[autorahul]

Originally Posted by adimicra

In what way is the Diners club better than Regalia?

Purely in terms of reward points. Comparing Regalia with Diner's premium, while normal rewards are equivalent, 4 points for 150 Rs, the value of those points are less in Regalia (0.60 Rs. per point) in comparison to Diner's premium (0.75).

In addition you get 10x Reward points on significant number of websites. You also get to use Buy One Get One on movie tickets twice a month, and 2X reward points at any restaurant.

Below pic from their website.


You can find more at http://www.hdfcbankdinersclub.com/

[adimicra]

Thanks everyone. Have asked for diners card.

Anyone looked at SBI prime?

[BenjiRoss]

I'm pretty much clueless about GST and credit cards. If I pay for a lot of items by credit card but always settle my card statement full due on time, do I get affected?
Will there be any extra charge at all?

[mjumrani]

Originally Posted by BenjiRoss

I'm pretty much clueless about GST and credit cards. If I pay for a lot of items by credit card but always settle my card statement full due on time, do I get affected?
Will there be any extra charge at all?

If your purchases are only in INR and always paid in full you will not be affected but if there are any yearly charges then that may rise by 3% because as of now the fee attracts 15% service tax after GST it will be 18%.

[binand]

Originally Posted by mjumrani

If your purchases are only in INR and always paid in full you will not be affected...

Well, purchases where you are charged for using the card will be affected. So fuel purchase, tickets on IRCTC, utility bill payment etc. could all get dearer because the service tax on the surcharge or gateway charges will be replaced by the GST at the rate of 18%.

[sdp1975]

I tried to make a hotel booking of 5232/- from the Tamil Nadu Tourism website www.ttdconline.com .

It's a poorly designed website , and as had I feared , my account got debited , the transaction got timed out , and there was no confirmation from the merchant ( TTDC ) side. As I was worried dealing with TTDC(it's govt owned ) , I called up Citibank within about 20 minutes and asked them to revert the amount. The support person said that she would check with another team , raise a dispute , and make a provisional credit for the amount.

What's the right procedure in these cases ? To raise a dispute with the bank or merchant ? When asked I was told that either would do , but I guess raising it with the merchant is usually the right procedure . For merchants having large volumes of online payments like Flipkart/Amazon I believe there's a strong reconciliation process and the customer doesn't lose money anyway in the end, but for the smaller merchants one has to follow up I guess ?

This was on a debit card. I think I will send a mail to TTDC on what happened so that they are informed .

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by binand

Well, purchases where you are charged for using the card will be affected. So fuel purchase, tickets on IRCTC, utility bill payment etc. could all get dearer because the service tax on the surcharge or gateway charges will be replaced by the GST at the rate of 18%.

Is there a service tax on fuel surcharge? Provided one does not get a waiver from the card issuer?

[mjumrani]

Originally Posted by binand

Well, purchases where you are charged for using the card will be affected. So fuel purchase, tickets on IRCTC, utility bill payment etc. could all get dearer because the service tax on the surcharge or gateway charges will be replaced by the GST at the rate of 18%.

Sorry missed these. IIRC there are no charges to pay utility bills.

[binand]

Originally Posted by mjumrani

IIRC there are no charges to pay utility bills.

BESCOM in Bangalore charges 1% extra for paying bills via credit card. There is a 15% service tax on that 1% which I guess will now become 18% (even though the core service of BESCOM is outside GST's purview).

[mjumrani]

Originally Posted by binand

BESCOM in Bangalore charges 1% extra for paying bills via credit card. There is a 15% service tax on that 1% which I guess will now become 18% (even though the core service of BESCOM is outside GST's purview).

You can avoid that by paying via wallets or phonepe. I have been doing that since last 6+ months. No surcharges what so ever.

[binand]

Originally Posted by mjumrani

You can avoid that by paying via wallets or phonepe. I have been doing that since last 6+ months. No surcharges what so ever.

Yes yes... that wasn't the point though. The point was that whether utility bill payments could be affected by GST. I only pointed out that it could.

I pay my BESCOM bill via my bank's netbanking/bill-pay facility for the past 6 years or so. No charges there. But BESCOM does not accept payments via third-party channels 2-3 days before the actual due date of the bill (ie, if the due date is 10th then bill pay via netbanking closes on 7th or 8th).

Lastly, I wouldn't touch any of these wallets or phonepes as of today. There is no way I could be satisfied of the security and privacy controls they employ.

[govigov]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

This was on a debit card. I think I will send a mail to TTDC on what happened so that they are informed .

When in doubt in situations like these, use credit card. They can do a charge back to the merchant and then it would be merchants responsibility to show the transaction.

In case of debit cards, I guess, after a provisional charge and an investigation, they would debit the money back to you. It would take time, but I would not count on it.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by adimicra

Thanks everyone. Have asked for diners card.

Anyone looked at SBI prime?

I am using SBI Elite for over two years now. A level above Prime with same + added benefits.

Do check it out too if looking at prime.

[adimicra]

Originally Posted by tejas08

I am using SBI Elite for over two years now. A level above Prime with same + added benefits.

Do check it out too if looking at prime.

SBI prime is a level below Elite but seems to offer better or similar benefits
as per the review below -
http://www.cardexpert.in/sbi-card-la...t-card-review/


Did you have to pay joining fees or renewal fees? Any chances of waiver based on spend?
How is you overall experience with the SBI Elite card? Any comparison with other cards like HDFC Regalia?

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by adimicra

SBI prime is a level below Elite but seems to offer better or similar benefits
as per the review below -
http://www.cardexpert.in/sbi-card-la...t-card-review/


Did you have to pay joining fees or renewal fees? Any chances of waiver based on spend?
How is you overall experience with the SBI Elite card? Any comparison with other cards like HDFC Regalia?

Paid Joining fees, but got Gift Vouchers against those. Paying the Renewal fees too. There was no waiver earlier, but now its introduced. A little ridiculous though. 10 Lacs Annual spends and you get Fees waiver. What I do is encash the reward points that I earn to get the waiver and some additional monetary benefits. In Reward Points encashment, I get around 12-13K annually apart from the other benefits of free tickets, petrol surcharge waiver etc.

I dont have any experience with HDFC Regalia. So can't comment.