This is one card you should take if it is being offered as lifetime free to you. It does have its perks but generally cards of this category pack more of a punch. This card has good lounge, travel and golf benefits. One good thing which is increasingly becoming rare nowadays is that this card rewards on wallet transactions too. Let’s get into how to make the maximum use of this card.
Note this card has been devalued and the reward rate is approx. half of what this article states as of now. Updation for this article is pending.
Eligibility, Welcome Offer and Fees
Minimum Net Salary of INR 2 lakhs per month or Income Tax Return of INR 24 lakhs and above.
The Preferred Card is also available against Fixed Deposit of INR 3,00,000 and above.
You can apply from here.
However, I was upgraded to this card from Yes Premia even when my Net monthly income was just Rs 1lac and I had netted almost nil spends on my Premia. That too lifetime free.
The fees of this card is Rs 2500+ tax per year which will be waived off on spending Rs 4lacs. However, you will mostly get it as lifetime free if you meet their eligibility criterion.
In the case that you need to pay the fees, this card will still be worth it especially if you plan to use it for flight tickets. Also equivalent points 10000 rp will be provided (worth Rs. 2500, but you will loose the taxes on the fees).
Lounge Access and Golf Privileges
International Lounges: Complimentary Priority Pass Membership and 4 Complimentary Visits outside India in a calendar year
Domestic Lounges: Enjoy Domestic Lounge access (limited to 3 visits per quarter).
Notably your addon card members can also avail lounge benefit.
But why the odd number, I always think it should be even. Would you plan on not coming back this quarter on the second visit!
Golf: 4 complimentary rounds of green fees per calendar year at select Golf courses.
Note, for this you need to book atleast 2 weeks in advance.
Preferred Reward Points Program
This card has a rather mediocre reward programme which is even worse than it seems on first glance.
16 Reward Points per INR 200 spent on Travel Agencies & Tour Operators, Domestic Airlines and Dining.
The category is almost useless. The reward rate here is 2%. But note the fine print, it works in multiples of Rs. 200 which will bring down the reward rate considerably. Then you may say but its atleast good for flight tickets, but their own 10X offer (more below) out does this significantly. The only rarerest of rare cases will be to book tours but do check the MCC code (MCC: 4722) before going ahead with the payments.
8 Reward Points per INR 200 spent on all other categories
This is a reward rate of 1% which in itself is rather on the poorer side, but again the multiple of Rs 200 makes this effectively much lower. The Rs 200 multiple also makes this card not particularly your go to card for every day usage.
The points never expire 😊
Yescart and yesrewards
This is the portal through which you can be directed to other ecommerce websites such as flipkart, amazon, Myntra etc and you can get 10X points on your transactions. Points worth 10% of the transactions are given. The link for Yescart is here.
The best part is you can also use this portal to book flights. Yescart flight booking systems gives you two booking options; yatra and clear trip. 10X is applicable on both. This is the best part of this card as you don’t need to hunt for offers. The offers which are generally available are only upto 10-12% so you can make this your default booking site, I do.
Additionally, you can book flights via yesrewards, its portal for redemption of reward points. The added advantage here is that it does not charge convenience fees.
Yes First Preferred Credit Card reward points value is Rs. 0.25.
For Low value domestic tickets upto Rs 3500 convenience fees charged are more than 10% of the total bill. Getting this free is icing on the cake. So the strategy I would suggest is that for tickets of more than Rs 4500 go for yescart, but for cheaper tickets less than say Rs 3500 go for yes rewards and redeem your points.
The cap on the points you can earn is 10000 rp which is approximately Rs 2500. You will hit this cap on spending Rs 25k. This will be sufficient for most purchases except big appliances.
Milestone or Annual Bonus Rewards
· You get 20,000 Bonus Reward Points on achieving spends of INR 7.5 Lakhs which is worth Rs. 5000.
Other offers
· 25% discount on movie tickets when booked on BookMyShow offer upto Rs 250. This is an ordinary offer, but useful if don’t have access to One on One free offer.
· 1% Fuel surcharge waiver at all fuel stations across India for transaction between INR 400 to INR 5,000
· 1000 reward points on autopay registration on Yespaynow. However, I have observed that their list is quite lacking.
Preferential Foreign Currency Markup
Preferential Foreign Currency Markup of 1.75% making this the lowest in the market. If you have significant international spends, this card is a good 0.5-1% lower than most cards.
Effective Reward Rate
I am considering the best case to use this card. Flight tickets worth Rs 5000 each month and additional Expense of Rs 5000 each month on yescart. The rest is dining and regular expenditure.
Even though it shows as 3.8% I don’t think it will be achievable for most users.
Yes First Preferred Credit Card Savings Calculator
In the table below add your expenses and press "Calculate" to find out how much you will be saving with this card.
If the Calculator doesn't run, click here and run again :)
Rating
Sadly only 3/5
However, I am still holding mine as it lifetime free and also have my fingers crossed hoping for an upgrade to Yes First Exclusive.
Similar or Better options
Try HDFC regalia credit card , SBI prime credit card.
For more info check related posts below.