There has been no greater advance in travel in the last decade than the advent of shared ride services such as Uber. Enabled by the popularity of mobile smartphones, and millennials’ fear of making phone calls, these shared ride services truly disrupted the business model of taxis, and boast even greater revenue than the entire rental car industry in the United States.
Uber has set its sights towards innovations such as autonomous cars and even flying vehicles. But for now, its latest product is the Uber Visa Card, issued by Barclays. Let’s take a look at this new rewards card, and see if it’s right for you.
What’s Ahead:
About the Uber credit card
The Uber ride service is known for the value it provides along with its innovative features, and the Uber Visa follows that tradition.
It offers a $100 cash bonus when new applicants spend $500 on their card within 90 days of account opening.
When you use your card, you’ll earn a fantastic four percent back at restaurants, for takeout, and at bars, including the UberEATS service. You receive three percent back on hotels and airfare, including vacation home rentals like Airbnb.
You also receive two percent back for online shopping, and video and music streaming services. Although this is an Uber sponsored card, funnily enough, you only receive two percent back on Uber rides rather than the top three or four percent.
If all that isn’t enough, you also get one percent back on everything else. Rewards come in the form of points that can be redeemed for one cent each towards Uber credits, cash back or gift cards.
When you use your card to spend $5,000 or more during a cardmember year, you’ll receive a $50 credit each year towards subscription services such as Netflix and Hulu. You also receive a mobile phone insurance policy that will cover you for up to $600 if your phone is stolen or damaged, so long as you use your card to pay your monthly bill. Other benefits include invites to exclusive events and offers in select U.S. cities.
The standard interest rate for purchases and balance transfers is 15.99 percent, 21.74 percent, or 24.74 percent based on your creditworthiness when you applied. As with most credit cards, this is a variable rate that can change with the Prime Rate.
There’s no annual fee for this card, and no foreign transaction fees.
Advantages
This card’s offer of four percent cash back is extremely strong. Better yet, it applies not just when you go out to a restaurant, but also when you want to stay in and order from UberEATs, and, likely most important to millennials, at bars.
Even the three percent back at hotels and airlines is strong, especially since it applies to purchases from travel agencies and home share exchanges like Airbnb. It’s also nice, but not exceptional, to earn two percent cash back from online shopping as well as from services such as Netflix, Pandora, HBO Now, iTunes, Google Play and Apple Music—which is unusual for any credit card to offer.
If used regularly, most people will spend the $5,000 necessary to earn a $50 credit on subscription services. It’s also great that this card offers you $600 of mobile phone insurance, which is quite valuable.
Finally, it’s difficult to go wrong with a card that has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.
Drawbacks
As with any other rewards credit card, the Uber card is best used by those who avoid interest charges by always paying their entire statement balance. If you tend to carry a balance, even occasionally, then you should focus on finding a card that offers the lowest possible interest rate. Unfortunately, the cards with the lowest standard interest rates won’t offer you rewards for your spending.
Also, there are many award travel enthusiasts who prefer to earn hotel points and airline miles towards premium travel rewards, while this card currently just offers cash back, gift cards, and Uber credits. However, Barclays is considering adding the ability to transfer points to travel partners, but it hasn’t made any announcements yet. If it does, then this card’s value would increase tremendously.
Summary
Over the last few years, Barclays has emerged as one of the most innovative card issuers in the United States. So it should come as no surprise that it partnered with Uber to create a card with so many rewards, and so few fees.
If you look at the overall theme of this card, it’s clear that they’re latching on to many of the latest trends associated with urbanites and millennials. These trends include the use of entertainment subscription services, smartphones, home share exchanges, and of course, ride-sharing. But you don’t have to be young or live in a city to appreciate the features of this card.
By signing up for the new Uber card, anyone can enjoy great rates of cash back when dining, traveling or just calling an Uber to take you to your next destination.
Learn more about the Uber Visa Card today!
Alternatives to the Uber Visa Card
The Uber Visa Card offers tremendous value, but it’s not for everyone. If you’re looking for a card with a better all-purpose cash back offer or travel rewards, check out the cards we feature.
Finding the right credit card is also much simpler if you know your credit score and can narrow your search to only the cards you know you’ll get approved for. If you don’t already know your score, use our quick and free Credit Score Estimator tool – then find the perfect card for you.
- Best credit cards for a credit score over 750
- Best credit cards for a credit score between 700 – 749
- Best credit cards for a credit score between 650 – 699
- Best credit cards for a credit score between 600 – 649
- Best credit cards for a credit score under 599