[UAE] Best Credit Cards to Earn Cashback
If you are looking for instant rewards on your spends, cashback credit cards are the way to go. The annual fee for such credit cards are low. Additionally, you can get a discount of 1-10% on specific spends.
These are some good cashback credit cards in the UAE market
- HSBC Visa Platinum Cashback
- Citibank Citi Cashback
- RAKBank Titanium
- CBD Super Saver
- Najm One Cashback
- Standard Chartered Platinum X
Let us look at them in more details
HSBC Visa Platinum Cashback
Annual Fee – None for first year. Free subsequently if annual spend of AED 12,000 achieved, AED 299 otherwise
Cashback Details
10% on fuel spends (Maximum: AED 100)
5% on hypermarket spends (Maximum: AED 200). Note that hypermarket category is different from supermarket.
1.5% on online spends
Cashback credited to statement every month
Airport lounge access – None
Movie tickets – Buy 1 get 1 at Vox Cinemas
Suitable for – Those who have substantial spend towards fuel and hypermarkets.
Citi Cashback
Annual Fee – None for first year. Free subsequently if annual spend of AED 9,000 achieved, AED 300 otherwise
Cashback Details
3% on international spends. This makes Citi Cashback card the only card with no forex charges as Citi charges 2.99% markup on international transactions.
2% on supermarket spends.
1% on other spends
Cashback credited to statement every month
Airport lounge access – Worldwide unlimited access with LoungeKey. Also applicable for supplementary card members.
Movie tickets – None
Suitable for – Probably the best card for the frugal traveler. Unlimited lounge access and zero forex charges are both great incentives.
You can use my referral link to apply for the credit card.
RAKBank Titanium
Annual Fee – None
Cashback Details
The card has a spend-threshold to receive cashback. If you spend at least AED 5,000 monthly you will receive
5% on supermarkets and dining (Maximum: AED 150)
50% on movie tickets (Maximum: AED 70)
Cashback credited to statement every month
Airport lounge access – Unlimited access at Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Kuwait, and Jordan airports
Offer on movie tickets – See cashback details
Suitable for – Those who dislike annual fees, however benefits accrue only on minimum spend
CBD Super Saver
Annual Fee – None for first year. AED 800 for 2nd year onward
Cashback Details
10% cashback on Utility bills, Supermarkets, Education and Transport. Each of the four categories is capped at AED 200.
The only catch is you also need to spend AED 1,500 outside of these categories. On other categories cashback ranges between 0.5% to 1%
Airport lounge access – Upto 8 visits in a year
Offer on movie tickets – 50% discount on Vox Cinemas. However, a monthly spend of AED 5,000 is needed.
Suitable for – Suitable for all as long as you can spend AED 1,500 each month outside of the 4 categories (e.g. on dining, travel etc)
Najm One Cashback
Annual Fee – AED 299+VAT
Cashback Details
The amount of cashback depends on the number of transactions made in a monthly billing cycle.
- 1% for 1 to 5 transactions
- 2% for 6 to 10 transactions
- 4% for 11 to 25 transactions
- 6% for 26 to 40 transactions
- 8% for 41 to 50 transactions
- 10% for 51 and more transactions
Only transactions above AED 75 are considered. Further, there is a limit on the number of utilities, supermarket or fuel transactions that can be done in a month. You may read the full terms here (link).
Minimum monthly spend is AED 2,000 to receive any cashback.
Airport lounge access – None
Offer on movie tickets – Buy 1 get 1 on Vox Cinemas (up to 2 tickets a month)
Suitable for – Moderate to high spenders but there are several terms & conditions to be considered.
Standard Chartered Platinum X
Annual Fee – Free for first year if you do not hold any SC card. AED 525 from second year onward.
Cashback Details
A newly launched credit card. And, dare I say, an amazingly confusing card. The cashback numbers look great till you get into the minimum spending requirements and maximum caps on categories. These are the categories and the caps
Upto 10% on online spends (Maximum: AED 400)
Upto 10% on international spends (Maximum: AED 400)
Upto 10% on spends through ApplePay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay etc. (Maximum: AED 200)
To get the maximum cashback % on every category, you will need to spend AED 15,000 and above monthly on this card. Else, the cashback percentages and maximum cashback are halved (spends above AED 7,500) or made even lower.
This card will work out to be great if your monthly spends are split like this – Online shopping: AED 4,000; International: AED 4,000; e-wallets: AED 2,000; Others: AED 5,000. You will receive a monthly cashback of AED 1,000 on a total spend of AED 15,000 which is about 7%!
Cashback credited to statement every month
Airport lounge access – Unlimited access to 20 select lounges (primary cardholder only)
Offer on movie tickets – Buy 1 get 1 on Reel Cinemas (Valid only till May 15, 2019)
Suitable for – High spenders whose spends match the cashback categories.
Conclusion
Most of these cards are easy to obtain and provide easy cashback.
However, if you are looking to build value and maximize it, I would suggest looking at some of the premium cards. Like I had mentioned in my previous post, I had saved approximately AED 15,000 ($4,000) in 2018 through a mix of sign-on bonuses, credit card spends and buying miles for cheap.
Earning miles on Etihad and Emirates loyalty programs are a great way to start. Here are the best credit cards to earn lots of miles on Emirates and Etihad.
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Please note that as of June 2019 the cashback on hypermarket spends for HSBC have been reduced from 5% to 3%
Thank you for pointing it out. This post is from April. I plan to update such posts every 6 or 12 months.
when I got najm one card on may 28th 2018
the offer was extremely .good , min spend each txn is 50 aed , 1 to 5 txn 1% then 6 to 10 2% then 11 to 15 4% then 16 to 20 6 then 21 to 25 8% n onward the same. after 6 or more months they change min spend from 50 to 75 n from 11th txn to 25 flat 4% n now they r going to change 1 % flat from 1 to 10 txn n 2% flat from 11 to 20 or might be 25. so bank or other like other corporate visa card can change their terms n condition any time, we cant do anything, now I’m going to cancel my najm card. try to search new cash back card
You are absolutely right. Unfortunately credit card companies devalue their offerings often. Always better to be on the lookout for new ones.
What are your thoughts on the EIB Cashback Plus Credit Card? I have been carefully watching the market and still believe it is the best cashback card our there (at least for my needs).
CBD cashback has been gutted, starting March 1st, have to spend 20k+ total per month to get 10%, making max cashback possible of 4%
ENBD Duo (only for Abu Dhabi I believe) depreciated on Jan 1 to effective 3.75% rewards if choosing cashback (5% still in effect if choosing airline miles)
Any updated advice on the best cashback card out there at the moment?
Interesting development from ENBD Retention Officer – apparently the communicated devaluing from 5% to 3.75% (1dh=0.75pts instead of 1dirham=1 point) apparently didn’t impact the Duo product, only the standalone Platinum MC (!)
Not sure if any other data points out there, but now going to try to and confirm of 5% is still there, interesting!