Enzo Fintech App: 2% Cash Back on Rent (Up to $150/Year), Special APY and Equity For Early Members

Updated July 2022. Enzo is another fintech app with the catchy feature of 2% cash back on rent, but unfortunately the earning caps are much more modest than initially promised. They are also dangling the possibility of higher interest rates and owning shares in the actual company to the first 25,000 members.

Cashback on spending. From their disclosures (emphasis mine):

Eligible accounts that meet the minimum requirements can earn 10% cashback on Uber, 5% on DoorDash, 2% on rent or mortgage payments, and 1% on everything else, limited to $20 per calendar month and $150 per calendar year. Once the monthly and/or annual limits have been reached, you will continue to earn 0.25% on all of your card spend. The maximum total cashback you can earn in a calendar year is $2,500.

Cashback on rent or mortgage payments is limited to one transaction per month. Enzo reserves the right to request additional documentation providing proof that the payments are bona fide rent or mortgage payments if it suspects unusual activity. Terms are subject to change. Cashback will be credited to your account the following month for qualifying transactions made the previous month.

If you only put rent on your debit Visa card, then you would max out the $20 monthly limit at a monthly rent of $1,000. However, you would max out the annual $150 cash back limit at a monthly rent of $625. Both are below the US average rent of $1,100 a month for a 1 bedroom apartment. Is what works out to $12.50 a month ($150/12) worth it?

Checking account APY on savings. 1.49% APY as of 6/16/2022. This is above average for most online savings accounts. Banking services provided by Blue Ridge Bank N.A.; Member FDIC.

In a strange move, they have already announced that they “plan to raise the interest rate on the Enzo Checking Account to 2.15% effective August 1st, 2022.” As a fine print reader, I know that “plan” leaves them an out. It’s just a “maybe”. Why not just increase it now?

They also “plan” to raise it to 3.10% APY for the first 25,000 Enzo customers. As of 7/4/22, there are at 6,090 members. Track the numbers here.

As a reward for your support, once we reach 25,000 Enzo Customers, we plan to reward all our Founding Members by raising the interest rate to 3.10% on the Enzo Checking Account.

Investing. Very few details on this so far, beyond “$0 fee trading” which nearly every other broker already offers.

Equity in the company? Here’s what they say:

Enzo is committed to helping you create wealth over time. That’s why we are granting equity to our early members and reserving a piece of the company to permanently be owned by you.

From the disclosures:

All Enzo Waitlist members will be eligible to receive Enzo equity, and can earn additional equity by referring friends.

And curiously:

Equity is subject to terms and conditions and does not require opening an Enzo account. Terms for receiving equity available upon request.

After multiple “request” e-mails, I received a little more info at this link:

To receive Enzo stock you must be registered on the Enzo waitlist. You’ll be issued one share of Enzo stock initially. You’ll get one additional share of Enzo stock for every three referrals that sign up for the Enzo waitlist. You can earn a maximum of 250 Enzo shares for qualified referrals.

Total shares under the Waitlist Equity Program (“WEP”) shall not exceed 100,000. WEP is subject to terms and conditions and does not require opening an Enzo account. Enzo reserves the right to modify the program at any time. Terms for receiving equity will be available soon upon request.

Honestly, the likelihood of this equity actually paying out is very low, but you never know. I am old enough to have gotten free TravelZoo shares that actually materialized during the dot-com boom.

I couldn’t find much media coverage about Enzo. In November 2021, this article announced a seed round with a modest $3 million in funding.

Shrug. I still signed up on the waitlist with my e-mail since it is free with no commitment (that is my link). This is a very young startup and we’ll see if it can pull it off.