Aurae Lifestyle is targeted at the world’s elite, they offer a number of Mastercard products. These cards are all solid gold (unlike the Barclaycard Luxury Cards that are just plated gold) and either 14k or 18k carat depending on your membership level. You’d expected these cards to be charge or credit cards with no pre set spending limit, but you’d be wrong. They are actually debit cards, tied to UK Bank Barclays. You can deposit a maximum of $1.2 million and spend up to $200,000 per month on the card for the first six months (not sure why there is a spend or deposit limit).
The cards are on an invite only basis (although you can request an invite), they will accept a maximum of 1,000 applicants per year. Let’s take a more in depth look at what these cards offer and if it justifies the high annual fees charged. Â There are actually three cards offered:
- Executive Lifestyle
- Private Lifestyle
- Elite Lifestyle
Contents
The Three Cards
Executive Lifestyle
This is their entry level card and comes with the following benefits:
- Dedicated Relationship Manager
- Requests, 24/7 365 days a year
- Worldwide coverage
- Personalized travel service
- Exotic Car Rentals
- Limousine Services
- Negotiated Rates on First & Business Class Private Aviation
- Commercial Flights & Ticketing
- Negotiated Hotel Rates Worldwide
- Preferred Travel Rates & Discounts
- Personal Shopping/Styling
- Luxury Product Procurement
- Rewards Benefits
- This card only has one design that cannot be customized. It is the standard 14k solid gold with the Aurae logo:
Private Lifestyle
This is their mid tier card and comes with the following benefits:
- Customized & Jeweled Card
- Dedicated Experience Consultant
- 1 Complimentary Experience
- Requests, 24/7 365 days a year
- Worldwide coverage
- Personalized travel service
- Exotic Car Rentals
- Airport Transfers
- Negotiated Rates on First & Business Class Private Aviation
- Commercial Flights & Ticketing
- Negotiated Hotel Rates
- Worldwide Preferred Travel Rates & Discounts
- Personal Shopping/Styling
- Luxury Product Procurement
- Enhanced Rewards Benefits
- You can customize your cards design and it comes in either solid gold or solid rose gold 14k.
Elite Lifestyle
This is their premium offering and has the following benefits:
- 18k Gold Option (by request only). Card can also be customized to your specifications and can receive it in solid gold or solid rose gold.
- Dedicated Private Butler
- Customized & Jeweled Card
- 3-4 Complimentary Pre-booked Experiences
- Dedicated Experience Consultant Requests 24/7 365 days a year
- Worldwide coverage
- Personalized travel service
- Exotic Car Rentals
- Airport Transfers
- Negotiated Rates on First & Business Class Private Aviation
- Commercial Flights & Ticketing
- Negotiated Hotel Rates Worldwide Preferred Travel Rates & Discounts
- Personal Shopping/Styling
- Luxury Product Procurement
- Enhanced Rewards Benefits
- Personal Consultation & Lifestyle Evaluation Property Management Services
- Time Management Services
Card Benefits & Fees
Card Design
As mentioned above the executive card doesn’t come with a personalized design. The Private & Lifestyle cards do come with a personalized design, most people choose one of the following:
- Family crest
- Personal or business logo
- Self portraits
- Inspirational art
You can view samples of some of the designs they have done here. All cards are either solid gold or rose gold and the Private/Lifestyle cards can also up to 164 1 point precious stones. The card themselves will weigh between 45 to 60 grams (43g is solid gold, the remaining is precious stones and things like the EMV chip I imagine). The card also comes in hand-crafted heirloom marquetry box with a certificate of authenticity and also a hand stitched wallet with a central pocket for the card itself.
The card itself is insured by Lloyd’s of London for their replacement value if they are lost or stolen. The card will also be replaced and recast every five years. The cards themselves are created by Jacob & co and Misahara. Because of the stones and the weight of the card, it won’t even work in a normal ATM machine. It is possible to withdraw up to $16,000 over the counter (presumably at a Barclays bank).
Fees
You’ll notice we haven’t included the fees on any of the above cards. As we mentioned previously this isn’t a credit card but a debit so there are no APRs or late fees to worry about. There is a hefty membership fee (initial application fee) and then an annual fee as well. The prices listed below are the base prices (presumably for the Executive card).
- Application fee is $25,000
- Annual fee is $5,000
Concierge
Update: They reached out and let us know that most of the concierge services are provided by themselves and they will reach out to third parties such as One Concierge when they are unable to fulfill a customers request. They also provided the following example of how they concierge service can help:
Let me provide you with a mundane example that happens frequently. Mooring/berthing a yacht in a crammed locale – like Monaco during the Grand Prix or Miami during Art Basel. Due to numerous cancellations or last minute modifications, it is important for some of our clients to have their yacht berthed at a certain pier. This where relationships are key with the harbor master other yacht owners, etc. A lot of these transactions are brokered on the spot or negotiated two days in advance. Having a team of experts that can carry out these types of requests in a discreet matter is critical. Some of these transactions/swaps can run upwards of six figures if not negotiated properly. This expertise is where our clients see the value of our services.
Most of the listed benefits of each card are actually all provided by their concierge service.
Procurement Services
All three cards offer procurement services. Basically they are able to locate rare or expensive items for sale (e.g Rembrandt artwork or Audi R8 Spyder). To be honest, if you have enough money then I don’t think you’d find it difficult to get a representative at Sotherby’s to help you locate expensive pieces of art. I’m sure there are similar companies for automobiles and other hard to find items.
Update: They provided the following example:
We have members that need to have discreet negotiations occur for luxury products. For example, one of our clients was looking for a limited edition luxury vehicle in North America, but prices were simply too high, even for this clients’ budget. Our team was able to find private buyers in Europe and secure the client the vehicle for 1/3rd the cost plus shipping.
Social Calendar
They list a number of events in their social calendar, but it isn’t clear what type of access you get with your card and whether you have to pay for that access or not.
Unique Experiences
Private cardholders receive one unique experience and Elite cardholders receive 3-4 experience (presumably per year). On their site under benefits, they do list some examples of a unique experience: “arranging private celebrity performances to luxury escapes in the most remote regions on the globe”. This is again part of One Concierge’s offering.
Our Verdict
Aurae Lifestyle isn’t a particular unique or appealing offering. Basically what they have done is created a debit card that is so much for show that it can’t actually be used for it’s intended purpose (no ATM withdrawals) then they have added some concierge offerings to the card. That being said, they obviously aren’t targeting people that want a practical card – this is purely for show.
At least other cards with high application and annual fees come with some benefits that could justify the cost. As the saying goes “A fool and his money are soon parted”. Â Let me know what your thoughts are on this card in the comments.
Great article, fair and unbiased! Presume the limit is for anti-money laundering purposes given it’s debit, their capabilities may be tight, and buying a 25k card is one way to use up that type of money 😉
Well said Sifu,
This card is not for us. Ordinary people. 🙂 Millionaires and billionaires thinks differently. For them time and networking is everything. They don’t worry about wasting money since that they have so much to spend. 🙂
Well considering, most Debit or Credit Cards has a low limit. Unless you have an Amex or Palladium which is pretty much a debit (Charge Card) as the Entire sum of your spend has to be paid in full at the end of the month. All this pretty much benefits is the ability to have a high spend limit with a concierge.
After the 6 months it can have a limit of 50m if you want, and you dont have any obligations, it’s all your money anyway. The Rich don’t need credit, and practically there’s no such thing as an actual credit card for the rich. The only thing Credit about an Amex Black card is the points youc an wrack up.
People who want the freedom to spend big amounts without much bank hassle I believe has a solution here.
A normal Debit Mastercard with a US Bank has a spend limit of 10k.
An Amex Black has the limit of what you have to spend in cash, with an Amex Platinum Concierge Service.
This like the above mention is as well a Debit card, except with a branch of concierge that can spend more time focusing on catering to their clients, than a massive bank.
NinjaX is spot on. This card is not for everybody. The wealthy like status and a solid gold card is a new concept.There are tons of millionaires & billionaires around the world, who would not even blink twice and pick up this card. It’s definitely not for someone wanting to get mileage points for a free flight to visit their grandma in Omaha, Kansas.
I’ve heard they have done quite well with adding new members, including many A-List celebs.
Thanks, I enjoyed reading your review William.
This Card is gonna be HYUGE! (Trump voice)
This is basically for the children of rich chinese or middle-east new money, or the parents themselves who want to flaunt their cool card in Hong Kong or Dubai.
you don’t have one of these cards, so how could you possibly review it?
I don’t have a lot of the cards I review, we look at the publicly available information on the cards and write our review from that perspective. It would be impossible for us to hold every card we review.
These cards also come with a complimentary “Douchebag” tattoo.
Everyone who thinks this is a dumb shit card needs to realize that UK Barclays doesnt want customers like you.
Not being a hater, but obviously youre just thinking of yourself. This card is NOT for you. Matter of fact, ALL banks dont want customers like us who strive to get benefits for free. This card is clearly beneficial for those who enjoy solid gold plated Lamborghinis and private jets with more gold on it than Fort Knox. Oh yea, did you know about the Gold Bar ATM in Abu Dhabi. Yea, lets not talk about that one.
Believe it or not, most wealthy people stay wealthy by being careful with their money.
In fact, that’s typically how the wealth was built in the first place.
That bank continues to be clueless about the high-end card market. There is no real reason to get this card… You have to spend 200k every month on a card that earns no points, that is foolish. At least the Amex Centurion card gives you 1 point per dollar.