Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card Review

By | July 19, 2017

Standard Chartered Manhattan Platinum credit card is one of the hyped card due to its fancy name. It was once an awesome card indeed with good value back, but in recent times they’ve reduced the point value of each Reward point you earn and hence its not upto the mark. Still, if you have supermarket spends of INR 1000 per transaction, you may consider this card. Typically a nice card for a family man living in metro cities.

  • Joining Fee: Rs.499+tax (Waived if you Spend Rs. 30,000 in a year )
  • Renewal fee: Annual/Renewal Fee waived if you spend Rs. 60,000 in a year
Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card Review

Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card Review

5% CashBack Categories on Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card:

You get 5% cashback on below categories:

  1. More
  2. Reliance Fresh
  3. Big Bazaar
  4. Food Bazaar

Conditions on Cashback:

  • You can earn upto INR 500 as cashback every month and INR 150 per transaction
  • You need to spend at least INR 1000 per transaction to earn cashback

If you’re looking for fuel cashback, you need to go for Standard Chartered Super Value Titanium Credit Card instead.

manhattan-credit-card-cashback

5X Reward Points Categories:

  1. Hotels
  2. Dining
  3. Airline ticket reservation
  4. Fuel

Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card Reward point Value:

  • 1 Rewards Points/ Rs.100
  • 1 Reward Point = ~0.27 Ps

I calculated the reward point value by finding the value of one of the products in points redemption. They keep changing the point value from time to time (usually reduce).

Features of Manhattan Platinum Credit Card:

  • CardExpert Rating: 3.5/5 [yasr_overall_rating]
  • Reward rate: 0.27% (regular spends) to 5% Cashback
  • Complementary Airport lounge access: Nil
  • Foreign Exchange Markup fee: 3.5% + Service Tax
  • Special Benefit: Save on Uber Rides

Manhattan Credit Card is positioned as one of the Standard Chartered’s premium credit card but its sad to see that its not even in par with medium range cards with other banks, not even a Visa Signature Variant. Only the name “Manhattan” stands out 😛

Its just good if you can be calculative with 5X categories. But anything that makes me remember lot of things to earn tiny cashback’s are not on my list.

Pay Attention: Still, its wise to have this as a backup card, as Standard Chartered runs decent promotions during festive season. For example, this Diwali 2016 there was a spend based cashback offer upto Rs.10,000 on 3L spend, that gives value back of 3.3% which is apart from usual reward points. If at all i have a SC credit card, it would be for this reason.

What’s your take on Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card? Shares your 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.

72 thoughts on “Standard Chartered Manhattan Credit Card Review

  1. Prashant Agrawal

    I acquired a SC Platinum Rewards (LTF) this month because 20% cashback on Uber for an year seemed too good to pass on.

    Manhattan was a big deal when it was launched. It was the first/only credit card in India that time which was Life Time Free (if I remember correctly).

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Uber offer is Good!
      Yes, it was once a nice card with better point value too.

      Reply
      1. Hari

        Siddarth,

        You have to spend a min of INR 8000/bill cycle to get 20% cash back on Uber rides. Asked CC to cancel my Manhattan card. Got it converted to LTF.

        Reply
        1. Naveen B R

          HI Siddarth,

          I have been a Manhattan customer for over 2 years with excellent track record. I have been thinking to get this converted to LTF, although I am able to do transact over 60k each year and get it still waived off.
          However, I have recently picked up some new cards, Amex Platinum Reserve and Travel card both. So planning to make use of those too. If I can manage to get this converted to LTF< it would be awesome. However I couldnt find a single post which talks about how I can convert Manhattan card with LTF. Their service has been amazing which I can say positively and hence all this calculation to have it with me for free if I can 🙂

          Reply
          1. Hari

            Naveen,
            I got mine converted to LTF. I wasn’t using the card much these days. So asked them to cancel my card. Considering my relationship with them (using Manhattan card since 2011 and have platinum rewards and Landmark card as LTF too) they offered to convert it to LTF which I accepted.

        2. Ashok

          Is the uber offer still on? I carry this card but use it sparingly

          Reply
    2. Jkumar

      Hi did you apply card on card basis ?
      How much credit limit they provide?

      Reply
  2. Majumdar

    Siddharth,

    As I see, this card is useful for spending upto 10,000 pm on groceries in tranches of between 1000-3000. Not much beyond this.

    Regards

    Reply
  3. Maninder

    How do you use Uber offer on Stanchart Card . I have Manhattan Platinum card which I am using for years..
    every month I use for 10 k for buying groceries and even in places like central mall and enjoy 5% benefit upto 500/

    Reply
  4. Sreehari

    So, I applied for a SC credit card, but today few of my friends told me that , they are being harassed by SC people reporting wrong CIBIL score and all. I was shocked and i did a google search and found same stories. Is it true , that taking a SC card is a pain ?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Not really. My friends uses SC cards for more than 2 yrs and everything is fine.

      Reply
    2. Hari

      I have been using SCB Manhattan Card since 2011. I have had no issues with their CIBIL reporting.

      Reply
    3. Kirubaram

      Yes, Sreehari. Your friends are right.
      I had a GOLD & Manhattan card from SCB.
      In spite of having a credit of Rs. 12,122 in my GOLD card account, they have charged me a Late Fee of 1107.77 in my Manhattan account.
      Height of all, when I asked a waiver of these charges, they claimed that the charges levied are valid and can’t be reversed. Moreover, when I opted for card cancellation they have readily accepted to break my 6+ years of relationship with them. Very pathetic. Don’t fall prey to SCB products.
      They don’t value customers.

      Reply
  5. Rohan

    Hi,

    What is ur view on standard chartered Emirates card which is a competitor to citi premiermiles and Amex platinum travel.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Its not in the game 😀
      Though i’ll get it reviewed soon 🙂

      Reply
  6. Aditya Agrawal

    Does 5% cashback cover online grocery like BigBasket and Grofers?

    Reply
  7. Aseem Kumar

    They have now reduced the points… it is only 3 points per Rs 150 spent from 25th May 2017 onwards.

    Reply
    1. Mayank

      Since When?? I haven’t received any mail/information from them.

      Reply
    2. Bora

      Where have you saw this? I have not received any mail/ message from SC

      Reply
  8. Mouli

    Its showing 5 points / 150 for this card. If I Use this card in hotel will I get 25 Points/150 as it qualifies for 5x

    Reply
  9. sohail

    what about airport lounge access on stanc mahattan plan card?

    Reply
  10. K KALADHAR

    Can we get 5 % discount if we use it in D-Mart, Paytm, Flipkar,Amazon

    Reply
    1. BISWARANJAN SAHOO

      I am using in d mart . I am getting 5%cash back

      Reply
  11. K KALADHAR

    Can we get 5 % discount if we use it in D-Mart, Paytm, Flipkar,Amazon if we use SC Manhattan card

    Reply
  12. Sanket SHirodkar

    Hi Siddharth Sir,
    I have few questions as below
    Will I get 5% cashback for shopping in D-Mart (I shop there only) ?
    Will I get 5% cashback for online shopping sites like big basket or groffers ?
    Do we get any rewards points while loading money in 3rd party wallets like Paytm, Amazon Pay etc ?

    Reply
    1. Datta1108

      Hi Sanket,

      Pls see my response. FYI, I am answering them based on my experience, as I hold this card.

      Will I get 5% cashback for shopping in D-Mart (I shop there only) ? –> Yes, you will get cashback for DMart purchases. I have been using for long time and I am getting the cashback. This cashback you can transfer to your CC. Pls remember the min (1000) and max (3000) transaction amount. Max cashback per month is 500.
      Will I get 5% cashback for online shopping sites like big basket or groffers ? –>No
      Do we get any rewards points while loading money in 3rd party wallets like Paytm, Amazon Pay etc ? –> Yes you do.

      Reply
  13. Rajesh

    The Uber cashbak offer has been extended for another year. 20% cashback on all SC cards. Limted to 600/month and minimum spend of 15k /month

    Reply
  14. ANUGU RAVINDER REDDY

    Hi,
    can we have SCB (Ultimate/Manhattan) , ICICI (coral or Jet sapphiro) and Axis (privilege or select) Cards through card on Card process?

    Reply
  15. giriraj

    How do i know mcc code of establishments in india through online, if any?

    Reply
  16. John Abraham

    Had anybody noticed that the spend threshold for waiving the annual fees been increased from 60,000/- to 1,20,000/- per annum ?

    Reply
  17. Sitender

    Hi All,

    I am looking for Standard Chartered Emirates World card but the criteria is to have a limit of minimum 100000 of any existing standard chartered card. I hold a Manhattan card with 75000 limit which I got in January 2018. No limit upgrade option available. How do I get the limit increased or get the Emirates World Card?

    Reply
  18. SANTOSH PRASAD

    Can someone please help me regarding following queries..

    1.) At present I am staying at Delhi and using standard charted Manhattan credit card. In a few months I will be shifting back to my native place. Should I inform the bank about change of my address?

    2.) Can standard charted bank cancel my credit card since they donot offer credit cards at my native place?

    3.) If they cancel my credit card account with me on this ground will it affect my CIBIL as i have been using it since last 3 years.

    4.) should I get a new credit card before informing the bank about address change as when they cancel the card i will have a different card to build my CIBIL?

    I am a bit confused about this. I don’t want to loose this card. If anyone of you can please help me out it will be of great help to me. Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Anonymous

      When you apply for a card, they check if ur address falls in the list of “sourcing locations”. The word sourcing applies only for onboarding a new card customer. So I think changing ur address to a “non-sourcing location” shouldn’t affect you. You can ask them anonymously just to confirm.
      You may want to just change ur correspondence address so that any document/ renewed card reach you after you move to ur native.
      If bank cancels your card due to non-usage reasons it affects your score slightly as you lose the credit history.
      Even if you get a new card, the same rules of address qualification(if any) will be applicable on the new card.

      Reply
  19. Nitasha

    Just imagine who would give you a cashback of 5% when you pay for your monthly Bill at the local grocery store (milk, bread n eggs). Once can earn upto a max of Rs.6000 cashback every year. Plus if you spend 1.4 k (where you would spend 1.2 on groceries for the cashback), you would be eligible for annual fee waiver.

    Till now these are the stores where I have got a cashback –
    1. My local Kirana store ( I run a monthly bill with him and pay by credit card twice a month)
    2. Natures Basket, Fine Foods, Freshmart (haven’t tried it at Big Basket as there are so many Paytm and HDFC offers)
    3. Department Stores – Bombay Store, Westside, FabIndia, Wranglers, Zodiac

    The only hitch is you that can get maximum upto Rs. 150 cashback per transaction and the minimum transaction amount has to be Rs.1000/-. So even if you spend 4000 in one go, you will only get a cashback of Rs.150 (instead of 200 as per 5% cashback). Maximum cashback is Rs. 500 per month (1 – end of the month).

    I also love the reward point system of SC. They showcase points / cashback earned for each and every transaction. (a facility which I truly miss in HDFC).

    And they keep running some good offers every quarter. At the moment they are running a 5X offer on SC cards for Insurance Premiums. I think one should have this card just for local grocery shopping.

    Please Note – Paytm also runs some offers. I have tried them. But I like SC better.

    Reply
    1. Mayank

      “I also love the reward point system of SC. They showcase points / cashback earned for each and every transaction. (a facility which I truly miss in HDFC).”
      Where Can I find it, please share. I am using this card from Mar 2013 and haven’t find this.

      “And they keep running some good offers every quarter. At the moment they are running a 5X offer on SC cards for Insurance Premiums. I think one should have this card just for local grocery shopping. ”
      Its not 5X, its 3X and first you have to get registered by sending a SMS on the mobile number provided. If you factor the reward rate and considering value of each point as (1000/3800 = Rs.0.26) after doing transaction of Rs.100 in insurance with 3X its coming to Rs.1.52. However, if you do same transaction with HDFC Regalia First CC (with 2X offer on insurance), it comes to around Rs 1.60 (Which is higher).

      “Department Stores – Bombay Store, Westside, FabIndia, Wranglers, Zodiac”
      The POS machine need to be registered as Departmental store in the bank database (MCC), only then you will receive cashback. I have not received 5% cashback from Pantaloons, Louie Phillipe, MAX fashions, Lifestyle, etc. because everytime they told that the machine you did transaction on was not registered as departmental store.(lol)
      This card has too much ifs and buts and while doing transactions there are so many tnc’s and Hence nowadays I am using this card as a backup only. Soon I will close this card.

      Reply
      1. Nitasha

        Hi Mayank,
        You need to log into their netbanking (no charges till now for this and I only have their SC card ..no account). On the right column you will see “Online rewards”. The minute you click on this, it will take you to their 360 degree Reward webpage. Now at the top of the page you will see “My account”, just put your cursor there are you will get a few options. Click on “transaction history” & voila, you will be able to see rewards & cashbacks for each and every transaction. But you can see the transaction history of maximum 3 months. From there on, the other processes of ordering etc. is quite self-explanatory.

        * Also you need to do this on laptop. On mobile the 360 reward page does not open.

        Sorry don’t have regalia at the minute (am applying for it next month). I have deleted the message of the insurance premium, so I don’t remember it was 5X or 3x now. Till then I am happy with the SC card and in future also will continue to use it at my local kirana shop and get 5% cash back on milk, bread, veg, fruits and butter (daily need items).

        And yes your are right, they don’t give 5% back on lifestyle :(. Better off to use your regalia card there to get more points. My suggestion is dig a little more on where can u get 500 cashback on grocery in your nearby area and use this card there every month.

        Reply
        1. Mayank

          Thank you for providing the information regarding reward points. For me, its 3X for insurance.
          Also, Standard chartered has not increased my credit limit till now. They are very choosy in limit enhancement.

          Reply
      2. Nitasha

        There is 2X or 3X or 5X reward points on payment of insurance premium with your StanChart credit card. Offer valid between 6 Dec 2018 – 31 Mar 2019. Max reward points 5,000. Maybe you got the 3X offer. I would suggest that you call them and check once.

        Reply
  20. Nitasha

    Hi Mayank,

    You would be able to see the reward points by logging in the SC online banking (via laptop, does not work on mobile for me). Once you login, on the left hand column you will see “Online rewards”. Click on it and it will take you to another page “360 Rewards”. On top of that page you will see “My account” jut put your browser there and you would be able to see 4 options. Choose “Transaction history” and you would be able to see all points & cashback for your transactions. From there on redemption would be quite easy.

    I deleted the message about the insurance offer and am not sure now. Plus I haven’t applied for Regalia yet 🙂

    But you do get 5% off at Dmart as well and other stores where you buy groceries (you will have to find them near your place). I have done so and I enjoy a 5% cashback every month now. And yes it would be better to use Regalia for points at Lifestyle (or merchants where you don’t get 5%cashback) instead of SC.

    Reply
  21. Jagdip Singh

    Fraudulent activities carried by Standard Chartered Credit Card Department

    Hello Sir
    I need to bring to your attention towards the fraudulent activities carried by Standard Chartered Credit Card department. They deliberating stop sending the statements on mail and on alert messages. As most of the users depend on mails and alerts as reminder for the payment, they fail to make payment on time, which gives an opportunity to the bank to charge heavy penalty added up with GST and other type of interest. They are not even considering the past payment record of the user and have a deaf ear to the request for reimbursement.
    I was holding this card from past eight years and seldom have i missed on my payments. Their employee Mamta Phone Number-8039819800 behaved very badly and rejected all my requests. There fore i would request to take necessary actionable steps as this is a matter of public concern involving many more sufferers of such type.
    Thanking you in Anticipation
    Regards

    Reply
  22. Sreekanth

    I got Pre-Approved upgrade offer from SC premium reward to Manhattan Credit Card. Does this guarantee to get Manhattan Credit Card. If not what should i do to avail this offer

    Reply
    1. sreekanth

      Sorry for spelling mistake it is not premium reward it is platinum reward

      Reply
  23. vic

    Hi Siddharth, need your help for one thing, I read for this scb card, if they say its lifetime free then can they charge me annual charge for this card on renewal, that is after the expiry of this card after some years?
    Then what does lifetime free mean, are they trying to cheat customers.
    Please help if you can in anyway,thanks so much.

    Reply
  24. Manish Chaudhary

    Hi ,

    I have used Manhattan card for the 2 years with heavy spending. I have closed based on the below points :-
    1. Poor Customer Service ( Usual wait time is 15 min )
    2. Earlier there was no intimation for SMS. After multiple complaints, SMS alert were being sent. But only once when statement were generated.
    3. this is main reason – No benefit on online shopping, No cashback ( near 90% time),

    Regards
    Manish Chaudhary

    Reply
  25. Abhijit

    They charge you annual fees even if you spend above threshold of ₹ 1,20,000/-. I have written 12 emails for full reversal of annal fees but they don’t pay heed to your request.

    Reply
  26. Gaurav

    Similar thing happened with me, I have been charged annual fee despite having spends beyond 1,20,000/-. Written twice for waiver but received same copy paste reply both times.

    This is plain and simple loot, they mention this waiver condition in their statements every month. I have been given this waiver in the past (last 2-3 years). But this time they are simply not ready to listen.

    Reply
  27. Himanshu

    Hey Everyone,
    Has anyone applied for SC Card recently? How much time do they take to process the application? Their website mentions that it usually takes 6 days from the date of document submission to process the application.
    However, in my case, it has been more than 20 days since I submitted the documents. Their customer support is unable to locate the application via PAN Number whereas it is showing in process from day one on the application status page. I have applied via SC’s own site and got an email with in-principle approval at the time of application.

    Reply
    1. Himanshu Kainth

      Hey Himanshu,

      I applied for SCB Super value titanium through card to card. Docs picked up with 2-3 days and then nightmare started. They pulled my cibil 7 times, yes its 7 times tho applied only one time. Took almost 45-50 days to get the card approved.

      Now i have escalated to their principal nodal team regarding multiple cibil inquires.

      Reply
  28. Pradeep Kumar Palchuri

    This query is regarding the Standard chartered Manhattan reward points. Under Insta rewards of 360 degrees page, there were no coupons of amazon/big bazaar/more. Two years back, they used to keep good insta vouchers and now no more of them. I would like to switch to another SCB credit card. Please suggest the best credit card options i can move out from this Manhattan credit card.

    Reply
  29. Rajesh Mohanan

    Looks like all items in rewards catalogue except BookMyShow, MakeMyTrip and Yatra vouchers has been removed. There were more items last week.

    Reply
  30. SevenUp

    Hello, what is the existing limit required to apply for card-to-card basis?

    Reply
  31. Cred

    Is there anyone got this Manhattan Card Life time free recently? i have reached out to bank and they seems to decline it that they offer LTF under any condition.

    Reply
    1. Kunal Saini

      They are not offering life time free offer to anyone. Been holding card for about 4 hours (each month atleast 5K bill) but when I asked about the lifetime free offer they denied and I too closed it out right away (more of a ego based decision).
      But anyhow I was getting some 200 rupees cashback each month but I found 1K annual fees not good enough. So here I am looking for a new one. Open to suggestions if someone have any as alternative to this card.

      Reply
  32. Absar

    @Blog owner, great content! thank you for your research and efforts.

    My opinion on this card: it’s a fairly good product, though credit limit increments aren’t anywhere frequent like hdfc it gets the job done. credit limit started off at 1.5x monthly income and lasted for 30 months till the first credit limit increment offered and processed to 3x monthly income, the second (and the most recent) credit limit increment was offered and processed 18 months after the previous credit limit increment to 4.5x monthly income.

    Claimed rewards for a evoucher and cashback to statement credit, each once with no hassle.

    Annual fees have been reversed 3 months after charge date on grounds of annual spends without any correspondence required to their customer care.

    Reply
  33. Anshuman

    Is this card still relevant in 2021? I am getting an upgrade from SC super value titanium to Manhattan.

    Reply
    1. SAMEERTEZ

      Yes, it’s better card for offline shopping which provides 5% cashback and 3x rewards for spends above Rs. 1000 above. No upper cap limit for cashback. Moreover cashback will not be reversed even after conversion into EMI unlike axis, icici and others. Its my personal experience for my recent received Manhattan card.

      Reply
      1. Mayank

        There is an upper limit.
        The cashback applicable on min. transaction of 1000 or more. Max cashback of 500 is allowed
        every month and of 150 per transaction. per month for all card(s) owned by the customer inclusive
        of any supplementary card(s).
        That is the only reason I hate this card.

        Reply
  34. SAMEERTEZ

    Jio mart has started straight 20% cashback upto Rs.1000/- offer on SCB Mastercard variants on min. transaction of Rs. 399 till March 2021. This means we can recover annual fee just for the spend of Rs.5000. Really breaking offer for Manhattan holders. Check ur offer section on jio mart app once.

    Reply
  35. Captain Bishuddha Bharatiya

    Today on 07.05.2021 I have received limit enhancement offer from Rs. 66,600 to Rs. 99,500 in my Manhattan card. It’s my first LE and the card is about 8 months old.

    Reply
  36. Sekar

    Is it worth upgrading from SCB Titanium to Manhattan as they keep on calling for the upgradation and I asked them for LTF as I’m holding one but they refused to issue as LTF, but I’m happy with my Titanium! Apart from Manhattan I don’t find any other cards useful in SCB, So people who’ve used Manhattan please tell me whether is it worth upgrading from Titanium to Manhattan?

    Reply
  37. Shamanth

    SC has come up with another card ‘Smart’ on Visa network.. With less annual fee and 2%CB on online and 1%CB on all others. No min spend criterion like Manhattan had.
    Application process is, just spending 1Re on existing card.
    I’m moving away from Manhattan, but wants to maintain relationship with SC for any urgent Balance transfer offers from them. I’ve moved all my spendings to DCB.

    Reply
  38. Sumit Jaiswal

    The review needs to be updated as the 2022 is going to be over and lots of changes (devaluation) has been done by SC in this card.

    Reply
  39. Gagan

    SC Manhattan – Cashback Redemption has been changed.

    Now, one needs to have minimum Rs 500 of cashback amount to be able to redeem

    Reply

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