[deovrat]

Originally Posted by Nonstop-driver

I meant which Diners card.

Thanks for the link, this offer wasn't there when I was in touch with my HDFC RM. Only Diners black makes sense since the reward cap is reasonable. But it feels too good to be true. A phone for Rs. 30,000 purchased off FK would give 10,000 points which are worth Rs. 10,000? Am I missing something?

Nope, your valuation is very true. And yes, Diners Black makes more sense for those whose spends can exceed the monthly points cap on the lower cards.

I held the Diners Premium version for 2 years (there was no cap for about 18 months) and now HDFC upgraded me to Black.

In 2 years, 10x rewards has funded 1 overseas trip and 1 more is in the pipeline in Lufthansa First Class.

Redeeming those points for airline premium cabin nets me even more value than spending them with HDFC portal.

[Nonstop-driver]

Originally Posted by deovrat

Nope, your valuation is very true. And yes, Diners Black makes more sense for those whose spends can exceed the monthly points cap on the lower cards.

I held the Diners Premium version for 2 years (there was no cap for about 18 months) and now HDFC upgraded me to Black.

In 2 years, 10x rewards has funded 1 overseas trip and 1 more is in the pipeline in Lufthansa First Class.

Redeeming those points for airline premium cabin nets me even more value than spending them with HDFC portal.

Awesome. I think this could be a good alternative to Amex Platinum if they continue with the accelerated rewards scheme.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by driverace

Strange. Your have the Prime Pro, too?

Have a looksie below (That's my spend of 800 INR worth petrol):

29/05/2018 PETROL TRXN FEE RVRSL EXCLUDING TAX Credit 8.02
29/05/2018 HPCL 0.75% CASHLESS IN MUMBAI IN Credit 6
29/05/2018 SHIVAJI SERVICE STATIO HAVELI IN Debit 811.80

Similar pattern for another expenditure (Diesel worth 3175.92)


25/05/2018 PETROL TRXN FEE RVRSL EXCLG TAX Credit 31.75
25/05/2018 BPCL COCO PUNE IN Credit 23.82
25/05/2018 BPCL COCO PUNE IN Debit 3,213.40


Am I missing a catch here?

Ace.

I don't have any SBI card, but looking at your transaction examples there doesn't seem to be anything out of ordinary.
You are basically getting surcharge (excluding tax component) waived off by the bank (~1% for SBI cards), and then you get 0.75% discount introduced by the government for cashless payments.

In your examples, you saved approx 0.3% to 0.6%. If not for the 0.75% discount, you are actually paying more than the fuel cost, which makes this card not as good as the ones which waive complete surcharge for specific brands (like Amex cards with HP or Citibank cards with IOC).

[Thilak29]

I have accumulated 4 credit cards over a period of time. I am contemplating reducing it to 1 or 2 but can't decide which one to surrender. Some inputs might help, I have listed cards in the order of credit limit -
HDFC All miles
Kotak Royale
Citi IOC
Indus Ind Aura

[govigov]

Originally Posted by govigov

I recently got a call from SBI asking if I was interested in Prime or Elite. I decided to go with Prime. Now waiting for the card.

I collected the prime card yesterday and took it for a test drive. Works as expected. They are also offering a bump in the credit limit.

What is the usual credit limit provided by credit cards? In my case I have two cards, with HDFC at about 3X the monthly salary and SBI at 4X the monthly salary.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by narayan

The Standard chartered card is not a true 5% cash back card for fuel transactions. do check your statements. they charge some 1% as fuel surcharge and then give 5% cash back. so its more like 4%. But still good value and Im using one for the past 4 years.

also note - they have a min txn value for fuel purchase which is now Rs 750 I think - it was 0 first, then Rs500 and now Rs750. so if you fill up less than Rs750 per txn, you get no cash back - rather you pay 1% extra

Not only that, total cashback including fuel surcharge waiver is caped at Rs100/- per transaction.

Ex: Fuel cost is 2000/-
Surcharge waiver will be 1% + GST @18% on 1%. i.e; 1.18% = 23.60
Cash back will be 76.40/-

If fuel cost is 3000, then fuel surcharge reversal is 35.40 and cash back will be 64.60. not 120/- (3000x4)

Total cash back on fuel is caped @ 200/- per statement cycle
RS 200 cash back on telecom spends per statement cycle
100 cashback on electricity payments per statement cycle

Total cash back per month is Rs500/-

Its a good card to hold. Annual fee will be waived if total spends in a year is more than 60000/-

Using since 2012.

[Marshall]

For AMEX rewards card, is there a convenenience fee being charged @2.5%

[jkrishnakj]

My search for a new card continues now. I had an HDFC Bank All Miles card, which was thrusted upon me couple years back, post the expiry of an older HDFC bank card. Last month, i think i mis-placed this in some shop at an airport on way to Bangalore. I quickly called the Cust Care, and got that card blocked.

Now starts the problem. The phone banking person who helped block the card confirmed that she can send a replacement card. I reminded her of the historical complaints and how i dont need an all miles card ( given i dont fly too much ), but i was categorically told that the replacement can only be the same card type, or i can call back and get the Credit card person on the phone and ask options. She being nice, transferred the call ( instead of me going thru the entire IVR menus again ) and i perhaps met one of the most rude persons at the other end from the bank, who categorically told me two things. 1. I can only get an all miles card as a replacement and 2. No - No regalia or anything else, i am not eligible for anything else.

I lost it and i said a polite thank you and hung up.

I am now thinking that i cut my relation with HDFC bank totally ( i can clearly feel their service deteriorating ) after about 2 decades with them, and i now will look to get a new credit card.

Thankfully, my Amex works just fine, and i am not missing my HDFC bank credit card anyways, but i really need another one, because acceptance of Amex is a challenge in most places.

[blorebuddy]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

I am now thinking that i cut my relation with HDFC bank totally ( i can clearly feel their service deteriorating ) after about 2 decades with them, and i now will look to get a new credit card.

Thankfully, my Amex works just fine, and i am not missing my HDFC bank credit card anyways, but i really need another one, because acceptance of Amex is a challenge in most places.

I can understand. I have closed my savings account which I maintained for more than 10 years with them due to the customer case rude behavior. Similar thing happened with Axis bank also. I found these 2 customer care were rude compared to other banks I have experienced (ICICI, Citi, Yes Bank, DB etc)

Recently I have applied for Credit Card to HDFC irrespective of this experience because it was suiting my need and they never bothered to process though I was meeting their criteria. I think being one of the largest in India, I think they have enough business and do not want to care about new or existing business

I would suggest to share your requirements, I am sure our members recommend the best suited card. Also this forum contains lot of information on the recommendations based on various needs. You can browse through also.

Based on my experience with customer care, I would suggest you to go for Citi or Yes bank card

[jkrishnakj]

Yes, they are really big and may potentially be struggling to sustain services, or perhaps they have some alerts in their systems that might be prompting differential treatment to different customers of them.

I am going thru this now, and have found a few good ones that will suit my need, and Citi and Yes are right on top for now. Thanks BloreBuddy.

[autorahul]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

I am now thinking that i cut my relation with HDFC bank totally ( i can clearly feel their service deteriorating ) after about 2 decades with them, and i now will look to get a new credit card.

I have held credit cards of quite a few banks over the years, and if I had to rate my experience of the relationship, below is the ranking, highest being the best.

1. American Express
2. Yes Bank
3. Indusind Bank
4. Citi Bank
5. SBI Bank
6. Standard Chartered Bank
7. ICICI Bank
8. HDFC Bank

The experience till Standard Chartered bank has been good. Never going for the bottom 2 ever again though.

[roby_dk]

Originally Posted by autorahul

1. American Express
2. Yes Bank
3. Indusind Bank
4. Citi Bank
5. SBI Bank
6. Standard Chartered Bank
7. ICICI Bank
8. HDFC Bank

I carry 6th and 8th from your list.
Can you please elaborate some pros and cons for others benefit.

[Highh5]

Recently I noticed whenever I did a refill of Rs 1000, I have been charged Rs 1010 in statement. Noticed at two different outlets, both IOC pumps. After doing google, got to know that RBI charges 1% on all POS digital transactions, which pump owner charges from us since their margins are less.
Basically, this is in direct conflict of government's push for digital payments. On one hand they ask everyone to do payment via cards on the other hand we have been asked to pay 1% on each transaction for doing the favor.
My question is since I noticed this recently, though I have been doing transactions on pumps through cards since years, is it only now every petrol pump owner started pushing those charges to customers or only a few of them does that. Bit confused, since I never noticed these charges before.

[autorahul]

Originally Posted by roby_dk

I carry 6th and 8th from your list.
Can you please elaborate some pros and cons for others benefit.

Sure.

1. American Express-
   • Very effective communication.
   • Brilliant Portal.
   • No unnecessary calls or even SMS. They email your promotions.
   • No home/personal or any kind of loan calls
   • Should you ever need clarification they are able to explain clearly.
   • Good offers
2. Yes Bank
   • Again very good with communication.
   • Tried to call me at start to sell their banking products, but one refusal later, no more calls.
   • Great for international usage as currency markup is amongst the lowest.
   • Good reward points, uniform 2% across the board.
   • Portal is not very good, but they have informed that they will be launching an overhaul sometime this year.
   • Ambitious and still small, so you get early entry advantage, so this card would reap rewards later.
   • Offers are increasing every day.
3. Indusind Bank
   • Again the common point with candidates on top is clarity in communication
   • You occasionally get calls asking if you could refer someone
   • Had a confusion regarding membership fees, as I was informed it was free, yet I was charged. Turns out they charge it and then reverse it after first statement.
   • Not very good portal
   • Not many offers though
4. Citi Bank
   • My first credit card, and still going on.
   • No spam calls received, ever.
   • Citi cards are almost the ultimate travel card. You get 1200 off on GoIbibo and MMT every Monday and Tuesday, Paytm offer on Thurday, International tickets offer on Saturday. Moreover you get 10x reward points on Makemytrip and GoIbibo. This for a card costing 1000Rs and free on 30k spends is great.
   • Many offers during sales across Amazon, Big Basket, Flipkart etc.
   • Okayish portal
   • Can redeem points for statement credit.
5. SBI Bank
   • Surprisingly good portal. Simple to use.
   • No Spam calls till now.
   • Customer treatment improves with longer relationship. I forgot to pay my bill one month as I was travelling and appropriately got charged late fees. One simple mail requesting an exemption, and it was done in 24 hours.
   • Decent reward points.
   • Good for e-commerce as like Citi, they too regularly have offers
6. Standard Chartered Bank
   • No huge con really, but no pros either.
   • Had gotten Manhattan, where they lured with good reward points. Quickly found out about so many caps in that, that Citi/Yes seemed much better.
7. ICICI Bank
   • This card was shoved down my throat during bank opening.
   • Lost card, replacement took 2 weeks to come.
   • Customer service takes eons to respond, after which they raise a service request saying we will get back to you without providing any resolution.
   • Only good if you want lounge access for cheap (Coral card)
8. HDFC Bank
   • They run some great offers, in the leagues of Citi and SBI.
   • But extremely shoddy customer service. They take eons to respond, have set of undecipherable rules.
   • To discontinue card, they were asking me to visit a branch and talk to branch manager. As this card was linked with salaried account, I got in touch with my office and asked them to intervene, post which it was closed down immediately.

Currently I hold cards from Amex (LTF), Yes Bank (LTF). Citi (Rs 1000, Free after 30k annual spend) and SBI (Rs 500, Free after 1 lakh annual spend).

I have HDFC(salaried) and Indusind accounts (which charges 0% currency conversion). The HDFC debit card help in case there are any HDFC offers to avail too.

[RaghuVis]

Originally Posted by Highh5

Recently I noticed whenever I did a refill of Rs 1000, I have been charged Rs 1010 in statement.

I filled for 2500 at BP through my Credit card 2 days back. Did a double check in SMS just now. They have not charged anything extra. Not sure if this is something specific to IOC or maybe this is getting slowly implemented everywhere. Also is the credit card of the same bank where you are drawing salary? Maybe they might be charging for me as well but being a corporate card, it is being absorbed by my bank.