Difference between revisions of "Ubs infinite card"
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| − | |CurrentOffer=85,000 points ($5,000 initial spend). Need to call in and may be difficult to get offer if you are not a UBS customer. {{NetValue| | + | |CurrentOffer=85,000 points ($5,000 initial spend). Need to call in and may be difficult to get offer if you are not a UBS customer. {{NetValue|890|.18}} |
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Revision as of 12:35, 6 June 2019
$495
A $250 annual airline incidental credit (good on one airline) can partially offset the annual fee.
25,000 UBS Points
$3,000 initial spend
($70 net value, .02/$)
Signup Bonus Chart3x Airfare (≈4.5%)
2x Groceries and Gas (≈3%)
1x Everything Else (≈1.5%)
No Foreign Transaction Fee
The UBS card is another option for taking advantage of the Visa Infinite Air credit. Unfortunately, it has a $495 annual fee, it is hard to take advantage of its airline incidental credit, there is no online account management, and it is hard to get this card.
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Collecting the Signup Bonus
Usually, the best way to use your UBS points is by purchasing airfare through UBS. When you make a redemption, the entire ticket price must be paid for with points. You'll get a $350 credit for 25,000 points, or a $900 credit for 50,000 points, and then pay 5,000 points for every remaining $50. For a flight of exactly $350, you would be getting 1.4 cents in value per point. But, your value keeps dropping for flights between $350 and 700. The highest value would be a flight of exactly $900, when you'd be receiving 1.8 cents per point.
You can also pay the annual fee with 35,000 points. This gives you about 1.4 cents in value.
This card is primarily interesting for its Visa Infinite Air Credit, not for its signup bonus. The typical signup bonus is 25,000 points, valued at $350 (at 1.4 cents per point). In addition, the card comes with a $250 airline incidental credit, and because the credit is available every calendar year, you can earn it twice during your initial year. But since it can be hard to get full value from this credit, we only value it at 50% of its face value.
After subtracting the annual fee and the opportunity cost of using the card for $3,000 of spending, the calculated net value for the initial year is $70 (2 cents per dollar spent). Your value may be higher or lower, depending on how much you value the points and the credit. It isn't that much, but it is a nice side-benefit of getting the card.
Taking Advantage of the Airline Incidental Credit
- Like the other premium credit cards, the UBS Infinite card has a travel credit that can help offset the annual fee. Unfortunately, the UBS card's credit works like the one for the Amex Platinum card. It only applies to incidental airline purchases with a SINGLE airline that you choose each year. It doesn't reimburse you for actual ticket purchases, point purchases, gift cards, etc. The UBS card's credit is $250 per year, and does include seat upgrades, along with things like inflight food and beverage purchases and baggage fees.
- Because the credits are issued on a calendar-year basis, you can qualify for two credits the first year you have the card. For example, if you sign up for the card in August, you can get up to $250 credit, for purchases made between August and December, and you can get take advantage of another $250 credit, between January and August.
- You are not supposed to receive the credit when you purchase gift cards from an airline. However, in practice, you are often reimbursed. If you don't have an opportunity to use the credit naturally, you can typically purchase small denomination gift cards, get reimbursed for your purchase, and then eventually use the gift cards to purchase actual airplane tickets. This works on some airlines and not others, and you need to keep each purchase under an airline-specific maximum, so you'll need to search online, at the beginning of each year, to check the current state-of-affairs. But unfortunately, because the UBS Card is not very commonly held, there is not much information about what will count and what won't. And since you need to choose a single airline, you can't easily experiment. Get Full Value from Your Airline Incidental Credits.
Visa Infinite Airfare Credit
Along with the CNB Crystal Infinite Card and the no longer available for new signups Ritz Carlton Credit Card, the UBS Infinite card provides access to the Visa Infinite Airfare Discount.
You'll get a $100 discount, whenever you purchase a domestic, round trip, economy-class ticket for two-or-more people. There are no limits to the number of times you can take advantage of this benefit—allowing you to potentially save hundreds of dollars per year. You need to book through the Visa Infinite travel portal. Flights on low-cost carriers (including Southwest) are not included, and tickets with extremely low fares are often not available for booking. Lua error in Module:Link at line 366: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..
We generally recommend the Crystal Infinite card to everyone who can get it. Compared to the UBS card, it has a lower annual fee, can be managed online, and has a much more useful airline incidental credit. However, you might not be able to visit a CNB branch to apply, so it may not be an option for you. Which Premium Reward Card is Right for You?
Other Notable Benefits
- Airport lounge access. Like the other premium cards, a get a Priority Pass membership that provides free access to over a thousand airport lounges and restaurants. With this card, you can bring in unlimited guests. Get Free Airport Lounge Access from a Credit Card
- 12 Gogo passes per year. Each one is good for a free inflight Wi-Fi session. Gogo website.
- Free Roadside Assistance. Up to $50 per incident, 4 incidents per year.
- Up to $700 in credits at Villas of Distinction properties every year. Credit amount is based on the cost of your Villa vacation.
- VIP amenities at select Ritz, Fairmont, Starwood, Mandarion Oriental, and Park Hyatt properties. You'll get free breakfast, and other benefits, at 650 hotels, when you book through UBS.
- Acess to Relais & Chateaux Club 5C status after only two nights.
- Great travel insurance coverage. You'll get free trip cancellation and interruption insurance, and trip and baggage delay coverage (after 6 hours), whenever you book travel with this card.
- Event Ticket Protection. If you use the card to purchase event tickets, and you can't make it to a performance, because of illness or other issues, they will issue you a refund.
- "Primary" rental car insurance. If you use this card to pay for your rental car, you'll get primary rental car insurance. Unlike the "secondary" insurance you get from most other cards, if you damage your rental car, you don't need to involve your personal auto insurance company. Credit Cards That Provide “Primary” Rental Car Coverage.
- Airport Lounge Membership Credit. If you spend $50,000 on the card each year, you can get a credit worth $500 towards the purchase of an airport lounge membership. If you would have bought a membership anyway, this is like getting a bit less than an extra 1 cent per dollar of spending.
- $100 TSA fee credit. Every four years, you can receive an automatic reimbursement of your Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee (up to $100).
- Car rental elite status. Like all other Visa Infinite cards, your card entitles you to elite status with National car rental. Instant Car Rental Elite Status.
- Visa Infinite Hotel benefit. Visa Infinite cardholders get access to the Visa Luxury Hotel program. At about 200 hotels, Infinite card holders get an additional benefit (typically some sort of $100 credit) on top of what is available to Signature cardholders. You'll also have access to the regular Visa Signature hotel program, which provides slightly weaker benefits at a much larger collection of hotels. Take Advantage of Luxury Hotel Programs for Valuable Extra Perks
- Access to Visa Signature Offers. Your card entitles you to a set of special offers available from Visa.
- Free Shipt membership. Infinite holders can signup for three years of free delivery with this Instacart competitor (normally $99 per year). Signup.
Bonus Categories
- There are better options for airfare, grocery, and gas purchases. The rewards from this card are more valuable than what you would earn from a general-purpose reward card, but not as good as what you would get from cards that offer good bonus rewards for these categories. Even if you value the points at about 1.5 cents each, you are are only earning 3 cents per dollar on groceries and gas. The rate on airfare is better, at 4.5 cents per dollar, but not as good as the rewards from one of the cards that earn the highest rewards on airfare purchases. Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending. Best Credit Cards for Grocery Spending. Best Credit Cards for Gas Spending.
- You don't want to use this card for your everyday spending. You'll earn higher rewards from a good general-purpose reward card. Get a Great General Purpose Reward Card and Use It for All of Your Spending.
Getting and Managing this Card
It is a bit of a pain in the *** to get and manage this card. You'll need to send in a paper application. And, if you don't have a banking relationship with UBS, you'll have no online access to your credit card account—no easy way to check your balance, see recent transactions, or make a payment. For many people that is enough reason to avoid this card.