ICICI Bank Coral American Express Credit Card Review

By | May 17, 2019

ICICI Coral Credit Card is the beginner range of credit cards in the ICICI Bank’s Gemstone Credit card collection. Even in the coral variant, there are further sub-variants as Coral Visa/MC, Coral Amex & Coral HPCL Cards.

Here we’re looking into the Coral Amex Variant, which according to me is the best Coral credit card. If you can use it right, it can get you very good returns on spend for a card of this range.

ICICI has been tweaking the benefits on this card couple of times and here’s what it has for now,

ICICI Bank Coral American Express Credit Card

Fees

  • Joining Fee: Rs.500+GST (no welcome vouchers)
  • Annual Fee: Rs.500+GST (Reversed on 1.5L spends)

While annual fee waiver requirement is good, ICICI must have given something as a welcome benefit to make the product more attractive.

Reward Points

  • 2 PAYBACK Points on every Rs. 100 spent on your card, except fuel. (Reward Rate: 0.5%)
  • 4 PAYBACK Points on every Rs. 100 spent on online transactions. (Reward Rate: 1%)
  • 1 PAYBACK Point on every Rs.100 spent on utilities and insurance categories. (Reward Rate: 0.25%)
  • Milestone Spends #1: 2000 PAYBACK Points on spending Rs. 2,00,000 on your card
  • Milestone Spends #2: 1000 PAYBACK Points each time you cross Rs. 1,00,000 spend (post 2L spend); maximum of 10,000 PAYBACK Points per year

If my understanding is right, the card holds good for upto 10L spends. If you can make more spends online, you can get maximum reward rate, which would be 1.25% by including milestone spends.

Benefits

  • Buy 1 get 1 free on BookMyShow (up to 2 free tickets per month valued at up to Rs.250 per ticket.)
  • Buy 1 get 1 free on INOX (up to 2 free tickets per month valued at up to Rs.250 per ticket.)
  • Complimentary airport lounge access: 1 per quarter
  • Complimentary Railway lounge access: 1 per quarter
  • ICICI Amex Offers like this and this

Overall, the rewards and benefits are very good for such a beginner card. But the most important aspect to note here is that the card comes in AMEX variant and so the acceptance of the card is low. For a coral card user profile, they’ll definitely have issues with acceptance.

How to Apply?

  • New Customer: Apply Online or Visit Branch
  • Existing ICICI Credit Card Customer: Call Customer Care & request for this variant.

I applied for this card while holding ICICI Jet Sapphiro, which I’m not planning to renew this year. It was delivered within 7 days of taking the request, no CIBIL enquiry.

I like the way ICICI deals with multiple cards on shared limit. I wish other banks too work this way.

Bottomline

  • Cardexpert Rating: 4/5 [yasr_overall_rating]

If you really want a credit card from ICICI, this is probably the only best credit card that makes sense in lot of aspects: Low fee, decent benefits & ICICI amex offers.

Moreover, it is a good card if you want to hold the credit line with ICICI, just incase if you too plan to get rid of Jet cards like me. And of course, Amazon pay credit card is there anyway.

And not to mention, I love this card for its BEAUTIFUL design. And that’s one of the reason I got this card 🙂

What’s your take on the not so popular ICICI Bank Coral American Express Credit Card?

62 thoughts on “ICICI Bank Coral American Express Credit Card Review

  1. Keshav Gupta

    Congrats Sid. I Will love to know more about how you are using the card.

    Reply
  2. SaurabhN

    As alwz ur reviews are a charm to read for credit card consumers like me. Thanks for all your inputs.

    For me Amazon Pay card is best if buying from Amazon or paying using pay balance on sites like MMT. But my primary card is Rubyx Visa variant which gives a decent reward rate of 1.6% and one gets “Hand Picked Rewards” and not Payback points in this card.

    “Hand Picked Rewards” are very good in terms of options and can be redeemed from ICICI website only. Also milestone benefit if there is one crosses 3lac pa then one gets 3000 Hand picked rewards whose value is approx Rs. 2500 (if redeemed for SS or lifestyle vouchers). Going further for every 1 lac spent one gets 1500 reward points.

    Apart from these all regular benefits of Rubyx card makes it one of the good cards and being LTF for me since more than a decade its on 3rd number after my Amex Plat travel card and YFE card.

    Reply
    1. Raj

      Rubyx visa variant is no more available for new application.

      Note: The information provided in this section is for existing ICICI Bank Rubyx Visa Credit Card holders only. This credit card is not available for new application.

      Reply
  3. Jagan

    I have just applied for Coral HPCL Amex Card since I don’t have a fuel card, the 2.5% cashback at HPCL outlets was an attraction for me.
    I am not sure if this Coral HPCL Amex is not as good as Coral Amex.

    Reply
      1. Himanshu

        I was thinking to start a credit line with ICICI for a long time. I figured out to jet sapphiro amex but jet Airways is non- operational for now. I think this card will be good to start with as i have other cards in my wallet.

        1) HDFC Regalia – Primary card
        2) SBI Prime – For Ultility Bills only
        3) RBL Titanium Delight – Only use with specific mechant offers like swiggy and buying groceries.
        4) Indusind Iconia Amex – 2% back on weekend spends.
        5) YFP – Lowest Limit card in my wallet, now i don’t chase as it got a major devaluation in April.

        Reply
    1. Prashant Gupta

      Its the best fuel card with 4% return and i mentioned in other posts it has frequent offers like do 8 Rs500 transactions and get Rs1600. Got this offer i think 3 times in last year, on top of it the dineout offer was awesome but for last 5-6 months no such offer except 3 month payment holiday offer.

      Reply
    2. Ajai

      They only give that when used with a ICICI POS which is a huge problem. I am trying to get a Emeralde card instead of that but its a problem because upgrading the card is not a option “Upgrade required because of running EMI”.

      ICICI is seems quite a amature bank when it comes to CC’s and truth be told Emeralde has some good features that can be used well to extract the value out of it.

      Reply
  4. Iciciguy

    Sid,
    I got pre approved offer for axis neo card,
    I want to get the axis privilege card but they said u will only get neo card later if u apply u will get separate privilege card.
    I also hear that pre approved offer card has less limit,
    Should I go for pre approved offer or direct application for privilege one.
    Thanks.

    Reply
    1. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

      ICICI guy once you get Neo than after a month you can ask customer care for upgrade to Privilege and they will do it over the phone. If they don’t than use it for 6 months and than call customer care they will 100% approve it. I got privilege the same way.

      Reply
      1. Iciciguy

        Thanks for your valuable reply,
        They applied my zone card based on my pre approved offer but I got only 30k limit,
        This is the lowest limit card I hold ever my first card was of 40k limit,
        Should I hold this card or cancel,
        Will they enhance limit and give privilege.

        Reply
  5. SH

    Sid – you are on a roll, playing at both the high and low ends of the market. Great review. I do not quite see the benefits from Payback, but that is just me.

    One other thing – the multiple card within a shared limit is also something that Stan Chart also does.

    Cheers!

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      I’ll get any card as long as it “looks” good 😛

      Reply
      1. Amann

        Hi Sid

        Why not get SCB ultimate card? It’s the best in Amazon rewards on any spend.

        Reply
        1. Siddharth Post author

          I’m trying to keep the counts low(!) as Citi don’t like too many cards.

          Reply
      2. _draggonwarrior

        Hi Sid, among this and the Iconia Amex, which one do you think looks better?

        Reply
  6. Amit

    Hi Sid,
    how this card is different from HPCL amex coral. I have LTF HPCL coral amex variant but when i asked this coral i was informed this isn’t LTF (2 year back story)

    Reply
  7. Ankit Malhotra

    SBI SimplyClick gives 1.25% online spends return with fee waiver at 1 Lakh. Also ClearTrip vouchers worth 2000 each at 1 Lakh & 2 Lakh spend make it 3.25% overall and compensates for the movie benefits also considering that they are hard to avail. In fact despite holding AmazonPay card, I use only SimplyClick to buy and load Amazon gift cards to own account and get 4.5% (2.5% 10X Amazon spend + 2% ClearTrip) return on all Amazon spends anyway.

    Reply
  8. DR.MAHESVARAN PREMSEKHAR

    Does CORAL HP AMEX get AMEX offers like this card?

    Reply
  9. Tejaa

    I applied for this while holding Coral Visa. The customer care guy told me you can hold both of the cards with shared limit.
    .
    But got SMS as “Dear Customer,Your Credit Card Upgrade request has been registered vide SR6xxxxxxx on xx-MAY-19. The delivery will be attempted within 5 working days.You can also track your card delivery status through Internet Banking and iMobile.”
    .
    Don’t know why it is saying “upgrade” in the SMS & email. What was the case for you @Sid ?

    Reply
      1. Tejaa

        @Sid they closed the service request saying “We are currently unable to upgrade your ICICI Bank Credit Card XXxxxx”

        I called them, they said “you can’t keep both the variant of Coral. Take some other card”

        Strange !!

        Reply
        1. Ravi Ranjan

          I’m having both the variant of coral. Amex and mastercard variant and the amazing part, they don’t even share the same limit, both have individual limits of their own while the Amex variant I got was nil joining and lifetime free.

          Reply
  10. Swagat Acharya

    If the objective is to only have an ICICI Bank credit card in your kitty to avail bank specific offers and you also purchase fuel for your vehicle using a credit card, the Coral HPCL Amex maybe a better choice.

    It gives upto Rs. 100 cashback on fuel purchases at HPCL (at 2.5% after fuel surcharge waiver), 6 Payback points on fuel, 2 Payback points on other retail purchases.

    You also get targeted offers as the standard Coral Amex and the standard offers from ICICI bank.

    Lounge access is only 2 per year instead of 1 per quarter and BookMyShow only gets Rs. 100 off on two tickets instead of free tickets. But as a fuel card, you shouldn’t be making a lot of purchases with this card beyond fuel and have a better credit card as a primary card.

    First year fee is merely 199, which is waived off in subsequent years if annual spend exceeds 50000.

    Reply
  11. Praveen Katiyar

    @Sid
    I hold Visa Coral card. ICICI doesnt give payback on EMI ?

    Reply
  12. Sourav

    I got a LTF coral Visa card offer but in your site you had good rating against Coral AmEx w.r.t Visa although they mostly have similar benefits.Could u pls suggest if I should ask them to provide LTF coral AmEx if possible ?

    Reply
  13. ARR

    Hi Sid,
    Do you have three cards from ICICI bank? Do they have shared limit or separate limit?

    Reply
    1. Himanshu Kainth

      APR,

      ICICI issues multiple cards with shared limit. I didn’t see anyone holding icici cards with separate limit.

      Reply
      1. RAVI RANJAN

        I’m holding multiple cards with separate limits. 2 cards actually-
        1. Coral mastercard – Limit 50k
        2. Coral Amex – Limit 95k

        Reply
  14. Arjun

    Hi Sid,

    During this Amazon great indian sale 2019, No Cost Emi option is not available on Coral amex. Even regular EMI option is not available, Could you please Advise.

    Thanks

    Reply
  15. jagdesh

    Hi Sid,

    I want to apply amex card . Can i get Amex card directly from American express based on ICICI coral Amex card details with out additional documents.

    Reply
  16. Hardik Gala

    Hello,
    I am holding a ICICI wealth account from past 8 months,opened in hope of getting a sapphiro credit card LTF because of movie benefit and such,but currently ICICI have sended me coral amex as ltf under pre approved offer and this card i can actually get on my itr easily but all i needed sapphiro as i don’t qualify it on basis of itr and i thought wealth account can help me in getting it😑 , so guys should i wait for few more months so as icici changes pre approved card selection for me or should accept coral ltf and their is any way to convert it on later stage of sapphiro ltf?

    Reply
    1. Hari

      ICICI has a list of pre-approved corporates in their lifetime free list . Check with RM. Pre-approved offers work mostly if you have salary account with ICICI. Alternative is to increase net relationship value ( FD’s, savings). RM can get Sapphiro approved if the NRV is good.

      Reply
      1. Hardik gala

        Hello hari, thanks for commenting , i am self employed with 7.8lacs as current itr and nrv with bank is close to 2 lacs and i am mainly focusing on hdfc Bank to increase nrv to get dcb or infinia to get approved , they are offering me paid card currently but ltf even my RM denied to get me,even i told them to close all relations with bank then too! So any another way if you remember please help!

        Reply
        1. Sunil P

          Hi Hardik,
          Dcb, infinia new issuals are only First Year Free and subsequent spend based reversals for fees, if applicable. This applies for all categories of customers including HNI’s. Also most of the new issuals with HDFC are nowadays FYF and not LTF. Confimed with a veey senior officer in HDFC credit card department.

          Reply
          1. Hardik gala

            Hey, Sunil thanks for replying,but here i am talking about icici and not about HDFC!

        2. RAVI RANJAN

          Yes, take the card. Register on smartbuy by HDFC for auto pay me bills like utility and insurance and it’ll get converted into lifetime free after 3 payments. Confirm with customer care or HDFC employees.

          Hope it help.

          Reply
  17. Hardik gala

    A Day later got a call from credit card department that they’re giving me rubxy credit card dual variant ltf, they today came at my office and took photo and a sign on form and told you will get card in 7 working days, let’s see if i can get this card upgraded to sapphiro ltf in future, currently as on going online offers and to get Amazon pay cc have accepted rubxy as LTF!

    Reply
    1. Divaksh Jain

      I’m so thankful to your comment. I’ll do the same. I have 5 years old relationship with ICICI and that too wealth account. I have two CC from them Amazon Pay and Platinum Chip. Never got a single LTF offer as I already applied for their cards. Cibil is 800+ too. I really pissed off with the bank for not offering me LTF cards. So either this time I will get the card or this long relationship will get ended. My NRV is 3Lakh and will increase it to 10 lakh before closing the account. Any suggestions for me?

      Reply
      1. Hardik gala

        Hey, Divaksh
        The application messed up and i they have offered me 2 ltf coral amex cards, i am currently escalating about the same to higher level of icici about this mishap but with so big relationship with ICICI you should get A sapphiro or Rubxy as a ltf from them atleast, try escalation to higher authority for LTF cards,if they don’t try closing account as their cards aren’t worth paying fees for!

        Reply
        1. Divaksh Jain

          I never maintained 5Lakhs on average like you; maybe this was the reason not offered any LTF card, after reading your comment I’m thinking to maintain 5Lakhs and more for few months so I can also get Rubyx. Apart from this, my credit limit from ICICI is only 95k. I don’t know what’s wrong with them, but my CC experience is terrible with them. They offered Coral to my mom who is a housewife, no income with no credit history and zero balance account. On another hand, I have maintained a relationship, have income, credit history but no LFF offered. And what I can see is the reason is only one that I already have their cheaper cards, paid Coral Debit card on which I have spent ~1Cr in past 4 years. They offer LTF to those who don’t have any card with them.

          Reply
          1. Hardik gala

            I received my Rubxy card LTF and earlier 2 Coral LTF amex cards are also active,so currently holding 4 cards of icici , RUBXY DUAL VARIANT AND CORAL AMEX 2 CARDS!

          2. Hardik

            Hey Sid, why my comment wasn’t posted here ,that was a reply to divaksh?

          3. Siddharth Post author

            Missed it somehow, got them cleared now.

  18. yash

    @ Hardik I have been a privileged ICICI customer past 10 years with > 10 lacs of FD and high AMB, yet my RM says there is no provision of LTF cards…how did you get it?

    Reply
    1. Hardik gala

      Hey yash,
      I opened a wealth savings account with them with 10lacs of initial cheque and maintaining 5 lacs on average and after 6 months to be precise i received a pre approval coral amex ltf offer which i didn’t accept and after a week got call from back-end team regarding rubxy LTF, my RM says she can’t give any card LTF and for sapphire fyf too she needs 40 lacs FD,i ignored her,this RM are good for nothing apart from selling policies!

      Reply
    2. RAVI RANJAN

      If you’re lucky you will receive pre approved offers. Click on that, go to the next page, if applicable, you’ll find multiple cards eligible under the offer with the one with lifetime free also. I took screenshots when I was offered but here there’s no option to show you.

      Reply
      1. Hardik gala

        I Have received RUBXY LTF few days back and have 2 coral AMEX LTF now!

        Reply
    1. Himanshu Kainth

      Yes Prashant its one of the good looking designs. I opted just for the design.

      Reply
  19. Kishore

    I have applied icici card on card basis.will they check CIBIL in this case..? What are the chances of getting approval..?

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Will they check CIBIL in this case? – Yes
      What are the chances of getting approval? – Depends on CIBIL report and Bank’s Internal Policy!

      Reply
    2. Ashish

      I want to to apply ICICI CORAL AMEX credit card via card to card basis but the customer care told , you have to be minimum 1,50,000 limit of existing credit card
      Please confirm is this right or wrong??

      Reply
  20. Kishore

    I have applied for this card..

    >17th Feb, documents submitted
    >25th Feb ,They made a CIBIL enquiry
    > 26th Feb, Received reference number

    But Today (28th Feb) when I tried to check the status on icici website..it’s showing ” No application found with the given inputs” anyone let me know what is this and what should I do..?

    I have tried to call their customer support ,but there is no way a Non-Icici customer reach their support..

    Reply
  21. Prashant Gupta

    The lounge access has been withdrawn from 15 April 2020.

    Reply
  22. Addy

    Hi all
    I have a query regarding limit for cc in icici. I was having two cards (coral and amazon pay) with shared limit x. Then i got a limit enhancement on coral card say 3x. Now i have closed my coral card and asked for this 3x limit to be for amazon pay. Is it possible. How icici does this?
    Thanks
    Addy

    Reply
  23. Prashant Gupta

    Closed my Amex HPCL coral card today. Was not getting 2.5% cashback from last few months. The Customer care is non existent as they are not reachable on the helpline number and if you raise complain online you will get a message next day that complaint has been closed as customer is not reachable.
    Being fed up raised card closure request online and received call in 4/5 days. They didn’t even tried to retain. Anyways these fuel cards- any bank are not useful these days.

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Take a look at SBI’s BPCL ‘Octane” credit card @ Prashant. It give a cool 7.25% benefit on fuel up to INR 600ish per month along with other benefits ranging from 1-6%.

      Reply
  24. Poornima S

    Need to change the Coral American Credit card. Please help

    Reply

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