Cashback caps and minimum spend: reading the small print
Many cashback cards cap what you can earn each month or need a minimum spend first. Here’s what that means for what you actually earn.
A headline rate tells you what a card pays on each dirham, up to a point. Many cashback cards limit that with a monthly cap, a minimum spend, or both, and the limits often matter more than the rate itself.
Monthly caps
A cap limits how much cashback you can earn in a month, either in total or per category. Once you hit it, extra spending in that category earns nothing more (or drops to a lower base rate). If you spend heavily in one category, a lower rate with no cap can beat a higher rate with a small one.
Minimum spend
Some cards pay nothing, or only a base rate, until your total spending for the month passes a threshold. If you don’t reliably spend that much, the headline rate doesn’t apply to you.
Excluded categories
Utilities, telecom bills, government payments and wallet top-ups often earn a reduced rate or nothing. Check before you plan to put big recurring bills on a card.
Examples from our catalogue
The small print, as recorded on each card page:
- ADCB 365 Cashback: “5% dining cashback — capped AED 200/mo · 3% — capped AED 200/mo · 5% dining (cap AED 200) · 3% grocery/travel/fuel (cap AED 200)”
- Dubai Islamic Bank Consumer Cashback: “3% dining — AED 1,000 monthly cap across ALL categories combined · 3% entertainment within monthly cap · 3% across categories (AED 1k cap)”
- Emirates Islamic Cashback Plus: “3% cashback on dining when total monthly spend is AED 3,000–9,999, 5% from AED 10,000, 10% from AED 17,500, nothing under AED 3,000. Capped at AED 200 a month.”
- First Abu Dhabi Bank FAB Islamic Cashback Credit Card: “5% cashback (capped AED 300/mo UAE Nationals, AED 200/mo expats) on grocery, fuel & dining · 5% fuel cashback (included in AED 200-300 monthly cap)”
- HSBC UAE Cash+ Card: “BOGO monthly (min spend) + 25% off F&B”
- HSBC UAE Live+ Credit Card: “6% dining cashback — capped AED 200/mo · 5% fuel — capped AED 200/mo”
What to do
- Estimate your monthly spend in each category.
- Check the cap on your biggest category: does your spend go past it?
- Check any minimum spend: do you pass it every month?
- Take off the annual fee, then compare. Our calculator does the rate and fee part and shows each card’s small print next to its result.