[tejas08]

Originally Posted by mail.jaiswal

Hi everyone,

I have been a very passive user of credit cards with fairly low usage. I have the HDFC regalia, icici rubyx, Citibank Indian Oil credit card and Amazon ICICI card.

Off late, have been intrigued by the Axis magnus and HDFC DCB. Very interested in magnus due to its airmiles conversion and the objective is travel domestically with wife and son. As per my belief, 25k miles should be good enough for a return trip from blr-mum for all 3 of us.

This can be achieved by the 1lakh spend per calendar month. However, my current credit card expenses are around 20-30k, with occasional larger spends on car service, medical policy renewal, vacation travel within India, etc. of about 30-40k every alternate month.

Can others who are using axis magnus highlight ways in which they are able to attain the monthly limit of 1lkah. I know the Amazon balance route, but i believe wallet recharge don't get counted in the milestone calculations.

In terms of the eligibility, i meet the criteria for magnus and DCB comfortably. Any comments on my dilemma above, please feel to pen down. Thanks in advance.

Or would you rather recommend that i skip the temptation of the magnus as it's not meant for spenders like me.

Check if you are moving all your spends on to Credit Cards. Thats where people underestimate.

Except SIPs, MF Investments, Loan EMIs and Debt Investements (Except NPS), everything can be paid for by Credit Cards.

I have been able to hit the 1 Lac spends mark in every month for the past 9 months till now. Have just booked 3 Mumbai to Mauritius return tickets for just Rs. 22,818 by using 165,00 ER Points. Additional Hotel Bookings worth 1300 Euros booked using 81,250 ER Points

Even if you are not able to hit the 1 Lac Milestone, dont fret. The Reward Multipliers on Magnus are extremely good and can earn you good rewards on most of the day to day and big ticket spends.

Originally Posted by devilicious

Why go for credit card? I would suggest to use a Niyo Global card which has 0% markup charges for foreign spending.

Safety is the biggest reason to not go for a Forex card over Credit card.

In case of frauds, you can stop a transaction on Credit Card. On Forex cards, once the money is gone, its gone. You cant get it back unless Cyber Crime can help you get it.

Rewards on Credit Cards are getting better and better. So with higher end cards, this is another aspect.

[SoumenD]

Which is the best HDFC card to opt for? Have my salary account here. My monthly bills are usually between 50k-80k(annually ~8-10L). Would like to have airport lounge access(both domestic & international), cashbacks on fuel & shopping and discounts on fine dining. I keep getting calls from my RM to get a card but their interests are seldom towards customer's benefits.

Currently I have Flipkart Axis, Amazon icici & StanChar platinum cards.

[s4ch]

I am looking to get a credit card with Priority Pass thrown in for me and an additional cardholder.

I have the ICICI Amazon card where I regularly spend 1L+ a month, get back on average 2-3k Amazon Pay every month. Also have Axis Bank Privilege and One Card but don't really use them too much unless some offers on the food ordering apps.

I don't mind paying an annual fee as long as it is not more than the Priority Pass card itself else doesn't make sense. I don't seem to meet the salary requirement for HDFC Regalia as was rejected recently so looking for something a bit easier to get.

Any reviews on the Standard Chartered Ease My Trip card as that seems to have PP?

Any other suggestions?

[mail.jaiswal]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Which is the best HDFC card to opt for? Have my salary account here. My monthly bills are usually between 50k-80k(annually ~8-10L). Would like to have airport lounge access(both domestic & international), cashbacks on fuel & shopping and discounts on fine dining. I keep getting calls from my RM to get a card but their interests are seldom towards customer's benefits.

Currently I have Flipkart Axis, Amazon icici & StanChar platinum cards.

Soumen - I had evaluated the HDFC CC before I moved the focus towards Axis Magnus. For HDFC, with a monthly expenditure of about 60-80k, I would recommend the DCB or Infinia card. Infinia is available only on invitation, so the best way to get there would be to get the DCB and after a few months of 80k odd spends, you would be able to move up to the Infinia with regular pressure on the RM. Inifinia is really good and you can easily waive off the annual fees, with your current spend of approx 80k a month (renewal is waived off at 5LPA for DCB and 8/10 LPA for Infinia. You may need to verify these numbers though)

Originally Posted by tejas08

Check if you are moving all your spends on to Credit Cards. Thats where people underestimate.

Except SIPs, MF Investments, Loan EMIs and Debt Investements (Except NPS), everything can be paid for by Credit Cards.

Even if you are not able to hit the 1 Lac Milestone, dont fret. The Reward Multipliers on Magnus are extremely good and can earn you good rewards on most of the day to day and big ticket spends.

I agree on the multipliers offered on Magnus. they are very attractive, as long as they are converted to Air miles. However, I want to find out a way to utilize the 1 Lakh monthly milestone, but with Rent and SIP/MF investments, I am wondering how to reach the milestone.

Can you please confirm my understanding on the Magnus for the following:
1. Giftr Portal - Most vouchers here are 10X or 5X - no capping except for individual brand limits which varies per voucher.
2. Grab Deals - upto 40X multipliers (currently 20X is max as of today) - but limit is 10k per month from Grab deals.
3. Edge rewards - very similar to Giftr portal. Dont know the difference between this site and Giftr.
4. Travel Edge - all bookings - Travel and hotels are 5X

let me know if you could help me optimize my spend to achieve higher spend on the credit card. If yes, please DM me.

[mail.jaiswal]

Originally Posted by s4ch

I am looking to get a credit card with Priority Pass thrown in for me and an additional cardholder.

I have the ICICI Amazon card where I regularly spend 1L+ a month, get back on average 2-3k Amazon Pay every month. Also have Axis Bank Privilege and One Card but don't really use them too much unless some offers on the food ordering apps.

I don't mind paying an annual fee as long as it is not more than the Priority Pass card itself else doesn't make sense. I don't seem to meet the salary requirement for HDFC Regalia as was rejected recently so looking for something a bit easier to get.

Any reviews on the Standard Chartered Ease My Trip card as that seems to have PP?

Any other suggestions?

With spend of 1L per month, you are losing a ton of money on the Amazon card. I would highly recommend you to get the Axis magnus (as long as you have your salary above 18 LPA), which can give you 30%-40% as long as you convert the reward points to miles. Axis charges about 11800 for the card (10k + GST), but you get 10k of Tata CliQ vouchers. but the real game here is the Air miles, which is just absolutely insane. Check Tejas's post above, which says that except for MF, SIP, Wallet loading, Loan EMI and Debt investments, everything is possible in credit cards. if you are indeed spending more than 1 lakh, except these categories, then go with the Magnus.

And yes, on Magnus, you get unlimited Airport Lounge access for the Primary card holder and the Add-on as well. For international travel, Lounge access is unlimited for the primary card holder only.

[Pancham]

Guys how much time does it take for the Magnus bonus (25k) points to get credited? My March spending met the conditions and still have not received the points.

[aadiaksh]

Originally Posted by Pancham

Guys how much time does it take for the Magnus bonus (25k) points to get credited? My March spending met the conditions and still have not received the points.

3 months. For you that is June.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Which is the best HDFC card to opt for? .

Would suggest Regalia as the least and Infinia as the best option for the requirements mentioned

[s4ch]

Originally Posted by mail.jaiswal

With spend of 1L per month, you are losing a ton of money on the Amazon card. I would highly recommend you to get the Axis magnus (as long as you have your salary above 18 LPA), which can give you 30%-40% as long as you convert the reward points to miles.

Thanks for this, have applied right away.

In case I am not interested in Airmiles but just cashback, which would be the best card to get for all spends, online and offline?

[shankar.balan]

A rant because of the recent announcement on TCS.
This new TCS on foreign spends on credit card is probably the most retrograde step imaginable.
Consumers are already taxed at high rates of personal income tax and high rates of VAT. They are spending their tax paid money through credit cards for purchases and travel etc. People generally use their credit cards for convenience and to track their spends easily. Why are the Finance Ministry, RBI and GOI further burdening the tax paying consumer in this manner?
The Middle Class and Salaried Class of India are over burdened already. Paying Taxes honestly in India is probably the worst investment one can make because there is virtually no ROI for the Tax payer. Why does the government create more unnecessary burdens of this nature? This could become the straw that broke the camel’s back. And this can also cost the present government valuable votes!

[ToThePoint]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Why are the Finance Ministry, RBI and GOI further burdening the tax paying consumer in this manner?

Looks like their whole and sole single minded focus is just to milk the salaried class!! I sometimes wonder if 5T$ figure for the economy is so important that you care least about everything else?

[grshnehete]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

A rant because of the recent announcement on TCS.
This new TCS on foreign spends on credit card is probably the most retrograde step imaginable.
Consumers are already taxed at high rates of personal income tax and high rates of VAT. They are spending their tax paid money through credit cards for purchases and travel etc. People generally use their credit cards for convenience and to track their spends easily. Why are the Finance Ministry, RBI and GOI further burdening the tax paying consumer in this manner?
The Middle Class and Salaried Class of India are over burdened already. Paying Taxes honestly in India is probably the worst investment one can make because there is virtually no ROI for the Tax payer. Why does the government create more unnecessary burdens of this nature? This could become the straw that broke the camel’s back. And this can also cost the present government valuable votes!

I have seen news that government has clarified that TCS will be applicable only if spending is more than 7 Lakhs in a year.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/busin...y%20it%20later.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by grshnehete

I have seen news that government has clarified that TCS will be applicable only if spending is more than 7 Lakhs in a year.

Please take a look at relative currency conversion values, ticket prices, hotel prices and holiday tour and activity prices at the present moment. If one is travelling as a family of 3 or 4, this limit will easily be breached.

Even a normal, non-flamboyant, middle class family can breach this limit if the travel is say for 12-14 days (Europe Tour for example).

And what about those whose children are studying abroad and who are using their parent’s add on credit cards? The limits will almost certainly be breached.

They should have at least kept a threshold floor limit of INR 24 to 30 lacs in Foreign Spend with a TCS kicking in only after that has been crossed.

And what is this nonsensical 20% figure? This is just plain greed. And again punitively whacking the softest targets they can find.

This is truly becoming a draconian state.

[dheer4]

Originally Posted by grshnehete

I have seen news that government has clarified that TCS will be applicable only if spending is more than 7 Lakhs in a year.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/busin...y%20it%20later.

It isn't about a charge of over 7 Lakhs a year. It is about taxing the middle class at each and every step of the way. Credit card holders are mostly salaried people or people who pay a lot of income tax. On top of this, say you go on a trip with a family of 4, staying in luxury hotels and travelling by taxis, you can easily breach the 7L limit in a month, why should I lock up 20% of my fund to claim it later after 9-10 months?. This is really draconian and not fair to tax paying citizens.

I mostly feel this would push people to buy forex in cash and carry that cash to use in other countries.

[alexgv]

Originally Posted by dheer4

It isn't about a charge of over 7 Lakhs a year. It is about taxing the middle class at each and every step of the way. Credit card holders are mostly salaried people or people who pay a lot of income tax. On top of this, say you go on a trip with a family of 4, staying in luxury hotels and travelling by taxis, you can easily breach the 7L limit in a month, why should I lock up 20% of my fund to claim it later after 9-10 months?. This is really draconian and not fair to tax paying citizens.

I mostly feel this would push people to buy forex in cash and carry that cash to use in other countries.

Any idea if this rule applies to forex card as well? Logically thinking it should (or perhaps it is already applicable which we are not aware of ? )