Super Saver Credit Card

A CBD cashback card, free in the first year and AED 420 a year after, that pays cashback only on 4 categories (bills, education, supermarkets and fuel): 3%, 5% or 10% depending on your total card spending that month, with per-category and monthly caps, nothing below AED 3,000 of monthly spending and nothing at all on other spending.

No annual fee in the first year; AED 420 a year from the second year, including VAT. CBD waives the fee in a year you reach a minimum annual spend it sets for the card, but Perkly has no record of the figure. No joining fee. Interest is 3.85% a month.

Spending abroad costs about 4.83% all in: CBD's 3.675% on international transactions in AED and non-AED (its 3.5% fee plus 5% VAT), plus about 1.15% for Visa, which is Perkly's standard estimate because CBD says its fee is in addition to Visa's processing fee without giving a figure. Spending abroad earns no cashback unless it falls in one of the 4 categories.

Only bills, education, supermarkets and fuel earn anything; dining, shopping, travel and everything else earn 0%. The rate depends on TOTAL card spending in the month, and below AED 3,000 nothing is earned at all. Utility bills must be paid directly to the biller, not through the CBD app or online banking, to earn.