YES Bank Essence Credit Card

Online Shopping: 8 YES Rewardz per ₹200 on online spends (~0.8% at ₹0.20/pt); online fashion, beauty, travel, dining and grocery MCCs earn 12 per ₹200; capped at 9,000 points per statement cycle across online spends

Other: 4 YES Rewardz per ₹200 on offline and other spends (~0.4% at ₹0.20/pt)

Utility Bills: Utility spends earn the base 4 points per ₹200 (~0.4%) but are capped at 150 reward points a statement cycle (MITC v18 p10)

Earns nothing on: Rent · Wallet Loads · Fuel · Government & Tax · Insurance · Education · Cash Advances · EMI Conversions · Marketing/Advertising

These spends earn no rewards at all — not a reduced rate, and not the base rate. They are also normally left out of any milestone or fee-waiver calculation.

Documents required

• 📄PAN card
• 📄Aadhaar / valid address proof
• 📄Latest 3 months bank statement
• 📄Income proof — salary slips
• 📄Recent passport-size photograph

2026

1. ▼ FeeEffective 15 Jun 2026

   Cash-advance, auto-debit-failure and cash-deposit charges raised

   Cash advance 2.5% or 500 rupees; auto-debit failure 2% or 450 rupees capped at 1,500; branch cash deposit 100 rupees→Cash advance 2.5% or 650 rupees; auto-debit failure 2.5% or 500 rupees capped at 5,000; branch cash deposit 500 rupees

   Three servicing charges went up together on 15 June 2026. The minimum cash-advance fee rose from 500 to 650 rupees, the charge for a failed auto-debit went from 2% or 450 rupees to 2.5% or 500 rupees, and depositing cash at a branch to repay the card went from 100 to 500 rupees. The auto-debit change is the one worth noticing: alongside the higher rate, the per-statement ceiling on that charge moved from 1,500 rupees to 5,000, so a large missed payment can now cost several times what it would have before. None of these touch ordinary card spending - they are the cost of borrowing cash, bouncing a payment, or repaying over the counter.

   Verification: YES Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

2. ▼ FeeEffective 15 Jun 2026

   Forex markup raised from 2.75% to 3.00%

   2.75% + GST→3.00% + GST

   Barely a month after launch, YES Bank raised the foreign-currency conversion charge on the Essence from 2.75% to 3.00% plus GST, effective 15 June 2026. The revision is set out in the bank's consolidated Most Important Terms and Conditions (version CMITC_V18_23062026, published 23 June 2026), whose per-variant table groups the Essence with Elite+ — YES Private, Private Prime and Marquee were left untouched. A separate 1% dynamic currency conversion charge still applies when an overseas transaction is billed in rupees, so the all-in cost of spending abroad on this card has gone up while its rewards remain domestic-lifestyle led.

   Verification: YES Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

3. ▼ BenefitEffective 15 Jun 2026

   Fuel surcharge waiver band narrowed to 500 to 4,000

   400 to 5,000 rupees→500 to 4,000 rupees

   The 1% fuel surcharge waiver still applies, but the window of transactions that qualify for it moved on 15 June 2026. YES Bank replaced the single 400-to-5,000-rupee band that covered its whole range with a per-variant table, and this card sits in the 500 to 4,000-rupee band. The floor rising to 500 rupees is the part most likely to bite: small top-ups that used to earn the waiver no longer do. For the Essence the ceiling also fell, from 5,000 to 4,000 rupees, with the waiver capped at 125 rupees a statement cycle.

   Verification: YES Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

4. ▲ BenefitEffective 1 Jun 2026

   Over-limit facility reinstated, at 550 rupees a transaction

   Withdrawn since 1 May 2025 - spends above the sanctioned limit were declined→Available again, at a flat 550 rupee charge per over-limit transaction

   YES Bank brought back the over-limit facility on 1 June 2026, thirteen months after withdrawing it. The Essence launched during the window when the facility did not exist, so this is a benefit the card gained rather than one it lost and regained. A transaction that takes the balance past the sanctioned limit now goes through rather than being declined, and carries a flat charge of 550 rupees plus GST. Whether any given account gets the facility, and how far over the limit it may go, is set by the bank from the customer's credit profile and repayment record rather than being a published entitlement. It is a convenience worth having in an emergency and an expensive habit otherwise, since the charge applies per offending transaction.

   Verification: YES Bank ↗ · Confidence: High

5. ◆ LaunchEffective May 2026

   YES Bank Essence launches as a women-focused lifestyle rewards card

   YES Bank launched the Essence in May 2026 — card-press coverage appeared on 20 May 2026 — positioning it, in the bank's own words, for "women who balance it all". It earns 12 YES Rewardz per ₹200 on online fashion, beauty, travel, dining and grocery, 8 per ₹200 on other online spends and 4 per ₹200 offline, with ₹1,000 of welcome vouchers, 5,000 bonus points on ₹50,000 of spend in the first 90 days and 10,000 more at ₹1 lakh of annual spend. The everyday perks are a monthly buy-one-get-one on movie tickets via District (up to ₹250 off the second ticket), a coffee buy-one-get-one, one domestic lounge visit a quarter unlocked by ₹25,000 of prior-quarter spend, and a birthday-month ₹1,000 Myntra voucher plus a complimentary women's health check-up. The fee is ₹799 joining (reversed on ₹20,000 in the first month) and ₹799 renewal (waived at ₹1 lakh of annual spend), though the card opened with a limited-period lifetime-free offer; the forex markup at launch was 2.75%. Because the card is this new, YES Bank's 2024–25 devaluation cycle — the 70%-of-invoice redemption cap, the 3.99% monthly finance charge, the spend-gated lounge rule and the withdrawn over-limit facility — was already baseline on day one rather than something the Essence lost.

   Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: Reconstructed