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A new premium credit card focused on health and wellness is now open to new applicants. The Ness Card delivers a wide range of perks and benefits and a generous welcome bonus. The Bank of Missouri issues the new card, and it carries a $349 annual fee.
Highlights of the card include over $2,000 in annual statement credits covering personal training, spa services, wellness products, and much more, plus bonus points for healthy activities. Here's a closer look at the Ness Card.
The Ness Card Pros
- Over $2,000 in available credits for health and wellness spending.
- 5X earning on a broad range of healthy activities.
- The ability to flag transactions for review if you think they deserve bonus points.
- Access to World Mastercard benefits like Priceless Experiences, concierge services, and complimentary two-day delivery services for online purchases with ShopRunner.
The Ness Card Cons
- It's a charge card, meaning you need to pay your balance in full each month but don't have a preset spending limit.
- Cash-back redemptions reduce the value of your rewards.
- No transfer partners for outsized redemption value.
Benefits of The Ness Card
The Ness Card‘s benefits are not what you are used to with travel rewards cards. While there are no free checked bags or lounge access, there is an enormous amount of statement credits. Also, the card features great earning opportunities — primarily focused on health and wellness.
Sweetgreen: Spend $75 to earn $15 statement credits
Sweetgreen regulars will enjoy this benefit, as they earn $15 in statement credit for every $75 spent at Sweetgreen. The offer is valid on purchases made at physical locations via the Sweetgreen app and includes purchasing a sweetpass+.
Not only does this work out as a stunning return of 20%, but the deal is made even sweeter since you can earn 2 statement credits per calendar month. Maximizing this benefit annually yields $360 of value. This benefit is valid for purchases made through March 31, 2025.
Other statement credits
The Ness Card comes loaded with statement credits that focus on wellness. Maximizing all of them would yield over $2,000 in annual value. However, maximizing even a few of them would cover the card's $349 annual fee.
Wellness subscription credits
The following come as statement credits when you use your card for eligible subscriptions:
- $120 Elo Credit: Receive up to $10 in monthly credits for an Elo health subscription (expires December 31, 2023).
- $120 SOTO Method Credit: Receive $10 in monthly statement credits toward a monthly SOTO Method membership. Alternatively, receive a $40 statement credit toward a yearly SOTO Method membership (expires November 22, 2024).
- $180 Glamsquad Membership Credit: Receive $15 in monthly statement credits when purchasing a full-priced monthly Glamsquad membership (expires January 31, 2024).
- $300 Parsley Health Credit: Receive $25 per month toward a monthly membership or $300 toward an annual Parsley Health membership. If using available discounts for a reduced-price membership, these benefits come as $12.50 per month or $150 annually (expires March 6, 2025).
- $590 Lifeforce Credit: Receive up to $20 in monthly credits for a monthly Lifeforce membership. Also, receive a $350 statement credit when you purchase a $350 Lifeforce diagnostic test (expires December 31, 2023).
Wellness purchases statement credits
These statement credits are available after using your card for eligible purchases:
- $80 Jones Road Beauty Credit: Receive up to $20 in quarterly credits per quarter for purchases at jonesroadbeauty.com (expires December 31, 2024).
- $96 Magic Spoon Credit: Receive up to $8 in monthly credits on Magic Spoon purchases (expires March 14, 2024).
- $100 HigherDOSE Credit: Receive up to $100 annually for purchases at higherdose.com (expires January 31, 2024).
- $100 Seed Credit: Receive $25 in quarterly statement credits when paying for Sustainable Refill Program purchases at seed.com (expires February 28, 2024).
- $200 Exhale® Credit: Up top $50 per quarter for in-person fitness classes, spa services, and merchandise purchased at Exhale locations, plus virtual spa services and merchandise sold at exhalespa.com (expires December 31, 2023).
- $200 Fyt Personal Training Credit: Up to $200 in credit ($100 from January to June and another $100 from July to December) for personal training sessions with Find Your Trainer (expires December 31, 2023).
- $200 Healthy Spend Credit: Receive up to $200 in statement credits annually for spending at healthy merchants, which Ness defines as the following Merchant Category Codes (MCCs):
- 5977: Cosmetic Stores.
- 8099: Medical/Dental/Vision providers and merchants (including doctors, hospitals, and urgent care centers).
- 5912: Pharmacies, HSA/FSA/DME merchants.
- 5941: Sporting goods + fitness activity supply shops.
- 7032: Sporting and recreational camps.
- 7033: Campgrounds.
- 7277: Counseling and therapy services.
- 7999: Recreational services (such as swimming).
Wellness discounts
The following discounts are available when using your Ness Card]:
- 20% Modern Age Offer & Complimentary Injection Therapy: Receive 20% off eligible purchases at Modern Age, including a complimentary injection therapy when you pay with your card (expires December 31, 2023).
- 20% Obé Offer: Receive 20% off when you use your card to purchase a new monthly or annual Obé subscription using the unique code in your Ness app (expires December 31, 2023).
- 15%-25% Previnex Offer: Receive 15% off one-time Previnex purchases and 25% off Previnex subscriptions (expires December 31, 2023).
- 10% Wellness Coaching Offer: Receive 10% back in statement credits when you use your card at Ness Preferred Providers.
Earning Points on Your Ness Card
Depending on the merchant, you will earn 5X points per dollar on “health” purchases or 2X on everything else. 5X earnings merchants fall into four broad categories.
- Care: Insurance, drug stores, complementary and alternative medicine, cosmetic services, therapy and counseling, vision, dental, and medical care providers.
- Eat: Including healthy restaurants, grocery stores, smoothie and juice spots, and cookware.
- Move: Gyms and workout studios, sporting goods and fitness supply shops, workout apparel, personal training, sporting, and recreational camps.
- Restore: Wellness retreats, hair appointments, spa visits, sleep accessories, and more.
All other purchases qualify for 2X earning, including Amazon, Target, Costco, or Walmart. It pays to be selective with your purchases because purchasing a pair of running shoes from Amazon will earn you 2X while purchasing the same pair from a dedicated sports shoe retailer will earn you 5X. This is part of Ness' focus on rewarding businesses and purchases with a clear health mission.
You can request 5X points
Interestingly, Ness acknowledges it doesn't know every “healthy” retailer since merchant codes can vary. If you shop at a store that you think qualifies for 5X earning, you can request the points from Ness.
To do this, click on the purchase on your statement and hit “Request points.” After that, you then specify which category the merchant fits into (Eat, Move, Restore, or Care). The request will be reviewed by the Ness team. If approved, you will get the points for your purchase and will receive 5X every time you shop at the merchant going forward.
Earn points without spending money
One of the most interesting aspects of the new The Ness Card is that you can earn points without spending money. To encourage you to lead a healthy lifestyle, you can earn up to 56 points per day for healthy activities. Ness can only use the data from your iPhone or Apple watch to be eligible for this earning. Third-party devices do not qualify. You can earn 14 points per day on each of these activities:
- Sleep for 7 hours.
- Walk 6,000 steps.
- Exercise for 30 minutes.
- Take part in a 10-minute mindfulness session.
56 points doesn't sound like much, but it adds up. If you earn 56 points per day for five days a week, that's 280 points each week. If you do this for 40 weeks each year (accounting for holidays, vacations, and recovery days), you'll earn 11,200 points. Redeeming them at one cent per point yields a value of $112 — nearly a third of the card's annual fee, thanks to sleeping, walking, and hitting the gym! This is stunning value.
These earnings are capped at 20,000 annually, which requires earning the maximum 56 points daily for 358 days annually.
It's also possible to earn points through referrals. If you refer a friend to the Ness Card, you'll earn 5,000 points after your friend makes their first purchase on their new card. The friend also earns 5,000 bonus points. You can receive a maximum of 10 referral bonuses annually, and Ness says these must be people you know — not publishing your referral link online where strangers may use it.
Redeeming Points on Your Ness Card
Depending on the redemption method, Ness points are redeemed for a fixed value of between 1¢ and 0.5¢ per point.
Best value: Redeem points with partners
You get a value of 1¢ per point when you redeem your Ness points at select partners for fixed-value gift cards. Although the full list of options is extensive, some examples include:
- Juice Press Smoothies: $10.
- Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee: $25.
- Goodles Mac' n' Cheese: $50.
- Fishwife Tinned Fish: $80.
- HOKA Sneakers: $100.
- Crossrope Weighted Jump Rope: $200.
- Self-Care Day at The Well: $500.
- Erewhon Shopping Spree: $1,000.
- Joovv Red Light Therapy Device: $1,800.
- Canyon Ranch Weekend: $4,500.
Worst value: Redeem your points for cash back
You can redeem your points as cash back, although there is no great incentive to do so. That's because you'll receive 0.5¢ per point in value. Redeeming your points as cash back, they are valued at ¢0.5 per point, which is not great. In almost every case, you are better off trying to find something you need from a Ness partner and then redeeming your points for that.
Cash-back redemptions can take up to six weeks to process, as well.
Application Eligibility and Restrictions
The Bank of Missouri issues the Ness Card. There do not seem to be any restrictions or special application eligibility rules like Chase's 5/24 rule or any other credit card application restrictions beyond having good credit.
Final Thoughts
The Ness Card is an attractive proposition if you are dedicated to well-being and fitness. It won't provide outsized redemptions like using airline miles to fly first class, but it provides solid earning rates at many merchants where you would earn just 1X on most other cards. Having this card may even incentivize you to be healthier.
Even though the redemption options are more restrictive than other reward cards, they are better than nothing. When coupled with the earning rates, the Ness Card looks like a very tempting proposition for those who are committed to a healthy lifestyle — or those who want to move in that direction.
Does the Ness Card deserve a place in your wallet? Let us know in the comments below!
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