SC Ultimate (Standard Chartered Ultimate) Upgrade Suggestion

[anish1516]

Hello!!!

Recently I have been receiving calls to upgrade my Manhattan Card to Ultimate card. My Manhattan card is free and the Ultimate would cost Rs. 5000 plus taxes every year. Here they are offering 5000 reward points on every renewal without any conditions. So effectively the card costs me Rs. 900 approx. Now my query is should I go for it? Right now I have decent number of cards. Don't have too much utility expenses. Use my Infinia for offline shopping and SBI Cashback for Online. Please suggest if it's worth to pay fee for SC Ultimate?

 

[Pavan]

Ultimate is really a waste card.. look at redemption options.. pathetic.. what’s the point if n having good reward points when all you can do with those RPs is redeem them to pathetic vouchers you never ever use..
Only card worth having in SC portfolio is SC smart.. all others are almost equivalent to Garbage

i was happy that i got ultimate got your point

 

[SSV]

i was happy that i got ultimate got your point

You may take it LTF for its non spend based benefits, if any are there..
not definitely for regular spends for RPs

 

[Pavan]

You may take it LTF for its non spend based benefits, if any are there..
not definitely for regular spends for RPs

Let me stcik mt DCB+MRCC + Others cards for now

 

[SSV]

Let me stcik mt DCB+MRCC + Others cards for now

Good boy.. those are enough for you now…

 

[helloworld]

@S S V @Bigde

Need a help

Got a offer for SC ultimate i already hold DCB
and my max spends is on diffrent cards

Please suggest if i can go for ultimate

Present condition and available options, not recommended. But if you want Marriott vouchers, you can go ahead. Do note both smart and Ultimate kind of providing similar rewards (after considering redemption fee, basic 10% voucher discount outside).

 

[Animal]

@S S V @Bigde

Need a help

Got a offer for SC ultimate i already hold DCB
and my max spends is on diffrent cards

Please suggest if i can go for ultimate

Ultimate used to be a no nonsense card however since last one year this card has become complete nonsense card.

Redemption options are pathetic.

 

[Ram1]

Ultimate is really a waste card.. look at redemption options.. pathetic.. what’s the point in having good number of reward points when all you can do with those RPs is redeem them to pathetic vouchers you never ever use..
Only card worth having in SC portfolio is SC smart.. all others are almost equivalent to Garbage

Well exactly.
I took this Ultimate card believing i can redeem for croma vouchers. now after 1 year, the only useful voucher is uber only
And that uber also not useful for me.
Redeemed 16k uber and downgraded to smart card.
Somehow sold 6k, and 10k still left. Pathetic card in the name of premium card

 

[SSV]

Well exactly.
I took this Ultimate card believing i can redeem for croma vouchers. now after 1 year, the only useful voucher is uber only
And that uber also not useful for me.
Redeemed 16k uber and downgraded to smart card.
Somehow sold 6k, and 10k still left. Pathetic card in the name of premium card

For how much discount did you sell your Uber vouchers and where?

 

[Ram1]

For how much discount did you sell your Uber vouchers and where?

18% off to telegram guy

 

[SSV]

18% off to telegram guy

How much validity left on those Uber vouchers?

 

[Ram1]

How much validity left on those Uber vouchers?

11 months ..

 

[SSV]

11 months ..

Pls check your DM

 

[Animal]

I’m waiting for Uber/FirstCry to redeem 16K points. My renewal is due next month, have to close this card before that.

 

[Pavan]

So many negative review for a premium card is not a good sign

Thanks a lot for your inputs
@Animal @helloworld @Ram1

@S S V i thought i can close DCB now and move on seems this year also i will cry for infinia

 

[helloworld]

So many negative review for a premium card is not a good sign

Thanks a lot for your inputs
@Animal @helloworld @Ram1

@S S V i thought i can close DCB now and move on seems this year also i will cry for infinia

why DCB ?

 

[Pavan]

why DCB ?

i don;t travel at all am focus on cashback or voucher more
i have dedicated card for each catergory

like Utility is always through airtel, Insurance fro SC smart , Shopping cashback or Amazon pay
Offline mostly MRCC or ACE

 

[helloworld]

i don;t travel at all am focus on cashback or voucher more
i have dedicated card for each catergory

like Utility is always through airtel, Insurance fro SC smart , Shopping cashback or Amazon pay
Offline mostly MRCC or ACE

but you want infinia which provides same rewards categories that dcb provides.

airtel not sure how much your usage but on average it provides 12% with airtel bills and annual fee.

smart insurance provides 2%, again details needed but if amzn available then dcb might provide you 6%.

Similarly other categories dcb provides 10% and offline 3%.

this 10% you can redeem for flights, hotels or apple products (thats 3 years validity might provide better reward when needed than cashback which comes and go every month without your notice).

Even Infinia need accumulation and must and should redeem same options.

Note: you can book indigo tickets, or even budget hotels with those reward points, if you want (3 years to decide).

And mostly, if you use DCB for these spends you might get upgrade easily without cancellation. This is not Ultimate where you options limited, so think once.

Just create excel with category spends and see cumulative reward rate you're getting with all these cards and annual fee and DCB with annual fee.

Don't settle for 2-4%.

 

[SSV]

@S S V i thought i can close DCB now and move on seems this year also i will cry for infinia

Don’t close DCB .. keep it unless you have negative cash flow on this card

 

[Pavan]

@helloworld @S S V

Yes rewards are good

Some where i feel it's time for me to move out of HDFC

Yes DCB is very good but for me still am not able to redeem in flights or hotel for good returns

Mostly am redeeming for vouchers which gives max 1.75%

If i had a chance to redeems on flight i would have sticked to DCB

Only reason for infinia is atleast i can recover joining or annual fee

 

[Zacobite]

Don’t close DCB .. keep it unless you have negative cash flow on this card

I agree.. Only reason to close DCB is if you are moving to Infinia.. Its one of the top cards and very reliable and stable.. Accumulate points on smartbuy.. everyone travels.. you will get gd value