[prateekm]

Is it possible to get a waiver via call centre/support on yearly fees for SBI Prime card if you haven't spent the minimum amount required for a waiver? Have a renewal coming up this month and haven't spent over 3L in a year to be eligible for a waiver as this is my secondary card.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by prateekm

Is it possible to get a waiver via call centre/support on yearly fees for SBI Prime card if you haven't spent the minimum amount required for a waiver? Have a renewal coming up this month and haven't spent over 3L in a year to be eligible for a waiver as this is my secondary card.

Highly unlikely in SBI Cards. But give it a shot. You never know it might work. You could use the excuse of Lockdown not letting you spend and all

[warrioraks]

HDFC released their 10X offer details for June with a few downgrades.
Now you just get 5X on Amazon and 3X on Flipkart. Gyftr instant vouchers continue to reward 10X.
Also Diners card customers can accumulate max 7500 points per month as compared to 15000 per month which was the norm earlier.

DCB still remains attractive via-a-vis the annual fees charged. However these downgrades will certainly pinch everyone (like me) who were spoilt by the appealing terms and conditions till now.

[AnandB]

Yeah, just came to say that. 10x reward points from Amazon was my goto and am very spoiled by it. It's finally over Similarly Infinia is reduced to 15k points maximum per month.

[naveenvenkatesh]

I came across a strange rule with my ICICI bank credit card today. I was trying to book Sunday mattresses since yesterday night. My first transaction was denied. I got an SMS from the bank telling me that the amount was withheld due to security reason and i am supposed to call customer care.

In the morning i called their customer care. The lady on the line told me it was a server error and i can try again after 10 mins. I tried after 30 mins but still my transaction were getting denied.I must have tried about 6-7 times.The transactions were getting denied everytime.

I called their customer care again. This time a different lady explain that ICICI bank have instituted a new policy during this time where they have categorised merchants and set limits on how much credit can be used against. For Sundayrest, the limit was 15K per day and max of 25K per week. The mattress i was buying was 27K, so go figure. I asked if there was any intimation of this to their customer. She said it was communicated but i don't remember reading anything along these lines. She also said there was no information on when this policy will be withdrawn. So even though i have a credit limit of 3,60,000, i am not allowed to use it because of this current corona situation. So much for kick starting the economy!

Can a bank make such unilateral decision? I don't remember the RBI have any such mandate. Infact, RBI is pushing banks to lend more (both private and public)

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by warrioraks

HDFC released their 10X offer details for June with a few downgrades.
Now you just get 5X on Amazon and 3X on Flipkart. Gyftr instant vouchers continue to reward 10X.
Also Diners card customers can accumulate max 7500 points per month as compared to 15000 per month which was the norm earlier.

DCB still remains attractive via-a-vis the annual fees charged. However these downgrades will certainly pinch everyone (like me) who were spoilt by the appealing terms and conditions till now.

Very irritating indeed all these downgrades.

In your opinion which is the better card, Diners or Infinia? I know Infinia is of a higher level than Regalia but am not sure about its comparo with Diners.

Or is Axis Bank Burgundy Superior to all these?

I do not use Amex.

I prefer staying with our Indian Banks Credit cards.

Indeed I am going to go one step further and switch one of my Visa cards to Rupay, so that the interchange fee also stays in India instead of going to the US.

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

In your opinion which is the better card, Diners or Infinia?

It depends on the spending pattern. I currently have Diners and would go for Infinia only if I anticipate hitting the reward point accumulation ceiling. Considering the current scenario and restructured 10x offers, I don't feel the need to go for it.

Not sure about Axis or Amex cards as I have stuck to Citi and HDFC ever since. Hopefully someone else on the forum (Tejas08 for sure ) will have a good answer to this.

Adding to my previous post - BigBasket has been removed from Instant Vouchers section. Atleast for me, that reduces the use of instant vouchers considerably.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by naveenvenkatesh

She said it was communicated but i don't remember reading anything along these lines. She also said there was no information on when this policy will be withdrawn. So even though i have a credit limit of 3,60,000, i am not allowed to use it because of this current corona situation. So much for kick starting the economy!

Can a bank make such unilateral decision? I don't remember the RBI have any such mandate. Infact, RBI is pushing banks to lend more (both private and public)

I have 3 credit cards and have not received any such intimation. This sounds ICICI specific, Amex told me they have frozen increasing credit limits so that's happening.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by naveenvenkatesh

Can a bank make such unilateral decision? I don't remember the RBI have any such mandate. Infact, RBI is pushing banks to lend more (both private and public)

I use an ICICI Rubyx card and haven't come across any such communication. But I haven't made a big purchase also recently, so don't know if it applies in my case or not.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Very irritating indeed all these downgrades.

In your opinion which is the better card, Diners or Infinia? I know Infinia is of a higher level than Regalia but am not sure about its comparo with Diners.

Or is Axis Bank Burgundy Superior to all these?

I do not use Amex.

I prefer staying with our Indian Banks Credit cards.

Indeed I am going to go one step further and switch one of my Visa cards to Rupay, so that the interchange fee also stays in India instead of going to the US.

Devaluation are a part of the credit card life cycle. HDFC has just spoilt people so badly that they forget this. The 10X has been one of the longest running bonus points program of this size from any credit card issuer. 33.3% Reward Rate is no joke. At some point, HDFC or its partners are bound to say no.

Anyway, coming to your query on which is better, Diners Black or Infinia?

About two months back, I would have said Diners Black and I would still like to maintain my stand with the assumption that the Diners 10X Program is stopped only temporarily and will be back once this Covid episode is in control and things get back to normal.

Now how to decide which one to apply for?

There used to be very little to differentiate between them. But given the current circumstances (Devaluation, Card Acceptability), Infinia comes out on top. The ownership cost of Infinia is about 1800 Rs. even if you done spend a single Rupee due to the 10,0000 Bonus points against Annual Fee.

Axis Burgundy Credit card with is Rs. 50,000 + Taxes annual fee looks dull in front of the Amex Platinum Charge Card. The only positive side of this card is zero forex mark-up and 0% charges on cash withdrawal which I feel any serious credit card reward milking guy would stay away from cash withdrawal through credit card.

I respect your sentiment with regards to the country and the revenue staying within the country, but RuPay has a long way to go. Acceptance of RuPay too isn't anywhere near to Amex or Diners, leave alone Visa or Mastercard.

While I am patriotic, I will expect RuPay to step up to the biggies than I letting go of all the rewards that I will be making through usage credit cards.

In fact, in my whole credit and debit card list, I dont have a single RuPay card but I have Visa, Mastercard, Diners & Amex.

Originally Posted by warrioraks

Not sure about Axis or Amex cards as I have stuck to Citi and HDFC ever since. Hopefully someone else on the forum (Tejas08 for sure ) will have a good answer to this.

Originally Posted by warrioraks

Adding to my previous post - BigBasket has been removed from Instant Vouchers section. Atleast for me, that reduces the use of instant vouchers considerably.

Yes, its been removed for a while now. I am sticking to buying Amazon Vouchers worth 5000 Rs every month. It pays my utility bills with a 33.3% reward rate. Now thinking about Flipkart 5000 Rs voucher too. Rest will be dependent on things I am ordering online or where I am shopping.

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by tejas08

The ownership cost of Infinia is about 1800 Rs. even if you done spend a single Rupee due to the 10,0000 Bonus points against Annual Fee.

Can you elaborate please?

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by tejas08

I am sticking to buying Amazon Vouchers worth 5000 Rs every month. It pays my utility bills with a 33.3% reward rate.

Are you sure of getting 10x while paying utility bills? I have my doubts and use the 5000 voucher only for shopping on Amazon. See point 6 in the pic.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by v1p3r

Can you elaborate please?

Seems like I had some typo errors in my earlier post.

What I was trying to say is that even if you dont spend a single Rupee on Infinia, the ownership cost will only be 1800 Rs (GST on Annual Fee) as 10,000 Points will be given against the Annual Fee.

But then again who keeps an Infinia without using it.

The breakeven on regular spends would be Rs. 54,000 and on 10X, it would be Rs. 5,400.

Originally Posted by warrioraks

Are you sure of getting 10x while paying utility bills? I have my doubts and use the 5000 voucher only for shopping on Amazon. See point 6 in the pic.

I did not realise that clause. But then again, how is HDFC going to know once Amazon Pay is loaded with the Gift Card. I add to Amazon Pay via Amex too plus I order so many things via Amazon. I feel that statement is just a bluff from Amazon.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by tejas08

I did not realise that clause. But then again, how is HDFC going to know once Amazon Pay is loaded with the Gift Card. I add to Amazon Pay via Amex too plus I order so many things via Amazon. I feel that statement is just a bluff from Amazon.

It's not bluff. Amazon Pay does not allow any payment through it with amazon pay balance, except @ Amazon.
For all other categories of payments like scan n pay, bill pay etc Amazon Pay wants to one to link a bank account for UPI transfer.

[mukeshgoel]

Originally Posted by rkg

It's not bluff. Amazon Pay does not allow any payment through it with amazon pay balance, except @ Amazon.
For all other categories of payments like scan n pay, bill pay etc Amazon Pay wants to one to link a bank account for UPI transfer.

Almost all utility bills can be paid by Amazon pay balance using Amazon app or Amazon on web through their own interface.

https://www.amazon.in/gp/sva/dashboard?ref_=nav_cs_apay

I agree for scan n pay, you need UPI transfer.