ELITE is a premium credit card from SBI Card with good rewards and benefits. SBI Card issues this card in Amex, Visa, and Mastercard variants. First launched in 2016, SBI Card Elite has seen its share of feature and rewards updates. It still has most of the good features like accelerated rewards, lounge access, and milestone benefits. But, is it still a good credit card worth applying for? Let us review the SBI ELITE credit card to find out.
Fees and Charges
| Joining/Renewal Fee | Rs 4999 |
| Welcome Benefit | Rs 5000 Gift Voucher |
| Renewal Fee Waiver | Spend Rs 10 Lakhs in a membership year |
The gift vouchers options for the welcome benefit are Bata/Hush Puppies, Pantaloons, Aditya Birla Fashion, Shoppers Stop, and Yatra.com.
Rewards
| SPEND CATEGORY | REWARD POINTS | RETURN RATE @25 PAISE PER RP |
|---|---|---|
| Dining, Groceries, Departmental stores, and Movies | 10 RP/Rs 100 | 2.5% |
| Other Spends (Except Fuel) | 2 RP/Rs 100 | 0.5% |
Milestone Rewards
- 10000 Bonus RP on crossing annual spends of Rs 3 Lakhs
- 10000 Bonus RP on crossing annual spends of Rs 4 Lakhs
- 15000 Bonus RP on crossing annual spends of Rs 5 Lakhs
- 15000 Bonus RP on crossing annual spends of Rs 8 Lakhs
We get a total of 50000 bonus reward points on achieving annual spending of Rs 8 Lakhs. With each RP equal to 25 paise, this will be a total benefit of Rs 12500. The extra return on spending with this milestone benefit is 1.5%.
Benefits
Complimentary Movie Tickets
We get 2 free movie tickets per month on BookMyShow. The per ticket discount price is capped at Rs 250. We have to pay additional fees if any plus the convenience charges.
This is a total benefit of Rs 6000/year.
Club Vistara Silver Membership
ELITE also comes with Club Vistara Silver membership. We get 1 complimentary upgrade voucher and 9 CV points/Rs 100 on Vistara flight spends.
Trident Privilege Membership
- Trident Privilege Red Tier Membership and corresponding benefits
- 10 points for every Rs 100 spent during the stay at participating hotels
Forex Markup
- 1.99% foreign currency mark-up charges on international transactions
Complimentary Airport Lounge Access
- 6 complimentary visits per calendar year to International Priority Pass Lounges outside India (Max 2 visits per quarter)
- 8 complimentary visits per calendar year to Domestic Lounges in India through Visa / Mastercard / American Express depending on variant (2 visits per quarter)
My View
SBI ELITE is a card with an average return in the premium segment. SBI Cards needs to get ELITE’s value proposition clear. Right now, we neither have great rewards nor great lifestyle benefits. The rewards and benefits are actually in line with mid-segment credit cards. Plus, the fees and waiver conditions are set too high. When the milestone rewards are limited to Rs 8 Lakhs, there is no logic in setting renewal fee waiver at Rs 10 Lakhs. One cannot spend only in the 2.5% categories to reach 10L spend.
We had also seen the same issue in SBI PRIME. It has similar rewards with a lower annual fee. Going down further, we have the SimplySAVE card giving the same rewards for a fifth of the fee. All in all, I would suggest avoiding this card and going for some other variant either in SBI Card or others. I would suggest getting the American Express Platinum Travel card instead of this one.
