One year after using it, I'm writing a review of the MasterCard World Black Edition from SberBank.

MasterCard World Black Edition from SberBankThis is a premium credit card with a limit of up to 3,000,000 rubles.

A few months after taking out a mortgage, I got a notification in my SberBank personal account about an approved credit card.

Honestly, it was really convenient. The apartment renovation was finished, but it was still missing all the appliances, furniture, and other essentials. And to top it off, I had a vacation coming up. I didn't want to go on vacation without all the comforts of home, or go on vacation and sleep on the floor.

We decided to cheat a bit and use the credit card to buy all the essentials. And then we'd just pay for it all our lives.

Annual maintenance cost

4900 rubles per year.

Why is it so expensive? The card is considered premium. It has additional bonuses that I'll talk about below.

You can just tell everyone that you have a 'luhary' or platinum card, though.

Getting the card

After taking out the mortgage, when we provided all the documents confirming our income, no additional references were required. We just confirmed our consent to receive the card, and within a week, we got it at the bank.

If you have a good credit history, you'll probably get approved for this card too.

I wrote about how to check your credit history for free here

Interest rates on the credit card

If you have a personalized offer - 21.9%

Otherwise, it's higher.

Increased bonuses

Now let's talk about the sweet stuff - increased bonuses for purchases.

If you've ever had a Sber card in the past 10 years, you're familiar with bonuses. They're awarded for each purchase, 0.5%.

On this card, bonuses are increased for certain categories of purchases. You can get up to 10% bonuses.

10% bonuses - when paying at gas stations, Yandex Taxi, and Gett Taxi
5% - when paying at cafes and restaurants
1.5% - at supermarkets

What other perks do I get?

Access to the VIP lounge at Sheremetyevo for 1500 rubles.

The information is from here

Now, some European airports are even better - they offer free access to VIP lounges in cities like Vienna and Prague, and so on.

Here's the full list here.

That's it, unfortunately. I haven't found any other 'platinum' perks for myself yet.

There are discounts available at various stores, though. You can check the website for all the deals, but they only work if you enter the code on the retailer's website or tell the salesperson the special code. So, no automatic discounts if you pay with a card.

I've seen discounts at Randevu, Body Shop, and Chocoladnica, but they're all temporary. To take advantage of them, you need to constantly monitor the list of deals, remember the codes, and mention them in time.

The best 'tasty' bonuses are on the Visa Signature card. If we ever choose a platinum card again, it'll be this one. There are loads of 'perks' on it.

Does the service fee pay off?

In our family, yes, it does. Now we only use this card. My husband has linked his card to Apple Pay and pays with his phone, while I go with his card and pay with it. I've already stopped using my card.

Now, let's take a peek at my wallet...

May 2018

Expenses: 86,810 rubles

We earned 1,920.32 rubles in bonuses

Attention! You'll only get bonuses for every 100 rubles spent. SberBank rounds down to the nearest whole number.

So, if your purchase was for 80 rubles, you won't get a single bonus! Ha!

4900 service fee per year divided by 12 months = 409 bonuses per month to break even

409 bonuses per month = around 30,000 rubles just in supermarkets | around 4,000 rubles just at gas stations | around 4,000 rubles just for rides on Yandex or Gett Taxi | Around 8,500 rubles just in cafes

If any of the above sounds appealing to you, then this card is already a good choice. For a family without kids, with one car, and occasional taxi rides, this card will definitely be profitable.

We even earn money with this card. A credit card that earns you money!

How much did we earn in bonuses for the year?

I wanted to check the bonus statistics for the year, but it turns out the data only goes back two months.

I gathered the statistics from Ozon instead.

We've spent 12,715 bonus points since last July.

As of today, we have 5,564.53 bonus rubles left.

We weren't able to restore the bonus points in Burger King, so it might have been even more.

We've earned almost 18,279 bonus rubles in just over a year.

The card has paid for itself almost four times over!

Of course, it might not be convenient for everyone, but we're happy to spend our bonus points at partners or on Sberbank services.

We usually spend our bonus points on Ozon and at Burger King.

And what about credit cards?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not encouraging everyone to use credit and pay interest to the bank. Not at all. We only use the credit feature when we need to, and we pay back the money within the interest-free period.

For those who don't know, you can use a credit card without paying interest if you pay back the money within the interest-free period.

I think it's worth paying interest to use something now, rather than saving up for months or years. It's a personal choice, and for me, the debt was worth it to take a summer vacation or furnish our apartment.

I wouldn't recommend taking out credit spontaneously. Before applying for a credit card or loan, make sure you know how you'll pay it back and when.

Credit can be addictive!) Be careful!

The interest rate is pretty high if you do go into debt – 22%. It's easier to get a consumer loan for the amount you need if you're not in a rush. The interest rate on consumer loans is around 15%, which is much more reasonable.

Credit cards have a higher interest rate because they're more flexible. You don't have to apply for a new loan every time you need to use it.

If you're a die-hard credit card hater, you might want to try getting a debit card with similar bonus rewards – it'll be a happier experience!

Conclusion

The card does give higher bonus rewards, but there's no scam going on.

However, Sberbank isn't the only one offering this.

I know that last year, a similar card was offered by Alfa Bank, but their service was 1,000 rubles cheaper.

Tinkoff Bank also offers higher cashback rewards on certain categories.

Be sure to research and choose the card that's best for you.

I wrote about how to check your credit history for free here

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