UNI Gold Credit card: experience & feedback

UNI Gold card is a credit card operated by a startup but the cards are issued either by Yes Bank or BOB (Bank of Baroda). You can manage the card through Uni app and don't necessarily have to open any account with Yes Bank or Bank of Baroda.

I applied for it after recommended by a friend, Venugopal, for benefits of zero forex charge and easier reward points. 

What is unique about UNI Gold card?

#1 Easy reward of real gold

The simplest feature I like in UNI Gold card is direct benefit of getting gold as reward point, which can be converted into cash or can be kept in gold form as is, as investment.

All other credit cards usually give you some reward points, which can be redeemed at 3rd party portals for some overpriced goods or coupons etc- Too much hassle to accumulate points, then check what gift you can redeem with these many points, then pay a redemption fee (99 INR + 18% GST) and then wait 10-15 days for the gift to arrive.

Uni gold card is lot simpler in its reward structure.

• 1000 INR purchase gets you 1000 Uni coins
• 1000 Uni coin gets you about  0.6 to 0.7 mg (milgram) of gold (1 gram = 1000 mg)
• 0.7 mg of gold is about 10 to 11 INR as per current gold price
• Effectively you're getting about 1% cashback on your 1000 INR spend.
• You can leave the gold in your account without redeeming- if gold value doubles in next few years, you will get 2x the value without having to do anything. 

Things to know about Uni gold card reward points

Excluded categories & rules: 

No uni points for transactions less than 100 INR

Transactions made at fuel station, educational institutions (merchant category codes) DO NOT qualify. Even medical college and hospitals that have registered their bank account as educational institutions, if you pay hospital bill there you will have to pay 1.5% Surcharge + GST and zero reward points. Same if you buy a stove or lighter at Indane/HP Gas store, because they are registered as Fuel stations merchant category

Rent payment, Wallet transfer, Educational transfer and utility bill above 50000 attracts 1.25% surcharge + 18% GST

Beware of transacting where internet is weak- chances of transaction failing is very high and refund is not instant. 

#2 Zero Forex charges on international payments

While ICICI bank charges about 3.5 % of transaction amount as forex charges +18% GST, Uni card doesn't charge extra for international transactions- this can save a few hundred rupees easily when you are planning an international trip and need to pay for flights, hotels, tours etc

#3 Cheaper purchase of flights and other things

Uni claims we can buy flights on their app for much cheaper rate compared to what is available outside. I have not spotted any significant savings on this, but might vary depending on your travel date, destination and other factors.

I tried on a random date on both Uni app and skyscanner- I didn't see any savings. Uni app was bit expensive but after factoring reward points in gold, both were coming almost same to same. Again, we can't decide based on price shown in first screen, need to go till payments section and check- need to try when I have some real bookings to do 

 

#4 UPI card

Once your main card (visa) is approved, you can instantly take another Rupay card for UPI transactions (no physical card will be sent, digital only) 

#5 More sensible sales team

I find UNI team more sensible- if I tell them couple of times that I don't need EMI option, they stop. On the other hand ICICI calls dozen times even if I keep saying I don't want EMI, I will pay by due date.

#6 Clean and decent app

Uni app is pretty good. No unnecessary notification and promotions,

#7 More offers

There are some offers for Amazon etc- I haven't bothered to check or use them.

Areas of improvement for UNI Gold Card

#1 Better Email Support

Uni card support is fairly easy to reach (week day business hours only) but I find their email support practically useless- won't give any useful/actionable reply, just some generic reply asking us to wait or saying they are closing the ticket because they think it is duplicate. 

#2 No lounge access: Couple of lounge access per quarter or on a spend basis (like 1 access for every 25000 spent) would be nice. Else now I've to depend on other cards for lounge access purpose.

#3 Production bug with merchant names - app shows wrong names while google pay shows real names. Support team accepted it as a production bug and backend team is working on it.

Uni vs Scapia:

Scapia's main advantage is unlimited lounge access, some airport perks, which are missing in Uni card. But Scapia seem to have much higher rejection rate for applications. 

Summary: 

If below reasons appeal to you, you can try getting Uni Gold credit card. Use this link 

• Life time free card, no annual/joining fees
• Zero forex charges on international transactions
• No Nonsense reward program- get 1% of your transaction value back as gold or cash 
• Fairly digital, straightforward on-boarding process and a clean app to manage your cards 

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