You might have heard of the UOB YOLO Card, or maybe even own the card right now. Do you know that from June 17 2021, UOB is no longer issuing the YOLO Card and has replaced it with the new UOB EVOL Card? Existing YOLO cardmember has aslo been transferred to the new EVOL card program. This is not merely a name change, the UOB EVOL Card is also an improved & evolved version of its predecessor.
With the new EVOL card, UOB is still looking to please the millennial crowd; of which it sees 20% of its card-spending coming from. It focuses its cashback reward on online and mobile contactless spend, which the young executive spends the most from and the rules are made simpler – as long as you make your payment via mobile or online, you get 8% cashback, no matter if it is in dining, transportation, entertainment, fashion or groceries and no matter if it is weekdays or weekends
If you are an activist on world sustainability, you should know that UOB EVOL Card is also Southeast Asia’s first bio-sourced card. The card is made up of 82% plant based Polylatic Acid material, which saves 4.48g of PVC and produce 10g less carbon footprint!
Now let’s explore some of the finer, intricate details of this new card:
Cashbacks
- 8% cashback on mobile payment – Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay or Fitbit Pay
- 8% cashback on online spend – Dining, entertainment, fashion, groceries, Grab or Hotel stay
- 0.3% cashback for all other types of spending
- To qualify for full 8% cashback, customers must spend a minimum of $600 per statement month. If not, customers will only earn 0.3% cashback on all spends
- Total cashback capped at S$60 per month – S$20 from online spend, S$20 from mobile payment and S$20 from other spend.
Additional Card Perks
- Hundreds of exclusive deals and discounts across dining, entertainment, travel & online shopping
- Enjoy eco-friendly deals, like 5% off storewide at Your Sustainable Store
- Pay for public bus and train rides with “SimplyGo” – contactless payment with your card and even on your mobile/wearable device
- Up to 2.5% per annum interest rate with UOB One Account
Minimum Annual Income
- S$30,000 for Singaporeans and S$80,000 for foreigners
Annual Card Fee
- Annual card fee of S$192.60, with a first-year free waiver. Enjoy no annual card fee when you make min. 3 trasaction per month for 12 consecutive month.
Supplementary Cards
- First supplementary card is free for life, second at S$96.30.
So, is UOB EVOL the right card for you?
Without limiting the cashback to only weekend spending like the UOB YOLO Card, the UOB EVOL has definitely made it easier to max out the your monthly cashback. Beside the giving the highest cashback, if you like a card that gives you privileges, this card does comes up top. Besides partnering with sustainable vendors to give you eco-friendly deals, the UOB EVOL card also has over 1000 deals from fashion to dining to everywhere in between. These privileges include percentage discounts, 1-for-1 dining deals, and even priority queue access. The brands are lavishly displayed on the UOB page here so you always know where to get the best deals the card has to offer.
If you have decided that you’re up for a 8% rebate and save while you are spending on your dining, entertainment – at anytime and anywhere, congrats! Apply now to be on your way to “Dream it. Do it. Love it. Own it.”
 | UOB EVOL (Previously YOLO Card) |
But if you’ll like to take a step further and see how this card fares against similar cards from other banks, keep reading for more insights.
UOB EVOL Card vs OCBC FRANK Card
Let’s compare this card with another card targeted at millennials. You would be familiar with OCBC’s FRANK card which has many similar characteristics to the UOB EVOL card, including its min. monthly spend of S$600, high cashback & exclusive deals.
With the 8% cashback from UOB EVOL now opening up to both weekend and weekday spending, it is one of the easiest to earn the highest cashback among the credit cards. The OCBC FRANK Card caps their cashback at 6%, slightly lower than that given by the UOB EVOL, but besides online and mobile spending, it also covers your foreign currency spends. This is a major plus point for the frequent travellers!
Now let’s see what it takes to fully qualify for each of the card’s full rebates. UOB says that to receive your full 8% rebates, you need to spend a minimum of S$600 in your statement month, regardless of online or mobile spending, with the rebate capped at S$60 – S$20 for online spend, S$20 for mobile spend and S$20 for other spend. Similary, to receive your full 6% cashback on OCBC, you will also need to spend a minumum of S$600 in your statement month. OCBC, however has a higher rebate capped at S$75 – S$25 for online spend, S$25 for mobile spend/foreign currency and S$25 for other spend.
The annual fee of UOB EVOL Card is S$192.60 annual fee with the 1-year waiver, which is lacklustre when compared to the OCBC FRANK card, with it offering the card free for the 1st 2 years and then S$80 from the 3rd year onwards. The EVOL card continues to waive the annual fee if you make min. 3 trasaction per month for 12 consecutive month and the FRANK, if you have an annual spend of S$10,000 – both requirements are pretty easy to fulfill.
UOB EVOL Card vs OCBC 365 Card
With that in mind, let’s pit it against another card of a similar fee, namely the OCBC 365 Credit Card, which pitches cash-back all year-round and covering wider categories under the sun.
First, here are some of the finer, intricate details of the OCBC 365 Credit Card:
Rebates
- 6% local and overseas dining rebate, including online food delivery
- Up to 22.1% fuel savings at Caltex & up to 20.2% fuels savings at Esso
– 5% cash-back on all other petrol stations. - 3% rebate from supermarkets islandwide
- 3% rebate from recurring telco bills (Singtel, Starhub, M1)
- 0.3% rebate for all other types of spending.
- To qualify for full rebates, minimum spend of S$800 per statement month is needed. If not, customers will only earn 0.3% rebate on all spend.
- Total rebate capped at $80 per month.
Minimum Annual Income
- S$30,000 for Singaporeans and $45,000 for foreigners.
Annual Card Fee
- S$192.60, with a first 2-year free waiver.
Supplementary Cards
- The first supplementary card at S$96.30, also with a first 2-year free waiver.
Although its cashback is not as high as the UOB EVOL card, the OCBC 365 gives you more categories to get your money back.This include cash backs from recurring telco bills and fuel savings from petrol station. Not to mention the perks which come along with it like its S$500,000 worth of complimentary travel insurance just by purchasing return plane tickets through the card, as well as access to the 24/7 Visa Signature Concierge service.
After all the information and comparison, you might think that perhaps the UOB EVOL Card might not be the most ideal for your lifestyle. However, to earn the 2.5% per annum interest rate with your UOB bank account, you still wish to apply a card at UOB. What other cards could you explore?
UOB EVOL Card vs UOB One Card
The UOB One Card has been dubbed “Singapore’s most generous cashback card”, and for good reason. You stand to earn 5% cashback on all retail spend and an additional 5% cashback when you spend on Shopee, on daily essentials at the Dairy Farm Singapore Group and on Grab. You will also earn additional 1% cashback on your Singapore Power Utilities Bill. This card sports the same annual fee of S$192.60, with a first-year fee waiver.
The cashback on the UOB One card is really attractive, but in foresight, you would have to plan in advance to reap the full benefits of this card. The fine-print of the card’s terms and conditions states that to receive the 5% rebate on all retail spend, customers need to spend a minimum of $2,000 a month for 3 consecutive months, and spending S$500 or S$1,000 for the same duration will earn you a 3.33% cash rebate instead.
It’s a rather complicated card to work with if you’re the kind of person who prefers things kept simple for you. For those who like to indulge themselves in cash rebates and have no qualms about doing a little planning in their monthly expenditure, then this card would work out better for you.
Let’s take a breather here and excuse ourselves from the dense foliage of words. We now have 4 cards up against one another in a cashback rebates battle royale. There are great millennial-driven cards that pique our interest with their attractive offerings, and there are also well-rounded cards that cater to almost every type of spending a young family would encounter.
Now, what better way to summarise all this financial mumbo-jumbo into a simple, easy to read table:
| Dining & Entertainment Rebates | Online Shopping Rebate | Rebate Cap | Minimum Spend for Rebates | Annual Fee | |
 | Up to 8% | 8% flat | S$60 | S$600 | S$192.60 (First year fee waiver) |
 | Up to 5% | 6% flat | S$75 | S$600 | S$80 (First 2-year fee waiver) |
 | Up to 6% | 3% flat | S$80 | S$800 | S$192.60 (First 2-year fee waiver) |
 | 5% on all spend | 5% on all spend (Additional 5% on Shopee) | N/A | S$500 / S$1,000 (3.33% cash rebate), S$2,000 (5% cash rebate) | S$192.60 (First year fee waiver) |
To know which card is best for you, you first need to know your spending habits/pattern. Knowing how to tabulate your income/expenditure sheet and tracking it is a beneficial habit to cultivate. It will not only earn you the most cashback from the card you are most suited for, but also to avoid future unnecessary financial mishaps. Whether you’re a millennial starting out in you careeer life or a diligent, briefcase-toting adult who can afford a Grab ride to work for that extra few minutes of shut eye, financial literacy is a skill that should beckon all.
Do you find yourself mostly spending on groceries and petrol? Or does your monthly bill always comes above S$2000? Once you have learn your own spending pattern, you can then identify the ideal card that you will reap the most benefits and savings from!
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