[hoodibaba_saggi]

Originally Posted by somersault

Purely from the points and redemption point of view, does anyone has any experience with this card? Should I go for it?

I have Infinia and Emerald both and both are NOT LTF. I need to spend 10 Lakh for Infinia and 15 Lakh for Emerald each year for reversal of annual fees. Both will have fess around 15K (including GST) if I miss the milestone.

This is just the first year of me doing this experiment and so far I am seeing clear difference in RP benefits. Infinia's 3.3% base rate is unmatched.
Emerald gave me around 58K points after spending 14L but 1 RP is equal to .25 paise.

I also don't go to movies much which a good benefit of emerald where you get 750 off on 1+1 in BookMyShow. This is 4 tickets per month I think and you can recover annual fees just from here.

My opinion - I am going to drop the Emerald and just keep Infinia.

[whitewing]

Amex Holders making NPS investments - noticed just now that Amex is no longer supported in the NPS payment gateway. That closes the door on easy accumulation of milestone spends :-(

[yogie]

Originally Posted by whitewing

Amex Holders making NPS investments - noticed just now that Amex is no longer supported in the NPS payment gateway. That closes the door on easy accumulation of milestone spends :-(

I had noticed this a few months back. Payment by Amex is possible through the NPS mobile app.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by hoodibaba_saggi

My opinion - I am going to drop the Emerald and just keep Infinia.

Close Emerald and get Axis Atlas.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by shardul_pathak

Hi Guys, I have been eyeing the HDFC Infinia for the longest time now. Have a banking relationship with HDFC, but on the down side, due to my job in the Merchant Navy, my tax residency status is that of a NRI.

I am in the same boat as you (pun intended). I am also a seafarer and I am also looking to get an Infinia. Please read my previous posts for the details.

I'm aware that Infinia can be had against a FD with HDFC,

Well, Yes and No. Normally any FD based card is simple. You open an FD in the bank and the issue you a credit card with a credit limit as a percentage of the FD amount usually 85-100% or sometimes slightly more. No CIBIL score, Salary requirements, past spends etc. It's simple, they have a lien on your FD so if you default they recover it from there. No need to check anything else.
Not in the case of HDFC though. They want:
- 10 Lakhs FD (NRE funds only or else your card is limited to domestic transactions). Sometimes the managers demand 12-15 Lakhs as this requirement is not listed anywhere on the website.
- The will still check your CIBIL score, want to see your salary slips as well as your bank statements.
- The salary slips should of the preceding 2 months. That means you need apply as soon as you sign off unless you are in a company which has round the year wages.
- Salary needs to be over 3 Lakhs per month average.
- You need to be an existing HDFC card holder. That would be a Regalia as NRI's only get Regalia or Infinia.
- You need to have spends of 7.5 Lakhs in the preceding 6 months on your Regalia.
- The credit limit on the card will be only 75% of the FD value.

After that they will consider your application. It's not guaranteed.

but my RM either doesn't know of this, or is reluctant to enquire/execute, owing to the long paper trail he might have to create.

Almost everyone in this organisation is not well versed with their own procedures.
Let me narrate my experience. In order to comply with the above requirements, I shifted all my spends to the Regalia. I was trying to complete the 7.5 Lakhs spends quickly. Now to move ahead:
- I requested for a credit limit increase on my Regalia. I had kept a FD of 2 Lakhs as collateral for the card. My credit limit is 1.95 Lakhs. The FD has been auto renewed several times and the current value is 3.05 Lakhs. Considering 75% I should be entitled to a limit of 2.29 Lakhs.
- On inquiring they said that the credit limit does not get increased automatically and remains as the the original value of the FD. I need to request for the same.
- As instructed I sent a mail with the request. I kept following up but nothing was done. Yesterday I called again and demanded to know why the limit has not increase even after a month of sending the request. They then told me that the email will not work and I have to submit a physical form with the request.
- One of the employees came over with the form and said just sign it, I'll fill in the details from the bank records. Me being me and me having experienced updating KYC with HDFC (KYC experience will require a separate post), I insisted on reading the form before signing.
- Here's where the nonsense starts. The title of the form is "Upgradation of Credit Card (NR) International to Credit Card (NR) Domestic or Vice-Versa". I already have a "Credit Card (NR) International". So firstly I don't need to "upgrade" to domestic. Vice versa is not applicable. Secondly how is changing from International (valid for International as well as domestic spends) to Domestic (valid for only domestic spends) considered an upgrade? Neither the manager nor the guy in charge of credit cars nor the employee who brought the form have any clue on what to answer. Manager tried to twist some words and get out of it but I was not convinced. He just said don't worry sir just sign it and we will only increase the limit. Nothing else will change.
- Next line on the form was "I wish to apply for" and there was a of International and Domestic along with the fields for entering the FD details. This again clearly indicated that it was an application for a new card and not a limit increase on the existing card.
- Below that was the option to choose between the Regalia and Infinia. At least the staff was not lying about NRI's being eligible for only Regalia or Infinia. It also mentioned the joining fee of each card which clearly means that a new card will be issued and I will be charged for it. This also raises another double about the huge list of requirements I had had mentioned. These are probably for resident customers and not NRI customers as they will be giving an FD as collateral. There was no mention of any of those requirements in the form.
- Then on the next page there was the fine print which stated that the existing card would be blocked and a new card would be issued.
- When I confronted the manager with these observations all he could say was "Don't worry sir, nothing of that sort will happen, we will just increase your limit".
- Then I asked if I could strike out the Not Applicable points on the for and write my actual request, he refused. After a lot of argument he said I could write a separate letter with all my comments and attach it to the form. Knowing that they could (and probably would) just discard the letter and just submit the form, I said that I need to make a comment on the form that there is an attachment to it. Again he refused to allow me to do that. He said that all he could do was give a an acknowledgement on a copy of the attachment.

I have shot a mail to HDFC Cards describing this experience and the behaviour of their staff. Waiting for a reply. I have only received an acknowledgement.

Can someone here, with an existing Infinia share their RM's number with me over a personal message?

DM me and we can discuss on the phone / WhatsApp. My brother has an Infinia. He does a part of his business banking with HDFC (earlier exclusively with HDFC but again because of the staff he moved a large chunk of that to SBI and Axis). He was given the Infinia with no questions asked and no documents. They just took everything from the bank records.

[CU23]

Originally Posted by tejas08

Purchased a Volkswagen Virtus GT Plus Chrome DSG last month. On-Road Price - ₹21.7 Lacs

Sold my 2014 Honda City V MT for ₹3.1 Lacs

Attachment 2691361

Why isn't is relevant here?

It was a full Down-Payment Purchase. So utilized my Credit Card Prowess to gain a good benefit.

I guess you can help me here, is there Edge Miles rewards if you buy Insurance using the Axis Atlas?

[turbospooler]

For anyone still on the fence on the power of credit cards, just finished a trip to New Zealand entirely on points and round-trip business class tickets and hotel stays.
Also, a small caveat, credit cards work best for people who don't need a credit card . So, if you are already spending everything on UPI or NEFT or cash, and no requirement of a loan, you are the perfect candidate to exploit credit cards and rake the reward points and uplift your travel experience.

Here is the breakdown of my ticket and stay:
I did Mumbai to Christchurch via Singapore on Singapore Airlines Business Class seat for 125k SQ miles + ₹6k approx. All of those points transferred from HDFC Infinia in 1:1 ratio.


My return trip was from Auckland to Mumbai via Doha on the famous Qatar Business class called "Q-Suites" for 80k Avios + ₹18k approx. Booked using Qatar's program itself by transferring 40k EdgeMiles from Axis Atlas in 1:2 ratio.



All my stays were in Accor chain of hotels and it was around 110k worth of points transferred from Axis Magnus in the 5:4 ratio before the devaluation.

These points saved at least ₹1.5-2L for me as return tickets to the island paradise are atleast 60-70k. I was able to stay in prime city-centers and avoid commuting and maximize my stay.

Also, except hotel points, I was able to accumulate the Infinia and Atlas miles on my spends in the past 10-11 months.
Don't be afraid of paid cards as the value that can be extracted is much more than what we are paying.
Also, don't forget this simple rule: use credit card as a debit card i.e. spend only what you can afford based on your bank balance.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by CU23

I guess you can help me here, is there Edge Miles rewards if you buy Insurance using the Axis Atlas?

No. Insurance Spends are excluded from Points earning.

[efgritesh]

Originally Posted by turbospooler

Also, don't forget this simple rule: use credit card as a debit card i.e. spend only what you can afford based on your bank balance.

Completely agree with you on this, infact I clear my credit card outstanding almost everytime I use it so that I have a clear view on whats the current account balance.

One doubt though, can you shed somelight on what kind of money was spent to accumulate such rewards in first place, cause I feel that a lot time we might spend unnecessarily for rewards etc.

[turbospooler]

Originally Posted by efgritesh

One doubt though, can you shed somelight on what kind of money was spent to accumulate such rewards in first place, cause I feel that a lot time we might spend unnecessarily for rewards etc.

For Atlas, I was lucky as my sister's wedding was planned and I was able to use my card at the resort and get 5 EdgeMiles per ₹100 spent, and spending above ₹10L gave me enough points for Qatar, so was able to accumulate over 1-2 months, but this card can help in day to day purchases in raking up a decent EdgeMile balance.
For Infinia, I used SmartBuy affiliate for getting 3X to 10X reward points per month. Almost ₹1L spend was giving 20k points per month and I was having those spends for 6-7 months to rake up the points for Singapore Airlines ticket.
I was having those spends lined up and I knew which card was going to give me the best, so I didn't have to go out of my way to spend and enjoy luxury travel.
Hope it clarifies.

[Starwar19]

Originally Posted by turbospooler

For Infinia, I used SmartBuy affiliate for getting 3X to 10X reward points per month.

Can you shed some light on how to acquire an Infinia Card as it is invite only.

[adi.mariner]

I have a few points with Axis Edge and wanted to redeem them for domestic flights, (Pune to New Delhi) to be precise. What would be the way to go about it?

[s4ch]

Originally Posted by adi.mariner

I have a few points with Axis Edge and wanted to redeem them for domestic flights, (Pune to New Delhi) to be precise. What would be the way to go about it?

Are these Edge reward points or Edge miles?

Either way, see if you can transfer them to Air India Maharaja Club, as that would probably be the best way to make use of them if you have enough, for your particular use case. Then you can book a reward flight on Air India.

Air India does have some stipulations for booking reward flights though, such as already have 2 completed PNR's in your account etc. Check to make sure you qualify before doing the transfer.

If this doesn't work for you and if you only want to use the points to book this particular domestic route, then the only option would be to book your ticket on the Axis Traveledge portal and redeem the points for cash discount against the ticket. BUT please note this will give you the lowest value per point.

[vaibhav_a_a]

I have to get an SBI debit card issued (actually reissued as the previous one was never used). Below are my options, appreciate feedback if any is better than others -

SBI Paypass International (Visa / Mastercard options)
SBI NCMC Rupay
SBI IOCL Global contactless (Visa / Mastercard / Rupay options)

I don't need contactless and International spends are down. Biggest spends are online purchases incl groceries, utilities payments, cab, etc. I can link the Rupay card to a UPI app is what I understand (request confirmation as I read for credit and this is debit card)

thanks in advance.

[turbospooler]

Originally Posted by Starwar19

Can you shed some light on how to acquire an Infinia Card as it is invite only.

If you already have a HDFC card, you need to meet a criteria of having credit limit of more than ₹8L and having spent ₹9L+ in the past 6 months.
This type of spending makes for a case for Infinia.
Hope it helps.