[ajvee44]

@codezilla - this is very helpful. What do you use for international air miles? This would be the most beneficial reward for me.

[codezilla]

Originally Posted by ajvee44

@codezilla - this is very helpful. What do you use for international air miles? This would be the most beneficial reward for me.

As for Amex Plat travel, all the airline miles are at a 2:1 ratio so I generally don’t tend to use it.

HDFC Infinia, Diners Black and Axis Atlas, Burgundy have a good miles transfer program which you can use for KrisFlyer, FinnAir, British Airways & Qatar Airways Avios.

Here are a few great podcasts that can help understand the same:

• https://youtu.be/lTSPFsSnuvs?si=j-Kx4i9pbchx0w2J

• https://youtu.be/DXVca4hBj84?si=1RHXJXx3E3mJTZnH

[vinu_h]

I've seen quite a few posts about whether credit cards offer rewards on education spends. While many cards don’t, I was fortunate that the Amex Platinum did—it gave me the full 2.5% in MR. After factoring in the 0.72% fee charged by the payment gateway, that leaves me with an effective return of 1.77%.

[rp9357]

Originally Posted by vinu_h

I've seen quite a few posts about whether credit cards offer rewards on education spends. While many cards don’t, I was fortunate that the Amex Platinum did—it gave me the full 2.5% in MR. After factoring in the 0.72% fee charged by the payment gateway, that leaves me with an effective return of 1.77%.

Out of all the cards which I carry, HDFC Diners club Black (Or Metal edition) is best when it comes to Education spends, it doesn't attract any extra charges or additional fee. You will also earn rewards on these payments with return of 3.33% when you book flights or hotels directly via Smartbuy portal.

[sachinayak]

Originally Posted by rp9357

Out of all the cards which I carry, HDFC Diners club Black (Or Metal edition) is best when it comes to Education spends, it doesn't attract any extra charges or additional fee. You will also earn rewards on these payments with return of 3.33% when you book flights or hotels directly via Smartbuy portal.

Thanks for this note. Strangely for me, I wasn't able to use my Diners Black card to pay my kid's school fees, which used PayTM payment gateway.

Further I assumed fee payments do not earn any points as in the Diners Black T&C it calls out "Fuel, EasyEMI, e-wallet loading and Education* Select Merchants transactions will not accrue Rewards Points.", however the * was not clarified in the document. I dug further and found a detailed T&C document which clarified - "Reward Points will also not accrue on transactions for Rent, Wallet Load, EMI, Fuel, Government (on Consumer Retail cards) and Education (on Business Retail cards)."

[rp9357]

Originally Posted by sachinayak

Thanks for this note. Strangely for me, I wasn't able to use my Diners Black card to pay my kid's school fees, which used PayTM payment gateway. [/i]"

My son's school fee portal has RazorPay and Billdesk payment gateway , so that might be the case I am able to use DCB card on it.

Originally Posted by sachinayak

Further I assumed fee payments do not earn any points as in the Diners Black T&C it calls out "Fuel, EasyEMI, e-wallet loading and Education* Select Merchants transactions will not accrue Rewards Points.", however the * was not clarified in the document. I dug further and found a detailed T&C document which clarified - "Reward Points will also not accrue on transactions for Rent, Wallet Load, EMI, Fuel, Government (on Consumer Retail cards) and Education (on Business Retail cards)."

DCB is not covered under "business retail card" category, so this can be a reason it is giving reward return of 3.33% .

[Aviator_guy]

My RM informed me that I am eligible for HDFC Infinia metal card. It comes with 12k annual fee which can be waived off against annual spend of 10L. Among other benefits offered, the most useful for me would be lounge access and rewards points. I don't play golf and also don't care much about Marriott / ITC tie ups or forex mark up. So trying to understand if I should go for this card.

Does anyone know if spends such as school fee, wallet loads etc can be considered to meet this threshold?
Also, I already have icici amazon pay card and HDFC swiggy card which provide healthy cashback in the range of 20-25k annually. I would need to shift these expenses to Infinia card and let go of the cashback in liu of rewards points. Other discretionary spends are travel, entertainment and restaurant related where I use any of the mentioned cards or other cards I have, such as axis rewards, axis airtel and sbi platinum cards, depending on the deal I'm getting.

I'm thinking Is it worth the effort to get Infinia card ? Am I missing any other feature or benefit of the card? So far, I'm not able to convince myself about this card due high fee / spend threshold constraints.

Appreciate your thoughts.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by Aviator_guy

My RM informed me that I am eligible for HDFC Infinia metal card. It comes with 12k annual fee which can be waived off against annual spend of 10L.
I'm thinking Is it worth the effort to get Infinia card ? Am I missing any other feature or benefit of the card? So far, I'm not able to convince myself about this card due high fee / spend threshold constraints.

Appreciate your thoughts.

The annual fee of 12k also gets you points that are of equal value when booking flights through smartbuy HDFC portal, so it offsets the cost completely, effectively you pay the GST component only.

It's a no brainer, just get the Infinia now.

[damanbir]

Originally Posted by ak_1978

I use several credit cards for Golfing & wanted to check how often you golf. HDFC Marriott Bonvoy card is a Diners card that provides 8 games a year.

I used to be a daily golfer in Chandigarh where I have membership.

However, now I shuffle between Pune and Delhi monthly, I would like to golf at least twice a month in each of these places and saving the Green Fee using the credit cards.

[Enigma5850]

Originally Posted by Aviator_guy

My RM informed me that I am eligible for HDFC Infinia metal card. It comes with 12k annual fee which can be waived off against annual spend of 10L. Among other benefits offered, the most useful for me would be lounge access and rewards points. I don't play golf and also don't care much about Marriott / ITC tie ups or forex mark up. So trying to understand if I should go for this card.

Does anyone know if spends such as school fee, wallet loads etc can be considered to meet this threshold?
Also, I already have icici amazon pay card and HDFC swiggy card which provide healthy cashback in the range of 20-25k annually. I would need to shift these expenses to Infinia card and let go of the cashback in liu of rewards points. Other discretionary spends are travel, entertainment and restaurant related where I use any of the mentioned cards or other cards I have, such as axis rewards, axis airtel and sbi platinum cards, depending on the deal I'm getting.

I'm thinking Is it worth the effort to get Infinia card ? Am I missing any other feature or benefit of the card? So far, I'm not able to convince myself about this card due high fee / spend threshold constraints.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Let me share some simple math with you against 2 spends you highligted:
1. Swiggy:
On buying voucher worth 2000, you get 325 RP which can be redeemed for flight ticket booking at Smarybuy at 1 RP= Rs 1 conversion ratio. This is equivalent to ~16% benefit
2. Amazon:
There is a limit on Amazon vouchers on Smartbuy- 10k for Normal amazon pay GC + amazon shopping GC + amazon fresh GC (each) and there is an additional 3.5% processing fee + GST applied. Even then, on buying a 10k vouhcher, you get 1650 RP which can be redeemed for flight ticket booking at Smarybuy at 1 RP= Rs 1 conversion ratio. Adjusting the processing fee and gst in the equation: Rs 1650- (3.5% of 10k+gst)= 1650- 413= 1237. This is equivalent to ~12% benefit.

It is absolutely worth to shift to Infinia if your general spends will exceed 10L in an year.