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The Best Credit Cards by YES BANK

by A Trivedi & K V Sharma on
Yes Bank Feature Image

The Bottom Line

The YES Prosperity Cashback Credit Card is the best credit card for YES BANK customers who spend less than ₹50,000 a month on their card.

You can earn a net reward yield of 1.2-1.8% on all your spending with this credit card.

The Prosperity Cashback offers 5% cashback on grocery, movie tickets and utility bill payments via YES PayNow. It offers 0.50% cashback on all other spending, with no monthly caps.

If you spend more than ₹50,000 a month on your credit card, we recommend the YES FIRST Exclusive Credit Card. We estimate it offers a net reward yield of 1.7% for high spenders.

This card gives you 2.5% rewards on dining and travel spending with a monthly cap of ₹1,250. All other spending earns 1.5% effective rewards.

You earn the rewards in form of points, which can be redeemed for flight and shopping voucher at a rate of ₹0.25 / reward point. YES BANK reward points do not expire.

If you have a choice, consider getting your credit card from another card company like Axis Bank or SBI Card. The best cards and card combos from these providers offer much higher reward yields (2.3-3.0%) than anything from YES Bank. That difference can add up to thousands of rupees in a year.

Table 1: All our recommendations

Monthly Credit
Card Spend
Recommended Credit Cards Est. Monthly
Rewards
Up to ₹50,000 ₹50 – 600
>₹50,000 ₹875+

Table 2: Recommended Reward Redemption Options

Card Recommended Redemption Method
Redeem on YES Rewards Portal @₹0.25 / Reward Point
on Flights
Redeem on YES Rewards Portal @₹0.25 / Reward Point
on Flights

Everything we recommend

Our pick
YES Prosperity Cashback Credit Card
5% cashback on grocery, movie tickets & utility bill payments

Good entry level card but capped rewards make it less attractive as you spend more

Our pick
YES FIRST Exclusive Credit Card
2.5% on dining & travel, 1.5% on everything else

1.7% net reward yield makes this a decent option for high spenders but other banks offer better options


Who this is for

If you are a YES Bank customer and you want to get a credit card this guide is for you. We recommend the best credit cards, no matter what your spending level is.

We have friends who have raised maximizing credit card rewards to an art form. However not everyone wants put so much effort tracking deals, discounts, reward caps and spending categories.

Most of us simply want a solution that is easy to manage – good enough, not perfect. If that’s you, you are in the right place.

In our guides for other credit card providers (HDFC BankSBI Card etc.) we have also recommended card combos that help you supercharge your rewards without a lot of micromanaging.

However, while YES Bank offers more than 15 credit cards,  juggling more than one of those will not meaningfully increase your rewards.

So we do not recommend any card combos for YES Bank customers.


How we picked

Banks and credit card companies in India offer hundreds of credit cards. Each credit card has a different set of rewards and other terms and conditions, which makes it difficult for most of us to figure out which card is best for us.

We cut through this complexity by ranking each card on its Net Reward Yield, which measures the total effective discount you receive in form of rewards, when you charge your expenses to the card.

To calculate the net reward yield of a credit card, we create 5 standardized spending profiles of a typical customer with different income levels. We then simulated the total rewards a customer with each spending profile would get on that card, based on the reward schedule for that card.

Table 3: Standardized Spending Profiles

Total Monthly Spend in Rs.→
Spend by Category ↓
5,000 10,000 20,000 50,000 1 lac
Grocery 1,250 2,000 3,000 5,000 10,000
Dining 250 500 1,500 4,000 8,000
Food Delivery 250 500 1,000 2,250 3,000
Entertainment 250 500 1,000 1,250 2,000
Online Shopping 250 500 1,500 5,000 12,500
Shopping 250 750 1,500 5,000 10,000
Transport 250 500 1,000 3,750 7,500
Utility Bills 1,250 2,000 3,000 5,000 7,500
Online Entertainment 250 250 500 1,250 1,500
Travel 500 1,500 5,000 11,500
Foreign 500 1,500 5,000 11,500
Other 750 1,500 3,000 7,500 15,000
Total 5,000 10,000 20,000 50,000 1 lac

Our reward calculations attempts to account for different types of rewards (cashback, points, miles etc.), reward caps by spending category, bonuses, fees and differences in realizable value of the rewards depending on how you redeem them (e.g. on Bank website as statement credit vs. for flight bookings).

We prefer cards with higher rewards yields, lower income thresholds and lower fees.

We apply this standardized methodology for every YES Bank credit card, allowing you to zoom in to the best credit cards for you.

If you’re willing to manage multiple cards, you can supercharge your total rewards compared to using a single card.

However, managing multiple credit cards requires some effort.

At a minimum, you need to:

  • Sign up for the card
  • Set up the monthly credit card bill payments (monthly effort or one-time depending on the banks involved)
  • Review your statement periodically
  • Remember to claim the reward (in some cases)
  • Remember to get the annual fee waived (in many cases)

More work is also required to figure out which card to use where and possibly change the setup on various sites and apps to use a different card.

So while adding more and more cards to the mix can keep increasing the potential benefits (at least for high spenders), we think most people would want to manage another card only if the additional benefit is meaningful and the additional mental load low.

With that in mind we decided to identify sets of 2 credit cards that will work well together for most people i.e. so that you can easily remember which card to use where, meet the minimum spend & other conditions and not lose track of all the admin stuff like paying the bill and getting annual fee waived.

To find the best card combinations, we considered 100’s of card pairs for to figure out the combos that work best with each other to maximize rewards.

In testing a pair of cards, we assumed that only one card will be used for each spending category and it would be the one with the higher rewards in that category.

We think this is reasonable as you only need to know which card to use in which situation and don’t need to keep track of your spending on each card through the month.

We think most people do not want to obsessively track their spend by card and category on a daily basis. So we have tried to avoid a situation where you need to switch from one card to other based on how much you have spent on it during the month, in total or for a specific category. That’s too much work for most people.

As mentioned above, we found that combining multiple cards strategically did not give better rewards with YES Bank cards. We found that most people would do just fine by selecting our top pick for their spending level and using it for all spending.

You can read more about our credit card recommendation methodology here.


The Best Credit Card for Monthly Spends up to 50,000

The YES Prosperity Cashback Credit Card is the best credit card from YES Bank, if you spend less than ₹50,000 a month on your card.

You can earn a net reward yield of 1.2-1.8% on all your spend with this credit card.

The Prosperity Cashback offers 5% Cashback for spending on movies, grocery and utility bill payments and 0.50% Cashback on all other spends except fuel. One caveat with this card is that the enhanced 5% rewards on bill payments are only available when you pay using the YES PayNow service.

The enhanced 5% cashback is capped at ₹100 per month for movies and groceries while the rest of the spending earns unlimited cashback at 0.5%.

This card has non-waivable annual fee of ₹999.

Table 4: Feature Summary – YES Prosperity Cashback Credit Card

Card YES Prosperity Cashback Credit Card
Rewards Features – 5% Cashback on Movies, Grocery Shopping and Bill Payments through YES PayNow

– 0.50% Cashback on all other spends

Rewards Caps ₹100 on Movies and Grocery
Preferred Redemption Method Redeem on YES Rewards Portal @₹0.25 / Reward Point on Flights
Income Criteria ₹3 lacs p.a.
Annual Fee ₹999 + Taxes
Min. Annual
Credit Card Spend
for Fee Waiver
N/A
Monthly Spend Estimated Reward Earned
₹5,000
₹10,000
₹20,000
₹50,000
₹1,00,000
₹60
₹175
₹300
₹600
₹1,050

The Best Credit Card for Monthly Spends of ₹50,000+

The YES FIRST Exclusive Credit Card is our pick if your monthly credit card spending is more than ₹50,000. You can earn a net reward yield of 1.7% with this credit card at that level of spending.

This card gives 2.5% effective rewards on dining and travel with a monthly cap of 5,000 points or about ₹1,250. All other spending earns 1.5% effective rewards, with no caps.

The FIRST Exclusive also charges a low forex markup of 1.75%. This represents a substantial saving if you travel overseas or shop on foreign websites frequently. The typical credit card charges a forex markup of 2.0-3.5%.

The FIRST Exclusive has an annual fee of ₹1,999, which gets waived if you spend more than ₹3 lacs on the card, in a year.

Table 5: Feature Summary – YES FIRST Exclusive Credit Card

Card YES FIRST Exclusive Credit Card
Rewards Features – 24 Reward Points / ₹200 on Travel & Dining

– 12 Reward Points / ₹200 on all other spends

Rewards Caps 5,000 rewards points on Travel and Dining
Preferred Redemption Method Redeem on YES Rewardz Portal @₹0.25 / Reward Point on Flights
Income Criteria ₹24 Lacs p.a.
Annual Fee ₹1,999 + Taxes
Min. Annual
Credit Card Spend
for Fee Waiver
₹3,00,000
Monthly Spend Estimated Reward Earned
₹5,000
₹10,000
₹20,000
₹50,000
₹1,00,000
(₹100)*
₹0
₹175
₹800
₹1,750
* The negative figure means at this level of monthly spends, the rewards earned in a year will be worth less than the annual fee.

Table 6: All YES Bank Credit Cards Ranked by Rewards Yield

Cards ₹5K ₹10K ₹20K ₹50K ₹100K Avg.
Prosperity Cashback 1.22% 1.82% 1.57% 1.23% 1.10% 1.39%
Prosperity Cashback Plus 0.39% 1.41% 1.36% 1.15% 1.05% 1.07%
BYOC 0.32% 0.70% 0.85% 0.94% 0.97% 0.76%
EMI Card 0.07% 0.99% 1.00% 1.00% 0.50% 0.71%
Prosperity Rewards Plus 0.41% 0.50% 0.54% 0.56% 0.58% 0.52%
First Exclusive -1.92% -0.03% 0.89% 1.76% 1.79% 0.50%
First Preferred -0.85% 0.16% 0.66% 1.13% 1.16% 0.45%
Finbooster 0.41% 0.42% 0.41% 0.39% 0.39% 0.41%
Prosperity Edge -0.32% 0.45% 0.50% 0.54% 0.55% 0.34%
Prosperity Business -0.33% 0.43% 0.49% 0.52% 0.54% 0.33%
First Business -0.90% 0.04% 0.48% 0.91% 0.92% 0.29%
Premia -1.05% -0.09% 0.81% 0.84% 0.87% 0.28%
Prosperity Rewards 0.21% 0.25% 0.27% 0.28% 0.29% 0.26%
Wellness -0.80% -0.13% 0.19% 0.37% 0.44% 0.01%
Wellness Plus -1.82% -0.51% 0.13% 0.50% 0.63% -0.22%
Private Prime -14.9% -6.30% -2.09% 0.43% 1.28% -4.31%
Private -14.9% -6.30% -2.09% 0.43% 1.28% -4.31%
Note: Negative yields mean the rewards earned on a card at that monthly spend level are less than the annual fee AND the monthly spend level is not sufficient to earn a fee waiver.

Table 7: Key Terms for YES Bank Credit Cards

Cards Min.
Qualifying
Tax
Return
(in. ₹ lacs)*
Min.
Qualifying
Income
(in. ₹ lacs)**
Annual Fee
(₹)
Annual
Waiver Spend
(in. ₹ lacs)
Interest
Rate
FX
Txn
Fee
Prosperity Cashback 5.0 3.0 999 42.0% 3.40%
Prosperity Cashback Plus 5.0 4.2 1,499 42.0% 3.40%
BYOC Card 10.0 3.0 349
EMI Card 5.0 3.0 499 1.2 42.0% 3.50%
Prosperity Rewards Plus 5.0 3.0 399 0.5 43.2% 2.75%
First Exclusive 18.0 24.0 1,999 3.0 35.9% 1.75%
First Preferred 24.0 24.0 999 2.5 43.2% 1.75%
Finbooster 5.0 3.0
Prosperity Edge 5.0 6.0 399 1.0 43.2% 2.75%
Prosperity Business 5.0 399 1.0 42.0% 2.50%
First Business 10.0 999 3.0 42.0% 1.75%
Premia 7.5 12.0 999 2.0 43.2% 2.75%
Prosperity Rewards 5.0 3.0 399 0.25 43.2% 3.40%
Wellness 5.0 3.0 749 42.0% 3.50%
Wellness Plus 5.0 3.0 1,499 42.0% 3.50%
Private Prime 100.0 10,000 20.0 35.9% 1.75%
Private 100.0 10,000 25.0 21.0% 1.75%
* For self-employed customers.
** For salaried customers.
Source: YES Bank
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Anonymous
1 year ago

Many times the higher end Yes Bank credit cards are also offered lifetime free to account holders. Can you add a comparison table of rewards yield assuming all of them are lifetime free (LTF)? Then which one is the most rewarding?

Admin
Apoorv Trivedi
1 year ago
Reply to  Anonymous

If all cards are LTF, the best cards from Yes Bank are:

  • Up to ₹20K monthly spend, the Prosperity Cashback with NRY of 2.5%. Prosperity Cashback Plus is about 0.1% lower.
  • For ₹20K+ monthly spend, the Private and the Private Prime both have NRY of 2.1%.

Hope this helps. moolahgeeks is new to India. If you found our work useful, please share it with your friends and family 🙂 and keep the questions coming.

Last edited 1 year ago by Apoorv Trivedi
Anonymous
1 year ago
Reply to  Apoorv Trivedi

But capping at just ₹100 is so limiting for the Prosperity Cashback cards. ₹100 is nothing these days per month.

Btw your website is extremely awesome. I found it via Google trying to find the best credit cards for each bank and your comparisons are quite unique. All the articles are very interesting and your analysis makes perfect sense on all the credit card comparisons and reviews. Keep up the good work. I am sharing the website link with as many people I know.

Admin
Apoorv Trivedi
1 year ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Thanks for the kind words – you made my day! 🙏🏻

Yes, the ₹100 cap is quite low, which is why those cards drop out beyond ₹20K spend a month. In fact the 5% rewards for groceries and utility bills will already max out by the time you hit ₹10K a month – so you earn very little additional rewards beyond that.

If you have a choice, I would suggest choosing one of the cards recommended here – Axis ACE, CASHBACK SBI Card, HDFC Millennia are all much better options in the ₹10K – 1L range. The Magnus is just mind-blowingly good at ₹1L+, especially if you can use miles on Vistara or Singapore Airlines.

Opening new bank accounts is a hassle but some of these cards are worth it over a 2-3 year period.

Questions? Suggestions? See a mistake? Write to us!

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