Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card Review

Yes Bank has become talk of the town with it’s re-entry into the premium credit card space after many years. They are not only rebranding their existing credit cards but also introducing new products along the way.

One such newly launched super premium credit card named Marquee is what we’re exploring in detail here.

Overview

Type	Super Premium Credit Card
Reward Rate	2.25% – 4.5%
Annual Fee	9,999 INR + GST
Best for	Online Spends
USP	Redemption without 70% restriction

If you’re looking for a super premium credit card that has easy and simple redemption options without any restrictions, then you’ve arrived at the right place.

Joining Fees

Joining Fee	9,999 INR + GST
Joining Fee Reversal	–
Welcome Benefit	60,000 Reward Points (15K INR value)
Renewal Fee	4,999 INR + GST
Renewal Fee waiver	On spending >10 Lakhs
Renewal Benefit	20,000 Reward Points (if fee is paid)

While Yes Bank has the Joining fee waiver option for most cards, Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card doesn’t come with one unfortunately.

But getting points worth 15K INR value on 11,800 INR joining fee looks good. Also, it does come with the renewal fee waiver on 10L annual spend.

Design

On a quick look, Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card feels premium and fortunately the Visa logo unlike the Mastercard logo is subtle and didn’t spoil the design.

That said, the card seems to be issued only on Visa Infinite platform for now.

Rewards

SPEND TYPE	REWARD POINTS	REWARD RATE	Max. Cap
Online Spends	36 / 200 INR	~4.5%	1,00,000
Offline Spends	18 / 200 INR	~2.25%	–
Select Categories	10 / 200 INR	~1.25%	–

• Select Categories: Rental Payments, Wallet loading, Recharge & utility bill payments, Insurance, Education and Government payments
• Max Cap for Online spends: 100,000 points/ Stmt Cycle (~5.5L spend equivalent). Post this cap, earn rate will be throttled to offline reward rate.

So it’s clearly a pretty good card for online shopping spends and so makes sense if over 70% of your spends are done online.

Note that the subscription plan to earn additional accelerated rewards is not available on Marquee/Private credit cards.

Forex Markup Fee

• Forex Markup Fee: 1%+GST = 1.2%
• Net gain (online spends): 4.5-1.2 = 3.3%
• Net gain (offline spends): 2.25-1.2 = 1%

For International online spends, Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card comes with low markup fee at this fee point and is the highest rewarding credit card in the country, assuming one is not into airmiles.

For international offline spends, it is as good as HDFC Infinia (without Global value program) and that is decent enough.

Redemption

• Flights/Hotels: 0.25 INR / point
• Vouchers: Upto 0.25 INR / point (on some vouchers)

One of the advantage of Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card is the ability to redeem the points directly for flights/hotels at their revenue rate, so you don’t need to hit your head against the walls to make the most out of your “miles” with other cards.

While each has it’s own advantages, some cardholders just don’t have time for that. If that is the case, these direct redemptions comes handy.

On top of that, some gift vouchers are also available at 25ps/point value which makes it slightly better than the Yes Bank Reserv Credit Card.

Airport Lounge Access

ACCESS TYPE	VIA	LIMIT	Guest Access
Domestic (Primary & Add-on)	Visa / Mastercard	6/Qtr	2/Qtr (shared)
International (Primary & Add-on)	Visa / Mastercard	Unlimited	2/Qtr (shared)

With Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card, you get access to domestic & international lounges for both Primary and Add-on credit cards.

Remember that for international lounge access, the card can be used directly instead of additional Priority Pass.

Guest access of 2/Qtr is also available on the card shared between both domestic & international lounge access.

Golf Benefit

• 4 Games per Year (max: 1/month)
• 1 Lesson per month

While the card doesn’t have the Golf program directly with the bank, you can still avail the Golf benefit on the card via Visa & Mastercard benefit.

Other Benefits

• Purchase protection: Insurance cover of upto INR 50,000 against accidental damage for 6 months for mobile & electronics purchased online
• Bookmyshow Offer: Buy 1 Get 1, upto 3 tickets per month (upto 800 INR discount per ticket)

Purchase protection is pretty new to Indian credit card industry but good to see that Yes Bank has added it to Marquee.

Bookmyshow offer is also pretty good and it is certainly useful, as I’ve used similar offer back in time with ICICI Emeralde Credit Card.

Reserv vs Marquee

The answer to it w.r.t. rewards is still pending and I should be able to update as soon as the accelerated points are credited on Yes Bank Reserv Credit Card.

Ideally speaking, if you’re only into rewards, then Reserv + Subscription plan will do the work. That’s a great option esp. for LTF Reserv cardholders.

But if you need a real super premium credit card with better lounge access program, then Marquee is the one for you.

Moreover, as Marquee is relatively on a high fee, the product may last little longer with less devaluations.

Should you get Marquee?

If you prefer low forex markup fee, priority pass for add-on’s and most of your spends are made online then it absolutely makes sense to go for the Yes Bank’s Marquee Credit Card.

The card not only gives higher reward rate compared to the widely known HDFC Bank Infinia Credit Card (for online spends) but also comes with a much lower renewal fee for the segment.

Eligibility

• Salaried or self employed
• Net Salary of >3 Lakhs per month (or) Income Tax Return of >24 Lakhs

While the above applies to offline physical application channel, chances of you getting the card is high if you’ve other credit cards with higher limit (>5L) reported to CIBIL.

How to apply?

• Online: On Yes Bank Website
• Branch – Digital: If you share OTP along with other details like PAN, they can remotely apply it on behalf of you.
• Branch – Physical: By signing physical documents

Ideally applying online by self works pretty smooth for most but if you feel otherwise you may go for the digital application via branch.

However, if you’re not eligible for the card via above 2 modes, then you’ll need to go for the physical application.

Onboarding Experience

The Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card seen here was applied for a family member via “branch – digital” route and the onboarding was super smooth.

Application: You share the OTP & PAN to initiate the process, they ask to confirm home/office address (all picked from credit report) and you’re given the eligible card to apply for. To confirm, share OTP and you’re done. This takes about 5 mins.

Video KYC: VKYC can also be arranged easily as it’s handled by the same team, different executive though. This takes about 5 mins.

Then it took 3 days for approval and another 4 days for delivery. I was surprised to see that Yes Bank has such an amazing onboarding experience with quick approval and card delivery. This is just as good as Amex/IDFC I would say.

Only downside with digital onboarding is that system doesn’t show you multiple options to choose from. As in, bank could probably show Reserv & Marquee for this profile instead of forcing Marquee only.

Bottomline

• Cardexpert Rating: 4.8/5

Yesbank’s newly launched Marquee Credit Card is a pretty good Super Premium Credit Card especially if your spends are largely focused online.

But the downside is, Yes Bank doesn’t have the ability to transfer points to international airlines/hotels. So if you’re not into airmiles and looking for only vanilla rewards, Yes Bank Marquee Credit Card can do wonders for you.

This is undoubtedly one of the best premium credit cards in India for 2024.

Caution: It is to be noted that YesBank’s Credit Card features/benefits are seeing frequent changes ever since the Yes Bank scam broke out, so expect anything, anytime.

Do you’ve Yes Bank’s Marquee Credit Card? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.