Well, well, well, it looks like the Barclays has made some pretty major changes to its Uber credit card. The card was considered by many to be one of the best cash back cards out there, especially one with no annual fee. So what changes have they made? Is it still worth keeping?
The Changes
- Card now earns Uber cash instead of statement credit
- Card now earns 5% back in Uber cash on Uber, Uber Eats, and JUMP (previously 2% for Uber and 4% for Uber Eats)
- Card now earns 3% back for dining, hotels, and airfare (previously dining was 4%, hotels/airfare was 3%)
- $50 subscription benefit after spending $5000 will be removed
- Existing card holders will be product changed to this new card in 2020
Final Thoughts
For those of you out there that got the Uber credit card for the cash back, and not so much for the Uber aspect of it, then you’re going to be disappointed. These changes really are going to be negative for you. The most important change of course being that the cashback earned will now only be redeemable with Uber. Second, there’s a loss of 1% to the dining category to align it with the hotel and airfare reward. The $50 credit for subscriptions is also getting removed.
If you are an Uber user, these changes are overall pretty positive. While the dining is moving down 1%, the ability to earn an additional 3% on Uber related services is a pretty huge leap. Funny enough, the Uber card actually only earned 2% on Uber rides, and that was because it was an “online service”, there was literally no category designated for Uber.
Still, it’s kind of a grubby move to do what Barclays did. The Uber card hasn’t been around all that long. I was actually debating applying for it when it first launched because I thought it would be a great backup card to have. I’m glad I didn’t, because I don’t use Uber in the first place. I’m sure they got of a lot of applicants because it offered such high rewards, irrespective of if you use Uber or not. I’m curious to see how many people cancel vs how many people get a benefit from this card.
To be fair though, it really does make sense from Uber’s point of few to make these changes. It would have been more acceptable if it originally launched like this though.
What do you think of these changes? Are you going to keep the card? Are you more interested in it now that it actually rewards those users that use Uber? Let us know your opinion in the comment section below!
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