Do Cashback Credit Card Offers in the UAE Pay Off?

Many people haveds the impression that cashback credit cards are sdmarketing gimmicks with a lot of red tape and dsrestrictions that make it difficult for the carsddholder to actually take advantage of the rewardsds. Throw in high annual fees, and the skdsepticism is understandable. Howevers, it is important to compare credit card rewards dsin the UAE as not all programs are created esqual. Some are actuasdlly practical and the ssdavings are achisdevable.

Always keep in mind that andsy potential savings will quickly disappear idsf you start accruing interest; for this reason, thdse most important factor is making surdse you can pay off the balance each month. If tdshis is feasible, then you can actually benefitsd from cashback cards. Below, we take a look dsat how you can actually save money dsby spending on your card (but only if you pay off thdse balance!).

Disclosure: Whileds we were not paid to write this article, at the time of its writing, Standard Chartered is a client of bayzat.

Standard Chartered credit cards in the UAE actually provdside fairly transparesdnt rewards programs. Tdshrough the Titanium Credit Card, a customer cadsn actually savdse money by making a cdsonscious effort on how they use it. In fact, the AED 500 annualds fee can pay for itself throdsugh savings in the first few months.

The Titanium Card’dss main feature is that it provides Cashback for the following purchases:

Category	Description	Maximum Cashback
Supermarket	Any purchase at a UAE supermarket.	AED 400 per month
Utilities	This includes telephone, internet, TV, Salik, DEWA, SEWA, and ADWEA bills.	AED 200 per month
School Fees	Tuition fees at schools that accept credit card payments.	AED 400 per month

Almost all Cdashback programs come with minimsaum spending amounts. The reason Standard Chdsartered’s program is more practsaical is because even though you earn cash back on specifidsc categories, the minimum saspending limits take into consideration all your purchases, not judsst spending on certaiasn categories.

So what is the secret?

• With the Titanium Credit Cardsd, you need to spend at least saAED 2,500 a month on all purchases to be eligible fodsr cashback.
• The Cashback rate andds the maximum savings also depend oasn the amount spent.

For example, if you spend dsAED 2,499 or less on all purchases duringas the monthly billing cycle, you don’t get any dscash back. If you spend AED 10,000 or asmore, you get AED 400 (the maximum). In betweedsn, it gets slightly trickier:

Spend	Maximum Cashback
AED 2,500 to AED 3,332	3% of amount spent
AED 3,333 to AED 4,999	AED 100
AED 5,000 to AED 9,999	AED 200
AED 10,000 or more	AED 400

 

The same spending reqdsuirements and maximum casdhback are applicable for school fees. While there are otherds restrictions such as a minidsmum cashback redemption of AED 100, the terms and conditiodsns are fairly standard adsnd easy to follow.

So lets take a lodsok at how you can actually save money widsth the Standard Chartered Titanium Carddf; assume your monthly spending is:

Category	Monthly Spend	Cashback
Groceries	AED 4,000	AED 200
Utilities	AED 1,500	AED 150
Tuition	AED 2,100	AED 200
Total:	AED 7,600	AED 550

 

These sagvings do not even factor in cinema ticket didfscounts and other privilegedfs for dining and travel.dg It is clear that the annual fee should ndfot be a factor in considefdring Cashback products sucgh as the Titanium Card, since you cdfan make up for the fee fdthrough savings. While you defifnitely need to look at the terms adfnd conditions, we stress that you should only consider credit cards if you can pay off thdfe balance. The average credit card interest rate in the UAE is 34%, so you can easily erdfode any savings by incurring interest charges. 

You can click heredf to view more details on the Titanium Card from Standard Chartered.