The credit card has become important for some UAE residents. With over 200 variations of credit card available, it is often hard to choose one that is suited best for yourself. You obviously don’t want to choose a card that piles up unnecessary fees regardless of use or has no benefits for your kind of spending.
With competition picking up pace every day, banks have started to offer benefits with each card for specific purposes, be it a movie card, cash back card, traveller or a family card, and each card comes with a particular list of benefits keeping in mind the customers’ varied every day needs.
Owning a credit card is way more than just having a credit limit. The benefits are vast but vary from card to card depending upon your lifestyle needs. There are banks which will give you cash back when you use their credit card for local or international purchases. With some credit cards, you can pay in instalments with zero percent interest rate at selected outlets. Some credit cards will give you access to exclusive lifestyle and F&B discounts; some will offer you one-on-one cinema tickets and other entertainment benefits. With some credit cards, you can collect air miles with every dirham spent on the card, and you can use the air miles to book your international flights. Some cards protect you and your belongings by providing you free travel insurance. There are cards with goldback options and some will give unlimited access to airport lounges globally.
These benefits are spread across different card options available in the market therefore it is important to pick a card suitable to your lifestyle. We have listed down a list of some handpicked credit cards and their features so you can see the best option to suit your spending habits.
Citibank - Emirates - Citibank Ultimate Credit Card
The Emirates - Citibank Ultimate Credit Card is for frequent travellers, where you can earn Skywards Miles on every dirham spent and it includes multiple dining, shopping and leisure benefits.
Features
- Earn up to 1.25 Skywards Miles on every dollar spent.
- Unlimited complimentary access to over 750 airport lounges worldwide for both basic and supplementary card members, plus a guest each
- Free golf once a month for both basic and supplementary card members in the UAE
- One complimentary Marhaba Bronze meet-and-greet service each year at Dubai International Airport
- Complimentary travel insurance
Minimum Salary - Dhs 18,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - Dhs 800
Interest Rate - 3.09%
Standard Chartered Bank - Titanium Credit Card
This card offers cash back on school fees, supermarket and utility bills. It also include exclusive offers and discounts across a range of dining, leisure and entertainment activities.
Features
- Up to 10% cashback on supermarket spend
- Up to 10% cashback on school fees
- Up to 10% cashback on utility payments
- Free airport lounge access across the MENA region
- Up to 10% off Hotels.com
- Free first ride with Careem
- Two Careem rides a month at 20% discount.
Minimum Salary - Dhs 5,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - Dhs 500
Interest Rate - 3.25%
Emirates NBD - Titanium Credit Card
This credit card offers a range of discounts on lifestyle expenses and provides competitive rewards for all domestic and international retail spends. This card is known for the “Plus Points” it provides which can be redeemed for gift vouchers, frequent flyer miles or cashback.
Features
- Get 1 Plus Point for every Dhs 100 retail spend.
- Complimentary access to VIP lounges in UAE, KSA, Jordan, Kuwait and Egypt.
- Up to 40% discount at over 100 golf courses worldwide.
- Up to 30% discount at over 2,000 restaurants in the Middle East and Europe
- 3% discount on air tickets
- 10% discount on holiday packages
Minimum Salary - Dhs 5,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - Dhs 400
Interest rate - 3.25%
Mashreq Novo Credit Card
This card is perfect for movie buffs. The card comes with a lot of attractive offers for the movie fanatics including invitations to special screenings.
Features
- 50% off on movie tickets at Novo Cinemas (up to 8 tickets per month)
- Salaam Entertainment Points on all retail & utility spends
- Dedicated counter for ticketing and F&B
- Exclusive invites to special screenings
- Unlimited access to Marhaba lounges in the UAE and GCC
Minimum Salary - Dhs 5,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - Dhs 300
Interest rate - 3.45%
Najm - Platinum Cashback Credit Card
For regular shoppers at Carrefour, this credit card provides cash back on grocery shopping as well as everyday spends, as well as additional discounts on leisure, dining and travel.
Features
- 3% cashback every Tuesday at Carrefour
- 1.5% cashback every day at Carrefour
- 0.5% cashback everywhere on Visa card
- Dedicated check-out counters at Carrefour
- Exclusive offers at Carrefour
- Buy 1 get 1 free VOX Cinema popcorn.
- Visa Platinum discounts on dining, shopping, travel and lifestyle
Minimum Salary - Dhs 7,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - Dhs 0
Interest rate - 3.25%
RAKBANK - KALYAN Jewellers Credit Card
This goldback card is perfect for those who buy gold jewellery frequently. The card offers high goldback on local and international purchases.
Features
- Enjoy up to 7% goldback on purchases at Kalyan Jewellers in India and up to 4.5% locally
- 5% goldback on all other international purchases
- Up to 3% goldback on all other local purchases
The card also offers lifestyle and dining privileges, as well as travel and insurance benefits
Minimum Salary - Dhs 6,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - Dhs 0
Interest rate - 3.19%
ADCB - Simplylife Family Credit Card
This credit card is well suited to families and offers a range of exciting benefits and lifestyle privileges to help you protect your family.
Features
- Complimentary life insurance of up to Dhs 100,000
- Critical illness cover of Dhs 50,000
- Cover against involuntary loss of employment
- 5% discount on flights when you book with Cleartrip.ae
- 10% discount on hotels when you book with Cleartrip.ae
- 15% discount on local entertainment when you book with Cleartrip.ae
- 50% discount on movie tickets at VOX Cinemas in the UAE when booked online or through the mobile app
Minimum Salary - Dhs 5,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - Dhs 0
Interest rate - 3.25
ADCB - Traveller Card
This is one of the elite credit cards available, and its benefits are designed to enhance the travel experience.
Features
- 20% off flight bookings with Cleartrip.ae
- 20% off hotel bookings with Hotels.com
- 0% foreign currency fees
- Up to six nights’ complimentary stay
- Complimentary lounge access
- Complimentary travel insurance
- 20% off Careem rides
- Book two nights and get one free at Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Minimum Salary - Dhs 20,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - Dhs 1,000
Interest rate - 3.25%
Union National Bank - Titanium Credit Card
This card provides travel and movie benefits along with UNB miles on every dirham spent using the card.
Features
- 50% movie cashback, up to Dhs 125 per month
- Airport lounge access with MasterCard
- 1.5 UNBmiles for every Dhs 1 spent locally
- 3 UNBmiles for every Dhs 1 spent internationally
Minimum Salary - Dhs 8,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - 0
Interest rate - 3.19%
First Abu Dhabi Bank - du Platinum Credit Card
This card from First Abu Dhabi Bank offers du customers excellent discounts on their spending with cashback rewards.
Features
- 10% discount on du postpaid line bill payments with du auto payment setup
- 10% discount on du home services bill payments with du auto payment setup
- 10% worth of bonus credit on prepaid line recharges with scheduled recurring du auto payment setup
- 3 times First Reward Points on du spend
- Buy 1 get 1 at cinemas across the UAE
- Free valet parking service at leading shopping malls and Dubai International Airport
- Up to 5% cashback with no minimum spend requirements
- First Reward points can be redeemed against du bills
Minimum Salary - Dhs 8,000
Salary Transfer - No
Annual Fees - 0
Interest rate - 3.25%
Noor Bank - My wallet
This card allows Noor Bank customers to withdraw cash without any fees.
Features
- Credit limit up to 5 times the monthly salary
- 0% cash withdrawal fee
- Balance Transfer facility available
- Up to 90% of available unused balance can be transferred to any account maintained in UAE
- An Islamic card
Minimum Salary - Dhs 10,000
Salary Transfer - Yes
Annual Fees - 0
Profit rate - 0.99%
HSBC Cashback Credit Card
This credit card provides high cashback on everything, including 10% cashback on petrol bills.
Features
- Dhs 100 Sharaf DG Voucher
- 10% cashback on fuel
- 5% cashback at hypermarkets, on everything, no minimum spend requirement
- 12% discount on Agoda
- Airport dining offers
- HSBC Entertainer included
- Exclusive dining offers
- Buy 1 get 1 at VOX Cinemas
Minimum Salary - Dhs 5,000
Annual Fees - Dhs 313.95
Dubai Islamic Bank - The Emirates Skywards DIB Infinite Credit Card
With this new credit card users can earn Skywards Miles on all local and foreign currency spends, which can be spent with Emirates and a wide selection of partners.
Features
- 25,000 bonus miles each on card activation, on spends equivalent to $20,000 and balance transfers
- Additional 12kg baggage allowance over and above already mentioned on the ticket
- Emirates Lounge access at Dubai International Airport
- Complimentary seat selection when flying Emirates
- Complimentary Emirates Skywards Silver membershi
- Airport lounge access worldwide
- 5% discount on online orders made through Zomato across the UAE
Minimum Salary - Dhs 35,000