[AnandB]

Originally Posted by tejas08

Lot of Flak for HDFC Credit Cards & Smartbuy since Amazon has gone. Strange that people consider Smartbuy = Amazon

There are tons of other options for using reward multipliers on HDFC Smartbuy. Just that, earlier it was a one-stop shop @ Amazon, now people will have to take a look at Instant vouchers section for multiple stores / brands instead of one-stop shop.

Electronics - Croma, Vijay Sales, Reliance Retail
Clothing - Myntra, Reliance Trends, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and many more
Groceries - Big Basket, Big Bazaar, Blinkit
Swiggy for Food Ordering
IRCTC
Redbus
Hotels
Flights

At least I dont see a reason to quit using HDFC Cards yet.

Originally Posted by kavensri

Except for Big Basket, none of the above listed stores are relevant for me. And even in BB, the last time when I checked, there was an offer of mere Rs30 when paid through payzapp.
Again, for people who shop from the above stores may still find smartbuy beneficial, but not for me.

I too am with Kavensri here. My main usage was buying from Amazon and mobiles from Flipkart. First they reduced the %, then limited the maximum points you can get per transaction and now removed Amazon all together. The points i would get i would use for flight booking. So for me Infinia has become a far cry for what it was and very limited usage. Maybe Magnus is now better for points accumulation and redemption?

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by tejas08

You seem to be either living a life of a monk or you get some super benefits from some other places if none of these brands are beneficial for you via Smartbuy.

I admire your deep knowledge on credit cards, and I do follow you on twitter as well to learn a thing or two about the credit cards.
One thing I wanted to mention here is, not everyone wants to lead the same lifestyle as yours. Everyone will have different priorities and lead their life accordingly.
You may like to do lot of air travel, stay at hotels, and eat out at restaurants. But I am exactly opposite to you.
I do spend a lot of money, but mostly on some other things which does not require usage of credit card.
Finally, I consider myself as an ‘upper middle-class person’ and not leading a life of a monk, okay 😊

[lordtottuu]

What a complete dumpster fire with Amazon and Smartbuy! Accumulating points through Amazon was the entire reason I went the DCB → Infinia → Infinite metal route.

I think I'll just use the Amazon ICICI card instead now. 5% direct cashback beats 3.3% in points, considering we don't know when the points will be devalued.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I can personally vouch for the fact that the Infinia Golf Program is simply superb. Ive been on this Infinia Metal for quite a while now.
...
Ive been playing golf almost every single week using the Infinia’s unlimited golf benefit.
All that is needed is reasonable planning, say 5-6 days ahead of the proposed round and this is not at all difficult if you are a part of a regular group of keen golfers.

Would appreciate a little more insight into this. The card's brochure says green fee waiver but I don't know what that means, haha! What sort of charges are levied for a visit? Thanks!

[shankar.balan]

You have to make the booking by emailing the smartbuy infinia support people atleast 3-4 clear days before your desired round. Indicating your name and date of birth and card no first 8 digits and last 4 digits and your registered mobile number. You have to indicate the date and time of the desired round and of course which course you want to book at.
They will confirm back to you, usually 2 days prior to the date of the round.
The deal with this is no green fee. But in case the club in question levies some kind of Covid surcharge then you ll have to pay that. And if they charge additional for use of a buggy you ll have to pay that. Of course you ll have to pay the caddy and his tip as well. And if you consume any food or drinks or similar then you will need to pay for that as well.
So effectively what you get is a Green Fee Waiver.
But this in itself is well worth it.

Because green fees at some of the golf resort type clubs here in India are on par with if not more than what one may pay for a good resort course in the US or UK or Australia or wherever.

As an example Prestige Golfshire in Bangalore Green fees on weekdays is around 4000 or so. And weekends it may cost around 8500 or so. But if you book Prestige on a weekday using Infinia you will have to pay those Covid charges etc of about 1500. And on weekends you will have to pay more, perhaps around 3500.

But not all golf courses have such high green fees. So you can call and check around and take your pick before booking.

Originally Posted by lordtottuu

Would appreciate a little more insight into this. The card's brochure says green fee waiver but I don't know what that means, haha! What sort of charges are levied for a visit? Thanks!

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by AnandB

I too am with Kavensri here. My main usage was buying from Amazon and mobiles from Flipkart. First they reduced the %, then limited the maximum points you can get per transaction and now removed Amazon all together. The points i would get i would use for flight booking. So for me Infinia has become a far cry for what it was and very limited usage. Maybe Magnus is now better for points accumulation and redemption?

Thats completely your decision to use Infinia or not. I just showed all the basic options possible with Infinia. Why I say basics is there are options way beyond this too.

Croma does price match with Flipkart and Amazon. Add to it, the Croma Vouchers route, u bypass the daily limit set on 5X on Electronics. For Clothing, I anyhow go to a brick & mortar store and I suppose most people still do. So lot of options there.

I have mentioned this earlier too. Some hacks are just too big to publish anywhere. It is for people to find out on their own and hope that those hacks / loopholes dont get plugged by banks. Such hacks exist on Infinia so much that even Fuel spends comes under 5X. No its not just HPCL Gift Card purchase from Amazon or Amazon GV from Instant Vouchers. Much beyond that.

Since you redeem points for Flights, thats 16.67% Reward rate on Fuel.

Same reward rate I get on all of the following payments every month

Electricity
Landline
Mobile (Postpaid & Prepaid)
Insurance Premium
Gas Bill
Fuel

Rest of the options of Smartbuy are anyhow used on need basis thru the year.

Originally Posted by kavensri

I admire your deep knowledge on credit cards, and I do follow you on twitter as well to learn a thing or two about the credit cards.
One thing I wanted to mention here is, not everyone wants to lead the same lifestyle as yours. Everyone will have different priorities and lead their life accordingly.
You may like to do lot of air travel, stay at hotels, and eat out at restaurants. But I am exactly opposite to you.
I do spend a lot of money, but mostly on some other things which does not require usage of credit card.
Finally, I consider myself as an ‘upper middle-class person’ and not leading a life of a monk, okay ��

Living Like a Monk in current times would actually be a compliment unless you are co-relating monk = miser given that you want to respond first without giving due consideration to my points.

Yes, all HDFC Cards have been impacted badly (Except Infinia). Details about what can be achieved using Infinia has already been mentioned above.

If I wanted to showcase my knowledge, I would have started a blog of my own first. And contrary to the belief of my luxurious lifestyle, I dont pay for any of those. My credit card reward points pay for it. I dont even consider myself upper middle class.

All I can say is that people ignoring Smartbuy because of Amazon exit when holding a DCB or Infinia might lose out a lot of things.

Rest, the more people stop using DCB / Infinia on Smartbuy, the better for the likes of me as it drives away next set of devaluation which is anyhow inevitable.

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by tejas08

Living Like a Monk in current times would actually be a compliment unless you are co-relating monk = miser given that you want to respond first without giving due consideration to my points.

Why did you assume that I responded to your message without giving any considerations to your points? If that was the case, I would not have praised you for your knowledge on these things.

Originally Posted by tejas08

If I wanted to showcase my knowledge, I would have started a blog of my own first. And contrary to the belief of my luxurious lifestyle, I dont pay for any of those. My credit card reward points pay for it. I dont even consider myself upper middle class.

I genuinely praised you for your knowledge on these things and I never meant that you were showcasing your knowledge.
Also, I am not that kind of a person who do likes to travel, stay at hotel and eat out, even if it comes free to me.

Originally Posted by tejas08

All I can say is that people ignoring Smartbuy because of Amazon exit when holding a DCB or Infinia might lose out a lot of things.

You keep talking about many tricks to fool the system to get more reward points. And I can understand that you don't want to share those tricks with anyone else here and that is fine. But for me, unless I find those tricks, ICICI AP CC gives more cashback compared to DB CC.

Originally Posted by tejas08

Rest, the more people stop using DCB / Infinia on Smartbuy, the better for the likes of me as it drives away next set of devaluation which is anyhow inevitable.

I still feel privileged to be part of this forum as most of the members in this forum here have the mentality to help each other.

[shashank.nk]

Is Regalia better than Millenia post devaluation ? I opened a HDFC account recently and I initially got offers for a Millenia card, told my RM I'm not keen on Millenia and asked for a Regalia card instead. Millenia has a flat 5% cashback on some websites and 1% on all other spends, whereas Regalia is in terms of reward points, 4 for each 150 spent. No idea which works out better.

I don't use credit card for any big ticket spends and the reward points aren't enough to buy anything valuable. I got a ICICI AP CC and that's very useful as most online purchases are on Amazon. The only reason to get a HDFC card is for those cashbacks when buying phones and not much else.

The last few pages have been about the devaluation of all HDFC cards so if both are no good I'll skip the credit card from HDFC.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by tejas08

even Fuel spends comes under 5X. No its not just HPCL Gift Card purchase from Amazon or Amazon GV from Instant Vouchers. Much beyond that.

Is it allowed to use the Flipkart gift card purchased with 5X reward points in Smartbuy and then in Flipkart, the gift card shall be used to buy HP pay or BPCL digital gift cards?

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

Is it allowed to use the Flipkart gift card purchased with 5X reward points in Smartbuy and then in Flipkart, the gift card shall be used to buy HP pay or BPCL digital gift cards?

No. Flipkart doesnt allow wallet money to be used for purchasing other gift cards.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by tejas08

.

Quoting for attention.

I need some help please. Out of the blue, I got an email from SBI credit card with a statement attached (amount payable = Rs 0). However, I do not have an SBI card, and neither have I applied for one recently. In fact, I have not applied for ANY card recently.

The email id - Statements@sbicard.com - looks genuine enough.

The customer care ID mentioned in the email is incorrect and my mail to them bounced with the following message

The response from the remote server was:
550 5.4.1 Recipient address rejected: Access denied. AS(201806281)

I tried calling the helpline numbers, but all of them need the credit card number to proceed which I do not have obviously.

What should I do next?

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Quoting for attention.

I need some help please. Out of the blue, I got an email from SBI credit card with a statement attached (amount payable = Rs 0). However, I do not have an SBI card, and neither have I applied for one recently. In fact, I have not applied for ANY card recently.

The email id - Statements@sbicard.com - looks genuine enough.

The customer care ID mentioned in the email is incorrect and my mail to them bounced with the following message



I tried calling the helpline numbers, but all of them need the credit card number to proceed which I do not have obviously.

What should I do next?

- Check CIBIL for enquiry from SBI in the recent past or any SBI Card account showing up.
- Since you wont be able to get in touch with Customer Support over phone without Card number, forward the email to customercare@sbicard.com asking for further details on the same as you have never applied for an SBI Card.

If they do not respond, you may have to escalate to confirm that the card is not under your name.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by Eddy

I need some help please. Out of the blue, I got an email from SBI credit card with a statement attached (amount payable = Rs 0). However, I do not have an SBI card, and neither have I applied for one recently. In fact, I have not applied for ANY card recently.

Generally statements are password protected with specific requirements like customer ID or four letters of your name with DOB, etc. By using the specified password, are you are able to open the PDF statement? In the statement, is your address, email ID, mobile number are all correct?

Please use the website https://www.sbicard.com/en/contact-us/personal.page and send a email that card is issued without your application and ask for investigation. Or file a written complaint via registered post.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by tejas08

- Check CIBIL for enquiry from SBI in the recent past or any SBI Card account showing up.
- Since you wont be able to get in touch with Customer Support over phone without Card number, forward the email to customercare@sbicard.com asking for further details on the same as you have never applied for an SBI Card.

If they do not respond, you may have to escalate to confirm that the card is not under your name.

Thanks. Checking. Also, the email went through this time. I have a ticket number, so that is some relief.

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

Generally statements are password protected with specific requirements like customer ID or four letters of your name with DOB, etc. By using the specified password, are you are able to open the PDF statement? In the statement, is your address, email ID, mobile number are all correct?

Please use the website https://www.sbicard.com/en/contact-us/personal.page and send a email that card is issued without your application and ask for investigation. Or file a written complaint via registered post.

Yup, it's DoB + last 4 digits of the card number. I only have the last 2, courtesy the statement email.

PS: It could be as simple as a mistake in the email ID of the actual card holder. I am hoping that is the case. Let's see.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Yup, it's DoB + last 4 digits of the card number. I only have the last 2, courtesy the statement email.

PS: It could be as simple as a mistake in the email ID of the actual card holder. I am hoping that is the case. Let's see.

One thought: With your DOB and missing next 2 digits (as you know last 2 digits) at max it is 100 password combinations (DOB+(00-99)+Known 2 digits) to try brute force algorithm to open the file, isn't it? If the file is not opening in those attempts, it means the chances are little more that this may be an email ID error as your DOB is not matching.

[Mumbaiker]

Originally Posted by Eddy

PS: It could be as simple as a mistake in the email ID of the actual card holder. I am hoping that is the case. Let's see.

Thats the first thing that comes to my mind. If you are using a gmail id with a "." and the other persons email id is without a ".", that email still might land in your mail box. I have been receiving Vodafone bill emails for someone with a similar name. (abc.def@gmail.com and abcdef@gmail.com)