No. You can access your rewards directly from your Cardinal Credit Union app and your online banking dashboard. 

Stock Rewards are earned when you make purchases with a Cardinal CU debit card associated with your SmartStart Stock account. 1% of every purchase is rewarded as fractional shares of your selected stock, which you can accumulate and redeem once you reach the set threshold of $5. 

Fractional shares allow you to invest in high-value stocks without needing large sums of money, making it easy for you to participate in investing. It helps you build your investments over time and begin investing early in life. 

The SmartStart Stock program helps you learn about investing through firsthand experience. You can engage with the market, build wealth gradually, and develop a solid understanding of investing fundamentals all through everyday purchases. 

Yes! By continuously earning fractional shares with everyday purchases, you can gradually start growing your wealth and work toward long-term financial future goals. 

No, Cardinal CU does not charge any monthly service fees on its checking accounts. Additionally, there are no extra fees associated with earning or redeeming Stock Rewards. 

No. You can begin investing through the rewards without additional funds. Cardinal CU offers zero-commission trading (no fees for executing trades for stock), starting with amounts as low as $0.01.  

SmartStart Stock is limited to Cardinal Credit Union members 18-28 years old with a current personal checking account. Business accounts are not eligible.   

At the start of the program, you’ll be prompted to choose a rewarding stock from a curated list in the Rewards dashboard. The default stock is SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust).

After the initial selection, you can change your stock choice anytime. The stock active at the time of any transaction made will be the stock in which rewards are collected. 

You can accumulate rewards in your selected stock by making purchases with your debit card and/or the associated checking account. Once you reach the threshold of $5, you can redeem the rewards at any time. A redemption button for the selected stock will become available in your Rewards dashboard. Clicking on it will initiate the redemption, with the redeemed stocks becoming visible in your portfolio within 2 business days.

YES! You receive a $10 welcome bonus when you create your account.

Orders are processed during stock market hours (9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET, Monday through Friday). Smart Start Stock doesn’t currently support off-market trading. Redemptions initiated outside of these hours will be processed once the market reopens. 

Yes, you can earn up to $15 in rewards each month. Once this cap is reached, additional rewards will not be earned until the following calendar month. This may be different from the statement cycle. 

Please contact Marketing@CardinalCU.com for support.