The Uber Barclay credit card will earn 2% for online purchases using third-party payment providers including Paypal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay. They’ve sent out an email to cardholders with news of the change. Previously it earned 1% on those purchases.
Uber and Barclays came out with a surprisingly relevant credit card (our review here). It’s pretty stale in Uber benefits, but otherwise the card is highly competitive. Card earns:
- 4% back on dining which includes restaurants, fast-food restaurants, takeout, and bars, including UberEATS
- 3% back on airfare, hotels, travel agencies, and vacation home rentals including AirBnB
- 2% back on online purchases which includes online shopping, Uber, and streaming services.
- 1% on everything else
Previously, online payment providers like Paypal were excluded in the terms and only earned 1%. With this change, all online purchases earn 2%, with the exception of Utilities, Contracted Services, Government Services, or Professional Services. Sounds like only online purchases with third-party providers will earn 2%; in-store mobile wallet purchases will continue to earn 1% as before.
I wrote in our review that the card is actually an impressive cashback card, and perhaps the first tiered card I’d consider recommending as a daily driver. The Paypal exclusion hit a bit hard and for that reason Double Cash was probably simpler and better for most. Maybe Barlcays read the review? 😉 With this change it could really start making more sense for someone who wants to use a single cashback card for everything, depending on the person’s spend patterns.
Surprising they changed this so fast given the level of interest in the card – good for them.
Thanks to reader Ryan Goldstein for sending this our way
I am thinking about getting this card. I am interested in having the card get 2% via Apple Pay at Costco, as I don’t have a Visa card that gets more than 1% cash back.
My question – despite the email in this post, I DON’T see ANY mention of Apple Pay anywhere in the Terms & Conditions (see below). Anywhere authoritative that states that you get 2% via Apple Pay at physical merchants? I’d like to confirm before applying…
Thanks so much!
https://www.barclaycardus.com/apply/action/tncContent?prodidreq=CCVPS71944
“• You earn 2% Back/2 Points ($0.02) for every $1.00 spent on eligible online Net Purchases (as described below), which includes purchases that occur online or on a mobile device as identified based on transaction details provided by merchants (“Online Purchases”):
o Online Purchases that are also Restaurant Purchases will earn 4% Back/4 Points and Online Purchases that are also Travel Purchases will earn 3% Back/3 Points, as detailed above and will not also earn 2% Back/2 Points as Online Purchases.
o Online Purchases from the merchant category codes that include the following, are excluded from the 2% Back/2 Points category and will earn 1% Back/1 Point ($0.01) for every $1.00 spent on Net Purchases:
– Utilities (such as cable, satellite, telecommunications, gas, water, and electric),
– Contracted Services (such as landscaping, general contractors, plumbing, heating/air conditioning, roofing, siding, carpentry, electrical, masonry, and concrete, and certain special trade contractors),
– Government Services (such as court costs, alimony, child support, fines, bail and bond payments, and tax payments), or
– Professional Services (such as doctors, therapists, dentists, opticians, nursing care facilities, hospitals, attorneys, child care services, accounting, and architectural services).
o Online Purchases not from the above excluded merchant categories and Online Purchases as described below are included and will earn 2% Back/2 Points ($0.02) for every $1.00 spent on Net Purchases:
– Video and music streaming services (including Netflix, Pandora, HBO Now, and Apple Music),
– Certain online services (including Instacart, Shyp, Angie’s List, Handy, Thumbtack, FlyCleaners and TaskRabbit), and
– Digital purchases of mobile applications and media on platforms (including iTunes and Google Play).”
Or am I misreading this post and it is actually 2% cash back ONLY for ONLINE purchases made via Apple Pay?
DP: payment via Paypal does not always count as 2%. Every purchases made on eBay were counted but I have two transactions that did not count: 1) Cashstars (buying Best Buy gift cards), and from a local merchant who requested money via PayPal. Both of them were coded as “PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NOT ELSEWHERE CLASSIFIED”. So beware that not all transactions made via PayPal are counted as online purchases.
So I’ve had this happen A LOT. I just send them a support ticket through the website and they resolve it pretty quickly.
So, this doesn’t seem to be mentioned frequently, so I want to make sure I have it straight. If I walk into say, a random pizza place and pay with the card, I’d get 4% back, but if I go in and pay with the same card via Android Pay, it would only be 2%?
This card does not charge foreign transaction fee and has PIN enabled. A pretty good card for travel in my opinion.
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-06/uber-really-wants-you-to-use-its-credit-card
And what would Uber do with that data – find out where people go and what they eat there and than build “Ghost restaurants” to deliver food via UberEats.
I found this article extremely refreshing with new ideas (to me anyway) and data rather than the typical PR release echo chamber silicon evangelism that usually shows up in my newsfeed.
https://blog.producthunt.com/ubers-credit-card-is-bankrupting-restaurants-and-it-s-all-your-fault-af76ea9ca46d
Has anyone had any luck getting this card with other Barclays cards? I had 3 Barclays cards and was declined last month, citing too many Barclays accounts. I’ve since closed 2 of them (all except the Upromise card) and want to try again, but I’m not sure how long I should wait.
Or any luck with a product conversion?
You can call Barclay’s reconsideration line at 866-408-4064 and ask if they’ll approve your application if you agree to move some of your credit line from one of your other cards to this one. I’ve heard that people have had success doing this.
Thanks, but I was actually asking about converting an existing Barclays product to this card.
my DP is i have 3 barclays cards (last one approved in february i believe) and i was approved just now for this card (making it my 4th barclay card)
My US Bank altitude pays 3% on wallet purchases (android pay, apple pay, samsung pay)
AND $300 in Uber rides are free each year!
But this card has cell phone insurance and a $50 rebate on streaming services. All with no AF compared to the $75 effective af of the altitude reserve.
I still find it disappointing and kind of funny that the Uber credit card doesn’t get you the most rewards on UBER rides. Uber rides is practically the lowest tier of points earning at 2% on this card.
Yes, they have uber eats but uber is known for rides — not eats.
I don’t think this is a terrible card (if you don’t already have CSR), but come on…
Is this card still good despite the recent uber data back scandal?? Very apprehensive about getting this credit card????
The card is run by very reputable Barclays not uber although it’s a partnership visa and Barclays have your info not uber. Also uber did not have CC or SS numbers hacked which means you really don’t need to worry anyways.
Ok thanks, I guess I was a bit paranoid!!!
Not able to add this card to Android Pay.