Quirkiest Credit Cards in the UAE

This is part of an ongoing series of articles I have written on credit cards in UAE. So far, we have covered best credit cards for

• Etihad Guest Miles,
• Emirates Skywards Miles
• Cashback
• Hotel Loyalty Cards
• Other Co-branded Credit Cards

The above categories should cover a lot of ground in picking the right credit card(s) for you.

Banks in UAE also offer a selection of peculiar cards. These are some I could find.

Royale Card by Dubai First

Disclaimer: I am not aware if anyone in UAE royal family uses this card.

 

Reported to be one of the most exclusive cards in the world, The Dubai First Royale MasterCard is trimmed in real gold and has a .235-carat diamond embedded in its center.

This is a no spending limit card. You have a dedicated relationship manager. Dubai First CEO Ibrahim al Ansari had told the National, an English-language newspaper based in the UAE,

“What do these clients require? What are their needs? It’s not money — it’s service. You ask for the moon, and we try and get it,” 

Plenty of things are undisclosed including the annual fees, APRs, spending rewards.

Obviously, this is an invite-only card.

Selfie card by Mashreq

Mashreq bank offers its customers an option to have their favorite picture on their credit card. Why would you have a selfie on your card is beyond me. However, I guess there must be a market for stuff like this.

On second thoughts, it is a great idea. Nobody needs to turn your card at POS to check if it has been signed. They could just look at your picture in the card. And I believed Apple when they said theirs is the only card equipped with face recognition technology.

This card should definitely give out selfie sticks as perks.

Other than this quirk, the benefits are same as Mashreq Platinum Credit Card.

Football (Soccer) Co-branded Cards

This sounds entirely normal. There is nothing wrong in sporting your favorite club’s emblem on your credit card. The strange thing is for a country of UAE’s size, there are as many as four such credit cards.

• Manchester Utd card by Emirates NBD
• FC Barcelona Platinum Credit Card
• Manchester City Infinite Credit Card by FAB
• ADIB Football Gold Card

Apart from having a picture of your soccer club, these cards offer nothing extraordinary. I also find it weird that there is no Arsenal FC credit card. Emirates airline is one of the key sponsors for the club and it has naming rights over the stadium.

Bottomline

I am sure all the above cards serve some purpose and that is why they exist.

Can we please also have a credit card made of gold? A 20 gram card would cost about AED 3,000 at current prices. Maybe this could be sign-up bonus. Sign-up for the card and keep the gold.