Default Rate | Bonus Rate | Bonus Spend Cap | Bonus Spend Period (Months) |
Gas | 1.50% | - | - | - |
Travel | 1.50% | - | - | - |
Dining | 1.50% | - | - | - |
Entertainment | 1.50% | - | - | - |
Pharmacy | 1.50% | - | - | - |
Groceries | 1.50% | - | - | - |
Other Purchases | 1.50% | - | - | - |
Note: The Sallie Mae Accelerate card pays a higher 2% cashback rate when you use your rewards to pay down any private or federal student loan. In our calculator we use the 1.5% default cashback rate that applies to rewards earnings that are not used for loan paydown.
What we like
It’s all about how you redeem your cash back. Direct the money toward a federal or private student loan, and the 1.5% base rate per $1 spent becomes 2%. That’s a 33 1/3% boost to your cashback rate.
Keep your calculator handy: An increased student loan payment also reduces how much you’ll pay in interest ✅ and how long the loan will loom ✅. Zing!
There are no caps on how much you can earn in rewards. And, no, this is not an excuse to go on lavish shopping sprees in the name of earning more cash back to put towards your student loans. There is no universe where the spend-more-to-save-more math makes sense.
Pay your cell bill with your Accelerate card to access Mastercard’s secondary cell phone insurance on up to three phones ($600 max claim after $50 co-payment).
An added security measure beyond the $0 liability on unauthorized charges is the ability to “pause” your credit card temporarily for any reason.
What we don't like
Your cashback rate is docked half a percent to a very average 1.5% if you don’t go with the student loan pay-down option and opt instead for a statement credit or electronic deposit into a checking or savings account.
There’s a $25 redemption minimum requirement. At 2% cash back, that’ll require $1,250 in spending. At the 1.5% rate you’ll need to charge $1,666 to rack up enough to be eligible to cash out.
With a little discipline, you could pay off your student loan even faster by getting a card with a higher overall cashback rate and using the rewards cash to pay down your loan. Just sayin’.
Planning a trip back to where you spent your semester abroad? You’ll want to retrace your steps without this Accelerate card to avoid the 3% foreign transaction fee.
Avoid borrowing cash from Sallie: The cash advance fee is a steep 5%, or $10, whichever is greater.
The bottom line
Is the Sallie Mae Accelerate the best rewards card for your wallet? The answer depends entirely on your spending patterns. Let the numbers speak for themselves: Use the investor.com Cashback Credit Card Calculator to see which credit card pays back the highest rewards based on how much you spend each month.
Sallie Mae Accelerate fine print
No, there won’t be a quiz. But it’s still a good idea to read through the card terms and conditions and cashback reward details for the Sallie Mae Accelerate Mastercard.
Does the Sallie Mae Accelerate charge an annual fee?
No, there is no annual fee for the Sallie Mae Accelerate.
Trivia time!
Roughly 14% of the consumer cashback cards we track in our database charge an annual fee. The average annual fee is $72.60, while the median is $95.
Does the Sallie Mae Accelerate offer a welcome bonus?
No, the Sallie Mae Accelerate card does not currently offer a welcome bonus.
Fun fact
Of the more than 60 cashback credit cards in our database, 66% offer a welcome bonus. Currently, the average sign-up bonus on a new cashback card is $210.71, with the median being $200.
How much cash back can I earn with the Sallie Mae Accelerate?
The average American that spends $1000 per month will earn $180.00 in cash back per year using the Sallie Mae Accelerate. For comparison, the average annual rewards payout from the cashback credit cards in the investor.com database is $191.26, and $180 is the median.
These calculations are based on average consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the reward payout rates from the providers we track. Of course, you’re so much more than an average data point (aka “consumer unit,” in BLS parlance). The amount you can earn in cashback rewards using the Sallie Mae Accelerate depends entirely on your unique spending habits.
Find out exactly how much you’ll rake in with the Sallie Mae Accelerate by tailoring the spending inputs in the calculator above.
Read next
- Best Cashback Credit Cards
- Best Business Cashback Credit Cards
- What Is Credit? (And Why It Matters)
- Best High-Yield Savings Accounts
- Find a Financial Advisor
- Our Complete Coverage of Credit Cards
Methodology
The results of the investor.com Credit Card Rewards Calculator are based on the monthly spending amounts you enter and the annual dollar value of the rewards each credit card program pays per $1 spent. Credit card companies often express this payout amount as a percentage (e.g., 1.5% of every dollar spent) or on a points basis (e.g. ,1.5 points for every dollar spent). We converted all of them to a dollar amount (“Cash Back Per Year”) to make comparing offers easier.
To calculate the amount of cash back you could earn per year, we factored in:
- Spend category inputs: The default dollar values for each “Spend Category” in the Best Cashback Credit Cards tool — gas, groceries, travel, restaurant, entertainment, pharmacy, other — are based on average American spending data from the Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We also include additional spend categories (such as streaming services, online shopping, utilities, transit, Amazon and more) to help you see which rewards cards are most closely aligned with your actual spending patterns. We encourage you to customize the monthly spend inputs for the most accurate results.
- Tiered rewards rates: If a rewards credit card pays higher cashback rates on certain spending categories (also called “Bonus Rewards”), that difference is reflected in the total “Cash Back Per Year” tally.
- Rewards spending caps: Some cards impose category- or time-based limits (monthly, quarterly, annually) that affect the amount of rewards you can earn. For example, a card may pay 3% cash back on groceries on up to $1,000 of spending each quarter, then revert to the base/default rewards rate until the following quarter. We accounted for bonus spending caps and timeframe in the calculations.
- Default rewards rates: Purchases that exceed a spending cap are usually subject to a lower default rewards rate (e.g., 1% or 1.5%). We mathed that out too.
- Annual fees: If a rewards card charges an annual fee, we deducted that amount from the “Cash Back Per Year” total to provide a true accounting of a card’s annual rewards payout.
What’s not included in the “Cash Back Per Year” total is the cash value of any sign-up/introductory bonus. We highlight any Welcome Bonus separately. While sign-up bonuses can be the most lucrative part of getting a new cashback rewards credit card, not everyone will want or be able to do what it takes to earn the extra cash. (It usually requires spending a certain amount in a specified time period after the card is activated.)