Credit Card - Help & Recommendations

[KunjanPSD]

4 minutes ago, SuperT said:

I meant the points which the bank adds to the card account. Specially the monthly 25k bonus points which one earns on spends of more than 1L in a month, those take easily 2-3 months. 

Because you have a refund window of 2-3 months and even chargeback on most txns. That's why it is necessary to have a longer credit timeframe.

[TheMonark]

8 minutes ago, SuperT said:

I meant the points which the bank adds to the card account. Specially the monthly 25k bonus points which one earns on spends of more than 1L in a month, those take easily 2-3 months. 

 

That is slow. I agree.

[SuperT]

1 minute ago, KunjanPSD said:

Because you have a refund window of 2-3 months and even chargeback on most txns. That's why it is necessary to have a longer credit timeframe.

Doesn't make sense then ideally even the normal points should be credited after 2-3 months if refunds are a concern ? Not the case with Amex. The milestone points are added in the same billing cycle, infact sometimes instantaneously. Just check online on Credit Card forums there are threads where people are waiting for the milestone points on Magnus for almost 4 + months. 

[TheMonark]

3 minutes ago, KunjanPSD said:

Because you have a refund window of 2-3 months and even chargeback on most txns. That's why it is necessary to have a longer credit timeframe.

 

Amex MRCC also has 20k milestone bonus but they credit the points as soon as the transaction is settled.

[KunjanPSD]

3 minutes ago, SuperT said:

Doesn't make sense then ideally even the normal points should be credited after 2-3 months if refunds are a concern ? Not the case with Amex. The milestone points are added in the same billing cycle, infact sometimes instantaneously. Just check online on Credit Card forums there are threads where people are waiting for the milestone points on Magnus for almost 4 + months. 

I very well know what is going on with Axis. And the game is simple, if you want high rewards, you need to put in a bit of work. Axis might delay points but it never eats them up.

If you want ease of use then it is not for you.

[Bird Bird Bird]

1 minute ago, KunjanPSD said:

I very well know what is going on with Axis. And the game is simple, if you want high rewards, you need to put in a bit of work. Axis might delay points but it never eats them up.

If you want ease of use then it is not for you.

 

I hate axis. They never gave me the promised voucher for milestone spends on FK axis card. Mailed them thrice, no response. Just f**kall. 

[KunjanPSD]

7 minutes ago, Bird Bird Bird said:

 

I hate axis. They never gave me the promised voucher for milestone spends on FK axis card. Mailed them thrice, no response. Just f**kall. 

Nice. More people should stay away from Axis so that milestone continues to stay for the rest of us 

[SuperT]

22 minutes ago, KunjanPSD said:

I very well know what is going on with Axis. And the game is simple, if you want high rewards, you need to put in a bit of work. Axis might delay points but it never eats them up.

If you want ease of use then it is not for you.

Check below literally ate up promised rewards.  Also, my cozn is fed up he did not get the milestone points since almost 5 months now, multiple emails etc. and the reply is that fuel doesn't provide points but his argument is that it is for milestone not regular points which is true they never said that fuel spends will not count for milestone.

Many more such cases all over the internet.

 

14 minutes ago, Bird Bird Bird said:

 

I hate axis. They never gave me the promised voucher for milestone spends on FK axis card. Mailed them thrice, no response. Just f**kall. 

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by SuperT

[KunjanPSD]

6 minutes ago, SuperT said:

Check below literally ate up promised rewards.  Also, my cozn is fed up he did not get the milestone points since almost 5 months now, multiple emails etc. and the reply is that fuel doesn't provide points but his argument is that it is for milestone not regular points which is true they never said that fuel spends will not count for milestone.

Many more such cases all over the internet.

I understand this and that's why I said, higher rewards need more work. If you prefer other CCs which are less involved then that is just fine. What works for me might not work for anyone else.

@Root

[SuperT]

5 minutes ago, KunjanPSD said:

I understand this and that's why I said, higher rewards need more work. If you prefer other CCs which are less involved then that is just fine. What works for me might not work for anyone else.

@Root

[achilles]

On 1/27/2023 at 9:28 AM, KunjanPSD said:

You should absolutely never use forex card as that will use the forex rate set by the bank and not the visa/MasterCard interchange rate, which will be around 4-5% higher.

Infact, you should just use Infinia.

Infinia has 3.3% reward rate with 2% markup. With GST, it comes to 2.36%.

That means on every swipe, you will actually gain 0.94%.

 

And further, you should call customer care and enable Global Value program on Infinia. Costs 450 bucks or so a year and provides 1% cashback for upto 1L forex spend every month. That means over the current 3.3% reward rate, you get 1% more.

That means a net 1.94% gain for forex txns upto 1L in a month.

 

Forex cards me aag lga do.

 

How do I check the visa/mc interchange rate? 

 

Will check on the global value program. 

 

For regalia forex plus, many times the reload rate is less than cash equivalent exchange so on my last couple of trips I carried the bare minimum cash. Plus the reload is in USD and there mark-up is a fixed 2% with no other charges. 

 

They also keep on giving reload offers as point multipliers and cashbacks. 

 

Although with the recent TCS rule, I guess using CC will be better, if they are exempt. Or its back to cash. It will suck, but 5% is a decent chunk of change over a trip.  

 

On 1/27/2023 at 8:48 AM, Bird Bird Bird said:

 

Forex cards will have issuance charges, loading fee, refund fee etc. 

Fi is just like a debit card with zero forex markup. You can spend whatever you've in the account. No charges. 

 

so the forex card has 2% mark-up but usually we get 1% back as reload offers. Still, as Kunjan mentioned, CC should come out better. 

 

[KunjanPSD]

5 hours ago, achilles said:

 

How do I check the visa/mc interchange rate? 

 

Will check on the global value program. 

 

For regalia forex plus, many times the reload rate is less than cash equivalent exchange so on my last couple of trips I carried the bare minimum cash. Plus the reload is in USD and there mark-up is a fixed 2% with no other charges. 

 

They also keep on giving reload offers as point multipliers and cashbacks. 

 

Although with the recent TCS rule, I guess using CC will be better, if they are exempt. Or its back to cash. It will suck, but 5% is a decent chunk of change over a trip.  

Just Google Visa/MC interchange/conversion rate and add in your currencies, select date and put any bank/markup fee as 0/Nil.

This will be the rate at which your CC txn will be settled at and any forex markup + GST will be applied on the top.

 

Forex card reload rate is always less than cash equivalent. I don't think markup is 2%, they have their card reload rate which is 3-5% higher (inclusive of GST) and each reload comes with 75 Rs fee with GST.

I have used HDFC forex cards and the T&C is the same. Doesn't mention 2% only on Regalia Forex page, unless I am missing something.

Anyway, same markup is on Infinia but you get the reward points to compensate.

 

Forex cards won't come under TCS because they don't use LRS. You are directly transacting via your account and Bank is providing you equivalent currency. Unless if some banks are charging TCS just as a blanket charge, won't be surprised if HDFC does this.

 

5% TCS rule after 7L will be replaced with 20% flat rule.

 

I am pretty sure CCs will be exempt because they never made into the 5% TCS rule and they don't use LRS either.

Edited February 2, 2023 by KunjanPSD

[KunjanPSD]

23 hours ago, SuperT said:

Also, infinia is very easy to acquire as a ltf not the case with Magnus and the spend criteria of 15L is too high. 

How did you get LTF Infinia?

[SuperT]

7 minutes ago, KunjanPSD said:

How did you get LTF Infinia?

I had Regalia LTF went to my branch one day to open a FD for my Dad and told them I need an upgrade then I’ll open the FD else I’ll go to some other bank. After a day or two they offered me Infinia LTF

[KunjanPSD]

15 minutes ago, SuperT said:

I had Regalia LTF went to my branch one day to open a FD for my Dad and told them I need an upgrade then I’ll open the FD else I’ll go to some other bank. After a day or two they offered me Infinia LTF

How long ago was this?

Is Infinia backed by FD?

Any FD ballpark number?

[KunjanPSD]

Because even though I have the requisite limit, I have next to nothing spends on my DCB.

Did you have 5-7L spends on your Regalia for a 6 month window prior to your upgrade request?

[SuperT]

1 hour ago, KunjanPSD said:

How long ago was this?

Is Infinia backed by FD?

Any FD ballpark number?

 

1 hour ago, KunjanPSD said:

Because even though I have the requisite limit, I have next to nothing spends on my DCB.

Did you have 5-7L spends on your Regalia for a 6 month window prior to your upgrade request?

This was pre covid at that time all my spends were on regalia so it was pretty high. I don’t think they do LTF for FD anymore because my friend tried but was denied. Is your DCB LTF ? If yes and the limit is 10 L or more then just drop them an email they might consider. Dad has DCB I dropped an email for him but they keep mentioning that limit needs to be 10L even though he has pretty decent spends. I had taken his add on to try and rake up spends on his dcb but that didn’t help they want the limit. 

Edited February 2, 2023 by SuperT

[KunjanPSD]

35 minutes ago, SuperT said:

 

This was pre covid at that time all my spends were on regalia so it was pretty high. I don’t think they do LTF for FD anymore because my friend tried but was denied. Is your DCB LTF ? If yes and the limit is 10 L or more then just drop them an email they might consider. Dad has DCB I dropped an email for him but they keep mentioning that limit needs to be 10L even though he has pretty decent spends. I had taken his add on to try and rake up spends on his dcb but that didn’t help they want the limit. 

Pre-covid was the golden time, that's why I asked. People were getting LTF Infinia even without FDs.

Now they are very strict in even providing it as a paid version. Even if you have >10L CL (which I do, yes LTF), they are asking 5-7L spends in last 6 months. It's a quite standard condition now.

And with Magnus, I basically must be having 20k spend on DCB in that timeframe.

 

I sent them a mail and they asked me to physically courier them documents to Chennai. Like Wtf. No bank asks for physical documents for upgrades or even more. Even my DCB upgrade was completely via mail.

 

Anyway, I think I have had enough of HDFC for good now, absolutely nothing extended for loyal, Imperia customers. Atleast Axis has started to offer FYF Magnus first to Burgandy holders and some are even getting extra 50k ERs on Reserve (in addition to the welcome 50k).

Will just threaten them to move away to ICICI/Axis, which I will actually do.

Edited February 2, 2023 by KunjanPSD

[Root]

On 2/2/2023 at 11:58 PM, KunjanPSD said:

Pre-covid was the golden time, that's why I asked. People were getting LTF Infinia even without FDs.

Now they are very strict in even providing it as a paid version. Even if you have >10L CL (which I do, yes LTF), they are asking 5-7L spends in last 6 months. It's a quite standard condition now.

And with Magnus, I basically must be having 20k spend on DCB in that timeframe.

 

I sent them a mail and they asked me to physically courier them documents to Chennai. Like Wtf. No bank asks for physical documents for upgrades or even more. Even my DCB upgrade was completely via mail.

 

Anyway, I think I have had enough of HDFC for good now, absolutely nothing extended for loyal, Imperia customers. Atleast Axis has started to offer FYF Magnus first to Burgandy holders and some are even getting extra 50k ERs on Reserve (in addition to the welcome 50k).

Will just threaten them to move away to ICICI/Axis, which I will actually do.

 

Its good to have Infinia in the back pocket, Axis game is not going to last very long they are currently in market acquisition mode - rent is already out, next is 25k bonus. 

 

I have LTF Regalia need this to be upgraded to Infinia before axis changes the rules.  

[Bird Bird Bird]

All these rich cards, meanwhile le me applied for Tata Neu HDFC.