Kotak White Credit Card Review

By | July 24, 2022
Kotak White Credit Card Review

If you’re a premium banking customer with Kotak Mahindra Bank and wish to have a premium credit card, then Kotak White Credit Card might be a best fit for you. It comes with a simple reward system unlike other Kotak credit cards and few other benefits. Here’s the detailed review of the same.

Overview

TypePremium Credit Card
Reward Rate1% – 2.25%
Annual Fee3,000 INR+GST
Best forTaj Vouchers & Travel redemptions
USPMilestone benefits

While most Kotak Credit Cards are bit complicated with its quarterly & half-yearly milestones, Kotak white credit card is slightly better and serves primarily to the premium customers of the Bank even though anyone can get it.

Fees

Joining Fee3,000 INR+GST
Welcome Benefit1,500 INR worth of White Pass value
Renewal Fee3,000 INR+GST
Renewal BenefitNil
Renewal Fee waiverOn spending >5 lakhs

The joining fee and welcome benefit is poorly designed for unknown reasons.

The Bank could have added an equivalent welcome benefit to cover the joining fee or maybe a joining fee waiver criteria but unfortunately it doesn’t come with any.

However, you can get it as a Lifetime Free Credit Card if you’re a Kotak Privy League Customer. The Free card is eligible only for Optima (10L Savings) and Insignia (1Cr NRV) variants under Kotak Privy program.

If you’re holding Kotak Privy A/c with Prima Variant (2L Savings), then you may have to settle for the Kotak Privy League Credit Card.

Design

Kotak White Credit Card Design
kotak white credit card - shining elements

While the world is going for black cards for their premium credit card products, Kotak thought: “Let’s go White!”.

Well, that helped, as the very reason I got this card was for its design. It’s good to see a credit card in a colour closer to divine.

The card looks pretty good in full white & clean front face with the name & logo shining in silver.

Rewards

The rewards on Kotak White Credit Card is offered as “White Pass” value – a new points currency to the “white” range of cards (White & White Reserve) that Kotak has recently come up with.

Here’s what you’ll earn by spending on Kotak Bank’s White Credit Card.

Spend MilestoneVouchersVouchers (cumulative)Savings (Cumulative)
2 Lakhs200020001%
4 Lakhs400060001.5%
6 Lakhs6000120002%
9 Lakhs7000190002.10%
12 Lakhs8000270002.25%

So ideally you would need to spend at-least 6 Lakhs to get a decent gain that is in line with the other premium credit cards in the country.

That said, the advantage is that you can do any kind of spends to avail the milestone benefit, which is quite useful for some.

Redemptions

  • Gift Vouchers @ 1:1
  • Flights / Hotels @ 1:1

Apart from the luxury gift vouchers, you can also use your White Pass value for Hotel/Flight redemptions through the dedicated redemption portal for white cards.

Some gift vouchers are good, like: Taj Vouchers, Tanishq, Titan Eye+ and few more. Here’s the complete list of brands for your reference.

Validity: The validity of these points is bit tricky though. For ex, White Pass balance remains valid only for 3 months after card anniversary cycle. So it’s wise to consume as soon as possible.

This however isn’t a major problem as long as the above mentioned e-Vouchers are available for redemptions, as the vouchers comes with another few months of validity.

Though, this t&c on validity for a premium credit card is unwanted in my opinion as it puts a bit of stress on our mind.

Airport Lounge Access

ACCESS TYPEACCESS VIAACCESS LIMIT
DomesticVisa2/Qtr
InternationalPriority Pass4/Year

It’s quite interesting that Kotak Bank has mentioned Dreamfolks instead of Visa for domestic lounge access. Though, not to get confused here, as you can continue to use the credit card directly for domestic lounge access.

Other Benefits

Here are few other benefits on Kotak White Credit Card:

  • Premium Support: As it’s a premium credit card, you get a direct-line access to the Kotak Privy support that’s available 24/7 – quality of support is average though. Dial 18002666666 (or) SMS KPRIVY to 5676788 for a callback in 30 mins.
  • Railway Surcharge Waiver: Maximum railway surcharge waiver allowed is 500 INR / calendar year.
  • Fuel Surcharge Waiver: Applicable on transactions between 500 INR and 3000 INR. Maximum fuel surcharge waiver is 3500 INR / calendar year.

My Experience

Kotak bank white credit card welcome Kit

I recently upgraded to Kotak White credit card by initiating an upgrade request with the bank, which was processed within a week. Here’s my detailed hands-on experience with Kotak White Card.

Bottomline

  • Cardexpert Rating: 3.9/5

Kotak White Credit Card is overall a pretty good card considering Kotak’s usual standard but looking at other premium credit cards in India, Kotak cards has to evolve a bit more to compete well in the open market.

Having said that, it does serve the needs of a typical premium customer of the bank, which is basically: lounge access, premium support and decent rewards.

Do you have Kotak White Credit Card? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.

Author: Siddharth

Helping Indians to choose right credit cards, pick right offers and enjoy luxury vacations for less. Day & night exploring the spiritual reality of our human existence.

19 thoughts on “Kotak White Credit Card Review

  1. Sandeep

    Siddharth, I am not sure why you applied for this card Axis Ace and Bob eterna are much better card than this and you can get both cards in fee for this card. Just in case you are not able to achieve threshold for fee waiver. Infact that too is lower (2lac+2.5lac) vs 5 lac for this card.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Looks like you’ve missed reading few lines, like: “the very reason I got this card was for its design”.

      Reply
      1. Anil

        In kotak mahindra bank white credit card , if we spends will get white pass value points and also reward points ?
        Or only white points
        Please reply me

        Reply
  2. PRAMTESH

    Last month I was able to upgrade my Zen (paid) to white (LTF).
    Last week limit also got almost 60%.
    Have used for railway ticket at counter.
    We pay lesser than actual value of ticket due to surcharge waiver.

    Reply
    1. Vipin saini

      How you have got ltf kotak white credit card from kotak Zen credit card. Please tell me and send the procedure.

      Reply
      1. Pramtesh

        I have 2 cards ,LTF Royale signature, which is older. Zen was paid FYF.

        I had offer for Upgrade of white card on Royale Signature.
        But since RS was LTF so i asked bank to shift my upg offer on Zen.

        Bank took almost 1 month for approval.

        After approval it took again a month to get the card delivered.

        Now both my cards LTF.

        I am aiming to upgrade white into white Reserve LTF

        Reply
  3. Bhavin

    Using this card for almost an year, the card quality is not that good, after couple of months it will look shabby due to white colour, which is not the case with my other cards whether it’s AMEX Plat, HDFC Infinia or Citi Rewards.

    Even the card limit given to me is also not even 5 lakhs which is too low, recently just limit was enhanced to 4 lakhs or so.

    Rewards are only worth if you do shopping from premium brands.

    Reply
  4. Rahul

    Kotak keeps sending me email that I am eligible for Kotak White Pre approved, but I dont think I will be using it.

    Reply
  5. Viraj Nayak

    I am holding Royale Signature CC. Been getting upgrade eligibilty for White card along with Zen from quite some time. After reading your review, applied for upgrade to white CC. I my average spending on this card would give me 2% + reward rate which is higher then my current CC. I like the fact that there is no restriction on the type of spends which is a boon. Lets c if they provide a limit enhancement with the upgrade. Or like you mentioned, few days after d upgrade.

    Reply
  6. Shashank

    Is it possible to deny delivery of credit card and then apply fresh for a different card.

    After reevaluating I understood this card is not good . League platinum or indigo xl are much better in terms of ROI.

    Any suggestion how to deny or maybe change it to the ones i mentioned if i receive it?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Don’t even think about Indigo cards, will cover an article on that in sometime.

      Btw, not sure if Kotak accepts such requests.

      Reply
  7. Sarvesh Yadav

    I am being offered this card for free. Would like to know if they provide 4 complimentary priority pass visits with free variant. Also any idea if the add on card also provides complimentary visits to priority pass lounges?

    Reply
    1. Sarvesh Kumar Yadav

      I got mine delivered automatically. I am not sure if my RM placed a request.

      Reply
  8. Priyanka

    Does this card give free priority pass membership and free access to internation louge or some fee is to be paid?

    Reply
    1. Sarvesh

      This card offers free priority pass membership and 4 complimentary priority pass lounge visits.

      Reply
  9. Ankit Singh

    I just got my pre-approved Kotak White (LTF) card, even though I just have 4 y/o basic 811 savings account with them. The card package did not have the priority pass, will they be sent later automatically? or do I need to apply for the pass seperately?

    Reply
  10. Shivansh

    This card have 6k annual fees don’t apply.i am stuck. No waiver on spend.

    Reply
  11. Vevek

    Which is better Kotak Privy League Signaure Credit Card or Kotak White Credit Card ?

    Reply

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