[tejas08]

Originally Posted by bhushan08

Is HDFC Infinia a better value prop than Diners? I am eligible for both. For lifetime/first year free the spend limit is higher in Infinia but feature wise does not look very different form diners club.

And anyone got the First year free on the above cards recently? I pushed my RM but he deflected

Infinia over DCB after the recent devaluation. What you are looking at are standard features. Its the Smartbuy Portal where Infinia makes a huge leap ahead of DCB with better reward multipliers & higher bonus points capping.

Almost everybody gets DCB & Infinia as First Year Free.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by Everlearner

I usually buy 10k Amazon vouchers every month using my infinia card from smartbuy.

Today I noticed that the monthly limit for buying Amazon vouchers is reduced from 10k to 5k.

First they reduced bonus reward points from 10x to 5x, now this

And today I notice they have started levying 2.5% processing charges. Looks like they want to discourage this path. At the same time, flipkart voucher limit has remained unchanged at 10K.

[gutsy]

Originally Posted by bhushan08

Is HDFC Infinia a better value prop than Diners? I am eligible for both. For lifetime/first year free the spend limit is higher in Infinia but feature wise does not look very different form diners club.

And anyone got the First year free on the above cards recently? I pushed my RM but he deflected

I have HDFC Infinia, and its lifetime free. Please push your RM appropriately.

[Tapish]

Originally Posted by gutsy

I have HDFC Infinia, and it's lifetime free. Please push your RM appropriately.

Originally Posted by tejas08

Almost everybody gets DCB & Infinia as First Year Free.

I got multiple emails from HDFC regarding a "free" Infinia metal card upgrade but my net banking upgrade page shows a charge of INR 12500 per year. The RM mentions that if I spend 3 Lakh in 90 days, I'll get a year waiver, and if I spend 10 lakh in the year, I'll get the following year's fee waiver. It doesn't add up!

[pareshraheja]

Originally Posted by Tapish

I got multiple emails from HDFC regarding a "free" Infinia metal card upgrade but my net banking upgrade page shows a charge of INR 12500 per year. The RM mentions that if I spend 3 Lakh in 90 days, I'll get a year waiver, and if I spend 10 lakh in the year, I'll get the following year's fee waiver. It doesn't add up!

The offers vary from member to member. Generally Diners renewal fees gets waived for spend of 5L and above and for Infinia it is 10L and above.

But, when I opened my HDFC Preferred Bank account and then linked my already existing Diners, I got a confirmation from my RM that the card became lifetime free albeit as long as I am a preferred Bank customer or a Imperia customer

[gutsy]

Originally Posted by Tapish

I got multiple emails from HDFC regarding a "free" Infinia metal card upgrade but my net banking upgrade page shows a charge of INR 12500 per year. The RM mentions that if I spend 3 Lakh in 90 days, I'll get a year waiver, and if I spend 10 lakh in the year, I'll get the following year's fee waiver. It doesn't add up!

I don't have the Metal Card, but regular Infinia Card. This was upgraded about two years from Regalia with no strings attached, completely LTF and no spend requirements or such. I do have Imperia with HDFC, perhaps that might be the reason. However, I am not sure.

[bhushan08]

Originally Posted by Tapish

I got multiple emails from HDFC regarding a "free" Infinia metal card upgrade but my net banking upgrade page shows a charge of INR 12500 per year.

Exact same situation. Pushed the RM hard but he refuses to make it LTF saying it can be free only basis spend.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by Tapish

I got multiple emails from HDFC regarding a "free" Infinia metal card upgrade but my net banking upgrade page shows a charge of INR 12500 per year. The RM mentions that if I spend 3 Lakh in 90 days, I'll get a year waiver, and if I spend 10 lakh in the year, I'll get the following year's fee waiver. It doesn't add up!

Understand the English here.

The *Upgrade* is free. The *Card* isnt.

Infinia Metal hasn't yet been given as LTF as far as I know. All First Year Free and Fee Waiver at 10 Lacs annual spends.

[Oxy]

Is there any way at all to speak to a human when you call the HDFC Customer Care number 18002026161?

It's really annoying to keep navigating through their IVR as per a robot's voice instructions.

[manpreetsj]

I hold LTF DCB card since 3 years. I have almost 1 Lakh points (after utlising 40K points or so); thanks to all the Amazon vouchers, smartbuy and higher spends on DCB. But party got over. Given the devaluation of DCB, my spend has drastically reduced on DCB; first it made me move to cashback card from SBI for smaller transactions and Amex for Rs2100x4 month transactions (for bonus 1K monthly points).

The devaluation is getting worse day by day. At same time, utilizing points is also becoming less lucrative. Domestic flights are the only option to effectively use these points. Even in that, MMT or other portals offer better discounts. In case of flights, smartbuy has started charging processing fees of Rs 800+ vs. flat Rs 200 earlier.

On smartbuy noticed that Hotels are priced 1.5-2x of what they are selling on Booking or Agoda. Hence, Hotels ain't an option either.

Not sure what are HDFC's plans, but they are making their customers go to alternative cards. Also, I am for sure worried about further devaluation of existing points

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by manpreetsj

I hold LTF DCB card since 3 years. I have almost 1 Lakh points (after utlising 40K points or so); thanks to all the Amazon vouchers, smartbuy and higher spends on DCB. But party got over. Given the devaluation of DCB, my spend has drastically reduced on DCB;

Not sure what are HDFC's plans, but they are making their customers go to alternative cards. Also, I am for sure worried about further devaluation of existing points

I completely agree with you. Even I have been using DCB since last 3+ years and party seems to be over for me. They initially have reduced conversion rate for Amazon GV from 0.7 to 0.5. They have reduced the reward points from 10x to 5x and now 3x/2x when Amazon GVs are brought from smartbuy. They have also reduced the total amount of GV to be brought per month from 10000 to 5000. And on top of all these things, now they are charging processing fee of 2.5%+GST when GVs are brought. So, this was the final nail in the coffin for me.
Because of all these changes, I have stopped using my DCB card for any of the purchase done from Amazon as my ICICI AP CC will give flat 5% cashback. And even for bill payments, my ICICI Amazon Pay CC gives me 2% cashback. So, I am using my DCB card only for other payments where it still offers 1.67% AP balance compared to 1% from ICICI Amazon Pay CC.

Note: I don’t use my reward points for any other purpose except for buying Amazon Pay Balance GV. So, my above observations are based on my usage alone.

[logicalidiot]

Originally Posted by kavensri

And on top of all these things, now they are charging processing fee of 2.5%+GST when GVs are brought. So, this was the final nail in the coffin for me.

Quick question, not sure if anyone tried this but I understand that the regular HDFC CC gives 5% cashback as well for Amazon purchases. Does going to Amazon through Smartbuy and then buying the gift vouchers on Amazon site give the same 5% CB? I think I have done this before but not sure if it works lately.

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by logicalidiot

Quick question, not sure if anyone tried this but I understand that the regular HDFC CC gives 5% cashback as well for Amazon purchases. Does going to Amazon through Smartbuy and then buying the gift vouchers on Amazon site give the same 5% CB? I think I have done this before but not sure if it works lately.

Yes, it still gives 3x reward points when purchased through smartbuy option. 3x reward points when converted to Amazon Pay Balance GV, it will be equivalent to 5% cashback. But I can get the same 5% cahsback from Amazon Pay ICICI CC, without going through all those hastles.

[logicalidiot]

Originally Posted by kavensri

Yes, it still gives 3x reward points when purchased through smartbuy option. 3x reward points when converted to Amazon Pay Balance GV, it will be equivalent to 5% cashback. But I can get the same 5% cahsback from Amazon Pay ICICI CC, without going through all those hastles.

Yep, even I use Amazon Pay ICICI CC for Amazon purchases. But I asked this for Amazon Pay wallet transactions on other websites/apps. Amazon ICICI gives only 2% for Amazon Pay wallet transactions (I doubt if they even give 2% as it's quite difficult to track correctly), whereas if HDFC gives me 5% CB for GVs added to Amazon Pay Wallet, I think it makes sense to purchase GVs.

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by logicalidiot

Yep, even I use Amazon Pay ICICI CC for Amazon purchases. But I asked this for Amazon Pay wallet transactions on other websites/apps. Amazon ICICI gives only 2% for Amazon Pay wallet transactions (I doubt if they even give 2% as it's quite difficult to track correctly), whereas if HDFC gives me 5% CB for GVs added to Amazon Pay Wallet, I think it makes sense to purchase GVs.

Yes, you were correct. Till last month, whatever you have mentioned above was correct. But from this month onwards, they are charging Rs147.5 when you buy Rs5000 GV from smartbuy. This translates to just about 3%. So, effectively you will end up getting 2% (5% - 3%) which is same as what you get through Amazon Pay ICICI CC bill payments.