The new UOB YOLO Credit Card – another contender for dining rebates up to 8%! | Cheaponana.com - The best credit cards in Singapore and other deals to help you save, earn and maximise your money!

April 11, 2016
by Cheaponana

It was reported on 3 Apr 2016 in the Straits Times (Cashback the ‘favoured perk’ for credit card), where 70% of 730 respondents indicated rebates as an important benefit followed by 53% who prefered dining discounts.

As such, banks have tried very hard to improve or come up with new rebate cards and UOB has just released the YOLO (You only live once) credit card.

Looking at the website, it’s pretty obvious that they are targeting the young working crowd with priority queue and free access to clubs, 1 for 1 movie deals and dining options! So what makes this card stand out?

1. Get 8% rebate for weekend dining and entertainment

Citibank Dividend had increased their rebate to 8% for dining all day (capped at $25 per month), and BoC Family Card (see recent review here) will offer 7% rebate for dining all day from 17 Apr. The best in the market is 10% from CIMB Visa Signature but it is hard to achieve (see previous article here)

So what’s YOLO’s deal? Its dining rebate option is similar to OCBC 365 actually – 3% for weekdays and 8% for weekends (6% from 2 Oct 16). In addition, you need a minimum spend of $600 per statement cycle, failing which you will earn a paltry 0.3% only. Tote that there is a cap of $60 per month (OCBC 365 cap is $80). To maximise your spending, you should limit yourself to $750 on weekend dining and entertainment.

According to the T&C:

“Dining Card Transaction(s)”means the Card Transaction(s) made at food and beverage (“F&B”) establishments. It does not include bakeries, caterers and F&B spending at establishments that does not have F&B as its main business activity such as hotels and supermarkets;

“Entertainment Card Transaction(s)” means the Card Transaction(s) made at bars, taverns, lounges, nightclubs, transactions made at all cinemas in Singapore as well as Ticketing Servicing Provider

2. Get 3% rebate on online travel and fashion

Online shopping has become so common, and Standard Chartered’s Singpost would probable be the best for now with its 7% rebate. YOLO offers 3% for online spending on fashion websites that sells clothes, shoes, jewellery, accessories and bags as its main business activity. For online travel, there’s a list of website included but note that not all airlines are included and probably DBS Altitude may be a better deal with its 3 miles per $1 with a larger cap of $5000 spend/month.

3. 3% rebate using UOB Mighty App

Not tried the UOB Mighty app yet? Download it and link it to your YOLO card, and you use your mobile phone as a paywave option, similar to what you can do with the Starbucks card on their app. This is good when paying for items at certain places which do not face into special categories like dining, fashion, supermarket etc. However, it may be hard to find a paywave machine in such places too.

4. 1 for 1 Movie Tickets at Cathay on Sat and Sun

Apart from M1 users who get 1 for 1 movie tickets on Sunday (see Cheaponana guide to cheapest movie tickets here), the first 100 YOLO cardholders will also enjoy the 1 for 1 deal at Cathay on weekends, subject to the first 100 per day! Also, you can continue earning 2% SMART$ rebate (which expires in 6 months!)

The other benefits are 1 for 1 drinks, priority queue at clubs etc which may be seasonal.

Conclusion

All in all, it offers a good 8% rebate for those who spend a lot on dining on weekends, and it serves as an add-on to other dining cards if they have been maxed out e.g. Citibank Dividend, OCBC 365 etc. The 1 for 1 deal is also great if you want to catch a movie on the weekends with your loved ones. Otherwise, there needs to be additional perks in order for one to switch completely to this card.

Get $2 off $50 with Mastercard Tap & Go at NTUC Fairprice till 6/4/16

Best credit card for online shopping or purchase V3 (2016 Version)