UBS Visa Infinite Credit Card Review (2020.8 Update)

     2020-04-04     2020-10-31 26 Comments

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UBS Visa Infinite Credit Card Review

2020.8 Update: The higher offer expired.

2020.6 Update: Now we are sure about the requirements: you need to be an existing UBS customer and have $250k under their management in order to be eligible for the 100k offer. Otherwise the offer is only 25k ($3,000 spending in 3 months, first year annual fee NOT waived).

2020.4 Update: The new offer is 100k: the first 50k requires you to spend $10k in 3 months; the latter 50k requires you to pay the annual fee on the second year. Also, the first year annual fee is waived in this offer. HT: DoC. The spending requirement is quite high, especially a lot places are now under shelter-in-place. After you pay the second year annual fee and get the latter part of the bonus, it is probably possible to downgrade and get prorated annual fee (data points are needed!).

Application Link

  • No application link. The official landing page is here: UBS Visa Infinite.
  • Everyone can apply. If you are an existing UBS customer, just contact your UBS Financial Advisor to apply. If not, call 888-762-1232 and press 3, tell the CSR you want to apply for this card and they will physically MAIL a form to you, then you need to fill out the form and mail to UBS to complete the application.

Benefits

  1. 50k offer: Earn 50,000 points after spending $5,000 in first 3 months. The recent best offer is 50k+50k. Note that you need to be an existing UBS customer and have $250k under their management in order to be eligible for this offer. Otherwise the offer is only 25k ($3,000 spending in 3 months).
  2. It’s free to add authorized users, up to 24. (We are currently not sure what benefits are included for authorized users, but I guess authorized user can at least get the $100 visa infinite discount air benefit.)
  3. Earn 3x points for commercial air travel, 2x points for gas and groceries, and 1 point for all other eligible purchases.
  4. You can redeem the points towards air ticket, and the value is 1.0~1.8 c/p:
    • Redeem 25,000 rewards points for one ticket up to $350 on any commercial airline. For tickets costing more than $350, you must pay the difference using additional rewards points at a rate of 5,000 points for any additional cost of up to $50 of ticket value.
    • Redeem 50,000 rewards points for one ticket up to $900 on any commercial airline. For tickets costing more than $900, you must pay the difference using additional rewards points at a rate of 5,000 points for any additional cost of up to $50 of ticket value. Therefore redeeming for air ticket with price near $900 is the best way to redeem the UBS points.
  5. You can also use the points to cover the annual fee, 40k points -> $495, the value is about 1.24 c/p. You can also redeem for gift cards.
  6. $250 annual (calendar year!) credit for any qualifying air travel expenses. Eligible expenses include: preferred seating upgrades, ticket change/cancelation fees, checked baggage fees, in-flight entertainment, onboard food and beverage charges, airport lounge fees, etc. You must enroll and select an airline first.
  7. Up to $500 credit for ANY airport club day pass or annual airport club membership. You are eligible for a statement credit of up to $500 if your total spending on your card was $50,000 or greater during either the current calendar year-to-date or the prior calendar year.
  8. Complimentary Priority Pass Select (PPS) card, which gives you free access to many airport lounges worldwide. You can bring guests with you. (Not sure whether authorized user can get a separate PPS card yet.)
  9. Visa Infinite benefits, including: Visa Infinite Hotel Collection, Visa Infinite Hotel Privileges, Visa Infinite Car Rental Privileges. But note that the $100 Visa Infinite air discount benefit is removed as of 2020.1.
  10. 12 complimentary Gogo inflight Wi-Fi sessions per calendar year.
  11. Up to $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre application fee.
  12. 6 hour trip delay insurance.
  13. No cash advance fee (inside US)! Remember to pay off before midnight so you don’t need to pay for the interest.
  14. No foreign transaction fee.

Disadvantages

  1. Annual fee $495, NOT waived first year.
  2. The spending requirement for the $500 lounge credit is too high.
  3. Sometimes you need to call the bank or send mail to them. In a time that you can do basically everything on the Internet in the US, this Swiss bank seems too old-fashioned.

Recommended Application Time

  1. Sign-up bonus is not available to either current or previous UBS credit card members.

Summary

The sign-up bonus is quite decent. It’s good to see a new competitor in the Visa Infinite war! The most distinguished benefit is the $500 lounge credit, but the spending requirement is too high and it’s only extra 1% in return. The earning structure is just so so, the only good part is 3x for air, and is not as good as its competitors. The air incidental credit is only $250, relatively small compared to $495 annual fee. Therefore it is hard to justify the annual fee.

Related Credit Cards

Historical Offers Chart

Application Link

  • No application link. The official landing page is here: UBS Visa Infinite.
  • Everyone can apply. If you are an existing UBS customer, just contact your UBS Financial Advisor to apply. If not, call 888-762-1232 and press 3, tell the CSR you want to apply for this card, and then they will send a MAIL to you, then you need to fill out the form and mail to UBS to complete the application.

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