Review: yuu App and DBS yuu Credit Card

The sheer number of posters and countless marketing labels are easy to ignore; helpful even, to show which products get a few extra points. The song, on the other hand, makes me grateful for noise cancelling AirPods, or that there is a FairPrice outlet nearby I could go to instead.

I’m talking about yuu, unfortunately of course, and thanks to the heavy bombardment of Phua Chu Kang across Giant, Cold Storage, or even 7-11 outlets, the yuu rewards programme and yuu card have been one of the most requested reviews I’ve had in recent memory. Well, all four of you (NO, no more yuu puns) who requested for this anyway.

I hate to further encourage them, but it’s probably a testament to the effectiveness of their marketing that my mum signed up for the app and credit card on her own accord.

The app

While the marketing does a good job letting people know of the existence of a loyalty programme, I think it’s a little less clear what exactly is going on.

Essentially, there is both a yuu app and a yuu Credit Card. You can use the app entirely on its own without the card, and use any other card or payment method you prefer to earn points within the app.

Each yuu point is worth 0.5 cents when redeemed for cash rebates, and selected products get bonus points. They are usually 2 or 3 bonus points, but I’ve also seen items giving as much as 5x points. This means that the app can give you anywhere between 0.5% to 2.5% in rebates, and all you have to do is to present the app before making payment.

It’s a painless affair, and you should just download the app in case you shop at a yuu merchant, hopefully when they stop playing the song. There isn’t a referral programme as far as I can tell, but you do get a few sign-up goodies like heavily discounted items you can redeem with very few points.

Speaking of redemptions, you also get to use your yuu points to redeem items instead of cash rebates, and as with most points programmes there are opportunities to increase the valuation of your points. A S$10 Toast Box voucher, for instance, goes for 1,800 yuu points, making each point worth 0.56 cents instead of 0.5.

The DBS yuu Card

To earn more yuu points, you can opt to apply for the DBS yuu Credit Card, and this is where things start to get a bit more complex.

The card has several tiers of earn rates – 5, to be specific – and I can only imagine DBS and Dairy Farm looking at StanChart and FairPrice’s Trust Bank and wondering whether they could come up with something as needlessly complex. The answer seems like a resounding yes, and if you’re someone who takes explanations better verbally, maybe my YouTube video would do a better job in breaking down the earn rates.

Activity	Category	Earn Rate	Rebate %
All retail spend	Base	1 yuu point per dollar	0.5%
yuu merchants	Base	4 additional yuu points per dollar	2%
Selected products at yuu merchants	Promo rate	Up to 2 additional yuu points per dollar	1%
Minimum S$80 spend at Dairy Farm/Breadtalk Group merchants in a single receipt	Promo rate	Additional 800 yuu points (3 times max per month)	5% (for exactly S$80)
Minimum S$400 spend at Dairy Farm/Breadtalk Group merchants within a month	Promo rate	Additional 5,200 yuu points	6.5% (for exactly S$400)

Base rate
The gist of the earn rates is that you get a base 5x points at yuu merchants, or roughly 2.5% in rebates. 2.5% is quite mediocre, but there is no minimum or maximum spend attached to this earn rate. At a miserly 1 yuu point per dollar or 0.5% rebate, there is little point in using the card outside of yuu merchants.

Selected products (promo rate until 31st March 2023)
At yuu merchants, you also get extra 2x yuu points for selected products, and for the life of me I cannot figure out whether they are referring to the points given by the app… and at this point I have given up trying to find out. Hopefully someone can share their knowledge about this.

S$80 in one receipt (promo rate until 31st March 2023)
If you spend at Dairy Farm merchants (e.g. Cold Storage, 7-11, Giant etc) or Breadtalk merchants (e.g. Ding Tai Fung, Song Fa etc.) and reach S$80 in a single receipt, you get additional 800 yuu points on top of the usual 5x points.

This earn rate is advertised as 10x points, although do note that any amount above the S$80 still earns the same 800 points, and the sweet spot is thus S$80.

This is capped at 3 times a month.

S$400 in one receipt (promo rate until 31st March 2023)
Once you reach S$400 of spend at Dairy Farm or Breadtalk merchants, you also get 5,200 yuu points. Again, this is marketed as 13x yuu points because 400 × 13 = 5,200, but any amount above S$400 do not get additional points from this tier of earn rate.

Effective earn rate
If you spend S$80 in a single receipt at Dairy Farm or Breadtalk merchants, you can expect to get a 15x yuu points earn rate which translates into approximately 7.5% in rebates. That’s not too shabby an earn rate considering the lack of a minimum monthly spend, although it does need to be a round S$80 to be optimal.

To truly optimise this card, you need to hit the S$80 earn rate tier 3 times in a month, and overall hit S$400 of spend within the Dairy Farm and Breadtalk group merchants. It’s advertised as “30x yuu points”, but even at the most optimal of scenarios you are only getting a total of 24x yuu points per dollar spent overall:

Item	Points Earned
5x base earn rate on S$400	2,000 points
S$80 earn rate x 3	2,400 points
S$400 earn rate	5,200 points
Total	9,600 points (24x yuu points)

There is also an additional 2x earn rate in the event everything bought was a “selected item”.

24x (or 26x) yuu points per dollar spent is roughly 12% of rebates, and that is obviously a rather high earn rate, but you do have to see how often you spend at the eligible merchants.

Some may think of buying vouchers to hit the spend requirements in an easy and efficient manner, but the yuu Card’s terms and conditions specifically excludes vouchers and gift cards. How would the payment terminal differentiate between what’s being bought though?

Dairy Farm and Breadtalk merchants

Dairy Farm International Holdings	Breadtalk Group
Cold Storage CS Fresh Guardian Health & Beauty 7-Eleven Giant	BreadTalk Butter Bean Toast Box Thye Moh Chan Food Republic Food Junction

Conclusion

Now if you’re either confused or just skimmed through the above few sections, the easiest way to decide whether the DBS yuu card is for you is these two questions:

• Are you spending S$80 at an eligible merchant? If yes, you are getting about a decent earn rate of about 7.5%
• Are you spend S$400 within a month at an eligible merchant? If yes, you are getting a great earn rate of about 8%, and more if you are able to clock multiple transactions of at least S$80 within that month

Or, given the many good cards that exist, perhaps yuu should just apply for the sign-up promo, and I’ll earn something for my efforts 🥲

The good:

• app is simple and stacks with whatever payment method you use
• Card’s earn rate can be excellent if you meet the requirements

The bad:

• the song
• promotional earn rate is time-limited (I spent hours on the video and this review only for it to be irrelevant after 31st March)
• needlessly complex
• have I mentioned the song

The ugly:

• PCK
• the song
• the puns
• oh my god I’m done with this review

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