So, Yes Bank has rolled out this Build Your Own Credit Card thing, and while it sounds fun, let's get real about the whole deal.
I'm going to walk you through the nitty-gritty of their so-called customization options and give you the honest lowdown.
Welcome Offer
You can apply through here. Yes Bank is dangling
a Rs 500 Amazon voucher in front of you if you spend Rs 1000 within 30 days of getting the card. Not bad, right?
The Customizations
Reward Card/ Cash Back Card
First off, they pitch two options at you: the Reward Card and the Cash Back Card.
· Reward Card: you get 8 Reward Points for every Rs 200 spent. Each Point is valued at Rs 0.25. This translates to 1% savings. And what do you get for those points? Vouchers that, let's be honest, are no match for cold, hard cash. Plus, they might even slap you with redemption fees. No thanks.
· Cashback card: This one's a bit more straightforward—1% cash back on everything. Cash is king,
Both choices attract charges of Rs 49 per month. Including Taxes this will be approx. Rs 700 annually. This is a very high fee for a card with 1% cash back.
Meanwhile, cards like Amazon Pay ICICI credit card are out there giving you 1% cash back without charging you a dime.
Plastic or Metal card
You can choose the card build.
There is an option for a regular card ( for free) which I assume will be the regular Plastic card.
I have no idea what an eco-friendly card will be made of. My Imagination tells me a wooden card will be a nice addition to my card collection. I am sure it will only be made of recycled bottles or fancier plastic.
Metal Card: Ah, the shiny status symbol. But hold on to your wallets, because this one comes with a hefty price tag (Rs 3500). Unless you're dead set on impressing people with a metal card, maybe skip this one. Get a One card if you really desire a free metal card.
Card Image
You can choose from multiple options at no cost. Some of these do look cool.
Subscription Plan
This is the only selection that should matter.
You have three plans Silver, Gold and Platinum where in you can select 2, 3 and 5 merchants respectively. These merchants will provide 10% cashback.
The subscription charges are Rs 50 per merchant per month and maximum you can save per merchant is Rs 100. That means the maximum you can save is Rs 50 or 5% only that too when you spend the full Rs 1000 per month on that merchant. Even if you don’t spend anything in a month for that merchant you still pay Rs 50.
That’s too much hoola over 5% savings on relatively poor quality merchants. Adding Flipkart and Amazon as preferred merchants would have made this card more inviting.
Choice | Subscription Charges | Maximum Cashback Possible | Maximum Saving After Deducting Subscription charges |
No Subscription | Nil | Nil | Nil |
Silver (2 merchants) | Rs 99 | Rs 200 | Rs 100 or 5% |
Gold (3 merchants) | Rs 149 | Rs 300 | Rs 150 or 5% |
Platinum (5 merchants) | Rs 249 | Rs 500 | Rs 250 or 5% |
The list of Merchants
· Uber: 5% savings is not a bad deal. From Axis Grab Deals you can buy “Uber Gift card” at 3% discount + your card points/cash back. This is effectively 5% without the need for any subscription.
· Swiggy: 5% on Swiggy is rather poor considering you can get 25% on other cards
· Bookmyshow: 5% on BMS is a very low number. There are so many cards giving BOGO offers (50%) on this platform.
· Bigbasket: Again tata Neo cards rule here.
· Pharmeasy: I have yet to use Pharmeasy. Any captains here can elaborate in the comments.
The only redeeming option here is you can opt to not subscribe to any of these.
Yes Bank Vitual Rupay Credit card
You are given an option to take this Virtual Rupay Credit card.
The card is given as Life Time Free.
It will have a shared a limit with the BYOC card.
It features are
· 8 RP on every Rs 200 spent for UPI transaction above Rs 2000 (1% savings)
· 2 RP on every Rs 200 spent for non-UPI transaction (0.25% savings)
If you imagine having to pay for small UPI transactions via credit card, this card works out for you. But you won’t be making any reward points on those small change transactions.
Video KYC at the end
At the end you are asked for VKYC. However, I have always received the prompt that all call centers are busy and I have to try later. It has been two days and they are still busy.
Conclusion
This card has very poor quality customizations and they only work in the favor of the card issuer. Yes bank needs to get its act together. This is no card anyone should take. The only thing notable is that they have a good welcome offer for Amazon voucher worth Rs 500.
AU Bank has a LIT credit card providing many more sensible customizations. You can check it out.
But in general, customisation based credit card not good and that is why we hear so little about them.