My Honest Review of the YooMoney Virtual Card: Convenience Over Cashback

I've been using my YooMoney wallet for ages, and I've been pretty happy with it. The website usually has a low rating for bank products, but this one's got a weirdly high score - I've got a 4, 5, and only one 3-star review. I use this card all the time, and I can see why it's well-liked. But now that I've started writing this review, I'll go into more detail about the pros and cons I've noticed over the years.

YooMoney virtual card reviewInstant issuance, no-name card.Service: 0 roubles.Transaction notifications via push notifications in the app and email for free.

I've got two YooMoney cards - a plastic one and a virtual one. The plastic one was ordered ages ago, back when Yandex Money was still a thing, and I needed a way to withdraw and spend my income from Airtable and Dzen. But when Google Pay stopped working in Russia, I couldn't use it to pay for things in stores. I had two options - carry my plastic card with me or create a virtual YooMoney card in the app and link it to the MIR Pay app. I chose the second option, even though I usually carry my plastic card with me.

Using the app is way faster than digging out my plastic card.

I don't remember the details of getting the card, but I think it was pretty straightforward. I always like to read the terms and conditions before applying for a card, and I'm glad I did this time. At the time of writing, the app has the following conditions for getting a card - you can either get a simple card or a MIR system card, and choose a design that suits your taste. You can do all this on the website too, but I prefer using the app - it's just more convenient for me.

YooMoney Virtual Card Review I've had my YooMoney wallet for ages, so I won't go into the nitty-gritty of setting it up. Linking YooMoney to government services and logging in through them is standard procedure for most banks nowadays. I mean, it's a bank, not some fly-by-night operation, so they need to know whose money it is and who's on the other end of the screen.

➡️ You can top up your YooMoney virtual card from any bank via Sberbank, and I've never paid a commission on transfers. The wallet account and two cards are linked, so I'm not even sure where the money comes from – and honestly, it's not that important. The main thing is that I can use it with any of my cards, including the virtual one.

➡️ The virtual card is identical to the plastic one in terms of functionality, so you can use it without having a physical card with the bank's logo.

You can pay in-store, online, or transfer funds – it's all available. Since the account is linked for all YooMoney cards, I don't even worry about having multiple cards. I pay with the virtual card in-store, taxes on the website with the plastic card, and so on, because it's already linked to the virtual card. You don't need to juggle money between accounts, which is a plus compared to Sberbank, where I have two cards – an old Momentum Visa that's not linked to Mir Pay and can't be used for bonus rewards, and a new virtual Sbercard Mir that I use for payments and rewards. Every time I have to log in to the mobile bank and transfer money between the two.

➡️ The Yoomoney virtual card participates in the bonus program, and every month, the selected categories are applied to it as well, so you earn points for purchases. You can choose categories provided you spend at least 3,000 RUB per month with your Yoomoney card. I use Yoomoney to pay for some small orders from abroad or Ozon, as I won't get more than 1% cashback anyway, and sometimes I pay for orders from KupiKasa to reach the limit. Keep in mind that, just like with other banks, some payments like tax or utility bills aren't accounted for.

Cashback with Yoomoney virtual card, review Cashback with Yoomoney virtual card, review

The categories aren't great, and you won't get more than 5% cashback. Sometimes there's not much to choose from. For example, in September 2024 and October 2024, the offers looked like this.

Cashback with Yoomoney in October 2024You won't accumulate much, but even 100 RUB extra is nice if it doesn't hassle you. I get money there anyway, and I use Yoomoney for online payments because I don't want to link my card with constantly changing funds. I don't keep significant amounts on Yoomoney; it's mostly 3,000 RUB when it's spent and the limit is reached, and then I remove it until needed. If I need to pay for something in a category available only on Yoomoney, I'll add the necessary amount and pay. Unlike Yandex Pay, there's no issue withdrawing the remaining funds.

➡️ Transferring money from my YooMoney card is listed in the tariffs as being charged a commission, but I've never actually paid it, despite constantly transferring money out of my account. I do this from the YooMoney app, by tapping Transfers and then selecting By phone number, followed by Sberbank and that's it. However, I need to consider that I also have a plastic card, so maybe the transfers are coming from that instead. Online, I've read that

when transferring money through the personal account, a commission of 3% plus 45 rubles will be deducted, with a minimum amount of 100 rubles.

It's better to clarify this with customer support in advance, just to be sure, and not blame anyone later. To avoid the commission, you need to make your YooMoney wallet at least identifiable.

➡️ Where to redeem my YooMoney cashback points, which are accumulating as a rebate, can also be found in the app, and I usually do this on Ozon. There's a catch, though - many Ozon items are cheaper when paid with a card, but to redeem my YooMoney points, I need to pay with the card too, so I mostly use it for small orders of miscellaneous items where the price difference isn't that big. I've also used my YooMoney card to pay taxes at the end of the year and redeemed my points at the same time. I'm not sure if I can still do that.

By the end of September, I had accumulated 113 rubles in cashback from YooMoney, thanks to my virtual card, and this was from a payment made on the phone at the cash desk. Here, you can see that I redeemed 100 rubles on Ozon.

➡️ Withdrawing cash is outlined in the rules and tariffs for YooMoney cards, which you can see in the screenshot below.

October 2024 Yoomoney Virtual Card Rates and ConditionsOctober 2024 Yoomoney Virtual Card Rates and Conditions I've never had to withdraw cash from my YooMoney card, so I haven't had to deal with the withdrawal fee yet. I'd probably just transfer the funds to another bank account and withdraw it for free at an ATM if I needed to.

➡️ Yoomoney's cashback system, which you get when you open the card, has been a letdown for me. The cashback offers depend on your location, and there aren't any good deals in my area. So, I don't see the point in using this system, and I wouldn't consider it a selling point for the card.

Yoomoney Virtual Card ReviewEven without the cashback system, I think the YooMoney virtual card has a lot of benefits. It's super convenient and offers some nice perks.

There's no fee for opening, activating, or maintaining the card.You can pay with your phone using NFC if you've linked it to your YooMoney wallet, or you can use the card details to make online payments.The cashback system is a nice touch, even if it's not that exciting.The minimum spend required to get cashback is just 3,000 RUB, which is pretty low.

The only downside I can think of is that it's not a good idea to keep large sums of money on the virtual card, since there's no interest earned on the balance. Of course, there are plenty of other banks that offer better rates, but for me, the YooMoney virtual card is more about making online purchases and withdrawing funds from certain platforms.

I've been using YooMoney more out of habit than anything else, and now I can even transfer funds to other cards.

I'm not sure if I'd recommend the YooMoney virtual card to others. It's not the most exciting card out there, but it's not going to cause any problems either. If you're already using YooMoney, you might as well get the virtual card too - it's just more convenient to have both. But if you're looking for a card with amazing cashback offers or other benefits, you might want to keep looking.