HDFC Moneyback Credit Card Devalued

By | July 22, 2016

HDFC Moneyback credit card is one of the most famous credit card ever launched for the beginners. This had the opportunity to earn 1.6% value back on all online spends as direct cash credit to your statement. It’s issued very easily to almost everyone who signs up for the HDFC credit card initially.

Moneyback Card – Story of Past:

It has become so popular with customers in recent times as cashback concept is very attractive and even i’ve redeemed the points for Rs.3,500 as direct cash credit on the statement in the past. That’s a great number just for holding such a beginner level card.

hdfc-moneyback-credit_card

HDFC Moneyback Credit Card

Well, banks are here to make money, so they made the redemption process so hectic that it takes atleast 10-15 days to get the cash credit and that too you have to fill the physical form and send to Chennai address. This gives resistance to people as not everyone wants to take prints, spend money to courier, etc.

Now as card holders are aware about the redemption possibilities, they have sent 1000’s of forms to chennai address which ofcourse is hard to manage and hence they decided to make the redemption process easy by few clicks in net-banking account.

Well, doing this bank will incur in huge loss as everyone can redeem points overnight and hence they decided to devalue the card. I noticed the net banking based redemption option as soon as they rolled out the De-valuation, makes some sense. Here are the changes,

HDFC Moneyback Credit Card Point Earn Rate Changes:

From June 1st 2016 onwards,

  • 1 Reward Point= Rs.0.30 (it was 0.40 earlier)
  • All online spends gives you only 2X reward points (it was 3X earlier)
  • Mastercard Lounge Access program revoked on Moneyback card (revoked on Allmiles MC too)

Overall value back on the card dropped from 1.6% to 0.8% which is a huge devaluation. Now the most popular product ofย  HDFC gets devalued on a huge scale and most of them don’t know about it. Hardly 5% of the card holders are aware of the changes.

Now, you can try to upgrade to a higher range card and make better use of your hard earned points. Doing so, bank will reduce certain % of points as you’re upgrading from a lower end card to a higher end card. Its a kind of trap.

This is how bank generally makes money in millions, clever strategy ๐Ÿ˜€

If you really have a lot of points, drop an email to HDFC and escalate to higher officials to get some meaningful solution.

What do you think about this devaluation? Share your comments below.

Author: Siddharth

Helping Indians to choose right credit cards, pick right offers and enjoy luxury vacations for less. Day & night exploring the spiritual reality of our human existence.

30 thoughts on “HDFC Moneyback Credit Card Devalued

  1. SriKrsna

    You are right. But I also see that Business Moneyback cards are not affected.

    Reply
  2. MANU KUMAR

    What’s next… I got the card in may 2016…

    Can I get a 2nd upgrade

    Reply
  3. Yuri

    Hi Siddharth, this is indeed a nice and comprehensive article. I have a HDFC Moneyback Credit Card issued to me a year ago as an upgrade from a Titanium Edge card I had earlier. The card has a limit of 3 lakh plus but am not happy with the features ever since the devaluation occurred. The next upgrade they have offered me is the Allmiles card which has the same devaluation. Is there a better card I can apply for from the HDFC stable? Do let me know your thoughts on the same. Thanks in advance:-).

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Yuri,
      Ask for Regalia or Regalia First.
      Your Credit limit is good enough for bank to approve those cards.

      Reply
      1. Yuri

        Hey Siddharth, thanks for sharing this information bro:-). Guess I will have to contact their customer care for this request as the HDFC website is only offering me the Allmiles card as an upgrade if you can even call it that post all the devaluation. Will also wait for your review on Regalia First as well so that I can take an informed decision.

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          Sure. Just reviewed Regalia First. Have a look ๐Ÿ™‚

          Reply
  4. Ashok

    I too had just gotten the money back card and this has been quite a bummer and my limit is around a lakh.
    Which card would you recommend I upgrade to or change to. My priority is to get maximum savings rather then benefits for travel or for forex spend.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      You can upgrade to allmiles or any diners cards. Your limit will also go up during upgrade, if you choose to.

      Reply
  5. Ashish Sanga

    Hi Siddharth

    I wanna apply for my first cc. Mostly for online use. Suggest me any HDFC Card.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Depends on Your eligibility. Get the premium ones if you’re eligible for.
      Below is the High to low end variants
      Diners Black > Regalia > All Miles > Moneyback

      Reply
      1. Ravi Sankar

        Hi Siddharth,

        Nice to see your posts on credit cards. I am having HDFC Superia credit card and going to expire in 4 months. I have nearly 10000 reward points in this card. As per my knowledge, i have to redeem the points only through gift vouchers and cannot redeem as cash with Superia card.
        As it is going to expire, Customer care person said i am eligible for Regalia card.
        Please suggest which card is better for upgradation. Is it better to take a money back card so that i can redeem my points into cash or take Regalia card. Also, please clarify whether all my reward points will be transferred to the new card.

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          Regalia is good, better than Moneyback in many ways. Go for it.

          Reply
  6. GIRISH

    Hi i am having hdfc bussines moneyback Card how much time to take limit increased in new card my bill payment is before due and usage 50% of limit

    Reply
  7. mv srinivas

    hii siddharth am using this card since 1 yr.i make a min bill of 15 to 20k per month.
    right now i had 97k credit limit.but since 3 months am trying to upgrade my card as this is devalued as u said .
    but they were not accepting my request to upgrade my credit card.actually i asked them for Regalia credit card upgrade.

    i use mainly for recharges online shopping movie ticks utility bills etc..so if i wanna upgrade which wil be good option for upgrade so that i can get good rewards etc.

    plsss reply.thank u

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Its tough to get upgraded to premium card from a basic card with this limit.
      You can upgrade to Allmiles and then to Regalia after another 3-6 months.

      Reply
  8. Ashok

    And now they introduced redemption fee of 75 INR even for cash credit. ๐Ÿ™

    Reply
  9. Tania Mukherjee

    Hi siddharth!
    Im going to get my first credit card from HDFC. Which I should I go for? They are offering me Teachers Platinum, moneybach, bharat cash back and freedom card.
    I selected the Freedom one. Did i do the right thing? Please suggest . TIA

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Moneyback is good to go, but if you’re eligible for premium cards, go with them.

      Reply
  10. Adi H.

    Hi, How can I upgrade my HDFC Moneyback credit card to some other variant and what are the key points to have it upgraded or even have option to upgrade?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Check for upgrade on netbanking, if not just submit the upgrade application.
      If usage is decent, you can apply for upgrade in 6 months.

      Reply
  11. RAMESH SHARMA

    We have Moneyback card with 4L limit. While checking for up gradation on net banking, it shows two options
    1. EMV MC HNW REGALIA INTL
    Annual Fees: 0
    50% value of reward points remains

    2. JETPRIVIL HDFCBANK WORLD
    Annual Fees: 2500
    43% value of reward points remains

    Is it worth upgrading or should we continue with moneyback

    Reply
  12. Aman

    Hi Ramesh

    Kindly read sid’s review gor both. Then see which suits you better.

    Personally, I think they have taken all the benifits out of hdfc cards through devaluation.

    Tc.

    Reply
  13. Preyank Dixsit

    It seems HDFC has further devalued this card. I have 2237 RP on my card and when i was redeeming them for cash it shows only 447/- INR as equivalent amount i.e 1RP =0.20 INR.

    This is really poor move from HDFC.

    Reply
  14. pradeep

    hi,

    i’m maxed out with limit of 88k. now i’m getting onlone offer to increase my limiti by 12k only. its the 7th month i’m using this card. should i got for 12k limit enchancement or shall i wait for auto limit enhancement?

    regards

    Reply
    1. Pradeep

      i went with 12k limit increase which was done just with OTP. Still 5 months to go for yearly auto upgrade offer.

      Reply
      1. pradeep

        now insta loan is enabled for 75% of my card limit. planning to take 10k as intsa loan to enable jumbo loan.
        i dont need money now, but to activate all types of loan through card i’m taking insta loan. So should i go for 10k or should i take more loan?

        Reply
        1. AshishR

          whats the point in taking loan when u dont need one, you gonna have to pay interest on money

          Reply
          1. pradeep

            Get the PDF file premium content offer by sidddarth, you’ll know better. i got HDFC card after getting the premium service

  15. Abhishek Singh

    They have capped the monthly rewards point under 2X RP feature to 500 Rp per statement cycle on MoneyBack Card.
    “FROM 15 JUL’20, MAX EARNING UNDER MONEYBACK’S 2X RP FEATURE FOR ONLINE
    SPENDS WILL BE 500 REWARD POINTS PER STMT CYCLE”.

    Reply

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