Looks like YesBank decided to go aggressive on credit cards again after many years and started to not only rebrand their old credit cards but also launch new products along the way.
So here we’re looking at Yes Bank Reserv Credit Card which is the rebranded version of Yes First Exclusive Credit Card. There is a change in design, reward structure and some new benefits are added as well.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Yes Bank’s Reserv Credit Card in it’s current form:
Table of Contents
Overview
| Type | Premium Credit Card |
| Reward Rate | 1.5% – 3% |
| Annual Fee | 1,999 INR + GST |
| Best for | Online Spends |
| USP | Redemption without 70% restriction |
While the card is being issued as a paid card for most at the moment, most cardholders got them on Lifetime Free pricing.
Nevertheless, getting 3% reward rate on the card for online spends as standard with easy redemption works well for most. On top of that, there is a subscription plan, which we will get into it shortly.
Joining Fees
| Joining Fee | 1,999 INR + GST |
| Joining Fee Reversal | Spend 40,000 INR within 30 days |
| Welcome Benefit | Nil |
| Renewal Fee | 1,999 INR + GST |
| Renewal Fee waiver | On spending >3 Lakhs |
| Renewal Benefit | 8,000 Reward Points (if renewal fee is paid) |
It’s good to see that Yes Bank has the Joining fee waiver option for those who could spend. Renewal fee waiver condition too is very well acceptable at this fee point.
Ideally it’s still a LTF card as long as one can spend 3Lakhs a year, which is quite possible for most in this segment.
Design
I wonder why they decided to remove the “e” out of the nice word “Reserve”. I hope it’s not not only for the sake of adding it to other words like “Marque” and make both look Uniquee. 😀
Apart from that, the design also doesn’t follow some basic standards. Like, the bold YB logo, MC logo on top, the bigger RESERV word, etc.
But even with all these, I should say that it looks pretty decent when we’re not conscious of these design elements. So it’s fine.
Rewards
| SPEND TYPE | REWARD POINTS | REWARD RATE |
|---|---|---|
| Online Shopping Spends | 24 / 200 INR | ~3% |
| Offline Shopping Spends | 12 / 200 INR | ~1.5% |
| Select Categories | 6 / 200 INR | ~0.75% |
- Select Categories: Rental Payments, Wallet loading, Recharge & utility bill payments, Insurance, Education and Government payments
- Max Cap for Online spends: 36,000 points/ Stmt Cycle (3L 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.
But if the rewards are not attractive to you, you may as well go for an additional reward subscription plan for 1 Yr.
Reward Subscription Plan
So Yesbank has come up with an innovative “reward subscription plan” instead of increasing the annual fee of the card. This is primarily to monitize those older customers who got the Yes First Exclusive as Lifetime free, like most of us here.
While that’s a wonderful idea, the implementation is perhaps the worst in the industry. That said, here’s the current plan:
| Plan | Benefit | Max Points | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3X Rewards | 3X on all spends | 75,000 / Stmt Cycle | 3,500 INR + GST |
| 5X Rewards | 5X on Travel, Dining, Fashion, Healthcare | 75,000 / Stmt Cycle | 5,000 INR + GST |
At this point, it might look lucrative because this means 9% on all spends with 3X but in reality it’s expected to give 6% online, 4.5% offline & 2.25% on select Categories.
If you’re around, you would have read this old subscription plan that I covered last year. They very soon realized the mistake and changed it’s value proposition very many times that at one point I decided to ignore it to save my time and energy!
I was on 5X plan initially but cancelled after they made the changes and then went to 3X Plan for quite sometime.
It worked pretty well with Yes First Exclusive, like, the accelerated points gets added the 1st week of the following month and the same can be tracked by calling the support as they can see the points bifurcation.
But after they rebranded the card from YFE to Reserv, it seems things may change. This is probably because Reserv in itself has accelerated rewards system as a standard feature.
So to test it, I’ve recently did a txn this month on the newly replaced Reserv variant. I’ll report back my findings by 1st week of Feb.
Redemption
- Flights/Hotels: 0.25 INR / point
One of the advantage of Reserv 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.
I personally use these Yes Bank Reward Points to redeem for local flights, like on Indigo and others as they can’t be accessed through miles program.
Airport Lounge Access
| ACCESS TYPE | VIA | LIMIT |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic | Visa / Mastercard | 3/Qtr |
| International (Primary) | Visa / Mastercard | 6/yr |
That’s quite decent I would say but not to forget that it all came down from “unlimited” to this level.
Note that the domestic lounge access is applicable to both primary and Add-on cards but International lounge access (direct on card itself) is only for primary cardholder.
Effective 21st March 2024, lounge access feature is offered based on previous quarter spends.
Spend INR 10,000 or more in a calendar quarter (21st Dec-20th Mar | 21stMar-20thJun | 21stJun-20thSept | 21stSep-20thDec) and you become eligible to access the complimentary lounge visits, in the next quarter.
I wish credit card issuers make the requirement as ~50K INR spend a year instead of the silly quarterly spend criteria.
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
- Forex Markup Fee: 1.75%
- Purchase protection: Insurance cover of upto INR 50,000 against accidental damage for 6 months for mobile & electronic purchased online
Purchase protection is pretty new to Indian credit card industry but good to see that Yes Bank did it’s best to add it even to the card at this fee range.
Reserv vs Marquee
If you’re looking for a stable card without any surprises, I think Marquee is a wonderful card as compared to Reserv especially if you don’t have other super premium cards.
On top of that, the unlimited lounge access benefit with guest access is a good one to have on Marquee, as it helps a lot if you’re a family traveller with kids. Expect a detailed review on Marquee shortly.
Should you get Reserv?
If you value rewards, prefer a low fee and most of your spends are made online then it absolutely makes sense to go for the yes Bank’s Reserv Credit Card.
If not, or if you prefer to have a solid product and don’t care much about the rewards then HDFC Regalia Gold is something you should explore.
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.
Bottomline
- Cardexpert Rating: 4.3/5
Yesbank’s rebranded Reserv Credit Card is a pretty good product especially if your spends are largely focused Online. And if the subscription plan works the way it’s expected it to be, then it’s perhaps one of the best credit cards to hold in 2024.
However, it is to be noted that YesBank’s Credit Card features/benefits are not stable ever since the Yes Bank scam broke out, so take it with a pinch of salt. Be flexible to change your strategy if Yesbank disappoints you with anything in the future.
That said, it is at-least good to see something happening with them finally.
Do you’ve Yes Bank’s Reserv Credit Card? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.
There is a mistake. Points are per 200 INR and not 250. Correct this mistake
Done!
How to get this if I already have a LTF Yes First Exclusive?
Just request for a card replacement, as that’s what I did. It’s not a change in product, both have same BIN as well.
And does replacement cost something as well?
The t&c says it’s “paid” for replacement but I’m yet to be charged.
Meanwhile, they didn’t extend the card validity by doing replacement, so I guess it won’t affect the card pricing plan, which is LTF in my case.
When did you apply for the card replacement?
It’s been few weeks now.
is there any max capping on Rental txns in a month?
I don’t think so, anyway it gives negative return with 1% fee on rent & wallet.
International airport lounge is not through priority pass. Please correct it
Oh yes, thanks for the find. Updated.
Sir I have subscribed for Rewards Subscription Plan but note that they is no clarity on when they credit the accelerated reward points. Is the subscription plan on monthly or card statement based?
I’ve checked (by calling them) my stmt for couple of months and I see that they most get credited by 1st week of the month.
If the txn is done on last 2 days of the calendar month, then those gets moved to next month at times.
It seems the cap is on stmt cycle by crediting points happens every calendar month.
Thanks sir. They need to provide more clarity. Below is the response I received after several fu. Their Customer Support Officers are not well aware of the Subscription Plan and confuse me asking for regular rewards v. accelerated rewards.
Dear Mr. Kumar,
Greetings from YES BANK.
This is with reference to your social media query regarding Subscription plan on your YES BANK Credit Card.
We wish to inform you that you have subscribed for 3X reward points, in which 1X reward will be credited imddiatly and remaining 2X reward points will get credited in subsequent month statement.
Further we wish to inform you that 2X reward points of 19188 has been credited as on January 10, 2024 and same will get reflect in your subsequent month statement.
While the system is not transparent, 3X worked well for all my txns. Hope you get the bonus points soon.
I just received the card and activated it, when would I receive the priority pass card ?
I have a Yes first exclusive LTF and since it has 2 domestic lounge access per quarter shall it upgrade to 3 per quarter after getting the replacement card.
Hello Siddharth.. Did you try to upgrade your Reserv to Marquee? I request for an upgrade and they told me to wait till March as Marquee as of now is available only on Visa and my Reserv is on MasterCard. Weird.
Hi Nick, I prefer to keep my Reserv as LTF so upgrade not attempted, though applied for Marquee separately for family.
Okay.. Thanks. Yes approvals are lightning fast these days. One of my family members received the card in just 3 days.
Hi Siddharth , can you confirm how much reward points you are getting for 3X subscription for both online and offline spends. I am seeing some conflicting experience ***
I’m waiting on the same. Will be able to report back for both 3X & 5X once they credit the bonus points this Feb.
I tried applying for the Reserv online but getting Marquee as approved. Is it possible to get that changed, preferably online. I couldn’t find it anywhere and speaking with their support also did not help
Only option is to apply via physical documents in this case.
How do I activate the 3x or 5x subscription plan?
I don’t see any such option in Iris app.
I talked to 2 customer care executives in 2 separate calls and they were not aware about the subscription plans and told me that if it shows in the app, then you can do it, there is no other way.
Kindly let me know how to get the 3x subscription plan activated.
DCC is 1% based on latest communication from bank; is it a good option to use for foriegn spends?
Sorry, but I am confused. If I take reward subscription then will I get 9% reward on online shopping? Or it was originally 1% and I would 3% now.
I’m expecting 4.5% with 3X subscription on Online spends as it used to be before Reserv but as fulfilment is yet to be done, the same can’t be confirmed.
I think getting paid Marque would be better than having subscription on top of reserv card as one will get reward points on the fees.
Subscription on Reserv is suited only for high spends.
What do you suggest ?
Also, which category covers the gift card purchase – Online or Select category ?
I activated the subscription plan in March’23. Any idea if these plans will be auto renewed this year or otherwise.?
Cust support told me someone from yes bank will connect before expiry to confirm if I wish to renew or not.
What is the redemption rate? The website says 10 Yes Rewardz points = 1 Vistara or Intermile mile which seems to be very poor no? You mentioned about redeeming directly on Indigo? what is the redemption value then?
YesBank cards are not for miles yet. Reward rates are there on article’s main content, pls refer.
Hi Sir, I am confused about this sentence.
“At this point, it might look lucrative because this means 9% on all spends with 3X but in reality it’s expected to give 6% online, 4.5% offline & 2.25% on select Categories.”
why in reality it is expected to give 6% and not 9%, when we opt for 3x plan? I am not sure what am i missing.
Because of the revamp things changed. Also, they’re yet to fulfil the bonus points for Jan 24!
What are the most common GV options in yes rewards ? Are they useful or like Standard Chartered Ultimate (3.3% return but if no use because the GV adoptions are poor)
Hi Siddharth, Yes bank corrected their wording for rewards subscription plan. They will offer 3x for offline spends and select categories. They are not going to offer 9% for online spends.
This is correct the website mentions in the 3X/5X plan as
3 times the regular YES Rewardz Points* on all spends for next 12 months
*For FinBooster Card: YES Rewardz Points are defined as Reward Points for Online Dining or Online Grocery & Apparel or Other retail spends as applicable.
For all other Cards: YES Rewardz Points are defined as Reward Points for Offline Spends or Select category spends as applicable for the respective Credit Card variant.
This means – with 3x plan 3%,4.5% & 2.25%(On,Off,Select) returns, so pretty much ~1.5 L spend of Offline and Select will make break even against fees while online remaining constant.
Yes bank modified their lounge access criteria for most cards incl. RESERV(apart from marquee card), 35 K qtrly. spend required to unlock lounge access for subsequent qtr.
Hey Sidharth,
does this card still give points for rent payment and wallet load? the T&Cs seems to be updated to exclude rent and wallet load.
could you please confirm the same?
I have had Yes First Exclusive for a long time. But not been using it in favor of IDFC Wealth. Now with IDFC deval, the reward rate for 50k p.m. spends is ~1.2%. So thinking of getting back to this.
Just one question – does the 3x rewards actually work – did you get the bonus points as estimated?
It’s not working after Reserv came into picture. Marquee is the preferred option now.
Hi sir
Last month
I have done transaction worth 3L regular Points are credited As statement generated
But
What about 3x points I bought 3500+GST Pack And As u mentioned most rewards credit 1st week of Month But still my point credited
Now what Can I do
Yes Bank has been conveniently escaping without crediting bonus points for 3 months. Only time will tell when they’re planning to post them.
Still Points not credited kindly guide me properly
Hi, can anyone tell me if Grocery and Supermarket transactions(online) are considered as Select category or non Select category? This decides whether I should go for this card or not.