[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by smrtdvl

Recently after a purchase at Amazon discovered that HDFC infinia offers more value than Amazon Icici card. I bought a mobile for 15k and if I had used Amazon Icici card would have got 750 Amazon cash back but with 5x reward points thru Hdfc SmartBuy got 2500 points which I converted to some GVs worth Rs.1250. I think I'll start using HDFC Infinia from now on rather than Amazon Icici card and CITI IOC card exclusively for fuel purchases.

Originally Posted by tejas08

Great that you finally saw the difference by your own eyes. I have seen many people compare Amazon Pay to Infinia and mention that Amazon Pay is much better card than Infinia .

On Amazon Pay ICICI card, all you had to do was make a purchase of any amount, without any monthly cap, to get the 750 Rs cashback which is automatically added to your account each month. Using the HDFC Smartbuy gimmick, you have to first bother with finding an item on Amazon then going to the Smartbuy site, locating it, adding it properly which often fails, then paying, waiting months for the 5x points to be credited, following up as it often fails and then again having the hassle and limits to buy further gift vouchers. Without doubt, Amazon PayICICI is superior especially considering there is no annual fee and no limits on cashback and no gimmicks of any kind. Why pay an annual fee of 12k plus or have an obligation to spend 8 lakhs minimum each year when you have an easy and free option? With 30 paise per point statement credit, the real reward rate on Infinia is just 1% regardless of how people spin it. Having unlimited Priority Pass is good though. However many cards offer a few visits per quarter and are free from fees. Infinia can make sense for a heavy traveller who spends a lot but Amazon Pay makes great sense for casual shopping.

[smrtdvl]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Without doubt, Amazon PayICICI is superior especially considering there is no annual fee and no limits on cashback and no gimmicks of any kind. Why pay an annual fee of 12k plus or have an obligation to spend 8 lakhs minimum each year when you have an easy and free option? With 30 paise per point statement credit, the real reward rate on Infinia is just 1% regardless of how people spin it. Having unlimited Priority Pass is good though. However many cards offer a few visits per quarter and are free from fees. Infinia can make sense for a heavy traveller who spends a lot but Amazon Pay makes great sense for casual shopping.

I thought the same when I had Regalia & Amazon ICICI card. But after getting a LTF Infinia without any spending obligations i feel Infinia makes sense to me. In fact couple of weeks back I was able to get diff vouchers at a conversion rate of 70p/1Pt (Thanks to a Bhpian) worth Rs.21000

And reg the tracking just confirm at the OTP page the mechant name before keying in OTP. If it's tracked via SmartBuy it says SmartBuyAmaz and if not tracked the merchant name is Amazon. Moreover for every Rs.150 spent at non Amazon purchases you get Rs.1.50 as cashback at Amazon ICICI card and 5 normal points via HDFC Infinia which in turn works out to Rs.2.50.

I too felt it was tough but at the end it was worth the effort Cheers!

And a special Thanks to Tejas08 for helping me get the hang of it.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Why pay an annual fee of 12k plus or have an obligation to spend 8 lakhs minimum each year when you have an easy and free option? With 30 paise per point statement credit, the real reward rate on Infinia is just 1% regardless of how people spin it. Having unlimited Priority Pass is good though. However many cards offer a few visits per quarter and are free from fees. Infinia can make sense for a heavy traveller who spends a lot but Amazon Pay makes great sense for casual shopping.

If Infinia doesnt suit you, might as well say so. The argument you have mentioned is honestly baseless in my opinion. There are thousands of Infinia and DCB user who are using Smartbuy day in day out seamlessly. Contrary to your understanding, the bonus points are credited within the next month and absolutely accurately to the last point.

You are making a negative argument cause you probably haven't seen what all Smartbuy offers on 10X / 5X where Amazon Pay only offers 1% or 2%. Electronics, Groceries, Clothing, Accessories, Flights, Hotels, Medicines, Train Tickets, Bus Tickets, Restaurants. Movies and a lot more. All you are seeing is 5% on Amazon Vs 5X on Amazon between ICICI Amazon Pay Vs Infinia. Add to that, ICICI Amazon Pay is always excluded by Amazon Sales where ICICI cards give instant discount. So the ICICI Amazon Pay card isnt as good as it looks.

P.S. - I have ICICI Amazon Pay and Infinia both. I have not used the ICICI Amazon Pay even once till date.

I am no heavy traveler. But the reward points will fuel the next 2 or 3 International vacation flights. The savings of which will be much more than the 1, 2 & 5% reward rate of ICICI Amazon Pay. And since I ensure all my expenses go via Credit Cards, I dont even have to worry about the annual fee.

[Thilak29]

I have Regalia - How do I get it changed to Infinia ?

Do I need to surrender current card and have it deactivated?

Should I apply Infinia afresh ? Can keep both cards ?

Or should I request upgrade through some channel ? I usually get limit upgrade every two years and been holding HDFC card since 2010.

Thanks in advance

[meerkat]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

... Using the HDFC Smartbuy gimmick, you have to first bother with finding an item on Amazon then going to the Smartbuy site, locating it, adding it properly which often fails, then paying, waiting months for the 5x points to be credited, following up as it often fails and then again having the hassle and limits to buy further gift vouchers. Without doubt, Amazon PayICICI is superior ...

Originally Posted by tejas08

If Infinia doesnt suit you, might as well say so. The argument you have mentioned is honestly baseless in my opinion. There are thousands of Infinia and DCB user who are using Smartbuy day in day out seamlessly. Contrary to your understanding, the bonus points are credited within the next month and absolutely accurately to the last point.

... Add to that, ICICI Amazon Pay is always excluded by Amazon Sales where ICICI cards give instant discount. So the ICICI Amazon Pay card isnt as good as it looks.

In my experience too, shopping at Amazon via SmartBuy is not such a hassle as it is made out to be! Following the steps as described on SmartBuy, it has never failed for me. Rewards are also credited accurately and automatically well within the promised timeline (I did have to follow up once, right at the start a few years back, and it didn't fail! And never needed to do that again).

I'd like to make a few additional points as well:

* Forget about the much better rewards from the Infinia and similar cards, I'd argue that even lesser cards from HDFC are at least as good as the Amazon Pay - ICICI card when used through SmartBuy:

1. They offer 5% discount to all (sometimes even 10%). For the Amazon Pay - ICICI card, it is 5% only for Prime members (otherwise it's just 3%).

2. The HDFC rewards are credited directly to the card account, which is far superior to being limited to just Amazon Pay credits for obvious reasons.

3. For HDFC cards the SmartBuy reward is in addition to any instant discount. The individual card benefits (e.g. for the Money Back card) accrue on top of even that.
.

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by tejas08

There are thousands of Infinia and DCB user who are using Smartbuy day in day out seamlessly. Contrary to your understanding, the bonus points are credited within the next month and absolutely accurately to the last point.

And I am also one of those thousands who are using smartbuy for all my shopping (upto 10k each) from Amazon and FK. In fact, I have almost stopped using Amazon Pay ICICI CC since I got to know about this smartbuy thing. As I don't travel much or stay in hotels, I always redeem my points to Amazon Pay Balance. So, my cashback will be around 8.25% where as the maximum cashback from Amazon Pay ICICI CC is still 5%.
And the reward points gets credited to the account within first week of the next month and they are always accurate.

[pandey.jai]

I find some of the discussion here very interesting. I never really bothered too much with my choice of credit card that I picked for a given transaction. Amazon ICICI card was always for shopping on Amazon (I have prime) and either my HDFC Regalia card or the Amazon ICICI card for other purchases.

Now I’ve read about Smartbuy - my understanding is that all I need to do is goto the website, redirect to Amazon and purchase. Is that it?

Also, someone mentioned that they have lifetime free Infinia card. Any idea on how to get that (without requiring a minimum spend)?

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by pandey.jai

Amazon ICICI card was always for shopping on Amazon (I have prime) and either my HDFC Regalia card or the Amazon ICICI card for other purchases.

This is what exactly I used to do before I got to know about Smartbuy thing.

Originally Posted by pandey.jai

Now I’ve read about Smartbuy - my understanding is that all I need to do is goto the website, redirect to Amazon and purchase. Is that it?

You can bookmark this link, https://www.amazon.in/b?node=1570536...=1641536001252. Make sure that the item that you want to buy need to be searched after landing into the Amazon Smartbuy page. That is, adding the item into cart and then landing into Amazon Smartbuy page does not work.
Let me know in case you find any difficulty with any of the steps.

Originally Posted by pandey.jai

Also, someone mentioned that they have lifetime free Infinia card. Any idea on how to get that (without requiring a minimum spend)?

I converted my DB CC to LTF in 2020. At that time, I was asked to open a basic savings account with HDFC and I did that. Please check if they still have this offer. Because, you just need to maintain minimum balance of 10k in that account.

[Vandit]

Guys, question. I've seen a lot of people get into the Infinia bandwagon but for some reason it has eluded me. I've been a customer with HDFC for over 15+ years and currently hold the Regalia since around 2017. Despite regular upgrades on the credit limit over the years.. I've received no calls or options to upgrade.

Is it strict invite only and I think it's not lifetime free is it?

[smrtdvl]

Originally Posted by pandey.jai

Also, someone mentioned that they have lifetime free Infinia card. Any idea on how to get that (without requiring a minimum spend)?

I got it when HDFC had a ban on issuing Credit cards to new customers. So when I read somewhere that all existing Regalia customers can get Infinia I cross checked with my RM, asked him to send a mail from HDFC id that it is indeed LTF & no min spend obligations and proceeded with the upgrade.

But for almost 7 months I was not using the card using smartbuy but few bhpians made me understand what I was losing & here I am sharing what I learnt.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

I have Regalia - How do I get it changed to Infinia ?

Do I need to surrender current card and have it deactivated?

Should I apply Infinia afresh ? Can keep both cards ?

Or should I request upgrade through some channel ? I usually get limit upgrade every two years and been holding HDFC card since 2010.

Thanks in advance

Regalia to Infinia will be an upgrade. This can be done either via your RM or by sending an upgrade request to Grievance Redressal email id of HDFC.

The pre-requisite to this is 8 Lacs Credit Limit on current HDFC Credit Card, and a decent amount of spends in the last 6 Months (1+ Lac minimum avg. of 6 Months).

Originally Posted by pandey.jai

I find some of the discussion here very interesting. I never really bothered too much with my choice of credit card that I picked for a given transaction. Amazon ICICI card was always for shopping on Amazon (I have prime) and either my HDFC Regalia card or the Amazon ICICI card for other purchases.

Now I’ve read about Smartbuy - my understanding is that all I need to do is goto the website, redirect to Amazon and purchase. Is that it?

Also, someone mentioned that they have lifetime free Infinia card. Any idea on how to get that (without requiring a minimum spend)?

LTF Infinia was given during a specific offer period. For now, it is not available unless HDFC brings back the offer.

Originally Posted by Vandit

Guys, question. I've seen a lot of people get into the Infinia bandwagon but for some reason it has eluded me. I've been a customer with HDFC for over 15+ years and currently hold the Regalia since around 2017. Despite regular upgrades on the credit limit over the years.. I've received no calls or options to upgrade.

Is it strict invite only and I think it's not lifetime free is it?

It is invite only. But sometimes you can gate-crash. Check above for the same.

[Vandit]

Originally Posted by tejas08

It is invite only. But sometimes you can gate-crash. Check above for the same.

Thanks. I've let my RM have a earful asking why I never heard of this offer. HDFC's lack of communication and servicing is exactly what's got me looking for a better banking experience. The credit card part is addressed by Amex to a certain extent but once I've reached the target, the normal reward ratio for Amex points isn't that great.

HDFC have really begun to annoy me. My RM almost had no clue about the details of the upgrade offer and said she'll get back to me.

[Everlearner]

Originally Posted by Vandit

Thanks. I've let my RM have a earful asking why I never heard of this offer. HDFC's lack of communication and servicing is exactly what's got me looking for a better banking experience. The credit card part is addressed by Amex to a certain extent but once I've reached the target, the normal reward ratio for Amex points isn't that great.

HDFC have really begun to annoy me. My RM almost had no clue about the details of the upgrade offer and said she'll get back to me.

HDFC RMs are nothing but glorious salesmen. They keep calling me for selling products, but when I ask them for any help, they just say please contact nearest branch . It's more or less same with other banks as well.

When I checked with my RM on upgrade to Infinia, she told me she will get back, but it had been 2 years now. Last year I just randomly called up HDFC customer care and asked for an upgrade and luckily the upgrade offer was running at that time, so got my LTF infinia finally.

[motorworks]

Just a quick question folks, what would be a good alternative to the American Express platinum card?
I have been using this for over 6 years now, no complaints as such, have enjoyed decent benefits, like Taj Hotel vouchers, ability to convert points to flipkart vouchers etc, but the yearly fee of nearly 4500 is still steep. Also, whatever American Express says, the acceptability of this card is still an issue in many places, including fuel outlets!

So I have been thinking if there is a cheaper, but equally good alternative to my American Express platinum card. I have multiple accounts in icici, so if there is a good credit card option with icici it would probably make my life easier to apply. Any feedback would be great!

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Just a quick question folks, what would be a good alternative to the American Express platinum card?
I have been using this for over 6 years now, no complaints as such, have enjoyed decent benefits, like Taj Hotel vouchers, ability to convert points to flipkart vouchers etc, but the yearly fee of nearly 4500 is still steep. Also, whatever American Express says, the acceptability of this card is still an issue in many places, including fuel outlets!

So I have been thinking if there is a cheaper, but equally good alternative to my American Express platinum card. I have multiple accounts in icici, so if there is a good credit card option with icici it would probably make my life easier to apply. Any feedback would be great!

If you are travelling a lot, especially abroad, AMEX cards are the best option. They may not be accepted at many places, they may not have a lot of jazz and whistles, but what they have is a few cards can match -

1. Unqualified buyer protection
2. Best fraud protection
3. Fast replacement any where in the world
4. Lots of high end schemes

I have been an AMEX user since 2000 and do not regret paying the annual fees for their gold charge card.

By the way I also have ICICI card, Amazon card amongst others, but for general purchases AMEX gives the best points to me.