Update: The Uber Credit Card is being discontinued as of October 2021.
Barclays and Uber introduced a co-branded credit card in late 2017 (almost two years ago to the day), and they’ve now announced a major refresh to the card. Whether these changes are good or bad depends on how you’ve been using this card. I will say that I think the changes are logical.
Historically the Uber Card didn’t actually offer a good return on Uber spending, which seemed counterintuitive. The Uber Card had as much to do with McDonald’s as it did with Uber (actually, it was more rewarding for McDonald’s spending than Uber spending). That’s no longer the case.
So let’s take a look at what’s changing with this card.
In this post:
Uber Card Bonus Categories Are Changing
Up until now, the Uber Card has offered the following bonus categories:
- 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
With the relaunch, this card will offer:
- 5% back on Uber, including UberEATS
- 3% back on dining, hotels, and airfare
- 1% back on all other purchases
So as you can see:
- This is a huge boost for Uber rides, since you’re going from 2% to 5% back (meanwhile for UberEATS you’re going from 4% to 5%)
- The dining bonus is being reduced from 4% to 3%
- The bonus for online purchases is being reduced from 2% to 1%
You Now Earn Uber Cash Instead Of Cash Back
The other significant change here is that the Uber Card will no longer offer actual cash back, as it did before, but rather will offer Uber Cash. In other words, the rewards offered by this card can be applied towards your Uber account.
There’s no minimum to redeem for Uber Cash, though when you accrue $50 in rewards it will automatically be converted into Uber Cash.
What’s Not Changing About The Uber Card
Most other things about the Uber Card aren’t changing:
- The card still has no annual fee
- The card still has no foreign transaction fees
- The card still offers up to $600 for mobile phone damage or theft when you pay your mobile phone bill with your card
What Happens To Existing Cardmembers?
While new cardmembers can now apply for the refreshed Uber Card, existing cardmembers will be converted to this product in the first half of 2020. You can expect to be notified of these changes soon.
My Take On The Uber Card Changes
The old version of the Uber Card was fantastic in the sense that it had no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, and offered 4% back on dining. That was industry-leading for a no annual fee card.
However, it was bizarre how little the card actually had to do with Uber:
- Rewards weren’t in the form of Uber Cash
- You only earned 2% back on Uber rides, while you’d think the card would offer a compelling bonus category for Uber purchases
So these changes make perfect sense — the Uber Card now actually has something to do with Uber, which it didn’t before. This is now the best card for Uber purchases, though:
- The dining category was reduced from 4% to 3%
- On top of that, Uber Cash can’t be valued as highly as actual cash, so the value of the rewards has decreased as well on a per cent basis
From a branding perspective, these seem like smart changes, though personally I don’t find this card very compelling. I’ve written in the past about the best credit cards for Uber rides, and personally I still plan on using the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which offers 3x Ultimate Rewards points on travel purchases (including Uber).
I value Ultimate Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, so to me, that’s like a 5.1% return on Uber spending.
What do you make of the huge changes to Barclays’ Uber Card?
I dunno... the 5x credit on Uber Eats looks pretty good right now.
I am not happy with the percentage for the dining and airfare dropping from 4 to 3%. I will switch to another card.
Agree....I redeemed mine for cash back about 2 months ago to be safe, and haven't used the card since. They completely ruined this card.
Yup. Just tried to apply my cash back to my statement cuz coronavirus and realized this change occurred. Man this was such a great card because of that cash back feature and now it’s just nothing to me. Kinda pissed at how much money I have tied up in Uber credits now.
I have had this card for about a year and love it. When I was informed of the upcoming changes I was really sad. I have been recommending this card to everyone because of the 4% dining credit and the $50 media credit thing. Both gone. Sad. I will continue to pay my phone bill with this card so that I can have the insurance and I'll pay for Uber rides but I'm going to be using a cash back card for everything else.
This is disappointing. Nothing here makes sense except the Uber benefit. And Uber cash instead of reward... really? This card will only benefit frequent Uber rider, like every day rider. Other than that, what’s the point of this card anyway?
Just wanted to share a feedback on your changes.
Switch to Uber credit instead of cash back is insane. It changes the card to a different product entirely! It's not a minor change. Overall I had been very happy with this product and Barclays has made a loyal customer out of me, but I have to reconsider after this new changes and either stop using the card or cancel the account.
Just wanted to share a feedback on your changes. This card used to be great until the new changes. With the major overhaul of benefits has caused me to seriously reconsider what to use for my day to day. his is a horrible change. Honestly I could handle all the devaluing of reward categories, the loss of the extra purchase protections, etc. But the switch to Uber credit instead of cash back is insane. It...
Just wanted to share a feedback on your changes. This card used to be great until the new changes. With the major overhaul of benefits has caused me to seriously reconsider what to use for my day to day. his is a horrible change. Honestly I could handle all the devaluing of reward categories, the loss of the extra purchase protections, etc. But the switch to Uber credit instead of cash back is insane. It changes the card to a different product entirely! It's not a minor change. Overall I had been very happy with this product and Barclays has made a loyal customer out of me, but I have to reconsider after this new changes and either stop using the card or cancel the account.
Bait and switch on the dining that reportedly changes to 3% in February 2020... That is why I got the card I have Citi Costco for 3% in dining and travel + 4% on gasoline...The Costco card only gives the benefit once a year, so I will likely still use the Uber card for dining and get the benefits more often.
No problem...I was inarticulate. (Would love to edit comments.)
Ohhh....I stand corrected, and I apologise. I think I came late to the party and replied to a comment and not that particular comment.
I agree however that chasing the 1% with the $95 annual fee most likely isn't worth it to most people.
As far as Taylor....I will have to check with Miley on that one!
He was going to downgrade from Savor to Savor One because he was chasing that 4%. Now he's sticking with the Savor just to keep the 4%. What hath Taylor Swift wrought?
If you don't think currency preference is a factor in his/her decision, then....
The poster above was going to cancel the Uber card to stick with the Savor, and said nothing about currency preference.
The Capital One SavorOne has no annual fee with 3% cash back.
You must be referring to the Capital One Savor card that is 4% cash back with a $95 annual fee.
As you mentioned people should do the math to decide which of the two aforementioned cards would work out best for them, but comparing the revised Uber Card with the SavorOne the SavorOne wins with no annual fee matching the 3%...but the big difference is it's actual cash back instead of Uber Cash.
I don't disagree, but whether it's the new Uber card or the Savor/One, people should check their math before paying a $95 annual fee to get 1% more. The break-even ther is $9,500 btw.
The $204 would be in Uber Cash which is worthless to a lot of people including myself. If it were cash back that would be okay, but they are taking that away. I've used Uber 3 times in my life and have never used Uber Eats so Uber Cash is pfft.
JonBoy64 : So, you'd get about $272 a year cash back on the 4x Savor (about $6,800 a year spent on dining). Minus the $95 fee, that's $177.
On the same spending you'd get $204 on the 3x Uber card.
Holy crap this card is garbage now. Whelp, it was a good 2 year run
With Uber, you never even need to take the payment card out of your wallet, or even have it on you. And the Uber card works seamlessly with the app. So it could be worth it to use this just for Uber to get the 20th ride free. Also, the phone insurance. I pay $7 a month in insurance and would love to save $84 a year. So, Uber card for Uber and phone.
...With Uber, you never even need to take the payment card out of your wallet, or even have it on you. And the Uber card works seamlessly with the app. So it could be worth it to use this just for Uber to get the 20th ride free. Also, the phone insurance. I pay $7 a month in insurance and would love to save $84 a year. So, Uber card for Uber and phone.
And yet... I probably spend more at REI than Uber, so I think I'll get my phone insurance from the no-annual-fee REI World Elite Mastercard.
I have only had the card for a few months. I already have the Savor Card and was planning on downgrading it to the Savor One Card because of the 4% cash back that Uber offered with no 95.00 annual fee. Well, Barclays/Uber helped me with that decision! I won't be calling CapitalOne/Savor at all...cause I am dumping the Uber card and am back on Savor. The last few days I finally hit 2500 points...
I have only had the card for a few months. I already have the Savor Card and was planning on downgrading it to the Savor One Card because of the 4% cash back that Uber offered with no 95.00 annual fee. Well, Barclays/Uber helped me with that decision! I won't be calling CapitalOne/Savor at all...cause I am dumping the Uber card and am back on Savor. The last few days I finally hit 2500 points (minimum amount to get cash back) so Uber card goes in the sock drawer. Yes, I did get 100.00 cash back for sign up bonus and will have restaurant cash back of, I think, about 68.00 by just using the card a mere 3 months or so. So, thank you, Barclays/Uber and...good bye, Barclays/Uber!
Fuck, feeling the same as all these people in the comments. Im a millenial and was in love with this card when i heard about it. Just got it two weeks ago, was siked, now they just announce these changes. what. fuckin. luck.
As the Donald says, this is the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals
I just spoke to Uber Barclays. They are getting a lot of black lash and the agent said they are told to log how many people upset. I recommend to call in to complain to send “higher up”. Everyone, call and lodge complaints 866-823-7543.
Tell them we want a grandfather in option (just like capital one grandfather their benefits in their no annual fee savor cards)
Capital One Savor -- 4% dining
Sapphire Reserve -- 3% dining x 1.5 value for travel = 4.5%
Did anybody find a 4% dining replacement card? Huge loss for me, but know some don't care. I switched to amex for the 5% airfare membership reward bonus a while ago. Guess I'm going with AARP for 3% dinning with real cash back, because I spend so much in that category as there is no way I'd ever use the uber cash. I'll keep the card since it's no annual fee and gives me some...
Did anybody find a 4% dining replacement card? Huge loss for me, but know some don't care. I switched to amex for the 5% airfare membership reward bonus a while ago. Guess I'm going with AARP for 3% dinning with real cash back, because I spend so much in that category as there is no way I'd ever use the uber cash. I'll keep the card since it's no annual fee and gives me some phone insurance. Sad to loose the streaming credit. Now not sure what to use my Apple card for now that this is jumping from 2% to 5%.
Trash card now. Changes to percentages is ok, not great, but ok. No longer allowing you to get true cash back is a huge change that will hurt many folks who didn't open a line of credit for that. Total bait and switch. No more $50 credit on streaming is also poop.
It's crap now. Another unhappy customer cancellling it once we lose all the benefits.
The card is NOT taking away phone insurance.
People complained the Uber Visa was not optimized for Uber users. Now people are complaining that's it's too Uber.
Uber Visa was a legit competitor to the Sapphire Reserve on its own terms -- seriously, I used a spreadsheet to decide which one to apply for. With the loss of 4% dining, 2% online purchases and the $50 streaming credit, I'm glad I went CSR. I suppose the...
The card is NOT taking away phone insurance.
People complained the Uber Visa was not optimized for Uber users. Now people are complaining that's it's too Uber.
Uber Visa was a legit competitor to the Sapphire Reserve on its own terms -- seriously, I used a spreadsheet to decide which one to apply for. With the loss of 4% dining, 2% online purchases and the $50 streaming credit, I'm glad I went CSR. I suppose the Wells Fargo Propel takes over the no-annual-fee-with-phone-insurance space.
This card has been awesome so far. I rack up cash rewards so fast. But after the changes it will be useless. Bait and switch here and I'm displeased about it. Won't use card after changes and I'll eventually cancel it. I never use Uber btw.
The changes being made are utter BS! I got this card thinking it was geared toward a younger active demographic, 4% dine & bars, perks for streaming services, phone insurance. You literally cut your target audience to a fraction of a fraction. What a stupid business transition to make. And yes a total bait & switch.
Laaaame. They literally took out everything I liked about this card:
- no more 4% on dining
- no more cash back
- no more $50 streaming credit
- no more phone insurance
Frankly, I would have paid a yearly fee for this card. I wish they just added a fee instead of taking out everything that made this card worth having.
This card isn't even worth the space it's gonna take up in my sock drawer come February.
Dumb move. 4% gone, steaming credit gone, cash back gone, living in area with no uber or uber eats. I'm gone.
This card is as good as dead.
These change only makes this card not good anymore:
No more cash back but UBER cash!
This was a total bait and switch. The 4% back on restaurants was awesome. Can get 3% from capital one savour card with no fee. I was getting the streaming credit as well. I have no interest in uber rides or uber eating so without statement credits will cancel the card.
I will be canceling this card come 2020. They lost their whole customer pool with this move, typically people looking for cash back credit cards are not interested in earning miles or branded points. Dropping dining from 4% to 3% on its own would have been acceptable, even coupled with the loss of the other perks - cell phone insurance, subscription credit loss, and all the purchase protections. But only if at heart this remained...
I will be canceling this card come 2020. They lost their whole customer pool with this move, typically people looking for cash back credit cards are not interested in earning miles or branded points. Dropping dining from 4% to 3% on its own would have been acceptable, even coupled with the loss of the other perks - cell phone insurance, subscription credit loss, and all the purchase protections. But only if at heart this remained a cash back credit card. So disappointing. Looking at Wells Fargo Propel as a replacement, although I wish it was a Visa instead of Amex, plus it has a foreign transaction fee. Sigh.
I could ALMOST accept the switch to "Uber Cash", which is in reality Uber CREDIT, if they hadn't reduced the rewards and taken away the cell phone insurance which I've used twice and was the most valuable part of the whole deal.
This card just earned "back of the wallet" status for me.
Yikes. Talk about a complete failure. Way to make your card immediately obsolete to every other card. People who don’t chase benefits won’t even know there’s an Uber card. And people who do, don’t care about Uber cash. This is just a glorified rewards card instead of a credit card at this point. Bummer. Gotta find a new dining card now.
@Ben L. And 20 years from now when everything on the road is driverless Ubers and there is no more car ownership ? Invest in Uber. The stock is heading for $250 easily.
Wow I just got my card in the mail this week and they sent me this email. What a scam! The card is utterly worthless now. Looks like I need to find a new credit card by May. My average credit account age will dip even further. I'm very upset about this. This is the last time I do business with Barclays.
Since I have a car and only used this card for restaurants, obviously this change sucks. So does anyone know how to get better than 3% CASH BACK (not some other bs) with no annual fee?
If you add Uber cash with this credit card to get a discount (e.g. 5% on $100), then you get $100 Uber cash for $95 and $4.75 Uber cash for using the card for an effective 10.26% ($104.75 of Uber cash for $95). The big assumption here is adding Uber cash with this card triggers the 5% cash back on the $95 spend. Otherwise, it should trigger 1% cash back for an effective 6.26%.
Uber card holders just got BONVoYed.
I primarily use mine for the 4% cashback on travel and dining, so I'm thinking I'll cancel and get a different card. While logical, the loss of cashback flexibility with Uber Cash is what breaks it for me.
The change in earning % is understandable given their tie-in with Uber and the fact that the rates were incredibly high, but the move to Uber Cash makes this card absolutely worthless. Not sure who values Uber Cash enough over cash back/actually useful points to merit using this.
This card is worthless to me now. I researched for months and decided on the Uber card for the cash back option plus the 4, 3, 2, 1 categories.
The $50 streaming statement credit was an added bonus which is also being removed.
It's bad enough dining is being reduced from 4% to 3% as well as online purchases and streaming services reduced from 2% to 1%, but losing the cash back option...
This card is worthless to me now. I researched for months and decided on the Uber card for the cash back option plus the 4, 3, 2, 1 categories.
The $50 streaming statement credit was an added bonus which is also being removed.
It's bad enough dining is being reduced from 4% to 3% as well as online purchases and streaming services reduced from 2% to 1%, but losing the cash back option and being forced to use rewards on Uber rides or Uber eats is the nail in the coffin for me.
As one commenter said... In the sock drawer this card will go.
This is some next level BS..... I guess I was a fool for thinking it was too good to be true. 4% dining was the only reason I use this card so much, but now you can't even redeem it for actual cash- only their "Uber Cash" currency. AND they're removing the $50 annual subscription credit. Wish I could return this card.
Good one Uber - remove the key benefits that made this Visa card stand out from the rest. 4% dining was my main reason to get this card in 2017. Also, what this article failed to mention is that beginning 11/1/19, the new Uber card will no longer offer Purchase Assurance, Price Protection and Satisfaction Guarantee. That and the removal of the $50 streaming service credit makes this card useless for me. Goodbye Barclays/Uber.
The Uber cash only rewards is the game changer for me. I used the card for dining and probably would have kept using it for dining at 3% but now I won't because I'm not a frequent Uber user and don't want to be strapped with Uber cash. They are basically turning away all those that don't use Uber frequently. Oh well their loss
We loved this card due to the cashback on restaurants and travel. Sure we use Uber but out of all the CC's out there the earning on this was great. I don't need credits to user towards Uber, so dumb of them to change that cashback to be only able to apply the points towards Uber. I liked applying points to all purchases. We will be cancelling come February.
I primarily used this card for dining...and with it dropping down to 3% I don't see myself using it nearly as much. Weak move Barclays/Uber!!
Thank God they did this. Now the card is useless and I'm not stuck with it.
Don't think I'll be using this card anymore. I used it primarily for 4% dining. 3% isn't good enough
I knew there was a reason I j UK st got the Wells Fargo Propel, going to switch my cell phone bill to that card for the insurance and into the sock drawer goes the Uber card.
I had been thinking of applying to get the cash back, but there's no way I want to earn "Uber cash."
Yep, generally negative. Have had one for a few months, but the new Amex Green now looks better.
What about the benefit of $50 statement credit towards subscription services for $5k annual spend?
Hmm - generally negative IMO
1) 5% back on Uber is fine, but you earn 3 transferable points back with CSR, Citi Prestige and Amex Green. Also, Discover offers 5% cashback with Uber Cash once a year.
2) Only earning back Uber Cash is a significant negative - while it is good as cash theoretically, it is a big reduction in flexibility. In addition, that means that you don't earn points on spend that...
Hmm - generally negative IMO
1) 5% back on Uber is fine, but you earn 3 transferable points back with CSR, Citi Prestige and Amex Green. Also, Discover offers 5% cashback with Uber Cash once a year.
2) Only earning back Uber Cash is a significant negative - while it is good as cash theoretically, it is a big reduction in flexibility. In addition, that means that you don't earn points on spend that otherwise would have gone to Uber Cash.
3) 3x travel and dining isn't that big of a deal in the era of Amex Green / Citi Prestige (even considering the fee)
Uber is such a trash company. Not surprising they're shifting the earnings on their credit card from real money to company scrip.
@Andrew well regularly airline credit cards don't earn higher multipliers than generic travel cards either (e.g. CSR, Amex Platinum). HOWEVER, I guess they do provide perks such as priority boarding, checked luggage, etc...
Dining from 4% to 3% is huge, thank god Barclays denied my Uber card application right after the Arrival+ one(To combine hard pull). I already have Citi Costco for 3% in dining
Always thought the card was a bit off. Why have a name branded card that earns less than other spending categories. Isn't part of the point of the card to get rewards with the company it is cobranded with?
It is incredibly stupid to use a credit card for Uber rides when you can regularly purchase Uber gift cards for atleast 10% off.