HDFC Limits Reward Redemptions to 70% of booking value on Infinia & Diners Black Credit Cards

By | June 28, 2020
HDFC Limits Reward Redemptions to 70% of booking value on Infinia & Diners Black Credit Cards

HDFC bank just sent out an email to all Infinia and Diners black credit card holders today. The email comes with the subject line “You’ve unlocked savings on Shopping & Travel @SmartBuy!” which is funny, because the email is mainly about the new restrictions.

Just like how Yesbank did with the latest devaluation, HDFC too included the MOST IMPORTANT terms at end of the email and makes it look less relevant to the subject, hmm not fair! Anyway, here is all you need to know,

New Restrictions

  • Points Redemption: Limited to 70% of the booking value, rest to be paid on card
  • Remaining spend: 10X points as per 10X Smartbuy limits
  • Dynamic convenience fee: Varies between Rs.280 and Rs.860 for flights
  • Effective from: 25th July 2020

As you might know, the 70% restriction is already live on most other HDFC bank cards like HDFC Regalia, HDFC Diners Privilege, etc so now they simply extended it to Infinia and Diners black

However, the good news is atleast we will get 10X reward points on the remaining spend. Meaning, you get 33% back (as points) on the remaining 30% spend done with the card. This means, effective spend is 20% of the redemption value.

That aside, the point value remains as it is, so no change there for now, fortunately. 

You’ve about a month to redeem at current value but well, the fact is you don’t have any option at the moment to redeem at current value, because most can’t redeem for travel at the moment and that’s where you can get maximum value with HDFC points. 

Should I close Infinia / Diners Black?

It depends!

  • If you could spend enough to get the renewal fee waiver, there is no reason to cancel them.
  • If you’ve earned lakhs of points via 10X Program, its fair to hold.
  • If you pay the fee (or) if you’re highly uncomfortable to spend out of pocket for redemptions, you may cancel them.

In most cases, a usual Infinia and Diners black credit card holder will be fine to hold them, as long as there is fee waiver on spend.

But making top end credit card holders uncomfortable with these restrictions, isn’t fair, especially on Infinia. Instead, they could have raised the Infinia fee to 15K or so to keep these benefits intact.

Overall it makes sense for diners black, but for Infinia it doesn’t seem to be a right decision! Yet, it all depends on how much value you’re making out of it.

What to do now?

Nothing much, as anyway most of our spends are low at the moment. So you may take enough time, maybe till 2020 year end to see what’s happening next and take the move accordingly.

But if you are sitting on lots of points, its OKAY to redeem the points for 50ps/point (Infinia/Diners Black) for amazon vouchers.

To do this, Visit HDFC Smartbuy -> Infinia/Diners Black -> Rewards

Other cards like regalia may have low value, like 25ps/point.

For the high spenders and value seekers, it looks like Amex Platinum Charge is the only card that seems to value its top end customers even during the testing times of COVID-19 with less burden and more rewards.

But that’s a 60K+GST fee card, so you can’t compare directly. Yet, it looks like a good replacement for now just incase if you don’t like the changes. Maybe more in detail on this in a new article.

Final Thoughts

As you might know, HDFC Bank has been cutting down on most credit card linked benefits recently. It all started with the reduction in 10X rewards, then limits to dining 2X rewards and now they’ve touched one of the most important aspect of redemption. 

I just wish it doesn’t get worse anymore!

Overall, it’s obvious for changes to happen to diners black for reasons you already know, which includes: so many DCB cards in circulation, existence of 10x for a long time, etc but it’s unfair to do this on Infinia, which is more of an invite only card. 

That said, given how old Infinia is now, this in one way means HDFC must be bringing a new super premium credit card to place it above Infinia without these restrictions. Its my wild guess though!

2020 is indeed the worst year for credit cards and it can be said as “the end of golden age” for Indian credit cards. Yet we’ll have to wait for 2021 to see how they all re-emerge into the new normal.

What’s your thoughts about the new restrictions? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

218 thoughts on “HDFC Limits Reward Redemptions to 70% of booking value on Infinia & Diners Black Credit Cards

  1. MILAN GADAKARI

    I applied for regalia and got the card in 3 days in pdf. Physical card will take time due to Covid. The welcome bonus can be availed only if I spend 75k in 3 months. With only pdf card spending this much is difficult. They aren’t reducing the cap nor extending the term. Looks like a scam.

    Reply
  2. Akassh Agrawal

    I am shocked after reading the devaluation email as I was planning to travel before pandemic happened.I am having above 3L points and this news comes as a shocker.
    I request all the Infinia card members,to send an e-mail to the CEO and ask them to revoke their decision!We can also sign an online petition.All Infinia holders must unite and send the message.

    Reply
    1. The Global Investor

      Sure, please feel free to create the petition and share the link here.

      Reply
    2. Rohit

      @Akassh Agrawal
      lol I was like WTH 🙂 Now my big questions is why should we have a Imperia/preffered account with the bank ? when we are getting reduced benefit from them. I was able to digest for 10x cap on infinia and dcb then upsetting on amazon and flipkart and now this. Cant wait to see whats next with the card 🙂 I am glad that i have DCB now instead of infinia :):) atleast i should try for 5 lakh spend to waive the 12k fee.

      Reply
    3. arif ehsan

      And Diners.

      Already mailed and tweeted. I have over 2L points which have been devalued. Absolutely deplorable to go back from an earlier promise.

      Reply
      1. AKASH AGRAWAL

        Well Done!All Infinia holders must raise their voice.Also Specially the timing they have done this,as no one can plan the Holidays to anywhere given the current situation.Btw,Can you tell me the email address to which you have sent the complaint.

        Reply
      2. Rohit

        @arif ehsan
        Points are not devalued but only the spend limit and usage of points restricted to 70%. Even though considering the pandemic i was ok for reducing 9x points but absolutely not acceptable for 70% . Please share the mail id some top boss but not customer care to whom we can send.

        Reply
    4. Gaurav

      I still have not received any email. Disappointed, nonetheless.

      Reply
    5. SANKALP AGRAWAL

      I am with you on this. Will sign online application if more ppl are interested.
      HDFC must me planning to introduce new Super Premium Card and planning to placing it above Infinia.

      Reply
      1. Prannoy Ghosh

        Please do so………We will all sign the petition

        Reply
    6. hobefir620

      > I request all the Infinia card members,to send an e-mail to the CEO and ask them to revoke their decision

      I find this so funny. Anyone with remotely any experience of the history of credit cards as a product (or any consumer finance product) would’ve seen this coming the moment Infinia was announced. There are two things people need to keep in mind:

      (1) The people who make the credit card control the rules. While going through the application process, you’d have signed on a piece of paper which would say that they have the right to change these rules whenever they feel like it
      (2) A big bank making a credit card with lucrative rewards is a marketing tactic to gain a particular market objective; once that objective is satisfied… see point 1

      Sending a mail to the CEO with this message is only going to make him happier, because it means their tactics worked well. They’d anyway be knowing it because they have all the data (both detailed and aggregated) which pointed to this, and maybe even know that devaluing points is the right thing to do for their bottom line.

      Playing with credit card points is fun and maybe rewarding for some people… but only some of the time. We need to remember that we’re always at an informational, legal, procedural disadvantage. We have to play accordingly.

      Reply
      1. Gaurav

        No company planning on surviving for long, would ignore discontent of several of its HNW customers. HDFC attributes a portion of its income from these credit cards. Anyone with a basic idea of business acquisition knows that it’s always expensive to onboard a new customer than retain an old one. Even if these emails might not help overturn the decision but will definitely be taken into account by the board in the future policymaking.

        Reply
      2. AKASH AGRAWAL

        I find your statement funnier.So as per you,people should not even raise their voice and give up trying?And I well understand it’s not about the legality and all,as I am not asking anybody to take legal action against HDFC,I am only asking them to register their protest and make them aware.Thats all.And also,no one could have seen this coming,as I am sure they have taken the decision so sudden because of the pandemic.

        Reply
      3. Rohit

        @hobefir620
        In business there is something called word of mouth. If bank thinks they are smart by saying they are introducing new DCB and asking all LTF card holders to migrate ,raise fee from 5k to 10k and then devalue it would absolutely not work IN LONG RUN. After what happened i already advised few people not to go with HDFC CC coz they have no rules on customers but bank takes 100 signatures when it comes to them.
        what if overnight they say Infinia/DCB fee is 20k 🙂 and just bill us. They are capable of it.
        We all know that 70% nothing will happen but that 30% might make an impact and they listen. This might also have impact on their old imperia/preferred customers. In a time of crysis why shoulld we park so much funds at HDFC.

        Reply
        1. MrNightStar

          Hey buddy, newsflash: HDFC’z deposits grew by 25% (idr qoq or yoy). Impressive. That’s why they thought they can do this.

          Reply
    7. Anshul Chrungu

      I have already sent emails and already applied for Platinum charge card. whats the point of having this much loyalty when they just take away everything and treat you as commoners.

      Reply
  3. Ritz

    Well, to be on the safe side, with more than 2 L points in the kitty, I have decided to plan an overseas trip for early next year (assuming things were to kind of normalise by then) and book before 25th July.

    Reply
    1. Rohit

      @Ritz
      it is absolutely risky to book on flights due to current crysis. 1st of all lets hope that there is no 2nd or 3rd wave of virus if so then even end of 2021 things would not be normal. Next what if airlines files for bankruptcy ? You would loose everything. Atleast as of now you can convert to 60k cash for 2 lakhs. I already had to cancel flight for airasia and instead of refund they have added it in wallet which is again a big loss. If your points are having validity then better hold is what i feel. Might be others can share their thoughts.

      Reply
      1. Ritz

        @Rohit,

        I had booked my flight tickets for March end through DCB points and got the ticket once covid started. was refunded in full. Booked another intl travel for June end in April through points and seeing the situation now, have cancelled that too. Again, full refund by the airlines. Assuming the situation were to still remain bad, I am hopeful that the airlines would refund the points. So, am taking a calculated risk. Dont see any other way to make the most out of the current situation, before July 25th.

        Reply
        1. Rohit

          @Ritz
          if your points are about to expire then you have no option but if not still you can use 70%. I have been telling even before this cancellation started all these airline thing is becoming a scam. Did you get full refund to your bank acc ? In my case they said due to current crysis they can only put it in their wallet and gave 2 years validity and ate away convenience fee. If ticlet cost is 1 lakh and i hold for 2 years at an interest rate of 7% I would be loosing 17k odd . Airlines are making huge money out of it. By the way vaccines would be out for mass population only by 2021 as per WHO and travel would not be normal before that.
          If points are about to expire i stil fell converting to amazon pay at 50% today is way better than thinking of future which is very uncertain how it would be. Also India would be peaking in Oct/ Nov so travelling in march would be way difficult for indians.

          Reply
      2. Amann

        Why not redeem for amazon pay gift cards at 50% value? Still better than 30% cash value.

        Reply
      3. Kumar Abhishek

        Can we convert points into cash for diners black card

        Reply
  4. Prashant Gupta

    I had almost redeemed points worth un lacs for my trip to Australia, but this covid disrupted everything. Now sitting in a pile of points. Anyways something is better than nothing. Cant think of any other card for spends also. SC has a very good chance if they change their point redemptions and with more offers.

    Reply
  5. Bhautik Sudani

    hi sidd
    do we have any other better card then infinia or DCB for redemption on air travel or on statement(cash)?

    Reply
  6. Nithin

    With 70% restriction, the effective reward rate is 23% ? Also the dynamic convenience fee will reduce it further.

    Reply
    1. Narayan

      Not really, as you also get points for the remaining spend.

      Reply
      1. Nithin

        Even for those earned points on the remaining spend, we can only utilize 70% in future

        Reply
    2. Rohit

      Even though i am not happy with the move but still 70% is not bad. But bank should do one thing either increase cap of 9x for DCB/Infinia and then keep 70% or other way around. Doing both is BS and not a worthy card any more.

      Reply
  7. Sachin

    Hope the points remain the same value. I also got an option to increase the credit limit for infinia

    Reply
  8. Rohit

    I will close my hdfc Infinia now cannot afford 10k for this instead icici amazon pay like cards are great no extra fees

    Reply
    1. deva

      was expecting this to happen after revoking 10x in june,hence redeemed more than 70k points for tickets this month and still have 1.3 lakhs points ..Really bad decision

      Reply
    2. Rohit

      Also bad thing with DCB is acceptance is becoming low and any ways i am forced to use Amazon pay card at the EOD.

      Reply
  9. SRIKANTH T

    Recently the statement credit reduces to 30 paisa and now agains its a disappointing move for Diners and Infinia card holders.
    Also the dynamic convenience fee is additional debt in the pocket. It’s time to reassess and analyse your cards and its benefits

    Reply
  10. Murali

    What are options to convert in domestic miles, diners can be converted to vistara and anything else? What about are options for infinia? I had a diners and I upgraded as my wife has diners.

    Reply
  11. Rohit

    Till date after de-value i was arguing that DCB is still worth inspite of cap on points 7500. Now I would officially say that its crap 🙂 All of us were in a hope that international flight travel would resume to normal at least by jan 2021 and bank would have already made huge profit due to expiry of points and bank reducing the conversion rate from 0.50 to 0.30. I would agree with current covid issue banks are in loss and are finding hard to generate income but if that is the case why are they not giving waiver of fee this year . instead they increase the fee from 5k to 10k then keep reducing benefits. They should have at least kept the cap on points for 25k and 15k for infinia and DCB.
    As said whether to close the card ? Practically not possible since we have accumulated lot of points and if points are redeemed then not able to meet 8 lakh and 5 lakh spend then paying 12k is not worth.
    Also forgot to mention why in the world should we have Preferred/ imperial or classic account with bank when we dont get things in return from them.

    Reply
    1. Eshwar

      I completely agree with your point! This is a major devaluation and a bad time to introduce this 70% part and with respect to imperia, it’s absolutely a big no now as they don’t even consider giving super premium cards to imperia holders and don’t even have others good offers for 30L relationship value.

      Reply
      1. Rohit

        Now all DCB holders are stuck because bank makes more money through MDR and they dont want to upgrade card even after devalue. I still feel DCB is good because 5 lakh can be attained when compared to 8 lakh. But worst part is if you open an account bank is giving infinia on other hand imperia/preferred acc holders bank is asking 60 lakh ITR 🙂

        Reply
  12. arif ehsan

    Quite Shocking. I understand making changes in new promotions but going back on a previous promise given is quite deplorable. Will quit my Diners Card now.

    Reply
  13. Ramesh Raju

    Closing Infinia card and cancelling all travel cards till we see travel without quarantine drama. Its worthless to hold cards when they keep on reducing benefits and charging yearly fees and travel is very risky now.

    Reply
    1. Pranav Sharma

      yes true better use free cards like icici amazon pay card

      Reply
  14. Abhi

    🙂 Sid, not fair, you have Infinia so leaving DCBers ? 😛
    Comparing fee paying scenario, DCB already has is at loss, nopoints, Infinia get everything back. (I don’t really want to talk about worthless member ships, those are only good to have if given complimentary.) Fee is same for both anyway.
    For same fee, Ininia already gets higher (twice the DCB) 10x/5x benifit ceiling. Add to it DCB rejection rate (higher mdr) I think HDFC should really give more benifits on DCB to make it any worty at all.

    Reply
  15. Mouli

    Unexpected one.I was expecting that 10x would get trimmed or removed at some point of time but for DCB and Infinia I didnt expect that they will bring this restriction in redemption

    That too timing is bad,as no option now to redeem the points without any travel or stay option

    Any better ways to redeem the points before july 25th like transfer of miles?

    As you said previously ” all kind of reward points are poor long term investment”

    Reply
  16. Surya

    HDFC planned to launch a Super Premium Card above Infinia in April, but due to COVID19 it didn’t happen. According to sources in HDFC, the reward rate of the new card will be 5%.

    Reply
    1. Rohit

      @ Surya
      If bank does something like that I will start doing mass criticism on bank 🙂 First they make money by increasing the fee from 5k to 10k then they bring some stupid offers membership which no body wants and now devalue. If another card would come then Infinia dcb would become like regalia first ..

      Reply
  17. ajay

    It is fair to assume this a reward point value devaluation indirectly. Given you always will be spending out of pocket when redeeming the points. On top of that you will end up paying huge convenience charges. No point of continuing USING these cards now. Esp. for people who were accumulative rewards points by hoarding amazon vouchers, this will come as a rude shock. A bank always cheats you and flexes its muscle when you can’t do anything. This is true in all the other parlance of life. Never get comfortable that bank is there is help you. They are there to make money out of you.

    Reply
    1. Rohit

      true i myself want to discontinue and continue with the free cards like icici amazon pay

      Reply
  18. Pranab

    OMG! What’s next? Introduction of redemption fee (₹99+GST) like all other cards? Or devaluation of current 1:1 redemption? You never know!

    Reply
  19. AC

    So I just got upgraded to Infina 4 days ago. Still haven’t even received my card. I had the LTF Regalia for 5 years now, which had given me good returns. Although I still wasn’t savvy enough to make the most of it through Smartbuy as I mostly forgot about it. But I always wanted an Infinia, and now that I’m getting it, it seems the best time to own the card is gone. The only positive is that it’s first year free so I’ll see how it goes in due course. Although the spending is going to remain highly restricted considering the situation outside.

    Wondering if it was the right decision to give up the LTF Regalia in favour of Infinia. So far in my 8 years of owning multiple credit cards, I’ve never had to pay a single rupee as annual fees.

    What are other Infinia owners thinking now? What would be some of your reasons to carry on with Infinia and not downgrade to say a Regalia?

    Reply
    1. Prashant Gupta

      For me i will carry on. Still saves 80% of the vacation cost.

      Reply
    2. Aman S

      LTF Infinia is a good enough reason lol and still offers best collection 10x and redemption, though I remain completely irked by this

      Reply
      1. Shubhendu

        How do you get LTF Infinia? Mine is not an LTF version sadly. I do get 10,000 points on renewal though

        Reply
        1. Rohit

          And other hand DCB fee increased from 5k to 10k and no longer we get points. The real loss is for DCB card holders and these days acceptance has become very low. Infinia holders have to pay a GST of 2800.

          Reply
          1. Prashant Gupta

            Gst of Rs1800. Thats fine for a premium card. In normal circumstances that also can be recovered by using BMS 1+1 in 4 months.

        2. Shiv Kumar Singh

          The Older Ones like issued around 2013-14, are mostly LTF, mine is one it’s completely LTF Infinia.

          Reply
    3. Girish Gupta

      I usually pay rent of 45k monthly through redgiraffe using dcb. This way u can achieve target of 5lacs per annum and get fee wave off.

      Reply
  20. Amit

    They reduced redemption value for each point if we redeem points for statement credit. Earlire each point was of 50 paise value not it is reduced to 33 paise

    Reply
  21. Nihal Basnet

    Fish! Was piling up points to redeem for future travel…. Seriously tough year for everyone. Optimistic for 2021. Lets see.

    Reply
  22. Raja Ranga Bupathi Kamani

    I am having 94000 points in Diners Black. Other than travel what’s the best way to redeem them?.

    Thanks in advance

    Reply
    1. Nithin

      one option is to redeem for amazon gc. But reward rate will reduce to 16.5%

      Reply
      1. Amit

        How will you do that. I noticed on the portal that amazon and other vouchers are now 0.15p per point and not 50p

        Reply
        1. Sharathkumar Anbu

          Check reward section in smart buy diners website. You can redeem it for 50p there

          offers.smartbuy.hdfcbank.com/diners/rewards

          Reply
        2. MT

          If you go via met banking , its 15p , go via smartbuy and its 50p

          Reply
    2. Ajay

      Hi bro, there is no other special way to redeem. you can chose to convert them to airmiles but that becomes tricky and value of one point can vary. You can chose to buy vouchers at 50p per point or convert to cash at 25p per point. Full and clean value only comes by booking travel/hotel with 1Rs per point which is what that is being devalued indirectly here. One suggestion for you please don’t use your full name on public forums.

      Reply
    3. Amann

      Take 50% value – Amazon Pay gift cards. I simply spend on 10x. Assume 16.5% return. Redeem points every month when statement is generated. Thats simple & uncomplicated.

      Reply
    4. Rohit

      are they expiring soon i would say ifts its validity is 2 years save them , after all this pandemic is over and situation normals the bank will also restore to the normalcy

      Reply
    5. Rohit

      Validity for infinia/DCB is 3 years so you can hold. No need to panic. IN credit card statement it will mention that points expiring in next 30 and 60 months. Based on that you can redeem.

      Reply
  23. pd7

    Anyone having trouble getting their Amazon purchases tracked through smartbuy? I had no problem earlier and everytime I use smartbuy, I used to receive an auto email from Amazon. But these days there is no email. Amazon customer care is clueless about smartbuy and HDFC credit card people have no clue either if it is tracked through smartbuy. I still see some of my smartbuy transaction rewards for February have not been credited yet! For some of them I have screen recording proof. Which email should I write to, to escalate the matter?

    I think I’ll stop using Amazon through smartbuy 🙁

    Reply
    1. Rohit

      Even i lost track. And for things getting worse i made a purchase of mobile for 24k in the month of march. I did not cancel my order because of GST increase from 12 to 18. I also got around 8k points. Now worst part is my order got auto cancelled yesterday after 3 months 🙁 I not only lost 10x points but also bonus offer in march plus additional 5% GST. extremely pissed on flipkart. Yesterday 600 points got reversed. When will the rest of the 7800 points taken away ?

      Reply
    2. SaurabhN

      Yes i am facing same issue of reward points not getting tracked. Need to contact customer care for the same. Though not sure how will I provide proofs of using SmartBuy.

      Reply
  24. Babu

    Indusind also reduced points to cash credit value for high end cards. For Iconia amex earlier value 1rs. Now they reduced to 0.75.

    Reply
    1. Ramesh Kumar

      Yes without any intimation it’s reduced, that’s bad.

      Reply
  25. RM

    Is the 5X points offer on Insurance premium payment with DCB / Infinia cards still running in June-2020 ?
    or Expired ?

    Reply
    1. Rohit

      @RM
      Can you give the source ? I did not get any mail on it for 5x bonus points on insurance.

      Reply
      1. GTMAX

        that got over in March. was running from Nov-March & was applicable for everyone.

        Reply
        1. Rohit

          lol I still did not get that 2k bonus points for Dec 19 insurance

          Reply
  26. Rishabh

    This was expected to happen sooner or later because getting DCB became super easy. Even those with 12-15 lakh salary were eligible.

    With so many points available for redemption, the bank did not want a situation where everyone would redeem points and not pay (for the next 6 months). Probably done because of that.

    I am expecting 10x to return back on Amazon and Flipkart sooner than later and the redemption process to also become same.

    However in case they don’t it would not make sense to use these cards for all purchases. I think Vistara infinite card is the best if you are in a city that vistara flies. One can get upto 20% return on spends.

    I hope sense prevails and 10x partners and 10x points are back.

    Reply
    1. dragon

      Expecting new card from hdfc. Hope they put atleast minimum 40 lakhs annual salary eligibility criteria.. so that we can enjoy unlimited benefits and enjoy free travel like we enjoyed earlier with million of rewards !

      Reply
      1. Indian

        whats the need for such cards for those earning more than 40L?

        Reply
        1. GCA

          Poor to get poorer & rich to get richer. The mentality that has thrived over thousands of years across cultures.

          Reply
          1. Rohit

            @GCA
            🙂 couldnt stop laughing. Dragon is saying in a way that Infinia/DCB is given to all HDFC customers.

    2. Arun

      I doubt people with such less salary got. I was a regalia customer for long, however, I had to furnish my ITR to HDFC to make sure that I am eligible DCB and earn way above their requirement. Honestly, people who have accumulated more than 1 lac points should stick on to the card provided your annual fees is waived off. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense holding on to these expensive cards. Better to close all exciting high annual fees card variants and keep a couple of credit cards with nominal renewal fees and higher limit. Assess the situation in next 6-9 months to see which new cards you should be opting for.

      Reply
      1. Shivi

        I received Infinia on a 3 L ITR. So yeah, you don’t even need 10-12 L for it.

        Reply
        1. RAGIB

          NRV must be high or some other relation. They don’t give it to anyone just like that.

          Reply
    3. Sudheep

      It should be the other way around, HDFC has devalued their cards NOT because of surge in issuance of cards (even for ITR 12-15L as mentioned ) .

      They planned the executed the game perfectly. Issued more cards because they were going to devalue.

      High ITR guys should be happy, coz u got many more to cry along with.. 🙂

      Reply
  27. Venkat

    Sid, saw you post on Twitter about redeeming Amazon Pay voucher at 50p per point? Is this for Infinia? For my Diners Club Black, it shows a ridiculous 33,330 points for INR 5000. Same for most of the other common merchants (Big basket/Flipkart/…) Am I seeing a bug, or is it a differential rate?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Check the options in Smartbuy. Seems many are confused on this. This point now added to article. Thanks.

      Reply
      1. Gani

        I am a newbie to this forum (and cc) hence please excuse my lack of knowledge.
        With so many regrets for Infinia that I am seeing in the vents by fellow enthusiast, I am wondering why the advantage of converting 1 point to 1 krisflyer mile is not talked, or is there some changes on that as well?

        Reply
          1. Gani

            I am just talking about the advantage of 1RP = 1 KF mile, these miles are valid for almost 3 years. If corona is going to wreak havoc for years to come, then super premium cards are not going to be around 🙂

          2. Gani

            One does not have to fly now, but if conversion rate is 1 RP = 1 KF mile and miles are like valid for 3 years then that advantage still exists right? or am I missing something?

        1. Tejas Ghongadi

          It is actually a great option, I agree. The only issue is you need a significant amount of points to make really good use of the Air Miles conversion.

          If you look at the Economy Class Redemption ticket points requirement, its more than the revenue ticket cost of that same flight. Does not make sense in this way.

          The only way it make sense if you were to redeem Kris Flyer Miles for Business Class Tickets.

          Reply
          1. Gani

            I suppose… and may be makes sense for Business class upgrades as well(from one level below).

            Even for the lowest economy class awards, I believe the miles may not be more than 25% compared to revenue ticket, particularly for long distance journeys. (say India to US/Canada)

            With HDFC clamping down on 1RP = 1 rupee value with clauses like 30% of the ticket to be cash/card, where else will we be able to max out the value for RPs?

            I thought Airmiles are the best option among the possible RP redemptions. Unless cash back 50% is attractive to some, everything else, where 1RP = 1 rupee has a huge mark-up margin (profit) factored in, easily more than 50%.

            If PP is of value to you and you are using it at least more than Regalia limits, then everything else Infinia offers is a bonus. Else one my find more value in DCB I guess.

            Thanks Tejas!

  28. Abhishek Gupta

    Given the recent changes in the reward and redemption structure, I am thinking about downgrading from DCB to DC Premium as I can get DC Premium lifetime free as opposed to DCB which is free only for first for me. Is the existing point conversion (DCB 1 point = 1 Rupee whereas DC Premium 1 point = 50 Paise) fair when downgrading?

    Reply
    1. Rohit

      Degrading would be easy but getting back to DCB again might be difficult. Still 10x can be earned more with DCB.

      Reply
  29. Neeraj k

    Please post your petition links here if already. we will sign. Also, any tweets done in this regard, please share here to help retweet.

    Reply
  30. Vineet

    The gyftr site is under upgradation. Something new is cooking up

    Reply
  31. Parth Patel

    I think we might never go back to original 10x partners and same redemption process. If we think from banks point of view, it really does not make sense to continue Infinia in its original valuation. Infinia was and is always a cost for banks, it was an out of pocket expense for them. I know so many of them who have used infinia for business travel and expenses and they have accumulated lakhs of points and in no way bank would be able to earn that much from the customer if the card is kept in its original redemption and accumulation process.

    Infinia was only to attract a HNW individual towards hdfc, and once they have a large group of HNW attracted towards bank they would start de-valuation of cards. And to be honest all those who say Infinia is useless, I would say its still have very good card when you compare to any credit card from anywhere in the world. Its just that due to covid redemption options are not attractive. No country has a credit card with this low entry fee and this high returns. It’s just not feasible on the long run.

    I would say just milk the points as long as it lasts and sooner or later returns on credit cards would devalue. Only maybe co-brand cards like airlines, hotels etc might remain attractive as the real cost of redemption to an airline or a hotel might not be as much as compared to say sale price of a ticket or a hotel room, so they can afford to give better return.

    Reply
  32. anand jain

    This article seems to be not correct

    I am having an Infinia Card and i booked flight tickets for full 100 percent with my reward points just now

    Reply
      1. Abhi

        I thought I read this but I’m trying to book flights and see that the changes are effective already. i saw this on 15 July 2020 itself, others can verify.

        Reply
    1. Mudit

      Please read the article again. Clearly states that changes are effective from 25th July

      Reply
  33. Sahil

    I never find Bigbasket or Grofers vouchers on Gyftr. Has anybody been able to purchase these vouchers recently?

    Reply
    1. George Mathews

      Hi Sahil,

      I think they have been discontinued since April.

      Cheers!

      Reply
    2. Rohit

      @SAhil
      You can buy bigbasket voucher from amazon and use amazon pay balance. Only thing you would be loosing amazon pay balance which could be used somewhere else. Or else you can buy directly from Gyftr selling at 2% discount which makes a total discount of 3.3(points) + 2.

      Reply
  34. AAJ

    Why redeem for Amazon voucher when you can get cash redemption at same rate? Anything i am missing here?

    Reply
    1. MT

      Cash is 30p per point for infinia , thats what its showing me , can you please point where cash redemption is available at 50p per point as amazon vouchers ?

      Reply
    2. Nikhil

      Cash redemption is at 30P per points, while amazon-50P per points. Why anyone will go for cash, since amazon is almost cash equivalent only

      Reply
  35. George Mathews

    looks like the Flipkart vouchers are down.. anyone able to but them at GYFTR?

    Reply
  36. Ayush vijay

    I brought amazon gift card on smartbuy. Has anyone know how much time it take to get delivered on email ? its is delivered by email yes ??

    Reply
    1. Akash

      Raise an issue on their Twitter handle.. I got it in 3-4 days.

      Reply
    2. MT

      go to gyftr account on smartbuy -> my order section , it should have been immediate , you can get it from there , if not there also , write to smartbuy help email , they will resend the codes

      Reply
    3. Prashant Gupta

      Its instant and delivered on whatsapp and email and shown on the screen. Login to your smartbuy account and retrieve the voucher code.

      Reply
      1. Rohit

        Even though we get mail and whats app, wht I have noticed is if you re-login in smartbuy codes are not displayed and it would be blank —- might be for security reasons . Any ways even if whats app is not ticked we would get mail to registered mail id.

        Reply
  37. Ashish Nikhare

    Can anyone please answer ? How do we add a new upgraded credit card to HDFC Smartbuy account ? Currently, after deleting the old card from that account, there are no cards now in this account and I dont see any option to add a card for redemption purposes. Even Reward points are shown as Zero which is not actually true & when trying to redeem it says insufficient reward points.

    Reply
    1. Rohit

      There is no need to add any card in smartbuy. You just have to shop using your HDFC card. Just check in netbanking –> cards–>card details ,whether your card is there or not. If not you can add there.

      Reply
    2. Pranab

      If your new card is Infinia/DCB/Regalia, log-in on their respective dedicated smartbuy portal, you’ll get to see your new card registered and reward points.

      Reply
  38. Surya

    HDFC was planning to launch the new card – Emirates Skywards Diners Club Card, but due to COVID19 it has been postponed. Expected to be launched in a couple of months though.

    Reply
    1. Rohit

      Emirates were talking about bankruptcy might be thats the reason to put on hold. No point in launching any card by any bank which is based on airmiles/airlines for atleast another year.

      Reply
  39. Anshul Kothari

    What is the conversion ratio of reward points when upgrading from Diners Black to Infinia ?
    As per the form it says 100% but as per one of the customer care, its 50%.
    I am finding it hard to believe 50% given both are top cards. Any one did it recently ?

    Reply
      1. MUKUL

        Also when we upgrade to Infinia, do we get all pending SMARTBUY 9x reward points from previous months to Infinia? Will it be smooth process? Anyone who did this in past , please comment if you faced any issues in pending points posting?

        Reply
        1. Rohit

          As per HDFC you would get your past points but i waited collected and then upgraded the card. You would get 100% points .People who said 50% was probably they moved from regalia to DCB.
          What is the procedure to move to infinia from DCB ?

          Reply
          1. Anshul Kothari

            thanks GkCards and Rohit.
            You need to call your Relationship manager. If your existing card limit is 10 lacs or above, you can change to Infinia.

  40. Praveen A

    Did anyone recieve spend card milestone rewards mailer during August? I recieved mails for June and July but not for August

    Reply
    1. Rohit

      I just touched 80k for DCB and i did not get any message .Might be month end we would get. But what is the point of getting BMS voucher now ? Already my last voucher is unused .Can we get two tata cliq vouchers ?

      Reply
      1. Anshul Kothari

        no, only one voucher of each type. They should ideally change the merchant given the situation.

        Reply
        1. Rohit

          I spoke to BMS and they said they would extend voucher validity till dec 20. I asked them to extend for 1 year but they did not allow. So probably will talk to bank and ask them to remove BMS and add either amazon or flipkart or bigbasket 🙂

          Reply
  41. Gautam Garg

    As of today(31/08/2020), there are no Amazon pay vouchers available for redemption on the smartbuy portal. Looks like HDFC is slowly removing all the good options one by one.

    Reply
  42. Karan Singh Bindra

    To add to What Surya said above
    Hdfc had indeed planned on an Emirates Skywards Diners Club card , the fees were at 5000 plus GST

    Ofcourse like many things thanks to Covid this was also postponed

    Reply
  43. MT

    HDFC has removed amazon gift vouchers from redemption options on the infinia smartbuy portal , any idea whether this is permanent or just temporary ?

    Reply
    1. Mihir

      Yes they removed it and it looks to me a temporary as is must be out of stock. Let’s wait until this week to see if they are back.

      Reply
  44. Philemon Daniel

    Amazon rewards redemption is removed for Diners club black? 🙁

    Reply
  45. Balpreet Singh

    I checked on the DCB point redemption. It was 50p in July for Amazon voucher. Meaning 5k worth voucher for 10k points. Now same voucher need 33330 points. Thats a big devaluation.

    Reply
  46. Karan Singh Bindra

    HDFC Emirates Skywards credit card was to be launched before Covid but has been delayed.
    Some additional info is that the annual fees will be Rs 5000 plus GST
    Apparently Skywards was supposed to announce a slew of Global credit cards [India being one of the countries]
    All have been delayed as a result of covid

    Reply
  47. Naman Aggarwal

    Hi Sid,

    Could you do an article on renewal charge reduction, or any benefit offered by banks on renewals. Specially travel cards.

    Thanks,
    Abhishek

    Reply
  48. Sharad Kothari

    Today (on 19-Sep-2020) I received courier from HDFC Bank that since I was using the card for non-personal purpose all my reward points on Infinia card (around 4 lakhs) has been cancelled as of 5-Sep-20. No other communication was done.

    I was using the card mainly on flipkart and Amazon when they are running 10x scheme and for all other purpose (education fees, rent, insurance, smartbuy etc.) as this was my primary card.

    Seems like HDFC bank is looking for profit enhancement opportunities from whichever way. If my reward points are not restored, I will have to close my relationship with HDFC Bank which dates back to year 2000.

    While I have lodged complaint to their customer service r and written mail to their grievance cell, I would request for any other suggestions.

    Reply
    1. Santosh Kumar

      Hi Sharad,

      also do write to PNO as well. One of my family members credit card application got rejected. it took 17 days for an initial reply to the mail I wrote to PNO. But the good note is all the previous escalations from grievance redressal/escalation/customer care didn’t approve the application but PNO did.

      Also let us know what happened exactly that led to cancellation of the card.

      Thanks!

      Reply
        1. Santosh Kumar

          Principal nodal officer. You should be able to get the email online. Comments with emails mentioned are rejected here. So can’t type it out.

          Reply
    2. Rohit

      In T&C clearly it is mentioned that if used for business purpose then bank has right to cancel points and card. I have seen people using their card to pay rent. Even though bank in between was promoting to pay rent through card I dont know that is allowed. If your 4 lakh is for duration of 3 years and you can justify your purchases you could always fight and take it to any level which is not ethical for bank to do. so answer for this only you would be knowing. If you have bought like 2 phones per month , Tvs etc then i would assume bank thinks that you are buying for others which is not permitted even though it is not mentioned anywhere.

      Reply
      1. Santosh Kumar

        Woah Woah!!!

        Is buying for others not allowed. For example my friend used my card for buying a laptop. Is this not right?
        Also, I had booked tickets for my family for international travel, this is also not allowed?

        Reply
        1. FrequentFlyer15

          You can use the cards for helping others out, like friends and family. It’s when you use the card for warning money instead of saving money is when the banks have a problem.

          My family uses my card all the time. But if I suddenly start buying 3-4 same phones or a couple of tvs per month, the bank will take notice.

          Infact even Flipkart and Amazon ban accounts and forfeit all your gift cards if you are found buying excessively .

          Reply
        2. Rohit

          You can always buy which i did only for relatives International flight bookings but if every month you keep buying International flight tickets then bank can become suspicious. Even though their might be business people who do that and in worst case something happens you can always escalate things. Buying Iphones or other electronic every month is not advisable and i doubt people do that.

          Reply
    3. Pranab

      That’s SHOCKING!!!
      Can they do this?
      How would they consider spends as ‘Non-personal’?
      Do you have any other relationship with HDFC?
      Don’t you ever redeem your accrued points?
      Don’t you use your card for offline transactions?

      Reply
    4. Ashish56

      Hi Sharad, sorry to hear about your situation. Were you also doing NPS transactions through your credit card?

      Reply
  49. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    Sharad so sorry to hear that. Same thing has happened to one of my family member. Today received a letter ( hard copy ) that they are maintaining a partial suspension of the card and are permanently lapsing the rewards points. Total 79,000 rewards points was accrued through online shopping, rent payments and NPS. I think about 70-80% points was accrued through NPS and I think this is the reason for bank’s action. Infact I would say we are lucky that unlike many people our card is not permanent cancelled. Many other banks also like IndusInd, Amex, etc. are terminating credit cards permanently for doing huge transactions in NPS.

    Reply
      1. FrequentFlyer15

        You can do 20 lacs worth of transactions as long as it’s personal and the banks wouldn’t care. It’s when you try to act smart and start a business that the banks have to take notice. If you see on Facebook, there are several who pimp out their credit cards to buy 3-4 mi phones in flash sales and then sell at a premium. You will be shocked to see that people do transactions worth 3-4 lacs a month to earn 30k a month by these practices.

        Considering the NPS limits are 50k a year and Captain’s family’s 70-80% spends was NPS, he must have been misusing it.

        Banks have a fair usage policy in their terms and conditions and the reason why all credit cards are getting devalued is because of people like these who misuse to turn benefits into businesses at the cost of banks.

        In the US, people apply for cards, hit the spends, get the 1 lac points and close. It’s called churning and banks like Chase and Amex throw out lifetime bans on people for misusing. Very soon Indian Banks will start that too.

        Reply
        1. Santosh Kumar

          Hey frequentflyer15 and rest here!

          Follow up question here. For our office international trips we sometimes book tickets ourselves and give them for reimbursement or if some urgent hardware such as laptop is required and can’t wait for the delivery, I make purchases and make the payments and claim it later.

          How much of a trouble would this be? 2-4 L across all my cards. Anyway because DCB acceptance is less I am unable to use it.

          Reply
          1. FrequentFlyer15

            Santosh, unless you are making huge spends for similar items every month, you dont need to worry.

            The thumb rule is simple, if your or your family members, or your friends or colleague will be using the product or service, it is personal spend. If you are paying for an item that you wil be selling for a profit or doing monthly transactions for NPS or Paytm worth lacs then you MAY get blocked.

        2. Rohit

          @FrequentFlyer15
          Cant believe it 🙂 I thought people who have Infinia/DCB are super rich and basically care the damn to do things like that i mean buying and selling. Your comment makes lot of sense since I have seen ads in OLX people posting brand new phone ,boxed got it as GIFT is the reason to sell 🙂 are all users of Infinia/DCB 🙂 .
          There is a famous saving ” There is enough for human needs but not for human Greed”

          Reply
    1. Shivi

      And why is that? Nowhere does it mention that you can’t use your card for nps!

      Reply
      1. Mayank

        U can invest in Tier-II NPS through credit card and in tier-II one can enter and exit anytime. SO people might be investing in NPS and exiting from time to time.

        Reply
  50. Neeraj

    I am also using my DCB for NPS investments. Why do they have cancel card for this? Is it against any terms and conditions? Credit card option is provided in the NPS website so that subscribers can use it and why would a bank penalize for using their card?

    Reply
    1. Bhavin Shah

      I have also used my cards for NPS transactions and so far only Amex has raised objection while my card was under financial review in March. If NPS thru credit card is a concern then government or credit card company themselves should not allow it rather than taking away points. I also have 86000 points accumulated in DCB, and now i am worried about it after reading comments here as I have used it for NPS too apart from rent, smartbuy, amazn, flipkart, myantra and few offline transactions

      Reply
      1. Pradeep

        What was the AMEX financial review like? Have heard of AMEX U.S. do that oft times. How was it here and what all did you have to do to get the account reinstated?

        Reply
        1. Bhavin Shah

          They asked for bank statements/salary slips ans NPS receipts over phone. When asked to give me in writing the person who was reviewing only mentioned salary slips/bank statements. So I asked him to give me in writing that I need to submit NPS receipts. To my shock that person told me if you are not comfortable sharing NPS receipts don’t share. But the fact was he was not comfortable in giving it in writing that I need to submit NPS receipts and he never mentioned in mail. So I submitted salary slips/bank statements only. It took 2 weeks to review my statements and then my card was restored with 20% reduction in credit limit.

          Reply
          1. Manan Sharma

            Oh. So do you think it was predominantly because of the NPS payments you did? Also, as it happens in the US, were your accounts with AMEX too put on hold/suspended mode during the review and how was it dealing with it. Seems like it’s a bigger problem overseas. This is the first time I’ve heard of it being conducted in India. Was yours a credit card account or a charge card account as they can even put hard limits on the charge card accounts by removing the NPSL feature on the card.

    2. Shivi

      Need to get update from HDFC regarding this. Have sent them an email. Awaiting response.

      Reply
  51. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    NPS stands for National Payment System. It’s a investment platform backed by Government and investments under Tier 1 ( cannot be withdrawn ) is eligible for tax exemption under 80C. Tier 2 can be withdrawn anytime and we were using Diner’s Black for tier 2 investment. About 50% of limit ( out of Rs. 7,17,000 ) was used every month. We are not sure how this can be considered as business spends. Infact everything time NPS charges 1.062% when we add money from credit card. Now who will pay us back all the fees we paid to NPS. Surely HDFC made huge money from me and now they have eaten all my rewards points also. It’s unfair.

    Reply
    1. Vicky

      I guess maxium 1-1.5 lac per annum is okay . But do raise complaint to banking obdusman

      Only bank can do a spread by taking deposits at 5% and charging customers 40% annual.

      A customer cant earn 2-3% spread using any way. Thats the world

      The powerful weed out the small

      Reply
      1. Santosh Kumar

        Well the 40% is for credit card. If you genuinely want a lending instrument take a personal loan the rates are somewhere around 10-15%. We are choosing on our own financial product with higher interest rates. But saying that, If banks are reducing fd rates due to RBI changing repo rates due to current situation they should also reduce personal loan rates. They are just increasing the spread and taking advantage.

        Reply
    2. Pranab

      Hi Captain,
      It’s National “Pension System”, not “Payment” which is a totally different thing.
      The other NPS (Payment) is of a very large scale.
      National payment systems are the conduits through which buyers and sellers of financial products and services make transactions and are an important component of a country’s financial system.
      Because of their critical nature, these payment systems are maintained by a country’s central bank and overseen by government regulators.

      Reply
    3. Gaurav Tomar

      So monthly it was Rs3.5 lacs spent from card to NPS to get 3% RP of the amount and after sometime withdraw from NPS and repay the card, how fair do you think it is? and why do you think bank will not notice? I am sure 100’s must be doing it and with these uncertain times when bank’s are getting hit hard due to defaults and restructuring of loans, these things are bound to be noticed, I think bank is within their right to do the needful if someone is abusing RP Schemes.

      Reply
      1. Gaurav

        Also by investing in NPS and withdrawing to reinvest again one is avoiding annual fees as well as will get many annual benefits like Amazon Prime , MMT Black etc for crossing annual spends in months.

        Reply
      2. Rohit

        Highly unacceptable. But if it was not accepted then Bank should go to RBI to not allow credit card for NPS. They charge 1.5% from customer and then ban the card and revoke points. I would say it as a fraud by bank and it is their mistake for not foreseeing. But again i really doubt no banks in the world would accept something like this and already some one said that it is illegal in USA and people got blacklisted for doing so.

        Reply
    4. Ajay

      So, one can invest say 10 lakh in NPS tier 2, get 33k points and then withdraw from NPS. If the withdrawal amounts back to bank account. Then it is a good 33k point earned (but unfair for the card issuer). Otherwise if the withdrawal comes back to credit card only then the reward points get reversed.

      Reply
      1. Mayank

        It comes into ur bank account. That is the main issue. U are getting cash at a very less charge and some benefits.

        Reply
    5. Ashish Nikhare

      NPS allows to add funds via Credit Card. No bank can block card or limit for transacting at NPS. But, transacting huge amounts in NPS especially Tier 2 is a risky affair. CC statement displays transaction as NPS but never Tier 1 or Tier 2. Even banks know that no one could make REGULAR LARGE MONTHLY TRANSACTIONS in Tier 1 b’coz of Lockin till age 60. So, the jinx is – You are safe if you do in Tier 1, but risky if done in Tier 2. Even, if blocked, you can resolve the issue by showing Tier 1 receipts. But, you cannot reply by showing large value Tier 2 receipts.

      Reply
  52. Pranab

    @ FrequentFlyer15,
    What is “Use the card for warning money”?
    In my office, I purchase for almost every colleague and staffs as I’ve almost every variety of cards (also aware about the discounts and offers). Not to mention, I never make a business out of it as my profit is NIL (forward every benefits to them) and sometimes it’s negative profit as well.
    Should the bank (and Amazon/flipkart) have a problem on this? Don’t think so! Amazon/Flipkart never dared to suspend my accounts or forfeit Gift vouchers.
    I also use rent payment apps regularly. Not sure, why would bank have a problem on this!

    Reply
    1. FrequentFlyer15

      I meant earning money.

      Also, whag you are doing is still fine. You are not getting it. There are folks in Facebook groups who use cards for looting. For example, in flash sales, they will use several accounts to buy out Xiaomi phones, TV’s, etc which are available only in limited quantities and sell them at a premium and make money. These people do transactions to the tunes of 4-5 lacs a month with a profit of 40-50k a month. In fact, I remember a person asking on one of these groups why his card was blocked and points taken back and got a query from IT. His bill for the month was 50 lacs for the month!! He was buying gift vouchers and phones and selling them on OLX and other Loot Facebook groups.

      Reply
  53. Sushrut

    They did it right & it’s fully fair…I & several others wrote this again & again in several threads that you are NOT supposed to use your Credit card for commercial purposes or to earn money from it…Banks issue credit cards for personal use ONLY, not for money rotation or earning a living from it…

    Thank You HDFC & all other banks for taking this decision to cut down customers who don’t know that Credit cards are not for business purposes…

    Thanks to people who rotate money using credit cards, banks will now be more strict before issuing any credit card to any customer (and genuine customers will have to face more trouble getting cards) because they can’t predict which customer is applying with which intention…

    Reply
    1. Vaibhav

      Boss, the banks have huge spreads on deposits interest rates and credit card annual 40% interest rates

      All the governments and politicians are letting them loot with such high rates. All wall street banks were bailed out with taxpapyer money in 2008.

      Banks are no saints and infact worst value for society

      Surprised to see banks defendants

      Reply
      1. Sushrut

        I know they are no saints but it’s their cards & they make the rules here buddy so we will have to obey them even if we don’t want to…They own the cards & their card systems so we don’t have much option left…

        And it’s not about defending, because of people exploiting the Reward Points too much by money rotation & other stuffs, all banks have started reducing their reward systems & making it hard to get a CC for those people also who want to get a card for personal purpose…

        So, these are affecting all of us..Why should people who only use their CC for personal purpose suffer because of other people who are trying to make a living from their credit cards ?? Banks provide cards for purpose use only…

        And it’s NOT about only HDFC, all banks have started reducing their reward systems because of this reason…I got my Amazon Pay ICICI CC more than 1.7 years back…I don’t know if you have that or not but try to apply for it now & ICICI will ask you to email them from your business/official email ID & they will also ask you to provide your Employee ID number to process your APay card application..If you don’t provide them either of these two, your card application will get declined…

        Why do you think ICICI is now asking for Employee ID or the Official E-Mail ID to process Amazon Pay ICICI card applications ?? Same reason as why HDFC has reduced the reward system…Too much exploitation of Reward points…

        Reply
    2. Rohit

      @Sushrut
      I agree with you but here i think bank missed it. They should not allow NPS at all in first place. Why charge 1.5% from customer then ban them. IN payzaap after you add money to payzaap card using hDFC card , you can move that balance to bank at some charges. Is that not illegal for bank to do. If this NPS thing was illegal then I would say adding cash and moving also is illegal by bank. But again in T & C it clearly says card not to be used for business purpose so doing so much transaction will not be acceptable also there is some RBI norms where you cannot move money in this way.

      Reply
      1. Sushrut

        @Rohit,

        Please read the above reply I just sent to Mr. Vaibhav & everything will be clear to you as to why banks are doing this…I could copy-paste the same comment to you also but that will be like spamming…So, Please check the above reply…

        Reply
        1. Rohit

          @Sushrut
          Agree with you regarding misusing the card. But what about HDFC bank in the name of new version of DCB card they have increased the annual fee from 5k to 10k and started giving card to almost all. What I meant of almost all here is once upon a time Infinia was given to only top HNI with ITR of 60 lakhs and also only through invitaion and DCB was 25 lakh ITR. Now someone told me that they got infinia for 3L salary :). What is clear here is bank is raising money 10k which would go in crores and then finally end result is devalue card. Some say it is business and some say as strategy to raise funds but what i would say is they are loosing trust on old customers. This devalue happens based on how many customers are there. Miss using the card is second reason or last. Not all customers misuse it .

          Reply
    3. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

      Mr. Sushrut I agree with you and I don’t support any illegal activities at all. However I have some more information to add –
      1. In the bank’s t&c page it’s not specifically mentioned that NPS of certain amount is banned.
      2. How many of us actually read t&c and so does is not also bank’s responsibility to inform us against NPS transactions. They never forgets to sends us promotion email.
      3. How many of us knew that buying items from e-commerce website for friends and family is not allowed ?
      4. Since NPS attracts fees of 1.06% and from that bank is making money than is it fair to revoke all rewards points of user without informing or giving warning of any kind at all ?
      5. Now after this incident we know that booking flights, hotels, cabs, eating out, airport lounges, utilities bill paymenta etc. all used can be considered as business related spends. Why bank never explain this when they lure us for applying credit card.

      Reply
      1. Rohit

        @Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya
        Point 5 is wrong. It is never considered as business. Still you have not understood the usage pattern. But agree with point 4. If bank knows this then there should be no option to use credit card at all in first place. Victim here can escalate this issue if he wants but future all genuine card holders would be affected. Motive here is very clear customer wanted to earn points by doing so much of transaction. I am sure bank wouldnt have banned him if he would genuinely paid that amount from other bank. He just purchased and paid credit card bill with same amount where his motives are clear.

        Reply
  54. Bhavin Shah

    These are fair points on NPS. Let me play devil’s role and ask a simple question why then as a policy credit card companies and government should allow transaction on Tier II. Also, they earn merchant fees on this. Secondly person investing is running risk of fall in NAV by the time money comes back. To be honest I myself have used it many times to get benefit out of spend offers. What is the general opinion.is it unfair to use completely?. I have full respect for blog owners and all members here. I will follow general sentiment posted here in future

    Reply
  55. Sudheep

    adding to this thread…

    Dhani wallet gives a flat 5% cash back with their rupee prepaid card, which is accepted by mobikwik for credit card payments..

    dhani functions as a wallet too simultaneously , means it can be loaded with credit card and rewards earned for eligible cards..

    for example SCB ultimate+ dhani gives the return 3.3+5%+1%(mobi cash) = 9.3%-0.5 % as dhani loading charges.. For paying your credit card bill (upto 25K) .. unbelieable returns.. yes.. but true

    If am doing this for my CC payments, am I doing any CC policy violation??? SCB allows wallet loading, so technically there is nothing wrong.

    whats your opinion..

    Reply
    1. manoj singh

      Can you please explain in detail to enlighten us. What I know dhani charge fees per month for their freedom card

      Reply
  56. Sushrut

    Same reason why many people getting their ICICI Amazon Pay cards blocked…Banks give cards for personal use only…Not for Money Rotation & commercial purpose…Because of few people, all people who use their cards legitimately will have to suffer…

    People need to understand that. credit cards are NOT given for for business purposes & not for exploiting the reward systems…All banks will either block the cards of those customers or devalue the RP system if this continues…

    Reply
  57. Shivi

    Received reply from hdfc. For a start, it’s prohibited because it’s investment in stocks although they allow it upto 50k per year only under Tier 1 accounts.

    Reply
  58. Pranab

    Aren’t we going in a totally different direction just by assumptions & speculations??
    Sharad NEVER mentioned he invested in NPS, but this: I was using the card mainly on flipkart and Amazon when they are running 10x scheme and for all other purpose (education fees, rent, insurance, smartbuy etc.)

    Reply
  59. Deepinder

    The convenience of Rs.50+GST on instant vouchers on Smartbuy is a further blow. Any view if this is here to stay ?

    Reply
  60. Vikas

    Got free upgrade from Regalia to Diners. So no worries on min. Spend for fee waiver…. Lucky enough 😅.

    Reply
  61. Iyer

    They have now reduced the monthly limit for Amazon pay gift card to INR 5k from INR 10k earlier. They constantly keep downgrading all benefits. I am afraid soon they will further devalue reward redemption as well.

    Reply
    1. Rahul

      ***Further Devaluation – Now charging Processing Fee (2.5% + GST)
      (* only on Amazon Gift Cards)….

      NO MORE BUYING AMAZON VOUCHERS FROM HDFC SMARTBUY

      Reply
  62. iyer

    BIG DEVALUATION – Amazon removed from smartbuy starting July 1 2022

    Reply
  63. Priyank Jain

    *Slow Death of a Ledgend*

    There is a revision in the Reward Points Program on your HDFC Bank Credit Card as below, w.e.f 1st January 2023:

    On the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal, the redemption of Reward Points for flights & hotel bookings will be capped per calendar month at 1,50,000 Reward Points for Infinia, 75,000 Reward Points for Diners Black and 50,000 Reward Points for all other cards.

    On the HDFC Bank SmartBuy portal, the redemption of Reward Points for Tanishq vouchers will be capped at 50,000 Reward Points per calendar month for Infinia cards.

    Redemption of Reward Points against statement balance (CashBack redemption) will be capped per calendar month at 3,000 Reward Points for Millennia, Easy Emi millennia, Bharat, Pharmeasy and Paytm cards and 50,000 Reward Points for all other cards. w.e.f 1st February 2023

    For select Products & Vouchers, the redemption of Reward Points will be capped at 70% of the total value. The remaining amount must be paid using the same Credit Card w.e.f 1st February 2023.
    This is not applicable for Infina & Diners Black cards.

    a. Rent payments will NOT earn Reward Points on all the cards

    b. Government related transactions will NOT earn Reward Points on all the cards except Business Regalia , Business Regalia first, Business Money back, CSC small business moneyback, Paytm Business, Flipkart Business, Retailio, Best Price Save Smart, Best Price Save Max and Pinelabs

    c. Education related transactions will NOT earn Reward Points on Business Regalia , Business Regalia first, Business Money back, CSC small business moneyback, Paytm Business, Flipkart Business, Retailio, Best Price Save Smart, Best Price Save Max and Pinelab

    Reward Points earned on grocery transactions will be capped per calendar month at :

    6a. 2000 Reward Points for Infinia, Diners Black, Regalia, Regalia Gold, Regalia first, Business Regalia , Business Regalia first, Diners Privilege, Diners Premium, Diners Clubmiles, Tata Neu Infinity cards and,

    6b. 1000 Reward Points for the rest of the cards

    Revision in Fee structure w.e.f 1st January 2023:

    For rent payments made through third-party merchants, a fee of 1% of the total transaction amount will be levied from the second rental transaction of the calendar month.

    If you conduct a transaction (in-store or online) in Indian currency at an international location or with a merchant located in India but registered overseas,a dynamic & static conversion markup fee of 1 % will be charged.

    Reply

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