CUB SalarySe Level UP vs IOB SalarySe Rise UP (2026)
IOB SalarySe Rise UP vs CUB SalarySe Level UP: which wins?
₹69,600ranking value a year at ₹3L a month, to CUB SalarySe Level UP
Skip the duel — the board, ranked → · nothing to sign up for
Same points, and neither card transfers anywhere — the redemption catalogue is the ceiling for both, so this one is decided on earn and fee, nothing else: 1.0% at ₹500/yr against 0.4% at ₹299 once to join.
CUB SalarySe Level UP out-earns IOB SalarySe Rise UP at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
Every metric, row by row — 12 compared
Head to head
| CUB SalarySe Level UP | Metric | IOB SalarySe Rise UP |
|---|---|---|
| #441 | Our rank | not confirmed |
| ₹500/yr | Fee — joining · annual (+ GST) | ₹0/yr · ₹299 joining (one-time) — wins this row |
| ₹2,00,000 spend | Fee waiver | None |
| 1% of the transaction amount on the PAID/physical card — a quarter of the 3.5% Indian norm, and half the 2% CUB charges on the lifetime-free virtual variant of the same product — wins this row | Forex markup | 2% of the transaction amount + GST — a point and a half under India's 3.5% norm, and half a point under IOB's own unsecured RuPay and Visa range at 2.50% |
| 3.5%/mo (42%/yr) on extended credit and on cash advances alike | APR | 42%/yr (3.5%/mo, compounding) on both purchases and cash advances; EMI interest 30%/yr |
| 1.0% — wins this row | Headline earn rate | 0.4% |
| SalarySe SCoins | Currency | SalarySe SCoins |
| ₹0.20/pt † | House value | ₹0.20/pt † |
| None published — neither the KFS nor the reward document carries a welcome or activation benefit. | Welcome benefit | Not published — IOB and SalarySe state no joining, activation or first-transaction bonus in the card's MITC |
| 17 of 793 — wins this row | Lounge doors opened | 0 of 793 |
| None published in the KFS or the MITC | Income — salaried | not published |
| None published in the KFS or the MITC | Income — self-employed | not published |
† CUB SalarySe Level UP: Priced by the programme rather than inferred. CUB's reward document states the exchange outright — "1 Reward Point(RP) shall be equivalent to 1 SCoin, and 5 Scoins shall be equivalent to ₹1" — so an SCoin is 20 paise, flat, with no better redemption to find: they are spendable only inside the SalarySe app, on gift vouchers from 200+ brands, cash conversion or merchant offers, and they expire 18 months from the date they are earned. That is why every rate on this page is a fifth of the number CUB's own marketing prints.
† IOB SalarySe Rise UP: The rate is the programme's, not IOB's. Indian Overseas Bank publishes the Scoin rungs and the 18-month expiry and never says what a Scoin is worth; SalarySe's other issuing bank does, in the reward document for the same coin — "1 Reward Point(RP) shall be equivalent to 1 SCoin, and 5 Scoins shall be equivalent to ₹1". Twenty paise, flat, with no better redemption to chase: Scoins buy brand vouchers inside the SalarySe app, IOB's own MITC says they "cannot be redeemed on the IOB Portal", and they expire after 18 months.
Gold marks the better side of a row. House value is our ₹-per-point mark for each card's currency — the full valuation index →
The ₹ face-off at ₹1L/₹3L/₹5L a month
Ranking-value face-off
Everyday spend at each card's base rate plus a realistic ~20% at its best accelerator (less for narrow or capped boosters) — milestones, fee waivers and the redemption haircut all at our house ₹/point. That's why the biggest headline rate doesn't automatically win. This is the ranking model, the one that orders the board; each card page prints the earn-rate-only net annual value instead, which reads lower for any card with an accelerator (both models, side by side). Tune it to your own spend in the calculator.
CUB SalarySe Level UP out-earns IOB SalarySe Rise UP at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
How the gap moves with spend — a 20-step sweep from ₹0.25L to ₹5L/month
How the gap moves with spend
CUB SalarySe Level UP leads at all 20 steps, but not by the same amount: ₹1,500 at ₹0.25L a month, ₹75,600 at ₹5L — the gap fans out with spend, widest at ₹5L (₹75,600).
IOB SalarySe Rise UP runs a 1.0% booster on SalarySe-routed spend past ₹10,000 in a billing month, where CUB SalarySe Level UP earns one flat rate; IOB SalarySe Rise UP charges ₹299 once at issuance and nothing to renew.
CUB SalarySe Level UP draws above the line, IOB SalarySe Rise UP below · ₹0.25L to ₹5L a month, step by step
| Monthly spend | CUB SalarySe Level UP | IOB SalarySe Rise UP | In front |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹0.25L | ₹3,600 | ₹2,100 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹1,500 |
| ₹0.5L | ₹9,600 | ₹4,200 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹5,400 |
| ₹0.75L | ₹15,600 | ₹6,300 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹9,300 |
| ₹1L | ₹21,600 | ₹8,400 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹13,200 |
| ₹1.25L | ₹27,600 | ₹10,500 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹17,100 |
| ₹1.5L | ₹33,600 | ₹12,600 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹21,000 |
| ₹1.75L | ₹39,600 | ₹14,700 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹24,900 |
| ₹2L | ₹45,600 | ₹16,800 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹28,800 |
| ₹2.25L | ₹51,600 | ₹18,900 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹32,700 |
| ₹2.5L | ₹57,600 | ₹21,000 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹36,600 |
| ₹2.75L | ₹63,600 | ₹23,100 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹40,500 |
| ₹3L | ₹69,600 | ₹25,200 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹44,400 |
| ₹3.25L | ₹75,600 | ₹27,300 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹48,300 |
| ₹3.5L | ₹81,600 | ₹29,400 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹52,200 |
| ₹3.75L | ₹87,600 | ₹31,500 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹56,100 |
| ₹4L | ₹93,600 | ₹33,600 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹60,000 |
| ₹4.25L | ₹99,600 | ₹35,700 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹63,900 |
| ₹4.5L | ₹1,05,600 | ₹37,800 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹67,800 |
| ₹4.75L | ₹1,11,600 | ₹39,900 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹71,700 |
| ₹5L | ₹1,17,600 | ₹42,000 | CUB SalarySe Level UP by ₹75,600 |
Transfer reach — 0 shared live routes
Transfer reach
Both cards earn SalarySe SCoins, so the partner list is identical — 0 live transfer routes each. The fight is decided on earn and fees, not reach.
Full route maps on each card page, best ₹/point routes on the optimizer →
What to watch out for — 6 points
What to watch out for
CUB SalarySe Level UP · 5 more →
- DIVIDE THE MARKETING PAGE BY FIVE. CUB writes each tier as a SCoin count with a percent sign after it, and its own reward document sets five SCoins to the rupee — the "5% / 10% / 37.5% rewards" tiers are worth 1%, 2% and 7.5%
- SCoins redeem only inside the SalarySe app — no bank statement credit, no transfer partner, no airline — and they expire 18 months from the date they are earned
- The lounge visits arrive one a month and only if that cycle's bill tops ₹10,000 — each pass then expires in 30 days, so they cannot be banked for a trip
IOB SalarySe Rise UP · 5 more →
- IOB itself never prices a Scoin. The 20 paise this page values one at comes from the same SalarySe programme's other issuing bank, which publishes the exchange as five Scoins to the rupee — if IOB ever states a different rate for its own edition, every figure here moves
- Scoins redeem only inside the SalarySe app for brand vouchers — IOB's own MITC says they 'cannot be redeemed on the IOB Portal'
- Base earn is ZERO on UPI apps other than SalarySe, and on railways, fuel, rent, government services, insurance, education, contracted services, agriculture, transportation and transit, telecom and post office
The call
For the ₹1L/month spender, CUB SalarySe Level UP nets ₹21,600 against ₹8,400 — a ₹13,200 gap. At ₹5L/month, CUB SalarySe Level UP nets ₹1,17,600 against ₹42,000 — a ₹75,600 gap. Lounge chasers: CUB SalarySe Level UP opens 17 of 793 tracked doors to IOB SalarySe Rise UP's 0.
Our standing verdicts: CUB SalarySe Level UP — Keep; IOB SalarySe Rise UP — Keep. CUB SalarySe Level UP takes 6 of the 7 rounds we can score — that's the overall call. Your spend pattern can overrule us: run your exact numbers →
Common questions — 5 answered
Straight answers
Which is better, CUB SalarySe Level UP or IOB SalarySe Rise UP?
CUB SalarySe Level UP. CUB SalarySe Level UP takes 6 of the 7 rounds we can score. CUB SalarySe Level UP out-earns IOB SalarySe Rise UP at every spend level we model, from ₹25k to ₹5L a month.
CUB SalarySe Level UP or IOB SalarySe Rise UP — which earns more at ₹3L a month?
At ₹3L a month, CUB SalarySe Level UP nets ₹69,600 against ₹25,200 — a ₹44,400 gap. Those are ranking-value figures: everyday spend at the card's base rate plus a realistic slice at its best accelerator, net of the fee.
Which costs less to hold, CUB SalarySe Level UP or IOB SalarySe Rise UP?
IOB SalarySe Rise UP — ₹0/yr · ₹299 joining (one-time) against ₹500/yr. CUB SalarySe Level UP waives its fee at ₹2,00,000 of spend; IOB SalarySe Rise UP at no spend level — there is no waiver.
Which gets you into more airport lounges, CUB SalarySe Level UP or IOB SalarySe Rise UP?
Lounge chasers: CUB SalarySe Level UP opens 17 of 793 tracked doors to IOB SalarySe Rise UP's 0. Visit quotas, guest charges and spend gates are per card — the lounge map carries each one.
How current is this comparison?
Card records last re-verified against their issuers' own documents: CUB SalarySe Level UP on 2026-09-13, IOB SalarySe Rise UP on 2026-08-17. Every figure on this page — the ranking values, the fee rows, the lounge counts, the transfer ratios — is recomputed from those records each time the site builds, so a devaluation changes the call the day we log it.
Verified against City Union Bank and Indian Overseas Bank / SalarySe's own documents on · the ranking model, at our house ₹/point
Every document behind this page — 7 of them, each with the day we read it
- official Key Fact Statement — the two-variant fee table, the 1% and 2% foreign-currency fees, 42% interest, and the surcharge lines on rent, fuel, utilities and gaming
- official CUB's own reward-structure document — the SCoin tiers, the five-SCoins-to-a-rupee exchange rate, the 18-month expiry and the RuPay lounge rule
- official The card's product page — the twelve lounge visits, the 1% foreign rate on the physical card and 2% on the virtual, and the reward tiers as CUB advertises them
- official The lounge list CUB publishes for this card — the curated domestic rooms the twelve visits open
- official Most Important Terms & Conditions — the interest-free window and the shared-limit rule across cards
- official IOB's Most Important Terms and Conditions for the SalarySe Rise UP card — the two-variant fee table, the 2% forex markup and the full Scoins earning structure
- official IOB's credit-card page — where the SalarySe Rise UP MITC is published, and the secured-card route for applicants without a 700 CIBIL score