[Nonstop-driver]

Hey guys, is there any card out there that offers particularly good benefits while traveling overseas?

I need to book a Euro trip for 4-5 people and while I don't need the credit, I can use the points and/ or flexi cancellation it offers.

My current Citi rewards card offers the same reward for all spends which isn't particularly great.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Nonstop-driver

Hey guys, is there any card out there that offers particularly good benefits while traveling overseas?

I need to book a Euro trip for 4-5 people and while I don't need the credit, I can use the points and/ or flexi cancellation it offers.

My current Citi rewards card offers the same reward for all spends which isn't particularly great.

The HDFC Regalia is good:

1) Priority Pass: access to lounge during travel
2) Bonus points if you book travel on the HDFC Regalia Concierge website
3) All the expenditure on the card = points = airmiles = redeem on domestic travel

I doubt credit cards can affect the booking (cancellation etc.); maybe on some co-branded cards but in general, I tend to avoid those.

[autorahul]

Originally Posted by Nonstop-driver

Hey guys, is there any card out there that offers particularly good benefits while traveling overseas?

I need to book a Euro trip for 4-5 people and while I don't need the credit, I can use the points and/ or flexi cancellation it offers.

My current Citi rewards card offers the same reward for all spends which isn't particularly great.

HDFC cards have been heavily devalued. You could check out the Yes First preferred credit card. They also have lowest foreign currency markups of all cards so you would save considerable amount.

https://www.cardexpert.in/yes-first-...iew-by-manish/

[rkg]

HDFC devalues it diners card rewards points programme
From August 15th, 2017

1. 2X points for booking through Diners website is being withdrawn
2. Rewards points can not be redeemed for recharge of mobile,DTH or movie tickets. Only hotels and Flight booking possible
3. Value of each point reduced for Diners Premium and Rewardz cards to 0.5 and 0.3 from earlier 0.75.

For Diners Black it is still 1 point = Rs 1

[Nonstop-driver]

Originally Posted by autorahul

HDFC cards have been heavily devalued. You could check out the Yes First preferred credit card. They also have lowest foreign currency markups of all cards so you would save considerable amount.

https://www.cardexpert.in/yes-first-...iew-by-manish/

Thank you for this link, have shot off a query to cardsexpert.in

[coldice4u]

I don't know if this has been answered before, but how does the surcharge on Fuel work ? And who charges it ? The bank whose machine was used for swiping or the card company?

I have a Citi IndianOil card which gives pretty good returns when swiped on a Citi machine. However this one time I happened to swipe on a non-Citi machine for Rs 1000 as I was low on fuel and it comes up as 1029 on my statement including GST on the surcharge. I called up the Citi guys for clarification and they said it was the merchant bank who charged me and not Citi. The Citi guy advised that Citi charges 1% on a non Citi machine, which still doesnt add up to my figure. They said I will need to contact the merchant bank and get the same reversed. Which sounded like a quite a bit of nonsense !

I've tried reading about the surcharges and it says that surcharges are 1%. In that case, does the bank on whose machine the card was charged still charge 2.5% surcharge ?

[rkg]

Originally Posted by coldice4u

I don't know if this has been answered before, but how does the surcharge on Fuel work ? And who charges it ? The bank whose machine was used for swiping or the card company?

I have a Citi IndianOil card which gives pretty good returns when swiped on a Citi machine. However this one time I happened to swipe on a non-Citi machine for Rs 1000 as I was low on fuel and it comes up as 1029 on my statement including GST on the surcharge. I called up the Citi guys for clarification and they said it was the merchant bank who charged me and not Citi. The Citi guy advised that Citi charges 1% on a non Citi machine, which still doesnt add up to my figure. They said I will need to contact the merchant bank and get the same reversed. Which sounded like a quite a bit of nonsense !

I've tried reading about the surcharges and it says that surcharges are 1%. In that case, does the bank on whose machine the card was charged still charge 2.5% surcharge ?

As per newspaper reports, it is Oil companies who are supposed to absorb the fuel surcharge.
But in reality all banks are imposing 1% surcharge on customers and depending upon the terms and conditions of a particular CC, this is getting waived.
But the issue here is, if Oil companies are absorbing the surcharge, why it was levied on customers again ?
Will not be a double surcharge, one paid by oil companies another by customer?

Amex does not levy any fuel surcharge, unlike other banks. These banks levy a surcharge with GST and then reverse only surcharge.
(at least in my case this is what's happening on my Amex membership rewards CC @ HPCL outlet)

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by rkg

Amex does not levy any fuel surcharge, unlike other banks. These banks levy a surcharge with GST and then reverse only surcharge.
(at least in my case this is what's happening on my Amex membership rewards CC @ HPCL outlet)

AMEX does charge extra 'convenience fee' at non-HPCL outlets (I last used at Shell in June).

[adimicra]

As per my first statement on HDFC Diners Premium card, I have not got any 10X reward points on my purchase in Amazon and Bigbasket.
Are there any finer details or terms and conditions for the 10X offer?
I have filed a complaint to understand the reason and the calculation of reward points.


As per the flash on the website http://www.hdfcbankdinersclub.com/privilege
the 10X rewards are only till July 31,2017.
So, after these are gone, there is absolutely no reason to keep this Diners card. I still don't know why I got this card in the first place. I should have done some more research.


Also, HDFC customer care sucks big time. I have used credit cards from Citi, Stan Chart, SBI and all of them have a much better customer care and netbanking experience.

I am 99% sure that I will either cancel or never use this card any more if the 10X offer is not extended.

I am seriously looking at SBI Prime and SBI Elite cards.
This time, I will do more research than last time

As per the SBICARD website,
"Get 10 Reward Points per Rs.100 spent on Dining, Groceries, Departmental stores and Movies"

What does the above mean?
Does it mean any restaurant, grocery or departmental store?
If true, it's not bad. 1 reward points = 0.25 Re.
So, basically you get a 2.5% discount on all your spends (most spends falls in this category)

[rkg]

Originally Posted by adimicra

As per my first statement on HDFC Diners Premium card, I have not got any 10X reward points on my purchase in Amazon and Bigbasket.

the 10X rewards are only till July 31,2017.

As per the SBICARD website,
"Get 10 Reward Points per Rs.100 spent on Dining, Groceries, Departmental stores and Movies"

What does the above mean?
Does it mean any restaurant, grocery or departmental store?
If true, it's not bad. 1 reward points = 0.25 Re.
So, basically you get a 2.5% discount on all your spends (most spends falls in this category)

10X points on Diners will be credited in the next month statement . It was clearly mentioned in website under terms and conditions.

With regard to SBI card or for that matter any CC, Dining, groceries, departmental stores imply specific stores not every store. This is mentioned cleverly as " merchants categorized as such by either Mastercard or Visa". One will get these 10X points only if the merchant is marked as such.
In all probability neighborhood departmental store will not be there in this list. Only multi chain departmental stores like Reliance fresh, big bazaar, More, Star bazaar etc will be there.

[libranof1987]

Massive devaluations coming up on HDFC per this:

http://www.cardexpert.in/huge-devalu...h-august-2017/

I just got my StanC Super Value Titanium card last week, will be using just for fuel and telecom bills (eligible for 5% cashback).

I fly quite often so the airmile conversion on Regalia helps; will continue it for all other purchases.

Don't think there's any premium free card now. Amex is tightening up their offers and rewards as well.

[adimicra]

My experience with HDFC Diners card premium has been pretty bad.

First of all, the customer care of HDFC is terrible and inferior compared to any other banks - SBI/Citi/Stanchart etc
Second, the Diners card is a gamble. Every time, you give it for swiping, it's a suspense whether it will be accepted or not. So far, in my experience, accpetance rate is 60% and it's an embarrassing feeling to again provide another card and spoils the experience. It also means that you have to always carry another card with you.
3rd - airport lounge access - this was one of the main reasons of taking this card as it had unlimited domestic lounge access. Now, that has been trimmed to 2 per quarter like any other card. On top of it, I tried it today at T1 plaza lounge in Delhi and it didn't work as there seems to be a problem with Diner's servers.
4th - huge devaluation. Almost every reward has been devalued. Even the reward points are worth only 0.50 Re instead of 0.75 Re.
5th - 10X reward points are gone for online shopping. This was probably the most important reason I got this card but it's already gone or going away soon.

Overall, highly dissatisfied. I have applied for SBI Prime card which I feel is the best overall card right now in India below the super premium cards like Diners black, Infinia, SBI Elite. SBI Prime has better rewards than SBI Elite for someone like me whose annual spend is expected to be around 5 Lacs. For spends of around 10 lacs or more, better to go for the super premium cards mentioned above. If anyone has a better alternative to SBI prime for spends up to 5 lacs, let me know

[autorahul]

Originally Posted by adimicra

If anyone has a better alternative to SBI prime for spends up to 5 lacs, let me know

Check out Yes Bank's Yes First Preferred Credit card. It has a better reward rate than SBI Prime, unless you use your card primarily for shopping groceries, low foreign currency markup, movie discounts and a better reward point rate (around 2% for annual spend upto 7.5 lakhs). You could get this card lifetime free too if your salary is >18 lakhs.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by adimicra

My experience with HDFC Diners card premium has been pretty bad.

First of all, the customer care of HDFC is terrible and inferior compared to any other banks - SBI/Citi/Stanchart etc
Second, the Diners card is a gamble. Every time, you give it for swiping, it's a suspense whether it will be accepted or not. So far, in my experience, accpetance rate is 60% and it's an embarrassing feeling to again provide another card and spoils the experience. It also means that you have to always carry another card with you.
3rd - airport lounge access - this was one of the main reasons of taking this card as it had unlimited domestic lounge access. Now, that has been trimmed to 2 per quarter like any other card. On top of it, I tried it today at T1 plaza lounge in Delhi and it didn't work as there seems to be a problem with Diner's servers.
4th - huge devaluation. Almost every reward has been devalued. Even the reward points are worth only 0.50 Re instead of 0.75 Re.
5th - 10X reward points are gone for online shopping. This was probably the most important reason I got this card but it's already gone or going away soon.

Overall, highly dissatisfied. I have applied for SBI Prime card which I feel is the best overall card right now in India below the super premium cards like Diners black, Infinia, SBI Elite. SBI Prime has better rewards than SBI Elite for someone like me whose annual spend is expected to be around 5 Lacs. For spends of around 10 lacs or more, better to go for the super premium cards mentioned above. If anyone has a better alternative to SBI prime for spends up to 5 lacs, let me know

I would advise going for SBI Elite. With a difference of just 2K Rs. + Taxes for a year, if you spending increases in the coming years, it would be beneficial for you. Also, there are some additional benefits between SBI Prime and Elite. You never know when you get to use those benefits.

[adimicra]

Originally Posted by autorahul

Check out Yes Bank's Yes First Preferred Credit card. It has a better reward rate than SBI Prime, unless you use your card primarily for shopping groceries, low foreign currency markup, movie discounts and a better reward point rate (around 2% for annual spend upto 7.5 lakhs). You could get this card lifetime free too if your salary is >18 lakhs.

SBI prime reward rate is 3-5%.
Assuming a mixed usage, 3.5% is very much achievable.

Read this

http://www.cardexpert.in/sbi-card-la...t-card-review/

Originally Posted by tejas08

I would advise going for SBI Elite. With a difference of just 2K Rs. + Taxes for a year, if you spending increases in the coming years, it would be beneficial for you. Also, there are some additional benefits between SBI Prime and Elite. You never know when you get to use those benefits.

The big reason to go for SBI prime is no renewal fees on spends of >3L per annum whereas for Elite, the amount is >8L.
So, for usage around 4-5L, Prime makes more sense as the overall reward rate is going to be higher for that kind of spend. Might upgrade to Elite later.
By the way, what is the easiest way to apply for SBI Prime/Elite card. I applied in their website but it is complaining for one reason or the other. Once I completed the application, but I did not get any application number