YES Bank has long been easy come, easy go in the Credit Card issuers list. Back in the day, the meltdown of the Bank may have cut short their ride as a major Credit Card issuer, but they are now trying to come back. I’ll talk about that later. However, with significant P&L comes the great responsibility to protect it. And 2024 is the year when YES Bank will work more on increasing the bottom-line contribution of the business. One of the moves towards this was put out with little fanfare.

Changes to Lounge Access Benefits on YES Bank Credit Cards, effective April 1, 2024.

YES Bank has now reshuffled the domestic lounge access benefits. For all their credit cards, YES Bank has notified that cardmembers must spend at least INR 10,000 INR in the current quarter to receive lounge access as per the card features in the next quarter. As I’d explained earlier, lounge access is a costly benefit to offer, and just holding a “free” credit card no longer cuts it with the banks to give it away to customers.

Here is the communication from the Bank.

This new change will impact the following credit cards, amongst others:

1. YES Marquee (6 Complimentary Lounge Visits Per Quarter)
2. YES SELECT (erstwhile YES Prosperity Edge) (1 Complimentary Lounge Visit per Quarter)
3. YES Reserv (erstwhile YES First Exclusive) (3 Complimentary Lounge Visits Per Quarter)
4. YES First Preferred (2 Complimentary Lounge Visits Per Quarter)
5. YES Bank ELITE (erstwhile YES Premia) (2 Complimentary Lounge Visits Per Quarter)
6. YES BYOC (1 Complimentary Lounge Visit per Quarter)
7. YES Wellness Plus (2 Complimentary Lounge Visits per Quarter)

INR 10,000 over a quarter looks good; it is just a shade over INR 3,000 monthly. Since the change goes live on April 1, 2024, people would have to spend in the December 21, 2023 – March 20, 2024 Quarter to receive the benefit in April/May/June 2024.

Bottomline

YES Bank has notified new lounge access policies on their credit cards effective April 1, 2024. The lounge access on their cards has been made subject to a minimum spend of INR 10,000 per quarter. This will, hopefully, at least cover the cost of lounge access (domestic) for the Bank.

What do you make of the move from YES Bank Credit Cards to rationalise Lounge Access?

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