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SC Ultimate (Standard Chartered Ultimate) Upgrade Suggestion

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anish1516

anish1516

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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?
 
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helloworld said:
n o .
Click to expand...
I have the SC easemytrip trip card and they are offering ultimate. However they mentioned 10K spend on international lounge access and it's only one per month.

Easemytrip card has no such conditions 2/year and it's perfect for me as I go on one international trip per year.

I'm wondering if the benefits are better on this card but my research says no. So I'm asking you guys, should I upgrade?
 
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wapenshaw said:
I have the SC easemytrip trip card and they are offering ultimate. However they mentioned 10K spend on international lounge access and it's only one per month.

Easemytrip card has no such conditions 2/year and it's perfect for me as I go on one international trip per year.

I'm wondering if the benefits are better on this card but my research says no. So I'm asking you guys, should I upgrade?
Click to expand...
Trust your research first because it is based on your spend pattern..
 
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Paul said:
I have HDFC Infinia card and SC is upgrading my manhattan card (LTF) to Ultimate card; shall i upgrade or no?
Click to expand...

Please don’t take

Vouchers are not very useful

You literally have to fight for joining / renewal points - they won’t credit easily - in my case it took 4 months after multiple emails

You already have Stanc LTF card for offers - joining / renewal fees of ultimate is not worth it

Since you already have infinia - ultimate won’t provide you any value unless you have very big regular govt spends
 
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rajat0312 said:
Please don’t take

Vouchers are not very useful

You literally have to fight for joining / renewal points - they won’t credit easily - in my case it took 4 months after multiple emails

You already have Stanc LTF card for offers - joining / renewal fees of ultimate is not worth it

Since you already have infinia - ultimate won’t provide you any value unless you have very big regular govt spends
Click to expand...

its by default 4 months, you don't have to fight, it will credit automatically.

M1= where annual fee charged
M2= where GST on annual fee charged

then wait for 60 days to get points.

And agree, its not useful card.

wapenshaw said:
I have the SC easemytrip trip card and they are offering ultimate. However they mentioned 10K spend on international lounge access and it's only one per month.

Easemytrip card has no such conditions 2/year and it's perfect for me as I go on one international trip per year.

I'm wondering if the benefits are better on this card but my research says no. So I'm asking you guys, should I upgrade?
Click to expand...

what do you want? lounge or rewards on existing cards?

for both better cards available in other banks, check once.
 
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helloworld said:
its by default 4 months, you don't have to fight, it will credit automatically.

M1= where annual fee charged
M2= where GST on annual fee charged

then wait for 60 days to get points.

And agree, its not useful card.

for both better cards available in other banks, check once.
Click to expand...

I find it bit unethical to wait for 90-120 days for the joining benefits if the fee gets charged in the first month itself. I find it wrong at their end no matter what their policy says.

How have you utilised the joining/renewal points?
 
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rajat0312 said:
I find it bit unethical to wait for 90-120 days for the joining benefits if the fee gets charged in the first month itself. I find it wrong at their end no matter what their policy says.

How have you utilised the joining/renewal points?
Click to expand...

I accumulated for 2 years and utilized from vouchers which I do not need because I do not have choice (either take it or expire the points). Downgraded the card to 'smart' card (After 2 months of fight), then once they introduces min. cashback for redemption 2500/- I gave them closure request / swap to EMT card which they didn't agreed, saying I'm not eligible for that.

But since then receiving calls from service, support that I can upgrade to one of their best card 'ultimate' again, which I refused and asked them to downgrade to EMT which they're not agreeing.

So, finally gave them closure request again.. they won't downgrade to EMT, so for my peace of mind will close whole SC relationship. Its anyway, idle for me in last 1 year, so no use with this bank along with below banks honestly.

- AU
- BOB
- Federal
- IDFC
- IndusInd
- Kotak
- StanC

Consider you have cards from other (non-listed) banks. Didn't find any real benefit with these banks for my spends // other cards do exactly same these bank cards do.
 
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helloworld said:
I accumulated for 2 years and utilized from vouchers which I do not need because I do not have choice (either take it or expire the points). Downgraded the card to 'smart' card (After 2 months of fight), then once they introduces min. cashback for redemption 2500/- I gave them closure request / swap to EMT card which they didn't agreed, saying I'm not eligible for that.

But since then receiving calls from service, support that I can upgrade to one of their best card 'ultimate' again, which I refused and asked them to downgrade to EMT which they're not agreeing.

So, finally gave them closure request again.. they won't downgrade to EMT, so for my peace of mind will close whole SC relationship. Its anyway, idle for me in last 1 year, so no use with this bank along with below banks honestly.

- AU
- BOB
- Federal
- IDFC
- IndusInd
- Kotak
- StanC

Consider you have cards from other (non-listed) banks. Didn't find any real benefit with these banks for my spends // other cards do exactly same these bank cards do.
Click to expand...

Completely agree with you -
I am also waiting for some good vouchers to appear to redeem all my points and then close the card.
I will probably end up buying some electronics or travel bags if no good vouchers appear.

I am mostly using dcb, atlas, SBI cashback , sometimes Amex for monthly milestones. Other cards I have like zenith plus ( only for meet and greet) , Vistara cards (for complimentary ticket).

Remaining cards - IDFC , HSBC, coral , Kotak white ( all these LTF) havent used them from last 1 year - even if bank closes it - it doesn’t matter.

Recently got marquee card - will use it wherever dcb not accepted online.
 
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I recently (last week) got the SCB Ultimate mastercard variant, even when I asked for VISA which they agreed when they called for upgrade.
It was given as an upgrade to Manhattan which i was using for more than 10 years now.

I haven't activated untimate card yet.

I guess, if i dont activate, it will get closed automatically as per RBI.
I don't know if my Manhattan will still be active, if i dont use and activate Ultimate. Also, will it charge me with 5K in the next bill?

They have become very slow in responding to email as compared to 1-2 years earlier.
 
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PallavBhargava said:
I recently (last week) got the SCB Ultimate mastercard variant, even when I asked for VISA which they agreed when they called for upgrade.
It was given as an upgrade to Manhattan which i was using for more than 10 years now.

I haven't activated untimate card yet.

I guess, if i dont activate, it will get closed automatically as per RBI.
I don't know if my Manhattan will still be active, if i dont use and activate Ultimate. Also, will it charge me with 5K in the next bill?

They have become very slow in responding to email as compared to 1-2 years earlier.
Click to expand...

if its separate card, then no issues. close it and manhattan will continue.

if its upgrade then everything will be closed.

---
check netbanking and see how many cards its showing, 2 means high chance that you had 2 cards then no issues. Anycase, check with support once through call and act accordingly.

normally I suggest to go for cancel but we're dealing with 10Y+ relation, so check once.
 
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helloworld said:
if its separate card, then no issues. close it and manhattan will continue.

if its upgrade then everything will be closed.

---
check netbanking and see how many cards its showing, 2 means high chance that you had 2 cards then no issues. Anycase, check with support once through call and act accordingly.

normally I suggest to go for cancel but we're dealing with 10Y+ relation, so check once.
Click to expand...
As of now on SC mobile app, it shows 2 cards. may be since i have not activated the Ultimate card.
I have called customer care and asked for Visa variant, to which they replied that Visa is no more issued.
So, i have asked to cancel Ultimate and let Manhattan continue.

Still to my surprise they are still sending email with a Ultimate Visa card for upgrade.
1721217221002.webp

and yes, i am keeping Manhattan card just to maintain credit history of 10+ years, other wise i don't see much use of Manhattan as well.
 
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PallavBhargava said:
yes, i am keeping Manhattan card just to maintain credit history of 10+ years, other wise i don't see much use of Manhattan as well.
Click to expand...

now, thats a question. not sure whether they upgraded your card or provided additional one. Only they can help at this time. Else, you're ready to close 10+ years or continue with Ultimate.

Btw, Ultimate itself useless but you're looking for VISA not sure what benefit are you looking but no difference in variants and VISA Infinite has no benefits (incl. BMS booking, very rare to get tickets).

So, if thats ok continue. But before mastercard ban Ultimate is solely on mastercard and temporarily provided VISA cards, if they stopped we can't do now.

Check once.
 
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