How to earn rewards - Karat Help Center

Karat cardholders earn points on eligible purchases, redeemable for statement credits, merchandise, billboards, and more. Every dollar spent on a settled eligible purchase earns at least 1 point, and your rate increases based on your rewards program. Karat offers two rewards programs: Standard Card and Max Card. See below for details.

Standard Card
Max Card

Standard Card members earn 1 to 3x points in three categories of their choice. Most categories earn 3x points, while some earn 1 to 1.5x.

Choosing your categories

You can select three reward categories when you join the Karat Card. These categories determine where you earn elevated points on your spend.

Changing your categories

Rewards categories can be updated every six months. To make a change, visit your card rewards page in the dashboard. We do not support fully custom categories beyond those offered.

How merchant categories affect your rewards

Rewards are based on the merchant’s category code (MCC), assigned by the Visa network. Transactions are categorized by the merchant, not by individual items purchased, so a purchase may not qualify if the merchant is not coded within your selected category. Rewards also cannot be split across items within a single transaction.Merchant codes are assigned by Visa and outside of our control, so purchases may occasionally be categorized unexpectedly. For example, a computer purchased through Amazon may appear as a bookstore transaction.

Foreign transactions

Foreign transactions do not earn rewards. This includes purchases processed outside of the U.S. or transactions made in a foreign currency, even if the merchant is based in the U.S.

Max Card members earn 3x points on all spend, with no categories to manage. Your balance is repaid automatically every day via Karat Banking autopay.

Karat Max is currently invite-only. Contact us to learn more.

Reward rates

Your rate depends on whether daily autopay runs successfully:

Daily autopay status	Rate
Paid via Karat Banking	3x
Paid via external bank	2x
Daily repayment failed	0x

Setting up autopay accounts

When you activate Karat Max, you set up two autopay accounts in a guided flow:

Primary autopay account — the account used for daily repayment. Set this to your Karat Banking account to earn 3x rewards.
Backup autopay account — a fallback account that kicks in when your primary account has insufficient funds. Using a backup external bank earns 2x on that day’s spend.

You can configure both accounts from the Karat Max section of your rewards page. Select a bank from the list, then choose which account to use for each role.

Pre-selecting Karat Banking before approval

If you’ve applied for Karat Banking but haven’t been approved yet, you can still pre-select it as your primary autopay account during setup. Once your application is approved, Karat Banking will automatically be set as your primary autopay account. Until then, daily repayment runs from your backup account.

Karat Banking and the 3x rate

To earn the full 3x, your daily autopay must pull from your Karat Banking account. If your Karat Banking balance is insufficient on a given day, repayment will pull from your backup account instead, and you will earn 2x on that day’s spend.Funding deposits to Karat Banking take several business days to clear, so make sure your account is funded before daily autopay begins.

Grace period

When you first opt in, you have a 7-day window to fund your Karat Banking account and set it as your autopay account. You will still earn your full reward rate during this time, as long as daily repayment runs successfully from your external bank account.

Failed payments

If autopay does not process successfully, you will earn 0x on that day’s settled spend.If your balance remains unpaid at the start of the following month, your account may be subject to card restrictions, deferred payment fees, and collections activity. See What happens if I don’t repay my balance for full details.

Pending vs. redeemable points

Rewards are earned on settled transactions, pulled daily. Points appear as pending for up to 30 days before becoming redeemable. In your rewards dashboard you will see redeemable points and pending points (earned but not yet redeemable).

Foreign transactions

Foreign transactions do not earn rewards. This includes purchases processed outside of the U.S. or transactions made in a foreign currency, even if the merchant is based in the U.S.

_{Karat is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Grasshopper Bank, N.A., Member FDIC. The Karat Visa® Business Credit Card is issued by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC, and pursuant to a license from Visa️ USA.}

Banking Card

Karat Card

​Choosing your categories

​Changing your categories

​How merchant categories affect your rewards

​Foreign transactions

​Reward rates

​Setting up autopay accounts

​Pre-selecting Karat Banking before approval

​Karat Banking and the 3x rate

​Grace period

​Failed payments

​Pending vs. redeemable points

​Foreign transactions

Choosing your categories

Changing your categories

How merchant categories affect your rewards

Foreign transactions

Reward rates

Setting up autopay accounts

Pre-selecting Karat Banking before approval

Karat Banking and the 3x rate

Grace period

Failed payments

Pending vs. redeemable points

Foreign transactions