How i Earned 27,500 Reward Points this Month on My HDFC Regalia Credit Card

By | December 31, 2016

Earning 1000’s of points or even Lakhs of points is easy with HDFC Diners credit cards, especially on Diners Black using their 10X rewards programme. But on HDFC Regalia? Mmm, it used to be bit tough in earlier days. But they made it possible recently with their nice 5X rewards On Payzapp, smartbuy and few more partners.

It seems that they devalued Regalia primarily for this reason. They want us to spend more on their partner websites with 5X rewards rather than other portals & places. They’re marketing their 5X offers like anything, with lots of promo emails and prints in physical statements. The complete set of 5X rewards partner list is below:

Earning 27,500 Reward Points on My HDFC Regalia:

I was simply ignoring these offers until last month when i realized how much points i could actually earn out of these offers.

  • I simply charged on my business Regalia, for about Rs.5000 to Rs.10,000 almost every possible day, mostly on Payzapp and few other partners
  • They’ve a ceiling limit of 2500 Points a day, so i stayed within the max spend limit of ~Rs.18,000 per day.

This way i was able to accumulate 27,500 points in a matter of month.

I started out by last week of November and i was able to stack a lot of points and in-fact burned more than 90% of the points once the statement got generated. In meantime, if i were holding retail variant of regalia (mine is business variant) i would have earned 8,000 more points with their 2X Points on Weekends offer.

HDFC 5X Points and the Issues:

Its good to see that HDFC credits the bonus points to the a/c in less than a week. Actually, i DID NOT receive 5X points. Somehow, they’re crediting me only about 2/3rd of the points. I’ve raised a ticket once about it but never got any resolution.

Im just waiting for 2016 to end so i can escalate the issue for all transactions at once. So i should be having lot more points, about 40,000 points or so. I’ll keep this thread updated on this once i hear from them.

Some Interesting Points with HDFC Credit Cards:

  1. My HDFC Business Regalia doesn’t have this 5X rewards feature as per their terms and conditions mentioned on HDFC smartbuy site because its a “business” variant. When i attempted to convert my Business regalia to retail variant citing this as a reason, i was said that i can still enjoy the 5X rewards on most partners, which does work out to a certain extent. Maybe this is the reason (business variant) why i’m not getting all bonus points. Its still a Mystery!
  2. It seems we can convert the card from Business variant to Retail Variant. But hey, don’t ask me why i didn’t do that. I’m counting on Infinia and if i do the conversion, it will put me on another 6 months ride with Regalia which i don’t want to happen 😀
  3. In one of the 5X promo webpage, they mentioned that ‘2500 points’ limit is for “per transaction“, while in the other as “per day“. Its hard to figure out which is true, as i’m already getting less points.

Whatsoever, its very important to notice that Regalia which is currently at a devalued state still has the ability to earn loads of points if you know how to make use of their 5X, 2X & weekend double points offers. With a reward rate of 8% by using 5X offer, its still worth calling it as a premium credit card.

What’s your take on HDFC’s 5X offers? How many points were you able to rack up? Share your experiences in comments below.

43 thoughts on “How i Earned 27,500 Reward Points this Month on My HDFC Regalia Credit Card

  1. Kapil Khurana

    Sid

    I am curious where you burn these points? Somewhere you mentioned you mostly use them for recharging the prepaid mobile(s) as the other permitted uses – flight, movie etc would only make you lose the worth of these points (given 33% on Goibibo / 1+1 on movies with other diners card you have).

    27k points is huge, and I congratulate you for that. But then, how many mobiles do you have in your family to recharge? Or do tot have a parallel recharge shop business? 😛

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Kapil,
      I booked a Flight ticket for my next trip to Vietnam 🙂

      Yes, i could have earned more points by using 10X points.
      But its good to burn the points once in a while as HDFC is devaluing the points back and forth.

      Reply
  2. Abhishek

    The only disadvantage of PayZapp is that it doesn’t accept Diners Club cards else you could have accumulated more than Regalia with Diners Black. This 5X offer works with Diners Club also.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Yes, i mainly used Payzapp as i can use Diners Black for most other 5X offers.

      Reply
      1. Varun

        Hi Siddharth and Abhishek,
        I recently got Diners Black (upgraded from Regalia). I have a question, if I use Diners black on PayZapp for paying bills or making some payments, will i get 5X rewards or this offer is not applicable on Diners card.

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          Varun,
          Diners cards are not accepted on PayZapp, for now.

          Reply
  3. Sandeep Pradhan

    Hi Siddharth,
    I have a Regalia card and I got the same after reading your reviews :). Really great job.

    I have one enquiry, in the website I see, I get 20 reward points for doing txn on Payzapp. So, will I get the same on adding money to my Payzapp card?

    Regards,
    Sandeep

    Reply
  4. Mohamed Ubaidullah

    Sid, your post is confusing a bit. You said you can earn points by spending on these partner websites. But what do you actually buy from there (worth 1000s everyday) when you limited options on these portals?
    For ex, on MakeMyTrip other offers are more lucrative than the 5x points. Similar case with other sites as well.
    Let me know if i am missing something here ?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Payzapp is accepted in many Payment gateways like CCavenue which helps me to pay for most my business expenses via Payzapp.

      Reply
      1. Ganesh

        Sid,

        Did you get 5X reward points (RPs) for loading money in Payzapp wallet? Or you bought some products through their platform using CC and got 5x RPs?

        Few weeks ago, payzapp under their offers section, had specifically indicated that the 5X RPs are not applicable for loading money (though I had tried and I did not get 5X RPs). But, now that specific offer is not listed on Payzapp; however, smartbuy site has it which does not indicate anything about loading money (and related 5X RPs).

        Thanks,
        Ganesh

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          Ganesh,
          I did transactions via Payzapp, not loaded to Payzapp wallet.

          Reply
    1. Ganesh

      On smartbuy, it seems 5x RPs are still applicable on compare shop and flight booking.

      Reply
  5. Pankaj Singhal

    Hi,
    How do you track your reward points? HDFC does not give statement of points earned, unlike ICICI.

    Cheers,

    Pankaj

    Reply
  6. 5x at dmart

    Hey I am using business regalia, and yesterday I shopped at dmart for household groceries and other requirement… I spent 9745…. And this morning I got 5x reward points … Hurray… Almost 1300 points…. Though I m bit disappointed why they discriminated with retail and business regalia…where as business guys spend more than retail guys… They shld be rewarded not excluded… ?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Business guys generally pay-off full due whereas others maynot, which is beneficial to bank 😉

      Reply
  7. Rahul P

    Hi Sid

    I just came across your blog and I am hooked. I am fairly new to the cc scene and I started with icici coral card but after spending almost 10 lakhs on it last year and earning some shitty number of points, I have learnt my lesson. I am enthusiastic about finding the best cards and have started on that path already. Hope to learn from all your resources here.

    Coming to this post, is the 5x thing still on as I read comments indicating not available anymore?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Rahul,
      Welcome to the blog!
      I’ve spent more that that on even a worse card and that’s how the blog came up 🙂

      5X is still active.. but only few partners were removed like Payzapp.

      Reply
      1. Vijay

        Looks like 5X on BPCL Fuel transactions has also been removed. This was a great way to earn accelerated reward points on Fuel expenses (keeping in mind that HDFC does not give points for fuel transactions). I am quite disheartened to see that BPCL 5X has been removed.

        Reply
  8. Majumdar

    Dear Sidhartha,

    Is HDFC’s 5X rewards scheme (for Easy Day, BPCL etc which are not separately mentioned in DCB’s own 2X/10X programme) also applicable to Diners Club Black cards as well?

    Thanks in advance

    Regards

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Yes it does apply to Diners cards. I verified with Customer care as well.

      Reply
  9. Amit Garg

    Hi Sid on 2 January I recharge my mobile with payzapp with my linked retail regalia card for 99 rs and before this txn my rewards points are 2581 and after three days when this txn is posted in net banking the current points is 2701 and I have not done any other txn after this txn and to check again I loaded my FreeCharge wallet using payzapp virtual card with 150₹ on 5 January after adding money to payzapp with regalia and today my rewards points changed to 2908 from 2701

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Do you mean to say Payzapp is still working with 5X points?

      Reply
  10. RT

    When I raised a ticket to share the reward point statement for my HDFC Regalia Card (Personal), HDFC declined the request and asked me to calculate it on my own.

    “…We wish to clarify you there is no separate statements for reward points hence we regret our inability to process your request.You can possible to view the reward points for recent month and calculate yourself.We seek your understanding in this regard…”

    Is there a way or a site where I can see my reward point statement or do I need to calculate it on my own?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Try to escalate, you can also ask customer care over phone. I was never denied info when i asked over phone.

      Reply
  11. Deepak Agrawal

    It seems that HDFC is no longer offering 5x rewards points for Payzapp and Smartbuy transactions. It is now restricted to selected few merchants only.

    Reply
  12. Shobhit Kohli

    how to convert Regalia Business to Regalia Retail… please guide… I applied for retail card they send me business one… plz help

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Maybe if you had shown Business profile, they would have given Business Regalia.
      Put that in upgradation request.

      Reply
      1. Gautam

        Hi, Siddharth Seems like I can’t put in upgrade request as that feature is not currently available on my account as it states. Is there any other way to do so? By mailing them perhaps? Also what’s the process for the upgrade to Diners Black ( any specifics on expenditure?)

        Reply
  13. Hari

    Hi Siddharth, I got a complimentary Priority Pass (with free visits) along with my Regalia card. I only travel within India. Can I use Regalia Card AS WELL AS the Priority Pass AT THE SAME TIME if I am taking my wife along with me (who doesn’t have any card) to access lounge at domestic airports?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      You can no longer use PP for Domestic lounge access Hari.

      Reply
  14. Anchit

    Hi Siddharth,
    I think these HDFC guys have been playing foul. In the last month they’ve deducted 500 points each, twice from my account, as a result my balance went lower than the previous months statement.

    When I called them they say these points were credited by mistake to my account and hence deducted. They said it’s happened to many users.

    Has anyone else experienced the same?

    Reply
  15. thomas

    from 1st july no more reward points for topping up ewallet

    Reply
  16. Rupesh

    Hi Sid, Sorry for the dumb question. how do i know whether i have business or regalia card ? btw, which partners are still give 5X rewards on using regalia credit card ?

    Reply
  17. Firoz Rahman Shaik

    HI, Due to this kind of posts, HDFC started focusing on customers for the type of wallet transactions. Most of the banks observed that many people are doing this kind of activity and they finally made payzap transactions or wallet transactions are invalid for getting points. The author of this post or any other author posting this kind of posts publicly can be considered as responsible persons for the banks new decision. Please excuse me for this message boss…! Thank you.

    Reply
  18. Sarve

    HDFC Regalia vs Yes First Preferred credit card. Which one is better in these two? I was told my card is going to be upgraded from HDFC all miles to Regalia for free. I’ll be eligible for Yes First Preferred card too but I don’t know if it would be free. Considering both are free, please suggest which one would be better.

    Reply
  19. Taj Dhillon

    Hello Siddharth
    I have regalia card and Recently I shopped via smartbuy on amazon where it is mentioned that I would get 10x rewards but they credited only normal rewards points. There was written on smart buy that rewards points will be added in 90 days. Whether i need to wait for 90 days or should call to customer care? Please advise
    Regards

    Reply
  20. Zulu

    HI siddharth,
    I have been trying to lay my hands on HDFC regalia since a long time. i Have a total NRV of 50L+ with hdfc. been using their Jet airways platinum card for 6 yrs. Still they wouldnt upgrade. CL of 10L on the current card

    Reply

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