HDFC is recently known for their series of devaluations since past 2 years and its surprising to see even further devaluations on their premium cards now inspite of the fact that their competitors are becoming more rewarding. Now HDFC has come up with lots of changes to many cards including Diners cards. The changes are so big that HDFC even sent an SMS to everyone (which they never do). Here you go,
Changes to HDFC Regalia Credit Card:
As per their website: Effective 15th August’2017,
- Value of Each Reward Point is worth Re 0.50 when redeemed on hdfcbankregalia Website
- 2X Rewards points will not be applicable on Dining (standalone restaurants), flight bookings on Vistara & hdfcbankregalia Website.
- Reward points will be redeemable against only Airline Ticket booking and Hotel booking on hdfcbankregalia
- New Reward Rate: 1.3%
HDFC Regalia’s reward rate has gone down from 2% to 1.5% to finally 1.3% now. 2X points on dining has been very useful for many for years which is now going away.
Also, remember, you can no longer use your points for recharges. Yes, You’re limited to Flights/hotels – which means, only Flights because Hotel rates in regalia site are very high. I know this is already coming because recharges has tiny margins.
Changes to HDFC Regalia First Credit Card:
- New Point Value: 1RP = .30 INR
- New Reward Rate: 0.8%
Changes to HDFC Moneyback Credit Card:
- New Point Value: 1RP = .20 INR
- New Reward Rate: 0.2% (Seriously?!)
For god sake, get rid of this moneyback credit card ASAP if you’ve one.
Changes to HDFC Diners Credit Cards:
Across all Diners Cards – Rewardz, Premiun, Black:
- 2X Reward Points while you shop on hdfcbankdinersclub Website, 2X on Dining, Grocery, Supermarket, Air will be withdrawn w.e.f 15th August 2017.
- The capping of reward points is only on the accelerated 10X program and not on any other spends which follows the Regular reward points (not clear)
Diners Rewardz:
- 1 Reward Point = 0.30 AirMile/value w.e.f 15th August 2017
- Complimentary lounge access will be withdrawn (yes, no more unlimited lounge access)
- New Reward Rate: 0.6%
Hence you no longer need to hold this card!
Diners Premium:
- 1 Reward Point = 0.50 AirMile/value w.e.f 15th August 2017
- Complimentary Golf lessons will be withdrawn w.e.f 15th August 2017
- 6 Complimentary accesses to Domestic/International Lounges under the program in a calendar year w.e .f 15 th August 2017. (yes, no more unlimited lounge access)
- New Reward Rate: 1.3%
Now its in par with Regalia. I mean, both are almost useless unless they continue 5x/10x rewards for longer duration!
Diners Black:
- 1 Reward Point = Rs. 1 AirMile/value (no major changes for now)
- 6 Complimentary Golf games per quarter w.e.f 15th August 2017
- Complimentary Golf lessons will be withdrawn w.e.f 15th August 2017 (Did anyone actually used it? )
Good news, Diners Black & Infinia is untouched on reward rate. Looks like they’re not devaluing their super premium cards as they’re earning good money through other relationship value of their HNI customers. However, not to be happy, the storm ‘may’ come. Its just a matter of time.
The Party is Over!
I know they’re going to devalue Diners bigtime but didn’t expect this BIG. The reason is because almost everyone is now holding Diners cards (unlimited lounge access?!) and the Diners acceptance has increased much past 2 years, so it has become yet another normal card. Common sense!
I still remember people swiping their Diners Rewards in Domestic Lounges and now they can no longer do so. The features we enjoyed so far is part of Diners-HDFC marketing budget which doesn’t seem to exit anymore, or maybe reduced a lot.
Stop Hoarding points:
We all know that the 2x/5x/10x offers are all tempting. But now stop buying things you don’t need – just to accrue the points. After all, its just a marketing Gimmick. As i used to say often, if you can’t redeem points within 3-6 months, don’t keep adding them. HDFC is brilliant – They give premium cards for free, give 2X/5x/10x offers and finally devalue points them bigtime.
This devaluation is a good lesson that Reward points are not a good long term investment.
So what to do?
Redeem your Points: If you’re holding the cards that are being heavily devalued, its better to redeem your points ASAP. Remember that the points you currently have also will have low value after Aug 15th. The best way to redeem points is by spending on flight tickets or wherever you can on Regalia website. Transferring to Airmiles is also one of the easiest way around as well.
Pick a New Card: Post the devaluation, HDFC’s premium cards are in no match to SBI Elite or even SBI Prime. If you had been thinking to pick HDFC or SBI in the past, now you got good reasons to move to SBI cards. Even Yes First Preferred seems better now. This is a great news for competitor’s to make use of the opportunity. If you still need options, check out the updated list of best credit cards in India.
Remember, when it comes to reward points, or choosing the right credit card, its never get it and forget it type. The ecosystem is evolving and change is the only constant we could expect. Like us on Facebook, follow me on Twitter or just sign up to email newsletter using the pop up box, or simply comment below to get into the email list to stay updated of any upcoming changes to the world of credit cards. Redeem your points soon & stay tuned!
What’s your take on HDFC’s biggest devaluation of the year which had now affected a vast majority of people? And what are you planning to do Now?
Additionally, HDFC MoneyBack Card 100 RP = Rs 20 (instead of Rs 30) from 15 August
Thanks, Updated.
Hi Sid,
Pls suggest an alternative to the moneybck card if online spends are high.
Have a look at SBI Simplyclick 🙂
Is there any change in foreign currency markup fees?
hi i hold hdfc bank diners rewardz and for my father i just applied diners premium it is in process
i m a big spender and because of huge devaluation i want to know which one is best now
Everyone I know has a regalia card…and everyone reading this is eager to know as to what is the best alternate to them…apart from going to SBI is there any best alternate for regalia….we would like to know ur views on this…
I’ll keep adding some more info on that. Stay Tuned.
Well, it’s huge and top spenders need to find an alternative credit card too if HDFC someday goes on to devalue Diner Black. It may be that, in the long run, HDFC Infinia might be the only card that holds it’s ground. I just hope HDFC doesn’t remove the 10X program. Till then it’s still worth holding HDFC Diners Black.
Problem is not everyone is eligible for Diners Black and there is no guarantee that they’ll keep their point value intact. Regalia/Diners premium are the ones most hold now. They’re left with no option other than moving to SBI or YESBank. They’re very good alternatives indeed.
I believe American Express is a better option hands down compared to SBI and Yes. Given the benefits you get out of Amex is just phenomenal with all the offers round the year (fuel, utilities, ezeclick, etc), milestone points, lounge access, etc.
Hold Diners Black, Amex Gold Charge, Amex Plat Travel, ICICI Jet Sapphiro and SBI Elite.
But problem with AMEX cards is they are rarely accepted for offline transaction, other than that AMEX is the best.
I have Diners Rewardz.. Lifetime free (got in promotional offer 2yrs back). With current news planing to switch. Kindly suggest best option – SBI or American express- which card?
My needs- lifetime free/ if not suggest best option considering huge joining fee
Rewards – best available in the market… 0.75/0.5/0.25 , if SBI is giving 0.25 how it is best?
Still diners rewardz is giving 0.3. So help to understand why it is not better than SBI.
Frequent flight user.
Again, for Regaliafirst card – Value of Each Reward Point is worth Re 0.30 when redeemed on hdfcbankregalia Website from 15 Aug
Yes, updated.
The cutting of lounge access is absolutely criminal. I mean I understand gradual phasing out- but going from unlimited to zero is insane. The devaluation just as HDFC was rolling out the 10x promotion on Smart Buy and MMT- looks like HDFC is changing focus to attract travel transactions only. Also HDFC is asking Diners customers to upgrade to Black (if you have the income) or go bust- which is a horrible choice by the market leader!! Waiting for my PRIME to get away from the HDFC madness.
Maybe they could have incurred a huge loss on that card which could only be recovered by doing so. Consider 1000 users using it 50 times a year = 50k swipes a year @ rs.700 that costs bank a whooping 3.5 CRORES or even more. Though, they should have thought about this earlier and should have limited it accordingly.
Does it work that way? That lounge operators account for the net swipes made in a year with a particular type of card-calculate the net amount owed by the bank at the standard lounge access rate and charge to the bank in one short? Coz that’s downright scary..
Just an example to see things at a scale. It may work in a different way but numbers should be similar or even higher.
I hold Diners club premium and I can see why they have taken this step –
The card was issued LT Free along with HDFC JP Platinum which was also LT Free.
The total spends on my diners card were less than 100K in the last year or so, most of these spends were on 10X categories.
So far I’ve managed to rack up about 26K points on my spends. Which right now carries an equivalent value of about 19K.
Additionally, I’ve also used domestic lounges about 9-10 times and international lounges twice. The nominal value of these would again be about 500 for domestic lounges and 1500 for international lounges. So I assume HDFC had to pay about 8K for my lounge access.
So for about a spend of 1L on this card, I am about to reap a benefit of 27K which is massive and not at all healthy for bank’s bottom-line.
I am sure there will be many such customers like myself.
Since diners is not as widely accepted as master/visa – the offline spends on these are relatively low, so I presume the spending and resulting income from these cards does not augur well for top-line revenue these variants bring.
I hope they don’t devalue the benefits any further.
Yes you’re right. This is the major reason. They were burning a lot of money with Diners cards.
I have a doubt that, the devaluation will be applicatble for points earned after 15th Aug only or the points earned before 15th Aug will also get devauled?
ANY point you have post 14th Aug will have the updated point value.
Can you clarify this please? I have 30k reward points in my account which amounts to Rs. 22.5k at current conversion rates. If I do not use them before 15th August, does the value of those points reduce to Rs.15k ?
Yes, you’re right.
I feel in current scenario, HDFC JetPrivilege cards hold better value. They are not devaluated and hold the best JPMiles rates among many competitors. Feeling bad to have cancelled my JetPrivilege Platinum card for Dinners Premium.
True, but its a whole different segment.
I was planning to change my Jetprevilage World Credit Card to Diners Premium or Regalia to make it as LTF. But now i feel i should keep this card itself.
Scared that what HDFC will do to the jetprevilage world credit card.
Aren’t the points you earn every month on JP world card, credited to your JP account every few days?
If yes then they can’t be devalued any further (unless Jet decides to devalue them).
Hi,
HDFC has offered Lifetime free Diners Club premium. Should I go for some other alternatives?
My spending are not more than 2 lpa.
What is the validity of the voucher that is generated from the points? If I generate the voucher on Aug 14th and use it till it’s validity, I can atleast extend the time period right?
Maybe, maybe not. The ability to redeem on recharges, etc seems to be going away. I got stuck with points for about 3 months when i did something like this accidentally. So its not suggested to do this.
You can generate the voucher and then you will have to use it within 30 days. If not then you will lose 75+taxes and the points will be credited back to your account.
It would be interesting to see if the points that revert back, will it be as per old conversion structure or new structure?
Any review on hdfc freedom credit card? I think they provide 5% cashback in most transection, i hope there is no minimum transection limit to get 5% cashback, specially on recharge and bill pay, i have moneyback card and wish to change to freedom card, due to devaluation of points, please guide
There’s a separate review on that. pls check the same.
So the gap between infinia and regalia just got big? Is it advisable to make efforts to move from regalia to infinia?
Infinia eligibility is very strict. Talk to RM.
So I got approved for both regalia and diner black earlier. But I made a mistake of applying simultaneously and got regalia first so they didn’t give me a diner black then and asked me to apply after couple of months.
I’ve been trying to get diner black since then but their upgrade process (there is no process) and customer support is so bad, I don’t feel like getting it anymore.
Do you have any card recommendation that I can consider instead of diner black?
This feature will be withdrawn w.e.f 15th August 2017
Redeem reward points for booking Air Tickets / Hotels across 150+ Airlines and Choice of hotels (Domestic & International) at hdfcbankdinersclub website ( 1 Reward Point = Re. 1 )
this is not clear Sidd, Will they stop booking Air Tickets / Hotels also from points from AUG 15?
You seem to read it wrong.
“This feature will be withdrawn w.e.f 15th August 2017” line you got to read it along with the line above this.
Yes, a multi million/billion $ company doesn’t know basic formatting.
LOL..
But they claims they are now at No.1 position in Banking Sector 😛
Time to say Bon Voyage to HDFC Bank Credit Cards!!
Reward redemption on Movies/Recharges/DTH will be withdrawn w.e.f 15th August 2017.
Mentioned in hdfcbankdinnersclub website.
Is it only with Dinners Black or for all 3 ?
So what’s your suggestion on this?
Any good card that can replace the Diners Black (after 10x ends)? Ltf or even with a fee?
I have a Diners Black and Regalia from HDFC, no other card as I never cared. But with this huge devaluations every year, I guess it’s time to move on.
An article suggesting alternatives or even better options would be great!
Amazing work on the website!
Even on Diners you can’t use rewards points for mobile /dth recharge / movies.
Hope they won’t devalue diners black.
Now my Diner Club Rewardz will be a waste! HDFC will loose it’s no 1 spot. Now I will ask my bank to provide lifetime free credit card.
HI bro. This is a cool website
My salary is 2 lakhs per month.
How much credit limit do you think I can get for Amex platinum reserve card? And am I eligible to apply for Hdfc infinia credit card?
Thanks
Hi
My RM tells me 40L pa is the eligibility for Infinia and they are quite strict about it.
For an imperia customer they may (MAY) relax it by a bit.
Hope this help.
All the best !
Are there any changes on the lounge access/priority pass rules for Regalia and Regalia First?
Regarding the 2x rewards points on recharges etc.. through hdfcbankdinersclub.in website, the are removing this scheme, but the 10x rewards point on all sections in SmartBuy is still gonna be there? right? We can do recharges through it in future?
Hi Sid,
What about movie ticket booking? Will it stopped or continue?
Hi,
They have not mentioned unlimited or any limit for Lounge access for Diners Black. Are they planning something there 😉
I have MoneyBack credit card, what is my alternative credit card that you suggest. My cc limit is around 1 L.
This is so disappointing. I have been accruing reward points on my HDFC Credit Card from the part 9 years, and redeemed only a very small portion till date. Now with this devaluation, I feel that I just wasted my time looking at my reward points in Netbanking and feeling happy about it. Nevertheless, its heavy redemption time now before the new rule kicks in on 15-Aug.
Siddharth – Your statement above ‘This devaluation is a good lesson that Reward points are not a good long term investment’ is so true – very well said.
Thanks,
Vijay
Hi. How do you upgrade the card variant or get the offer to upgrade?
I am talking about HDFC.
Can we use available rewards point on Regalia card for recharge of DTH or Mobile before 15th August ?
How to do it ?
With several new players in the arena, and SBI looking so aggressive, HDFC seems to lose its plot, looks just insane from unlimited to nil or six, whatever may be the case,
Or may be they would be bringing some new great products, but better not too late,
But for the time being really disappointing HDFC.
Recently you have posted about SBI card is hoping it will take over hdfc and this will be the stepping stone for it , could you suggest a good alternative to diners rewardz I have a Citi indian oil card as well as amex gold was thinking of cancelling amex but now it looks like I have to keep it an I have 8k point in hdfc card and no plans for travel nearby dono what to do with them
I just moved to American Express platinum travel. With the devaluation again, is it better than regalia ? I have 9-10L payments through PayPal in a year. Thanks.
Best would be to apply for another plat travel credit card for your Wife ( if you can show that she earns more than 6 lacs p.a. ) and then split the spends of 9 lacs in 2 cards ( your and your wife´s ) .. you will get around 50K plus INR worth benefits…Stick to Amex. plat travel card.
HDFC!! I had 27k points accrued at .75 on my allmiles. Within a flash they devalued it to .25. no proper updates or msgs or emails from their side. I lost ~ 15000 for no fault of mine. I had a huge fight and have all those email conversation with customer support.
After reading your post, I thank you for making people aware of this fraud game by HDFC. How can you reduce the value of a point already earned. HDFC will pay huge amount in the form of lost customers. Thanks
Still HDFC yet to update their diners website and all but cardexpert gave all the information. Thank you.
I know this was not expected but you still have time till 14th August to redeem those points.
You should have fought for your right. No one take away your Rs. 15000, if you stand for it. you need to find the right way, like i did.
Hi Siddharth,
This is very sad. One question.
If I have 1000 points existing in diners premium which is equivalent to Rs 700. Will they credit 400 points (700/0.5 = 1400 Points) to compensate the reduction for the points that were earned before August 15 2017.
Ofcourse not.
One query: HDFC Diner Black point can’t be redeemed for DTH/Movies/Recharge post 15 Aug?
Does recharge include post paid bill payment?
What are the other options to redeem points?
Sorry, In hurry didn’t read the whole article. These questions are already answered.
In short, if you are not redeeming your diners black points on flights or hotels then only option you have is the reward catalogue where 1 point won’t be worth Rs.1. Correct??? Or is there some other way to redeem points.
Hi Sidh,
I am having both Diners Premium and Regalia card. As 10x offer is also expiring on July 31, 2017, assuming it does not get extended further, does it make sense to close Diners club card and hold only Regalia card as the rewards rates will be the same? I am planning to upgrade it to Diners Black after September as my salary would increase to required limit of Diners Black.
Also, I have Yes First Exclusive card for unlimited domestic and international lounge access, just not want to close long relationship with HDFC as it may come with better options again. It is anyways LTF so can keep holding until get good option.
Please suggest.
How come you have Yes First Exclusive card which requires 50+ lpa and you are still not eligible for HDFC diners club black?
Hi Siddharth,
Thanks for this huge update as I have some breather to finish of my points.
Just a curiosity. In your experience any bank has brought these offers back after devaluation. 🙂
Is it still worth it to keep the LTF cards under this hope.
Also is’nt it unfair from HDFC to reduce the value of all the existing points which was earned before 15th Aug. Most of the people might have used the card only because of the 10x points which would give them benifit.
Should the devaluations be on the points earned after Aug 15?
Thanks,
Mahesh
Don’t your credit card immediately if your vard is having LTF.
Reason: you can utilise it for HDFC only offers and it will help to maintain duration of holding ur credit card which may benefit in future.
HDFC Jetprevilage World Debit Card too got devaled itseems. I just saw that unlimited complimentary domestic lounge access changed into just 2/Per Quarter.
Shocking to see this much severe devaluation of credit cards.
Moneyback was once the best credit card for earning cash rewards and i have earned several thousands as reward points.
Spoke with CC: here is a new update… ₹99 + taxes will be charged for redemption for Diners Black too after Aug 15 (Infinia will be still free).
Only Infinia is untouched “as of now” and will continue with all the benefits post Aug 15 too.
So Infinia is now clearly no1 in the pecking order and Black is no. 2 (barring 10x benefit)
I know that we can get the Sbi credit card against the Fixed deposit ..(i previously got sbi simply click card and closed due to some reasons)
But now..i want to get sbi simply save card against fd as it gives 100% approval..
i want to know..how can we increase the credit limit for these cards ?
bank people / sbi card cc has no idea !!! Hope you can get some info.
Thanks Siddharth for such detailed review. Very helpful. Just came across your site and found it very useful. Keep up the good work.
Quick question: I had never redeemed any of my Regalia points. It stands at 1 lac+ right now. Any quick pointers for best value redemptions on Regalia? My priority will be air travel for next 12-24 months if possible. Appreciate suggestions here
Oops, that’s too much points to sit on!
Try to book flight tickets, the remaining you can transfer to JPmiles if you’re a JP member.
Plan a family vacation Singapore, Dubai , Hong Kong
i think Reliance One Card is better than HDFC credit Card.
Some Instrument to ear more Rewards and cash
Mobikwik Super cash
Ola Select
Indian Youth card
Jio Money
Jet Previlage website
Max get More
You can Compensate HDFC Credit Card Devaluation
Hello Sid
Kindly give Rating 5 Best Credit Card In India
There is 1 good thing which came out of this devaluation (for Diners Premium) –
Before 15th Aug – Five Complimentary access to 700+ Lounges Worldwide in a calendar year.
After 15th Aug – Six Complimentary access to 25+ Domestic Lounges within India and 700+ Lounges Worldwide in a calendar year w.e.f 15th August 2017.
So – the free international lounge accesses have in fact increased 🙂
I have about 22,000 points in my Regalia First . How much devaluations should I expect ?
how can i convert regalia reward points into indigo vouchers? to be used in future.
Do you suggest redemption of all the points on my regalia CC. I have 20K points now……do you have a separate article on how to use hdfcregalia website?
What about the already accrued reward points ? will that also be redeemed at Rs.50 per point in case of Dinner Premium ?
I am also having that doubt. Not fair if they do it to already earned points.
The whole point of the article is because of that. if you don’t redeem, you loose a lot of value on existing points.
Hi,
I am using Diners club premium . I have accumulated 40000 points as of now. I am not planning for any trip in near future. What would you advice? Is it advisable to convert my points to JPMiles?
If you’re JP member, yes, its the easiest way to transfer points for future use.
Sumit – my suggestion – you have time till mid-Aug. Plan and book for any time within the next 11 months. Jet miles actually carries a 25-50% value in terms of money, except during peak season. E.g – A good deal on Mumbai-Paris return ticket costs approx 40k-42k on Jet airways. You can get the same ticket for approx 85000 miles + Rs. 7k. Which means 85000 miles = 35000 INR.
Book a ticket if you can – that’s where you make the most of your points.
I feel the points value is more if we are re-deeming them on HDFC diners site for flight ticket rather than converting to JP miles? Please suggest. I have 65k points for HDFC premium card.
30% bonus Jpmiles are offered if more than 20k jpmiles transferred? Is it good option?
Its a good option for unutilized reward points. if you trasnfer 20K points, you will get 26.5K JPmiles.
You may transfer it to other JP members, if you are not a JP member
Sure about this?
Yes.
There is no cross-checking both from HDFC or Jet till now. I used to buy JP miles from my collegues (by transferring their respective HDFC reward points to my JP account). I feel that both HDFC and Jet are not bothered about it as long since they are not affected.
This is interesting. Thanks for sharing Anoop.
Which is better HDFC Regalia or Citibank Indian Oil credit card?
Regalia and Indian oil card are completely with different benefits.
If u need rewards for all spends and lounge access at airport, go with regalia.
If you want to save some bucks on fuel spening alone, then go to Indian oil card. Tip:If you are gonna opt this card, make sure your nearby Indian oil bunk and check whether they have citibank pos machine, else it would be a total waste.
Redeem your points for paying post paid bill, pay 10K or 5K basically forward pay so that u dont get bill for next few months. That is indeed money saving.
Is it possible to pay postpaid bill via recharge mode. As Regalia site, recharge option shows prepaid and DTH options only.
In paytm it is possible to pay advance bill via recharge for postpaid mobile also.
I paid airtel postpaid through diners portal, worked liked charm
Hi,
I am using Diners Black Card. Do we get 10X points if we add money to Amazon Pay. Also, is 10X applicable even for purchase of Gift Cards at Amazon Website.
I had called Diners CC and they said 10X offer is not applicable on gift cards and Amazon Pay.
Yes you will get points for Amazon pay aswell. I have got it. 🙂
That is sad. But I guess people here who have Diner’s black card have got 10x points for Amazon pay and gift cards as well.
Why have these idiots at HDFC not mentioned it in their terms and conditions that 10X offer is not applicable on gift cards purchases on Amazon and at Amazon Pay? And since it’s not written, they cannot claim so. Even their customer care is highly incompetent.
They really have pathetic people managing their cards communication. Seems as if a school guy writes their terms and conditions. Conflicting information on different pages, typo errors, no text formatting, ambiguous statements, and what not.
God help them.
I have a friend who has earned his 10x on Amazon gift cards. We keep discussing credit card deals and that is how I know for sure.
I do not think they differentiate between non-gift cards and gift-card purchases. Wait for your statement to be generated, and approach their customer care and then the Banking obudsman. They cannot randomly change T&C. Infact, they are accountable w.r.t their own T&C.
Sid, your views please?
They’ve clearly mentioned the “wallets” thing recently. So they can flag the Amzn Pay txn’s anytime if they want to.
I think there is a difference between wallets and Amazon pay. Wallet money can be transferred to bank account, while Amazon pay cannot be. So in a way Amazon pay is money already spent on Amazon!
Just my 2 cents worth.
It is applicable on amazon pay balance. I got 9x points in this statement.
Hi Prashant/Mahesh,
I spoke to CC and they said from July they have stopped giving points for Amazon Pay. They consider this as Wallet transactions. Same applies even to gift cards.
Did you load money in Amazon Pay in July?
Yes I have added in amazon pay. I have got 9x points in July 17th 2 days after my statement.
But as Sid mentioned, they might differentiate any time and we will stop getting then.
As of now the merchant is AMAZON SELLER SERVICES MUMBAI IN for both amazon pay and direct orders. I think once they find a way to differentiate we will be in trouble. Paytm already does this.
Hi joel,
I received the 9x point for the pay balance transaction done in june. I have also received normal points for the amazon pay balance and makemytrip voucher purchases from amazon during prime day this month.
Could you please share the link where HDFC has mentioned that Regalia points can only be redeemed for hotels and flights but NOT for recharge etc from 15th August? I was unable to find the details. Thank you!
Amazon Pay Balance shows up on card in same name as a direct purchase on Amazon. So HDFC might not have a clear way of differentiating those.. right?
They can still flag the transaction if they want to. better to stay away from Wallet loading.
Is it possible to pay postpaid bill via recharge mode. As Regalia site, recharge option shows prepaid and DTH options only.
This is horse s**t! Applied for SBI Prime today on Visa platform. Will apply for Yes First Preferred Credit Card soon on MasterCard platform.
Where was reference regarding preferred network mentioned ?
It is not mentioned anywhere. I called up SBI cards and they confirmed issuing Visa card for Prime. Likewise, Yes bank card department confirmed MasterCard for Yes First Preferred card.
Visa is the “Preferred” card in Thailand & Malaysia shopping malls with lots of offers on Visa. I was refused payment by MasterCard on 3 occasions. Thankfully I had Visa debit card. Now, I just prefer holding Visa and MasterCard credit cards for flexibility.
I see a lot of people asking about amazon pay loading, so i did a little digging into this.
From what I understand when you go for making payment, amazon uses “amazon pay” gate way when compared to other shopping sites using the banks gateway.
Ex.
1. Try ordering a product and reach the payment page, after entering the card details, the next OTP page tab name will be “Amazon Pay”
2. Now try adding amazon pay balance you can see that the tab name is “Amazon Pay” as well.
So i think amazon pay balance will still be giving 10x points as of now.
Sid – your thoughts
One more point – Diners Cards Reward redemption on Movies/Recharges/DTH will be withdrawn w.e.f 15th August 2017. We Can use the Rewards points on Portal only for Flights and Hotels from Aug 15.
Time to Redeem Points!!
LoL!
Hi Abhishek,
Where is this mentioned. I am not able to find this in their page.
Sid – is this confirmed 🙁
Yes, they’ve mentioned in one link. We’ll need to wait until Aug 15th to see how many changes actually going live. there are hell a lot.
Hi,
I got a Diners Premium card recently and immediately got this devaluation news 🙁 Really s*cks.
I got my first statement and the reward points seem like normal ones though I made purchases on Amazon and Bigbasket.
How do I verify (without calling customer care) than I have got the 10X points or not?
Login and check.
Usually, 10X reward points are added after the statement is generated. So, wait for 2 to 3 days after the statement is generated. They should be credited to your account by then.
IMPORTANT:
For Friends and readers who hold HDFC CC and have subscribed for Physical credit card statement, you are going to be charged Rs.50 for each physical statement you are going to receive (wef 15 Aug 2017). Refer New MITC on HDFC website. So, to save Rs.600/year, suppress your physical statement today on Internet banking.
P.S: Sid, please add this to the main article.
OMG. HDFC is becoming dangerous to deal with lately.
Sure, will do shortly.
Thanks for the info. Just now suppressed my physical statement.
SriKrishana / Sid,
I am diners black new joinee. I checked on the Schedule of charges. Its not clear about Diners Black there on Physical Statement. So it means Diners Black is untouched? Or I should be wary of some “between the lines / hidden interpretation”
HDFC likes to play this card game with their customers….
First it will offer you the best card (suppose ‘A’) with all best benefits and within few months/year it will launch a new series card ‘B’, a better card then ‘A’, and will withdraw the major or best offers / benefits from ‘A’.
Then Bank will come out ‘C’ and will reduce the benefits of ‘B’ and it will keep going…
At the same time the eligibility criteria also comes down.
And one keeps moving from A to B to C in order to get the best benefits…
Well dont know if other banks also follow this golden rule of playing game with customers 🙂
i wish if there is any such card or bank which dont play with emotions of customer 😉 (first attractive them and then take away the benefits, leaving you sad)
I have a LTF HDFC Regalia First card. Most of my purchases are on Paytm/Amazon. Is SBI simply click a good option given the 2.5% reward rate on Amazon
Interesting Update but needs to be validated.
Spoke with one of the executives from HDFC who is sourcing Diners Cards. He says, that for the new cards that will be registered post 15th August, will have devalued cards. But, for all, who are holding Diners cards from before 15th August, will continue to enjoy the old benefits.
This doesn’t sound right. Can someone please verify and confirm. I am guessing, he might be lying to get more sales for Diners cards.
Ofcourse he’s lying AFAIK. Though i still wonder why HDFC is sending promotional emails stating XX% savings with 10X rewards as its not going to be valid post Aug 15th.
how to covert diners reward point into jpmile ?
Same question. How to do it?
Just login to HDFC internet banking. Go to redeem reward points section. Then first go to FF registration under Air Miles. Enter the details of jet Privilege membership there. it is very simple… then go to Air miles redemptionsection. enter the number of miles required.
I still cant pick card better than my current regalia for complimentary access to lounge for secondary card holder
That’s the ONLY reason I am still holding on to it!
how to covert diners reward point into jpmile ?
Hi Sid,
I have accumulated 35k points on my Regalia CC.
What is the best way to do something about them before aug 15th?
As u said, the devaluation goes to .50 rs from the existing .60 RS.
Kindly assist.
Now PVR removed for BOGO on diners site atleast for Delhi NCR. Only Waves cinemas left.
Just checked, after reading your post, hope revoking PVR is temporary!
Tell me about business money back credit card
I using this from two years what changes r on this card .
I m not not reward points from last 10 days as I spent 25k Plz give me some tips
Hdfc card are becoming useless day by day. There are hardly any cinemas to choose from. In jaipur the list has reduced to one cinema which nobody cares to go. Pathetic. They will now loose market share faster. Sbi has been very aggressive they have now set up counters in mall and pleading people to apply, i also applied through them for sbi simply click.
Thanks Siddharth for this wonderful article.
I redeemed all my Diners Club reward points
Yes in Bangalore also no more show of PVR can be booked from hdfc diners website….sad
I can still see pvr for Bangalore
Yeah it back alive on Saturday..but on Thrusday and Friday it wasnt
Hi, sorry for the confusion, can you clear these 2 questions, will the Regalia card remaint to get domestic lounge access? Will Regalia First card remain to get domestic lounge access?
Reward Points Rate os MoneyBack card is Less Than SBI Unnati card !!!
reward rate for unnati is 0.25 !
and 500 CASHBACK for spends of 50000 Which is 1% ..which is Not bad
Hope HDFC Bank revises the rates soon ..
Hi, I recieved a mail from HDFC that the domestic lounge access is through master card program and international lounge access is through priority pass. So what do i need to do when i go to a domestic lounge. Just present my credit card or do i need to present the priority pass? I hold HDFC Regalia card. Also another basic question. Any lounge on airport in India will be considered as a domestic lounge even though it is located in international terminal?
I have already booked tickets in April using the points on my Diners. With the revision, do my flight tickets still hold as they did earlier? Or do I have to pay the amount, tickets will be canceled. What is your take?
Looks like I would have to change as well, spends on my card are around 2lac pa.
There wont be any change to the booking if you’ve already redeemed & used the voucher.
Hi Sid, I am holding HDFC Regalia and AMEX MRCC. My monthly spend is between 25k to 40k per month which is so far with Regalia. What is your advice? should I shift my spend to AMEX MRCC after 15th Aug? One good thing about MRCC that you can encash your reward points while purchase of anything @ 0.25 Rupee per point. No voucher generation or no other headache.
My experience with HDFC Diners card premium has been pretty bad.
First of all, the customer care of HDFC is terrible and inferior compared to any other banks – SBI/Citi/Stanchart etc
Second, the Diners card is a gamble. Every time, you give it for swiping, it’s a suspense whether it will be accepted or not. So far, in my experience, accpetance rate is 60% and it’s an embarrassing feeling to again provide another card and spoils the experience. It also means that you have to always carry another card with you.
3rd – airport lounge access – this was one of the main reasons of taking this card as it had unlimited domestic lounge access. Now, that has been trimmed to 2 per quarter like any other card. On top of it, I tried it today at T1 plaza launch in Delhi and it didn’t work as there seems to be a problem with Diner’s servers.
4th – huge devaluation. Almost every reward has been devalued. Even the reward points are worth only 0.50 Re instead of 0.75 Re.
5th – 10X reward points are gone for online shopping. This was probably the most important reason I got this card but it’s already gone or going away soon.
Overall, highly dissatisfied. I have applied for SBI Prime card which I feel is the best overall card right now in India below the super premium cards like Diners black, Infinia, SBI Elite. SBI Prime has better rewards than SBI Elite for someone like me whose annual spend is expected to be around 5 Lacs. For spends of around 10 lacs or more, better to go for the super premium cards mentioned above. If anyone has a better alternative to SBI prime for spends up to 5 lacs, let me know
Check AMEX Platinum travel card once. Sid has also reviewed this card under AMEX section. Also it has good mile stone benefits for expenses upto 4 lakhs.
With your spends level, Amex Platinum Travel could be better than SBI Prime if you travel as you get ₹20000 worth travel/ hotel vouchers on milestone spend of 4L + attractive reward redemption options + Amex offers at usually attractive. Have a look at the review page of this card on this website.
I Checked with Diners Black customer care on smartbuy 10x offer. They say its there till 31st Aug.
Also I got a mail today from HDFC on the same. So there is still some option to get 10X.. Instead of Amazon, go to Flipkart via Smartbuy.
What has been experience of others?
Regards
smartbuy offer is there but the other 10X partner offers are gone.
Its only a matter of time before the 10X smartbuy offer will be there.
So, you can use it for a month or so and then move to another card.
IMPORTANT FOR ALL HDFC LTF CC CUSTOMERS:
I am an imperia customer since long and has Regalia card since July 2014. At that time it was offered as ‘Life Time Free’ and till date no fees charged. Already have a number of bill s on autopay mode.
Now suddenly, got a shock as HDFC has slapped with Rs.2500 as annual charges. I talked with my RM who is clueless. Redeemed all reward points and already asked for the cancellation of the card as already using Yes First Exclusive since Dec 2016. So, just check your CC statement and get the ‘super premium’ card shock!
Ask your RM for reversal.. They might take time but hopefully do it.. I had some reversals that HDFC Branch did for me ( for the Program Mgmt Charges ) .. It took me 8-9 months to be honest.. ( demonetization etc. slowed down the work) but finally happened.
You may still close the card… but first get the reversal done…
Hi, You should ask for the reversal. As a classic customer, I have got reversal some other charges (~3k) over a simple email. If you are an imperea customer, why not?
Thanks for your advise. That was a different HDFC Bank at that time!
As an imperia customer definitely I have very good cordial relations with my RM, BM and PBM but now credit card division just not listening them also.
We can very well brand HDFC Bank as ‘SBI of Private Sector Banks”!!
Hi,
One trick to tackle this issue is, just generate voucher for all your reward points, before Aug 15 and no need to use that. After expiry of the voucher, the reward points will be credited back to the card account as per their monetary value. So, effectively you’ll get the same value post devaluation. The following example clearly explains this.
e.g. If I have 10k reward points on my Diners Premium card, I’ll generate voucher with the value of Rs. 7500 (Re 0.75 per RP). After 30 days, when the voucher expires, the reward points equal to Rs. 7500 will be credited. For this case, 15k reward points will be credited (0.5 per RP post devaluation).
I personally benefited from this on my Allmiles card. When HDFC devalued allmiles reward points(0.5 per RP to 0.25) from Nov, 2016, I have generated allmiles voucher from 5000 points on Oct, 2016 and I have not used it. After expiry, HDFC credited back 10k reward points (I was cursing myself on not redeeming all of my 40k reward points).
But the same need to be verified for Diners Premium/ other cards. If you could help on that, it would be really useful to thousands of HDFC card holders.
Thanks.
Hi,
I have generated vouchers for all my 45k reward points in my Diners Premium card before 15 Aug. In that, one of the voucher (Rs. 10000) generated out of 13333 reward points got expired on 17 Aug and 20000 reward points have been credited back because of RP devaluation. So, finally I could manage this RP devaluation without any loss except the redemption processing fee.
Nice idea indeed!
I have been dreading this all along. I felt from the start of this race with hdfc Ltf cards that life time means the life of the card so 3 years. So July 2014 means in July 2017 bank has an option of charging u because your previous agreement has expired. So that means expect your bill once your card is near expiry
10x offer has been extended till 31st october
It appears that HDFC has discontinued Smartbuy and Lifestyle as 10x partners. The updated list of these partners on HDFC Diners website now stands trimmed to 7. Thankfully Amazon continues as 10x partner for now which appears to be the only saving grace.
I understand that the devaluation is happening if we redeem the reward points on regalia website, but what about the reward redemption available on HDFC bank login website? Reward redemption at HDFC bank website has many options and best of lot is InstaEVouchers which provide redemption options like Lifestyle & Shoppers Stop.
Can u please confirm will the value of points be affected/reduced if done at HDFC bank login or not?
I redeemed my points on HDFC netbanking log in. Had about 17000 points which i redeemed for Lifestyle insta vouchers worth INR 5000. Dpnt seem to be any change in points. Or may be i missed something?
Even a yr ago or so they offered vouchers of inr 500 on 1670 points. Its the same now. No change. I redeemed my points on Aug 20.
For Diners Premium, has the lounge access been reduced to 6 domestic + 6 international or only 6 in total?
6 in total
Looks like the Buy one get one movie offer is removed from the Diners website.
@Siddharth – Any updates after July 31st?
It seems hdfc has also reduced affiliated cinema halls for diners movie booking offer…
Regards,
Vineet
I have not received any Email nor SMS for Devaluation of rewards.
I hold Regalia from around last 3 years
HDFC Solitaire card is also getting devalued further. 1Rp=0.2p instead of 0.3p
Hi Siddharth,
Need your opinion, in terms of reward rate, which one is better according to you, HDFC Diners Premium (after devaluation) or Axis Bank Select Credit Card?
I am puzzled, they look very competing.
Thanks!
Slowly the points are becoming worthless. I hold Infinia and thought of booking movie tickets using reward points which i normally do. But guess what, only cinemas in Mira Road and Bhayandar available on Infinia rewards site. So HDFC Bank wants all its customer to travel to Bhayandar for watching movies.
Looking at the drastic changes done by HDFC, don’t think Infinia will be spared for long. Devaluation coming soon.
They have also increased the interest rates for Insta Jumbo Loans. Now a one year loan retails at a 16.2% or (1.35% per month) interest rate. It was around 15% or (1.25% per month) so last year. Not the best bank at the moment. Also they have become very sloppy in their service. Terrible if not pathetic customer service. And here I was thinking the PSU banks were bad. These guys are surely matching up to their public sector brethren.
Have any existing Regalia holders received any communication from HDFC regarding the changes that might be in place from Aug 15th? So far, I haven’t received any.
Hi everyone,
Can anyone share any experience where you have acquired the Diners Club Black for Life time free…I can only find first year free offers with HDFC.
I hold a Diners club premium and am thinking to apply for black but not sure for the 5000+18% annual fees
Hi Sid,
So which card you suggest to hold if not Regalia in terms of better reward points.
Go for Yes Preferred, if you can get the same in LTF variant…
Hello Sid, I am holding currently 21000 points and I have registered myself as a Jet Privilege customer today itself (as it was free) just to convert the reward rates to miles. Which I guess would be around 15600 odd miles. Also my bill generates on 13-14th of the month. Hence, I am trying to convert my RP to JP miles on 14 August. Do you think will this be the best bet? Or is there anything I am missing here? How long would it be to use these miles (say validity at least for 6 months?) I haven’t used the Miles concept in the past and hence quite curious about it. Thinking to go for some booking later in the year or next to SE Asian countries. Comments please experienced folks? I am new to JP miles and may not be sure how to use them optimally even if JP miles conversion factor works for the Premium card.
Also, I tried to convert the miles through HDFC net banking and it says that it will take 7 working days to credit the miles to my JP wallet, however the conversion ratio is still showing 0.75 and will show it until 14 Aug 23:59 HRS. So do you all guys think it will be a good to go option? Alternative, if any please suggest !
I do think this is a sensible option. There is also a bonus JP miles offer going on. (on conversion).
Check that on the JP site as well. So you may end up getting a few more miles. This will get you approx 2 tickets for domestic flights (3 for very few sectors). Do not rely on this for travel to SE Asia. Min requirement for a return ticket is 45k miles (Bangkok). You get Singapore/HK for 60k miles.
Try to convert to JP Miles ASAP pal. I converted 21000 Regalia reward points to JPMiles and in addition to the Miles converted according to the conversion ratio(0.66) you will also get 30% Conversion Bonus JPMiles plus another 500 JPMiles bonus if you are doing this conversion for the first time.
Well I placed my request to convert the points to JP miles and not sure when it will reflect ! Well the request is showing 156 as quantity (I assume it meant 156 in multiples of 100). Let’s see when it get credited. Also, this is the first time I am converting the points, not sure about the bonus miles. All I did is went to the netbanking (only for CC) and redeemed it to the JP miles based on the conversion ratio for 0.75 factor (100 miles for 133 points). Any idea on how long will it take to be credited to the JP Miles account.
Also, what are best ways to enhance the Tier membership? In the eye of me holding Diner’s Premium card for now, is it wise to go ahead and ask for Jet Privilege Diners card? Or Jet Privilege Amex platinum card? Since none of them is free ofcourse, but what is the reward ratio for the annual fees we pay. I was exploring the co-brand cards on JP site, and found few cards like Diners & Amex quite lucrative. Even ICICI Sapphiro Amex card is also available at 50% discount. Amex Platinum is available with 20k bonus miles, while Diners with 30k bonus miles + 15 tier points. However, I note in one of the article of Sid that 10X program is not applicable on the Jet Privilege Diners. Should I go for ICICI Sapphiro card & look for upgrade to Diners premium to Diners black only in 6 months or so. Suggestions? (Well I know the question had been quite long)
Hi Sid and Guys,
TYhanks for all the information. I am having 70k points and if I generate voucher today, would I be able to book flight tickets till next 30 days?
Please suggest as soon as possible. I am little worried. 🙁
Yes voucher is vaild for 30 days. Post that points are credited back into account.
Hi cardExpert bloggers,
I have placed my airmiles redemption into AirIndia FlyingReturns on July31st.
1) Been 2 weeks and still no miles showing up on AirIndia site,
Do you know how long it takes on average ?
2) My lastname on the creditcard is only initial, whereas in the AirIndia account it if the full last name. Thought firstname matches in both accounts, could that be a problem ? (i couldnt confirm via any tech support, they just told check in a while)
It was exactly my problem too and it was fixed after 2 months of escalation. (after 10 months of card setup date)
Problem is Airindia needs your Full last name.
Takeaway: Start escalating right away.
I just finally was able to get a response from HDFC CC- they said servicing error.
I tried again on the netbanking site to redeem airmiles and then i see AirIndia removed ? only KrisFlyer and JetPriv.
The main website still shows AirIndia should be possible.
I have a DinersClub Rewards credit card – anyone had any luck redeeming to AirIndia flying returns ?
diners website is bare naked now, only option of airline ticket and hotel booking is there.
LOL
I had generated voucher for redemption, how am i supposed to use them now,,
Very well expected. Sadly no other choices left. Catalog vouchers gives almost 50% less in value.
I am pretty confused here. Under life style benefits, it is still mentioned that movies can be booked and DTH/Mobile recharge can be done. The same can be found in Book a Concierge field. Is it possible that HDFC is yet to update the page? Ultimately every user will suffer a loss without any reason by this move as there is no other way where we can redeem our voucher. Obviously, other than if anyone is planning to travel.
Recharges are gone! They may take a while to update all pages.
I had generated a voucher worth 5800Rs on Aug 1st thinking I will use it for mobile bill payment but now I am not able to see that option! This feels crazy! I am going to cancel this card and get a better one. I dont want to fall for this LTF gimmick again. In the long run, cards with nominal spend based annual fee reversal options seems to be my best bet
Update – Each Reward Point is STILL worth Rs 0.60 when redeemed on hdfcbankregalia site. Just booked a hotel using leftover points @ 0.6Re/RP conversion rate. So, hurry & redeem! 😉
I checked the catalog.
For e-vouchers from Pantaloons or Shoppers stop, reward points on diners premium =40% value which is only marginally less than 50% value for generating voucher? Am I missing something here?
Thanks Sidharth, this timely post helped me burn my points worth approx 19K. i had not received any communication from hdfc bank and if i had not seen this post. i would have lost 33% value on these points. i booked 2 trips for my family which i would have anyhow planned and used remaining points on postpaid bill. thanks again.
Sid,
Another bad news… HDFC has withdrawn the DTH, Mobile Recharge and Movie Ticket option using reward points. I’m holding Premium card and I redeemed my points and come to know these options are lost 😢.
Please suggest better card. I already holding ELITE, ICONIA and Premium
Thanks,
Prathamesh
The points can be used for booking tickets but who would use the diners platform,better deals are always available else where.
Diners becomes a dead card for me now..
My basic spending is shopping utility payment e.g.electricity,telecom, dining, hotel and lastly flight .
Yearly income approx.11 lacs
Can u pl suggest CC
I used the complimentary golf lessons big time until January 2017 when they started asking us to pay for instructor fee. Instructor fee is like 70% of a lesson. They did not update the website and the customer care just notified us when we called to book a session. So this was long time coming as it has been basically useless since January.
The also changed the fact that on Diners Black, Add-on cards will not get *any* lounge access.
Only primary. :/
It would be great if you could give us all a full review on Golf benefit usage. We could get it published as a separate article.
Free lounge access of Diners black add on card withdrawn? since when?
Hey Sid,
Any idea about buy one movie ticket and get one movie ticket free offer from diners black card?
It was there few months ago but right now i am unable to see it anywhere.
i am having hdfc regalia LTF card with Rs.3 lacs limit since last one year.
with huge devaluation and limited redemption options which hdfc card should i try for upgrade?
for better returns on low cost.
please advise.
U can move onto yes prefered and keep the regalia also.
thanks for the response but i also have yes preferred.
any better card from hdfc or other banks?
Check out the blog and apply for a card that suits ur spend pattern.
Need some help. Had forgotten that hdfcbankdinersclub site doesnt offer 2x rewards.
Did a transaction of 30k+ in ignorance through hdfcbankdinersclub.in site
1) Does it go through smartbuy? Will i get 10x ?
2) Will i atleast get the reward points i normally get ? 1x?
1. No, you will not get 10x.
2. you will get regular reward points.
Good news now get 5x points on snapdeal, jabong, lifestyle, bug basket, makemytrip till december 31.
Siddharth i already have 55k points on my diners black in just 3 months. Thanks.
Very imp update guys…. HDFC is in midst of categorizing spends on gift cards of ALL KINDS under Amazon website as non-eligible spends for earning rewards points, just like wallet top ups…. This will be applicable on current 10x for Diners and 10x/5x through Smartbuy.
If this comes thru, I think it will be the final nail on HDFC’s coffin.
i am having hdfc regalia LTF card with Rs.3.60 lacs limit since last one year.
should i try for upgrade to diners black or apply as a second card.
i don’t have salary income as needed for same but have ITR as required.
please suggest.
thanks in advance.
Hi,
I am holding HDFC Regalia First Card since few months with a limit of 3 Lakh. As card is not giving good reward points and no option to upgrade is showing, i decided to call customer care to cancel the card, expecting they will offer a good upgrade, but to my surprise, they didn’t even asked me the reason to cancel and explained the whole for the cancellation and asked, if i would like to proceed with the cancellation, which eventually i denied.
Guys, how is your experience with HDFC? do they try to retain customer???
Juat send the card upgrade form to chennai office. It will most probably be upgraded.