In late 2017 we saw Barclays and Uber introduce a new co-brand credit card. Then in late 2019 we saw major changes made to the card. Now, not even two years later, the Uber Credit Card is being discontinued — not only is the card closed to new applicants, but even existing cardmembers will now be transferred to a different product.
Barclays View Mastercard replaces Uber Credit Card
It has been revealed that as of October 22, 2021, the Uber Credit Card will be converted into the Barclays View Mastercard. The no annual fee Barclays View Mastercard will offer:
- 3x points on restaurant purchases
- 2x points on internet, select streaming, phone, and TV services purchases
- 2x points on grocery store purchases
- 1x points on all other purchases
Points can be redeemed for one cent each towards statement credits, meaning the card essentially offers 3% cash back at restaurants, 2% cash back on internet, streaming, phone, TV services, and grocery store purchases, and 1% cash back on all other purchases.
That’s not very compelling, especially when you consider that the card has foreign transaction fees, while the Uber Credit Card doesn’t (that has been one of the primary selling points of the card).
For context, currently the Uber Credit Card offers the following rewards structure:
- 5% back on Uber, including UberEATS
- 3% back on dining, hotels, and airfare
- 1% back on all other purchases
Meanwhile before the 2019 refresh, the Uber Credit Card offered the following rewards structure:
- 4% back on dining, including restaurants, bars, and UberEATS
- 3% back on hotels and airfare, including vacation rentals
- 2% back on online purchases, including Uber, online shopping, video, and music streaming services
- 1% back on everything else
No matter how you slice it, this is a pretty significant card downgrade.
Why was the Uber Credit Card discontinued?
I’m not exactly sure what to make of the Uber Credit Card being discontinued about four years after it initially entered the market:
- Was the card just so unsuccessful and unpopular that it wasn’t worth maintaining the product?
- Does Uber see more potential working with another card issuer, and maybe the four year mark is when the contract with Barclays was up for renewal?
Personally the execution of the Uber Credit Card never made much sense to me:
- When the card was first introduced in 2017 it had a decent rewards structure, though ironically it didn’t offer a very compelling bonus for Uber spending
- Since the 2019 refresh the card became more rewarding for Uber spending, but less compelling otherwise
I can’t help but feel like there were some major missed opportunities here, and that a better job could have been done making the card relevant and valuable to frequent Uber riders, but that was never the case. Rather there were much better Uber benefits with cards like the Amex Platinum, for example.
Barclays has a bad habit of changing the rewards structures of credit cards, and/or discontinuing them. While the issuer introduces some useful co-brand cards (for example, the Emirates cards and Wyndham cards are pretty awesome), all too often we see cards discontinued.
For example, we saw Barclays introduce the Arrival Premier in 2018, which was supposed to be a new flagship travel card, but the issuer stopped accepting applications after just a few months. Barclays doesn’t seem to be very good at creating products that resonate with consumers.
Bottom line
The Uber Credit Card closed to new applicants in June 2021, and it has now been confirmed that the card will be discontinued permanently as of October 2021. Existing cardmembers will be converted to the Barclays View Mastercard, which doesn’t seem very compelling to me.
I’m curious if Uber is deciding to get out of the co-brand credit card space here, or if the rideshare company is looking for a different partner.
What do you make of the Uber Credit Card being discontinued?
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