[Abhinav V]

Hello all,
This is the first time I am applying for a credit card.
Reasons to apply for a credit card.
->To build a good credit score.
->To accumulate points and redeem them for hotel and flight booking.
->To have a clean credit history before applying for education loan.

I am an engineering graduate currently preparing to give various entrance exams for higher studies. Since I do not have a monthly salary, I decided to get a credit card against FD.

After exploring credit cards of various banks, I zeroed in on HDFC because they were offering a variety of cards depending on FD amount, as opposed to other banks that had only a single variety secured card.

I opened a savings account on 28 August, then made a fixed deposit amounting to 4 Lakh INR on 14th September.
For this amount, I was offered Millennia and Regalia. I opted for Regalia as I thought a rewards card is better than cashback card for my requirements.

So far the experience has been okay ish. The staff respond to my queries promptly although they keep pestering me into buying unwanted insurance stuff.

Today (19 Sep) I get a call from their credit cards person saying that I should be expecting a call from HDFC Cards on (20 Sep).
So far, this has been my update.

My request to all the BHPians is,
As this is the first time I am setting foot into the world of credit cards, I am clueless. People have had both amazing and terrible experiences. I want to learn from both of them.

Kindly share your tips and tricks and the mistakes I should avoid so that I can get the most out of my credit card.

Thank you dear bhpians in advance

[Parth46]

Originally Posted by Abhinav V

My request to all the BHPians is,
As this is the first time I am setting foot into the world of credit cards, I am clueless. People have had both amazing and terrible experiences. I want to learn from both of them.

Kindly share your tips and tricks and the mistakes I should avoid so that I can get the most out of my credit card.

Thank you dear bhpians in advance

Never use it as a personal loan, ALWAYS pay every bill in full!

Mentally, use it like a debit card, buy only what you can afford to pay off in full, without converting to EMIs etc.

Never even look at the MINIMUM AMOUNT DUE section of your card bill, it's a trap!

Judicious use will help you not only build the credit history you're looking for, but also give you some nice offers like reward points redemption for gear/stuff etc. You've done well by selecting HDFC, generally there is some offer or the other on HDFC cards for electronics, Apple devices etc. On this topic, don't let your card lure you into buying things you don't need/can't afford, simply because there is an offer on the card.

Use your common sense, don't go overboard just because you can swipe your plastic magic card and think you can deal with it later!

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Abhinav V

Kindly share your tips and tricks and the mistakes I should avoid so that I can get the most out of my credit card.

Solid advice from Parth, and at the risk of repetition,

- Until you can trust yourself to restrain and spend judiciously, use the credit card as if it is a debit card (so you spend only within/less than what you have in your account
- Resist the temptation to make an expense, just because buying it on the card removes a financial barrier that'd be there if you had to pay cash
- Maximize the points' earning potential of the card and your spends, but absolutely don't make spends to achieve a points goal
- Enforce conservative spending limits on your card (these can be set / changed at any time through Netbanking)

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by tejas08

Have you used any of these benefits till now?

Originally Posted by adimicra

I could not figure out any reason to pay 70K joining + renewal fees.

Originally Posted by Ashish0485

I have the Amex Platinum Charge Card. I have found it to be extremely useful.

Originally Posted by vkochar

Anything current Platinum users have to shed light on?

Amex Platinum summary as per my usage.

• This is not an everyday card. There is no benefit using this card on groceries etc.
• This card is beneficial only if you are into luxury/premium travel.
• This card's main benefits are NOT in the form of reward (MR) points.
• Main benefits (atleast for me) are in the form of direct discounts for flights & hotels.

Some of the discounts I have personally availed:

• Taj hotels - 25% off
• Dining Re-imagined - 25% off
• Economy class flight to the US ~10% off
• Radisson - 20% off
• Marriott - Upgrade to better room

I took this card mainly after comparing with Infinia (my daily card). While Infinia has higher reward rate (base of 3.33% as well as 5x smartbuy), the main disadvantage of Infinia is capping of the accelerated points at 15000 points per calendar month (equal to 15000 Rs). Amex Platinum has no such capping on the discounts and with above usage, I could easily recover 70k annual fee and more. For family vacations, I do spend considerable amount on travel every year.

I have not used "do anything" concierge but I have used travel desk as well as dining reimagined. Amex forces you to use these to get the Platinum card benefits but I dont mind talking to Amex CS. I can easily connect to an agent at the first try and within a minute. Their level of conversation is above your average CS. They don't use lot of good-for-nothing verbose like don't worry sir, certainly sir, we are there for you sir, I will take care of you sir etc etc. They call me Mr. XXXX, keep it highly professional & to the point.

There are host of other benefits like Centurion/Amex lounges, Taj epicure, amex multiplier, MR points on fuel, zero surcharge at HPCL upto 5000.00, eazydiner, lumpsum MR points on targetted spending etc etc but I just consider them complimentary or completely negligible in my use case.

Another benefit I see is no expiry for MR points whereas Infinia points expire after 3 years. This way I am hoping to build enough MR points for a business class ticket some day.

Please correct me if I went wrong somewhere. I will be more than happy to learn.

[vkochar]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Amex Platinum summary as per my usage.

Thanks Brilliant explanation and this is what I knew as well.

My travel and CC expenses intentionally are over 30L+ and majority of this is hotels / flights / lounges which is why I opted for the Platinum at a hefty price tag but its what most people told me

Infinia I use heavily for other bits in India - dining and household stuff

Royale and Magnus are going to go in the bin as they have nothing in it - Just waiting for Magnus annual time to be over and I shall discontinue.

[DigitalOne]

Does the ICICI-Amazon credit card give a cashback (reward points) for railway tickets bought via Amazon site? Now that I think that Amazon has started charging a convenience fee for rail tickets, is there any advantage of buying using Amazon site using the ICICI-Amazon card vs directly buying on IRCTC?

[Karan_n8]

Can someone throw light on how add-on cards work?

For eg I get an add-on made for my spouse - will she accrue the points separately on her spends without paying a new card charges?

I'm asking specifically for HDFC cards where she might not qualify as a primary card holder but can get one as my add on.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Karan_n8

I'm asking specifically for HDFC cards where she might no qualify as a primary card holder but can get one as my add on.

There is only bill generated for the credit card + any no. of add-on cards on it. The primary card holders gets the statement, which has points accrued for primary + add-on cards; also all transaction OTPs will come on the registered no. of the primary card holder. The card no. / CVV are the same as well. You can just set individual PINs for each card. And of course, every add-on card gets theirs own Priority Pass card.

[ashwinsid]

Originally Posted by Karan_n8

Can someone thro light on how add-on cards work ?

Add on cards will not give separate rewards, separate benefits, separate credit limit etc. In HDFC even the add on card number and CVV will be the same.

Basically add on card is to share the physical card with your family. All spends done through your card and add on card will be billed in one single statement but will clearly list which transactions are from the add on card. All reward points will be to your card account.

[raptor_diwan]

Is the Apple India website not accepting RuPay cards? I tried making a purchase, but it was declined. When I contacted HDFC, they had no information about it, and they couldn't find the reason for the decline in their system.

I tried using a different HDFC Visa card, and it worked. However, the RuPay card is still not working.

[Engine_Roars]

A noob question. I have received 1500 as Grand Marriot vouchers on my and wife's regalia gold card as milestone benefits. I can't seem to figure a way out to redeem them. I called Grand Marriot and HDFC customer care too but they were of no help. Can anyone please guide.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

There is only bill generated for the credit card + any no. of add-on cards on it. The primary card holders gets the statement, which has points accrued for primary + add-on cards; also all transaction OTPs will come on the registered no. of the primary card holder. The card no. / CVV are the same as well. You can just set individual PINs for each card. And of course, every add-on card gets theirs own Priority Pass card.

While this is broadly correct, the part highlighted in bold doesn't seem right. Each add-on card has a unique number (and of course name). It all adds up to the same (primary holder) account but the cards themselves are unique and spending is tracked by user.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

.. also all transaction OTPs will come on the registered no. of the primary card holder. The card no. / CVV are the same as well. You can just set individual PINs for each card.

Originally Posted by noopster

While this is broadly correct, the part highlighted in bold doesn't seem right. Each add-on card has a unique number (and of course name). It all adds up to the same (primary holder) account but the cards themselves are unique and spending is tracked by user.

What @libranof1987 says is correct for HDFC Bank cards, where add-on cards have same 16 digit number and the CVV as the primary card.

In case of Citi/Amex cards, each add-on card will also have a different 16 digit number and different CVV as well. OTP also comes to the number of the add-on card holder.

So it really depends on the bank on how they issue add-on cards. I like Citi and Amex system the best, because of the convenience of getting OTPs on separate number.

[vinu_h]

I do a few trips outside India in a year and "card declined due to security reasons" is something I have experienced quite frequently with the best credit cards that are available today despite settings and card limits in place. I have been a LONG time SB customer of ICICI and they let me have the Emeralde card with a very generous credit limit. It costs about INR 12.5k a year and does not even come close to the benefits a Magnus(RIP) or an Infinia can give. I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised.

I have done 2 short trips with the Emeralde card and did a variety of small to large swipes and in multiple currencies in a single day/week. I am glad to say that this card did very well, not a squeak so far and most of my swipes have been through NFC. Given a choice between points/benefits and the transaction going through at the 1st attempt, I'll always go with the latter. The embarrassment when you're holding up a line is just not worth it. I was a points chaser thus far but will probably do that only for domestic transactions hereon.

[drwat]

1) I and my better half are traveling to Houston shortly. I want to use Magnus and Priority Pass at Mumbai T2 for lounge access. This is the first time in our lifetime that we would set foot in an airport lounge! Humble beginnings at that!
My wife would be a guest.
Also we plan to book Meet and Greet on Magnus.
Any suggestions, tips and guidance on how to go about it?

2) Will it be possible for us to use complimentary lounge services at Hamad airport in Doha as our layover is for almost 5 hours.

Thanks.