Get 5X Rewards on Insurance Spends with HDFC Bank Credit Cards

By | December 16, 2019

Got that Insurance premium to clear this year end? here’s a lucrative offer from HDFC Bank to shift your insurance spends to HDFC Bank credit cards.

Offer Details:

  • Offer: 5X Rewards on retail HDFC Bank Credit Cards on insurance spends (all insurance types)
  • Validity: 1st November 2019 till 31st December 2019
  • Min. Txn: Rs.10,000 (cumulative, but re-confirm with support to be on safer side)
  • Max. Cap: 2K points per month. (4K points as you can avail it for 2 months)
  • Fulfilment: 90 days from offer end date
  • Source

That’s about 16.5% return on insurance spends if you’ve Diners Black or Infinia, for spends upto 15K per month on these cards to give you best value.

Note: Cross verified with customer care and this offer is for all and not for select card members. However, you may call and get confirmation to be on safer side.

Bottomline

Its hard to understand the minds behind these offers as you generally don’t get even base rewards with some issuers and then HDFC shows up with 5X rewards, not even 2X Rewards (like in feb 2019). But the sad news is the max. cap is going down every-time. Anyway, I’m happy about it as it rightly falls into my insurance payment cycle.

What’s your thoughts on the HDFC’s 5X rewards on insurance? Feel free to 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.

106 thoughts on “Get 5X Rewards on Insurance Spends with HDFC Bank Credit Cards

  1. Ritesh Kedia

    Hi Sid,

    Can u explain the minimum spend criteria of 10k? Is it per transaction or total spend?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      I assume it to be per txn as they did not mention as “cumulative spend”

      Reply
      1. Ram kaushik

        Hi Sid ,
        Can you review Hdfc Millenia card. Can you also let us know if 5 percent CB applicable for redgiraffe payment done via payzapp

        Reply
      1. Nihar

        Yes -2000 for a single transaction . Not limited to accelerated accumulation upto 2000 each month as in this offer .

        Reply
  2. Arun

    Can I partially pay LIC premium? 😊

    Split and pay in multiple transactions?

    Reply
  3. Pranab

    The Cap alongwith minimum transaction value are very poor. It makes only 10K-12K payments useful. I’ve a ₹3K & ₹25K payments this month. So I’ll get regular 100 points for 3K, accelerated 2K points for 12K of 25K but don’t think I’ll get anything for the rest 13K.

    Reply
    1. GTMAX

      @Pranab,
      Firstly, you are lucky to have this 5X offer in the month where you have your insurance premium payments due, but looks like you are not going to use it as you are not quite pleased with the same.
      Please enlighten us with any other offer which you are going to make use of to do your insurance payments of 3K & 25K.

      Btw, for your payments of 3K & 25K, this offer will give you a total of 2930 points on spends of 28K translating to a reward rate of 10.46%. So, I hope you have a got a better offer than this from some other bank.

      Reply
      1. Mudit

        @ GTMAX
        Aint Insurance points capped at 2000 per transaction for DCB?
        That case he will get 2100 points and not 2930…
        Or is the 2000 in the offer only for the accelerated 4x points and we have 2000 limit for the normal 1x points seperately ?

        Reply
    2. Nihar

      @ Pranab had there been no 5X even with DCB you will need to spend 60000 to earn the max 2000 points on insurance. Here you get it with 1/5th spend .
      Loss would be for guys who got to spend on insurance above 60K in any of these months with this max cap.

      Reply
    1. raulnayak

      Yes. It is available. The promo they sent me was something like, need to renew your car/life/health insurance? Get 5x points upto 2000 RPs with HDFC card.

      Reply
  4. Ayush Agrawal

    Apart from this bonus, HDFC Diners gives base points for insurance spends in general?

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Point # 19 of TnC – “Above offers is by way of a special offer for select HDFC Bank Credit Card members only….. ”

      Better to call up HDFC customer care for your specific credit card and confirm whether the offer holds true for you or not!

      Reply
  5. Surya

    How will they detect insurance txn ? Can i do via payzapp ? Or do i have to do via specific portal (In my case HDFC life)

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Mostly by tracking cookies for online/virtual transactions or PoS merchant name and type for offline/physical transactions.

      Reply
  6. SG

    Thanks Sid. I need to make LIC payments, can someone pls confirm the correct channel of payment for this to get this offer. Can I pay through HDFC bill payments for direct LIC website? Want to make sure I don’t get billdesk as the merchant.

    Reply
    1. shadow

      I spoke to the customer service and they said that we should pay only through the respective website without using any wallets. So what I have done is go to my HDFC Life page, pay directly with my card. This should work because the transaction in my statement looks to be showing insurance.

      Reply
      1. SG

        Yeah I did it direct through the website and it shows up as “LIC” on the SMS so I think that should be fine.

        Reply
    2. Nihar

      For LIC premium payment use LIC portal and select credit card . It should work out .

      Reply
  7. Pranab

    Is this offer applicable only on direct payments or Smartpay/Register and Pay/Billdesk are also included?
    Nothing such mentioned in terms & conditions, so it can be presumed that only direct payments are eligible.
    My question is similar to SG and fedonso.

    Reply
  8. Kunaal

    Will it be applicable on Insurance premium payments through Policybazaar?

    Reply
  9. Himanshu Kainth

    Thanks Sid,

    Perfect time for the offer to pop in as i have few insurance premiums due.

    Reply
  10. Mohit Jain

    I recently got upgraded from Regalia to Infinia. I am trying to understand the best ways to accumulate points for the same. Regarding the insurance offer above, does this also cover Motor Renewal insurance as well?

    Reply
  11. Ritesh Kedia

    Hi,

    I just confirmed with customer care and they said it is on cumulative spend and not single transaction of 10k.

    Reply
  12. charan

    I have a LIC premium of 25000/- to be paid. I thought of breaking up the payment into 2 trasanctions of 12500/- each to maximise my gains of 4000/ points. But i dont see an option to make a partial payment in LIC website. Time is running out as first trasaction has to be made in Novemeber and the second in December. Any pointers here…

    Reply
    1. Satyajit

      Same problem here.. I pay max monthly premium.. want to make it yearly to Avail this offer..
      Any tips ?

      Reply
    2. Nihar

      Can’t part pay premium .
      While you caan change the premium periodicity , which is not exactly your ask .

      Reply
  13. Manoj

    Is it for all card users or only those who received mail/SMS regarding the offer

    Reply
  14. Amit

    I renewed car insurance in early november through the car agency where the demand for payment was given by car agency through payzapp business account payment link. Will that count as insurance payment?
    Anyways good offer though. Does LIC premium count as insurance?

    Reply
  15. Rohit roy

    I haven’t received any communication on this because i already got similar offer 100% bonus points in Jan 2019 which is less when compared to 5x. Guys I had to chase for the points for nearly 8 months and it is real pain. Absolutely not worth in my case since it was just doubling the points. If you get any mails or message just preserve it since they will ask for proof. In my case they were just dragging saying that it would get credited next month thinking i would let it go but only after escalating to next level with gr8 difficulty and crying they credited as if I was looting them 🙂

    Reply
    1. RM

      How to escalate to next level for such issues of non-credit of Reward Points for my Diners Black card ? Pls. tell in some more detail.

      Reply
    2. Tanmay

      same here, have been dragging their feet for 10x points not credited to my account since 2 months. Not going to leave them so easily…what was the escalation matrix you followed? Gotta help the community….

      Reply
  16. Vyom Aggarwal

    its valid only on single txn greater than 10000.
    confirmed and reconfirmed with diners helpdesk

    Reply
  17. Bhavin Shah

    Checked and confirmed with CC that it is applicable to all and not restricted to few targeted customers

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      It’s targeted as per Infinia support. Called them up twice, spoke to 2 different executives to reconfirm.

      Reply
  18. Mritunjay

    Sid, Does NPS payment is also eligible for 5x rewards? As credit card consider NPS payment under insurance bracket (not sure).

    Reply
    1. Jayant

      Hi
      Anyone got any clarification if NPS transaction will be considered for 5X rewards?
      Appreciate your response.
      Thanks.

      Reply
  19. Sreedhar

    Hi Siddharth,

    Have been following this site for some time now. One suggestion i have is to include how good the customer service is of these banks. Along with the rewards rate, one should put high weight-age on bank’s customer care service. HDFC has very bad customer care service compared to Citi. One has to post mails to make changes like update address, deactivate a card, etc for HDFC bank. Where as, all this can be done through one phone call to customer care for Citi & Amex. HDFC doesn’t even have an option to directly talk to customer care if you have any queries. Except for high reward rate (which is not for everyone), what exactly HDFC has over other banks?

    Reply
  20. Pranab

    Contacted Infinia Customer Service for few clarifications.
    1. Is cumulative amount of 10K eligible? NO, it should be a single transaction of 10K or above.
    2. Is services like Smartpay, Register & Pay, Billpay eligible? No, if it’s an autopay (SI); YES, if paid manually (after getting OTP for payments).

    Reply
  21. Hitesh

    Hi,
    One question though: Paying Life insurance premiums for LIC via Netbanking attracts no additional charge; But via Credit card, it costs a small sum (like 200 Rs) + GST.
    Wont it be costly to pay via Credit card (More than the 2000 INR benefit).
    Apologies if i missed anything.
    thanks,
    Hitesh

    Reply
    1. Praveen Katiyar

      @ Hitesh
      On Visa/Mastercard & Rupay Credit Card, LIC website takes 190+GST as charges for amount between 25k-50k.
      Assuming you are exactly paying 25K, you would incur 190+34.2 = 224.2. It works out to be 0.9% or lesser in case of amount higher than 25K.
      Even if u hold Regalia First, you would get 0.8×5=4% return minimum in this case. (Even HDFC Moneyback would give you 1.25% return in form of RPs calculated taking cash redemption)
      Regalia, DCB & Infinia gives much higher returns.
      What I think you are missing that u are getting RPs more than you would lose as additional charges, and free credit period.
      Hope it helps..!!

      Reply
      1. Hitesh

        Thanks Praveen.
        That cleared it up.
        I was confused by the GST. I thought it would be on the entire Premium amount instead of just the additional charge.
        Regards,
        Hitesh

        Reply
    2. Mouli

      Hitesh,
      I think Axis credit card wont charge you and even when you are using other credit cards it depends on the kind of card that you are using
      When you use SC Ultimate/HDFC DCB then you will get 3.3 % rewards that will be still beneficial for you

      Reply
    3. Aman

      I always use hdfc register and pay under payment option. U can add your lic policy as biller and pay Via hdfc credit card only no other bank credit card and it charges only flat 10 rs on credit card not like lic website charging huge amount on credit card. But the transaction takes 3 to 4 days to settle. So this Is the best option of you want to pay via hdfc credit card only

      Reply
    4. Praveen Katiyar

      Good news for all.
      1st Dec 2019 onwards LIC is not charging any additional fee/charge for payment made through credit cards. Earlier only Axis cards had this privilege. Long awaited good news.
      Some more savings folks..!!

      Reply
  22. Ram

    Hi Sid ,
    Can you review Hdfc Millenia card. Can you also let us know if 5 percent CB applicable for redgiraffe payment done via payzapp

    Reply
  23. Vijay

    How do I get this benefit for Can Insurance Renewal ? I have a Honda Assure Insurance which can be payed only at Honda Service Center – they use the same POS machine which they use for service, which will not differentiate the transaction as an Insurance payment. Any pointers on this?

    Reply
    1. Pranab

      Don’t think POS terminal transactions are eligible for this offer.
      As per Infinia customer care, any autopay (SI) like Smartpay/Register & Pay/Billpay aren’t eligible. It need to be OTP based transaction. Also it’s not cumulative, only single transaction of 10K and above are eligible.

      Reply
  24. Shashi Bhushan Lanka

    But you have to anyway shell out around 400 rs for 50000 premium as bank charges. That is being given back as points. Is that correct.

    If i register this premiums as bill payers in Standard Chartered, i don’t need to shell out any extra charges. Is that one and same.

    Reply
    1. Ramesh Kumar

      HDFC also had smartpay and Register&Pay options bill and insurance payments, where only 10+GST will be charged with upto Rs.150 cashback per bill cycle also 5x as per this promo.

      Reply
  25. Arun

    Looks like the charges for diners club and amex is less compared to visa/mc.

    Paid with DCB at LIC today and they have mentioned the additional charges for each variant.

    Reply
  26. Saurabh

    good news !!!
    LIC policy premium payment: Now, pay through credit cards at no extra charges.

    Reply
    1. Himanshu Kainth

      Saurabh,

      That’s great. I have few premiums lined up this month. Any specific card have you used?

      Reply
      1. Saurabh

        LIC has officially removed payment charges…. To promote digital payment.

        Just look for good offer from your CC issuer

        Reply
  27. Surya

    I didn’t even get the 1x RPs for LIC premium payment.. Transaction reflected in the statement but RPs not added.. may have to follow up even for these I guess..

    Also paytm is no longer an option for LiC premium payment.. even their website doesn’t list paytm wallet though other wallets are listed.. option not avlbl in paytm app as well

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Got 1X points in my case for Dec LIC txn (direct). Wondering how you didnt!

      Reply
      1. Mouli

        Sid,

        I thin k there is a cap of 2000 RP /transaction for insurance payments

        Reply
    2. Abhishek Roy

      @surya Don’t worry about getting points. You will get it. The thing is insurance payments are the only category in which the RPs aren’t credited immediately. They will credit the points 3-4 days after the Insurance Transaction is posted to the statement. This has been done to prevent excess credit of RPs beyond 2000RPs/ day. So each Insurance payment is manually approved and is not taken care of by the system automatically. I’ve confirmed this and have seen the points reflecting in my account 3-4 days after the Transaction is posted to the account. So it takes 2-3 days for the transaction to be posted and another 3-4 days for the RPs to be credited to the account. Hope this clears all the confusion.

      Reply
  28. GTMAX

    Further to what Abhishek correctly mentioned and also as per my recent interaction with DCB Customer Care Rep, 1X reward points
    capping for insurance transactions of 2000 reward points has been revised to per day from per transaction from 1st Nov 2019 onwards. The same however is yet to be updated on their website.

    Reply
  29. Surya

    @abhishek: thanks a lot for taking time for clarifying my issue.. shall update once the points are credited.. was a bit disappointed as I could have used the same amount towards the 90k spend to get 1.1 lakh RPs on Amex plat..

    Reply
  30. Surya

    @Sid: I have a doubt on Hdfc rp credit.. for their offers they usually have a 90 day window for crediting the bonus points after transaction month.. in case I go for a card upgrade in between, whether I will be credited the bonus points (As per the conversion factor) or I will have to forfeit them?

    Reply
    1. Ramesh Kumar

      I have raised few complaints regarding reward points posting and those are still not credited, when I asked what happens when I upgrade? Customer care executive confirmed that all points will be posted to new card account without any issues even for pending targeted offers, if not raise complaint.

      Reply
  31. Surya R

    Slightly off-topic but I didn’t know where to post.
    How to activate global value program in HDFC credit card. I tried sending SMS as mentioned, Send twice, received no reply. I called the phone banking, can not find a way to connect to customer care.

    Reply
    1. Ankit

      If you hold a premium card, just call the number on the back of the card. They don’t accept it over email. I got it done recently no issues.

      Reply
      1. Surya R

        I have a Regalia. Only standard phone banking numbers are present.
        It’s so frustrating that all the options in the IVR in those end at “please visit hdfcbank.com”. Why the hell do you have the phonebanking options? To listen to credit limit remaining? We can check that on SMS, way less time consuming. And the email support tells me to contact via phone banking
        Which card do you have btw?
        If anyone knows how to get hold of HDFC customer care for a Regalia card holder, please let me know.

        Reply
        1. Shashank

          @surya go through the flow as if you are looking for statement information for your card. After you get through the verification of your card with pin, you will get the option to talk to customer service by pressing 9. It is quite straightforward. SMS activation of global value program doesn’t work. It has to be through phone banking and takes 4-5 working days.

          Reply
  32. Pranab

    Got a surprising extra 2000 points on my statement (14th). Since I’m maintaining an excel sheet for all my Infinia expenses and RPs, I’m quite sure this extra 2000 is for my 24907 LIC payment on 26th Nov. But it’s surprising as customer care mentioned auto-payments (mine was Register & Pay) aren’t eligible for this offer. Not to mention, I’ve already got regular 830 points on 28th Nov (T+2 days).

    Reply
    1. Bhavin Shah

      If you already got regular points then you should have got credit of only got 4x points which is 1600 points not 2000. This must be something else. Correct me if I am wrong

      Reply
      1. Pranab

        The cap of 2000 RP is of 4X.
        If someone is paying Rs 60000, he’ll get regular 2000 and additional 2000 RP.
        In my case, I got regular 830.
        Contacted Infinia support, they confirmed this additional 2000 is for some other 5X offer in Aug. Interestingly, I was having Regalia then.

        Reply
        1. Bhavin Shah

          Thanks for clarification . So you got regalia upgraded to infinia. I have regalia since 2 months. When can i request for upgrade?. I presume it will take 6 months and i may need to open account with HDFC. Is it a good idea to open HDFC savings account now as path to upgrade?

          Reply
          1. Pranab

            I was having basic Moneyback for so many years. Got free upgrade offer to Regalia/DCB in Jan (or early Feb). Availed Regalia as Diners acceptance is limited. Again got upgrade offer to Infinia after 6 months, availed.
            HDFC savings account is a good thing to have, but I think the best option to get in the path of Infinia is availing an Insta (or Jumbo) loan.

        2. Praveen Katiyar

          @Pranab
          I too got these 2000 RPs but don’t remember any such offers in Aug. Anyway it’s always welcome.
          I also aspire to get Infinia/DCB and recently opened a savings account for the same. Trying to get Diners in addition to existing Regalia. But seeing ur experience I think I need to adjust my strategy.
          Will keep you posted and definitely seek ur as well as @Sid’s guidance as I progress.

          Reply
        3. Naresh kumar

          Is your credit limit more than 8L, because only then they would have offered infinia so fast.

          Reply
    2. Rohit roy

      @Pranab
      I did a payment of 17k and i didn’t even receive 1X after T+2 days. Even I do keep a track. Is it better to mail customer care regarding this. Because after 90 days they might only credit 2k points or they will not at all credit as per my previous experience. Also one more info i require. I have an invitation for infinia but bank wants ITR . So may i know how did your upgrade process happen for you. My RM was saying either through offer it would automatically happen or Invitation + ITR is the only way. Is that info legit. and yesterday i got a call stating that they will give regalia card to my father. And biggest question is my father is a senior citizen and as far as i know HDFC doesnt give card to senior citizens. After what I went through with Infinia I just cannot trust any staff since most of them are only concerned of earning commisions.

      Reply
      1. MAA-traveler

        @ Rohit roy,
        My father is a senior citizen with no income other than his pension and excellent CIBIL score. He has the basic Freedom Card which came with Rs 18K limit but now LE offer given to Rs 2 Lakhs within 6 months.

        Reply
        1. Rohit roy

          @MAA-traveler
          Thanks for the info. I was said that they would offer regalia to my father but has to be done through paper work since no offer is being shown on their system. Not sure whether it is true. By the way even pension is considered as income as per our IT norms and are bound to pay tax if it exceeds.

          Reply
  33. George Mathews

    Hi Sid,

    Thanks for sharing this. The Dec 31 deadline got me off my butt to go and finally get some much needed coverage and avail the 2000 RPs.

    Call with SmartBuy CC: The offer is valid for both new and old policy premium payments. No special payment methods, just pay on the insurer website with the Diner’s Card.

    Suprisingly, CC also threw me an offer to increase the credit limit by around 20,000. In exchange they said I would GET 500 points in Jan. Go figure!

    Thanks guys and let’s keep enjoying the party as long as it lasts!

    Reply
  34. Bhavin Shah

    Many thanks your suggestions are extremely invaluable. I was always having moneyback for many years. Just got it upgraded 2 months back

    Reply
  35. Raj

    My Aegon Life Insurance stopped payment using Diners network 🙁 Any other way to pay to get 5X rewards?

    Reply
  36. Amann

    Hi Raj

    I don’t trust HDFC to give you 5x as this may be for selected cards or targeted. Some people have even not received basic (1x) RPs on insurance spends.

    Reply
    1. Rohit roy

      @Amann
      I came back to this post just to ask that. I didnt receive 1x point. So is it directly 5x. For proof of transaction i am going to mail customer care because i know after 90 days either i will get nothing or after escalation they would only credit 4x. Happened to me previously had to fight for 8 to 9 months since last year it was 100% points flat and I didnt want to loose it. But eventually got it.

      Reply
    1. Pranab

      All HDFC Add-on cards have the same card number and CVV. The only difference is the names printed on Primary and add-on card(s).
      Hope you got your answer.

      Reply
  37. Pranab

    @Naresh & Rohit Roy
    I was having a credit limit of 7.93L, was regularly checking any CL increase offer (even today). Aug end, noticed CL increase offer to 10.3L AND FREE UPGRADE TO INFINIA. But I didn’t accept Infinia initially (wasn’t aware of it’s super premium benefits).
    A week later accepted Infinia upgrade only to avail ‘Unlimited lounge access benefit’ as I was planning some domestic travel with wife within 3 weeks time.

    Reply
  38. Mayank

    Any insurance payment related offers for this month in any credit card. I have to make payments for LIC.

    Reply
    1. Praveen Katiyar

      @Mayank
      Nothing special except the fact that LIC stopped charging extra ‘convenience fee’ on all credit cards since 1st Dec 2019.

      Reply
      1. Praveen Katiyar

        @Sid
        Since all of us generally pay insurance, can I request you to have an article wherein we can discuss which cards give/do not give RPs on insurance payments. Such thread will help all.
        Hope you will consider.

        Reply
  39. Ritesh Kedia

    Hi,

    The same offer has been updated till 31-03-2020. It was released yesterday by HDFC. You can check your source link and update

    Regards

    Reply
  40. Ashu

    ICICI Pru do not accept diners card, any oter way to pay insurance bill?

    Reply
  41. Gautam

    Hi,

    The offer has been extended starting Jan 17, 2020 until Mar 31, 2020.

    I paid a premium of Rs. 50k on Jan 6 and received 1600 (1x) reward points (BEFORE THE OFFER PERIOD). A quick question, I If I make another payment of Rs. 25k today – on Jan 30 – will I be eligible for 2000 rewards?

    Tricky question. Even CC executives are not sure. Please share your experience.

    Reply
  42. Anil

    Any ongoing offers to pay insurance? I have two upcoming payments of 6k and 60k, and have HDFC DCB, Amex Plat Travel and ICICI Amazon card.

    Reply
  43. Ankit Jain

    For a payment of LIC insurance premium of 2L from DCB via SMARTPAY, will i get 3.33% RP or it will be restricted to 2K.
    also, if i pay via LIC portal, how much point will i get!

    Reply
    1. Gautam

      I can say from my first-hand experience that you will get the usual rewards plus bonus rewards.

      For the transaction done in Jan 2020, I got the bonus points after 30 days.

      Reply
  44. Sujeeth

    I have this offer for this month.

    I have HDFC LTF regalia card, SCB Ultimate & recently got Amex Platinum travel card. Have an LIC insurance payment of 20K this month, I have 3 options to make this payment

    1. HDFC Regalia card can fetch 2000 rewards points (3.5 – 5% returns based on redemption type) on 5X offer this month
    2. Make payment by Amex Plat travel which would help me attain 4 L limit (~6% returns on 4L spend)
    3. Flat 3.3% returns by SCB Ultimate

    Which one is best?

    Reply

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