Xbox Credit Card Gets Full Launch With Special Perks

gamerant.com:

Microsoft has announced that the Xbox Mastercard is now available for everyone in the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. The Xbox Mastercard launched back in September 2023 as an exclusive perk for Xbox Insiders.

The Insiders program gathers a group of Xbox customers who have access to certain software updates, upcoming features, and products for beta testing. This limited rollout of the card allowed Microsoft to gather valuable feedback from the testers and iron out any potential wrinkles before opening it up to the public.

Now, anyone in the designated regions can apply for the Xbox Mastercard and unlock an array of benefits — the first of which ties in directly to Game Pass. Users who spend at least $7,000 within the first 12 months of opening the account can earn two separate three-month subscriptions of Game Pass Ultimate to share with friends or family. Moreover, the Xbox Mastercard automatically bumps owners up to level 2 in the Microsoft Rewards program, allowing them to accumulate points quicker, and purchase items from the Microsoft store without having to spend additional cash.

The benefits extend beyond Microsoft services. New Spotify Premium Individual subscribers are awarded three free months to crank up the tunes, and even existing cardholders from the Xbox Insiders program can reap this benefit. Additionally, the Xbox credit card grants access to Barclays Money Basics, which provides useful financial information on budgeting, fraud prevention, credit scores, and more. Lastly, cardholders can rack up five times the points on eligible Microsoft Store products and three times the points on services like Netflix, Disney+, GrubHub, and DoorDash. There are no annual fees, and new holders get 5,000 points instantly and three months of Game Pass Ultimate after the first purchase.

Although an Xbox-branded credit card may seem a strange proposition, Microsoft isn't the first company to offer such a thing. Sony has been offering its own PlayStation