Credit card recommendations?

nemo_online

nemo_online

Disciple
Read an article on Paisabazaaar about best credit cards in India in 2022 but still wanted to get an idea from real user experiences.
Between Axis Ace, HDFC Millenia, and Amazon Pay ICICI credit card which would you recommend for mostly online shopping via Amazon, online food orders, and the occasional spends in physical stores?
Any benefits of paying via Gpay?


P.S. - Don't want to pay a lot of annual fees nor do I intend to spend lacs of rupees via CC. Golf course access and airport lounges are meaningless for me. Will not take cards from Citi & Standard Chartered.
 
Hey check out Technofino forum website, plenty of users with crazy explanations on how to extract maximum benefit.

As of now If online spend is primary then nothing beats Cashback SBI 5% except fuel, insurance, rent , utility it doesn't work.
nemo_online said:
Any benefits of paying via Gpay?
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Gpay means Axis Ace, 5% cashback on bills pay and recharge. But this is not easily getable. Only when you get notification in Gpay of Axis Ace card then only it can be applied.
nemo_online said:
mostly online shopping via Amazon, online food orders, and the occasional spends in physical stores?
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Food Orders - RBL Zomato Edition Card 5% cashback on all orders.
Occasional Spends - Offline - then SC ultimate at 3.33% RP regardless of any transaction. Be it fuel, insurance, any you will get 3.33% RP.
 
nitin_g3 said:
Amazon pay ICICI checks all requirements here. I have one, it's good, expecially the cashback in terms of amazon pay balance.
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Yes, used to have one. But gave it away due to financial issues few years ago.
eraviii said:
Hey check out Technofino forum website, plenty of users with crazy explanations on how to extract maximum benefit.

As of now If online spend is primary then nothing beats Cashback SBI 5% except fuel, insurance, rent , utility it doesn't work.

Gpay means Axis Ace, 5% cashback on bills pay and recharge. But this is not easily getable. Only when you get notification in Gpay of Axis Ace card then only it can be applied.

Food Orders - RBL Zomato Edition Card 5% cashback on all orders.
Occasional Spends - Offline - then SC ultimate at 3.33% RP regardless of any transaction. Be it fuel, insurance, any you will get 3.33% RP.
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Thanks for the recommendations.
My past experience with SBI, RBL, and SC has not been good. SBI has horrible support in case something goes wrong. So, will probably avoid it.
Anyway, thank you everyone for your suggestions. Not a big fan of the idea of 'living on credit' so will probably reconsider.
 
Get these to get covered for most sales:
  • Amazon ICICI - 0 AMC - 5% CB for prime subscribers
  • ICICI Platinum - 0 AMC - poor rewards but you need an ICICI CC for those offers as amazon CC doesn't qualify
  • Axis FK CC - 500 AMC - 5% on FK & 1.5% elsewhere - Qualifies as Axis CC for offers - Ace is better but these days they are apparently not issuing it
IMO start with these, then maybe think of HDFC & SBI ones. If you are getting Millenia as LTF, surely get that as well.
 
Ace+Amazon Pay is the cover all combo that one would need. It would cover most combinations of online spends and Ace is the best card for offline spends (2% flat cashback). It also nets you 5% on bill payment in Gpay (Amazon is 2% on bills as Amazon pay credits).

The only issue is getting an Ace. If you're lucky, the application button will show up in GPay. The other approach is having an Axis account and waiting for a mail offering the same.
You can try Millenia but imo drop the application if the agent mentions its not LTF; the above combo will have you covered on most fronts, so it will be an overlap.

I forgot to mention there is the SBI cashback card thats also a great card to have. It offers 5% back on the above mentioned food ordering & Amazon (5% cb always so usually excluded from extra offers like Great Indian Festival, etc).

Comparison for food: SBI Cashback - 5%(Zomato & Swiggy), Axis Airtel - 10%(Swiggy & Zomato) upto 5000 spend (i.e. 500 cashback)/month, Ace/Flipkart Axis - 4%(Swiggy & Zomato)

For the cashback card, there's a neat trick by which you can buy Amazon gift cards for 5% cb and use those credits to pay your bills (It will end up being more than 5% sometimes with other offers ;)). I'm betting its going to get devalued soon once they find enough people using these loopholes.
 
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ascalon said:
Ace+Amazon Pay is the cover all combo that one would need. It would cover most combinations of online spends and Ace is the best card for offline spends (2% flat cashback). It also nets you 5% on bill payment in Gpay (Amazon is 2% on bills as Amazon pay credits).

The only issue is getting an Ace. If you're lucky, the application button will show up in GPay. The other approach is having an Axis account and waiting for a mail offering the same.
You can try Millenia but imo drop the application if the agent mentions its not LTF; the above combo will have you covered on most fronts, so it will be an overlap.

I forgot to mention there is the SBI cashback card thats also a great card to have. It offers 5% back on the above mentioned food ordering & Amazon (5% cb always so usually excluded from extra offers like Great Indian Festival, etc).

Comparison for food: SBI Cashback - 5%(Zomato & Swiggy), Axis Airtel - 10%(Swiggy & Zomato) upto 5000 spend (i.e. 500 cashback)/month, Ace/Flipkart Axis - 4%(Swiggy & Zomato)

For the cashback card, there's a neat trick by which you can buy Amazon gift cards for 5% cb and use those credits to pay your bills (It will end up being more than 5% sometimes with other offers ;)). I'm betting its going to get devalued soon once they find enough people using these loopholes.
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@ascalon What kind of rewards are available with HDFC Millennia? Any idea? Most likely will get that as there is a salary account with HDFC.
Edit: Reading reviews and member comments on technofino now. :bookworm:
 
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OMEGA44-XT said:
Get these to get covered for most sales:
  • Amazon ICICI - 0 AMC - 5% CB for prime subscribers
  • ICICI Platinum - 0 AMC - poor rewards but you need an ICICI CC for those offers as amazon CC doesn't qualify
  • Axis FK CC - 500 AMC - 5% on FK & 1.5% elsewhere - Qualifies as Axis CC for offers - Ace is better but these days they are apparently not issuing it
IMO start with these, then maybe think of HDFC & SBI ones. If you are getting Millenia as LTF, surely get that as well.
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Thanks for the recommendations. However, I don't need so many cards. One should suffice.
 
Yup, if your use case is just Amazon and food delivery, Millenia would be convenient since you already have an account.
I'm seeing LTF + Rs.1500 Amazon voucher offer still running when I hit the "Check Offer" button here: https://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/pay/cards/millennia-cards/millennia-cc-new
You can try your luck and see if you are eligible.
Also, do note although Regalia is marketed as one tier above this card, it would pretty much suck for your use case.
 
nemo_online said:
Thanks for the recommendations. However, I don't need so many cards. One should suffice.
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Only one of the 3 I mentioned has a charge/AMC, even HDFC CC could be free. In case you can't control your spending urge or keep tabs on card bills/nitty gritty, I recommend not getting a CC at all. I have a friend who did go into CC debt, then got personal loan to clear CC bill & lower the interest.

Honestly, for those 3, you just need to track bills. Amazon CC rewards are automatically credited to the Amazon pay balance & Axis FK rewards are credited to CC as a credit after 1.5 months. ICICI Plat has bad rewards even to bother.
 
Set or lower you expectations on LTF cards. They exists mostly for customer acquisition and tend to get devalued after a few years.

Start with HDFC millennia considering the amount of offers thrown at online shopping sites. Check through your mails, if you have maintained some balance, they would have offered it free (some times they offer Diners Club too)

Axis are meh, they provide low spending limits and support is a hit or miss. I had one with 25k as spending limit, I went over limit several times and got charged.

IDFC has LTF across their c card products. Offers come by occasionally. Points system are average and not many benefits either.

Amex MRCC, this was offered as LTF before getting banned. Now, with the ban lifted, likely possibility it could come back. Although offers are too few, This was the best in terms of racking up points for freebies without actually spending. I managed to get about 27-28k worth of Amazon vouchers within a short period of time.
 
Currently using HDFC Millennia Credit Card, 5% Cashback on Amazon, BookMyShow, Cult.fit, Flipkart, Myntra, Sony LIV, Swiggy, Tata CLiQ, Uber, Zomato and 1% on other spends.
Lifetime free when some X is spent within specified months.
But the only con is, maximum cashBack per cycle is 1000 for 5% category and 1000 for 1% category.

Meanwhile, amazon pay-icici cc is best for shopping on amazon, I don't think there is any limit for 5% cashback there.
 
Ssreek said:
Currently using HDFC Millennia Credit Card, 5% Cashback on Amazon, BookMyShow, Cult.fit, Flipkart, Myntra, Sony LIV, Swiggy, Tata CLiQ, Uber, Zomato and 1% on other spends.
Lifetime free when some X is spent within specified months.
But the only con is, maximum cashBack per cycle is 1000 for 5% category and 1000 for 1% category.

Meanwhile, amazon pay-icici cc is best for shopping on amazon, I don't think there is any limit for 5% cashback there.
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@Ssreek That's a important point you mention there. 5% cashback without any restrictions on HDFC Millenia sounded too good to be true. Am I correct in understanding that for e.g if I buy a laptop worth 70K my cashback will be limited to 1000 rupees?
 
nemo_online said:
if I buy a laptop worth 70K my cashback will be limited to 1000 rupees?
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Oh that seems to be right. It's limited to 1000 poins (i.e. 1000 Rs) when you use the specified merchants offering 5% cb (see point 14 Millenia Card T&C) and another 1000 points on all other merchants (eg. If you pay 2L on bills the cb would be capped at 1000). So a total of 2000 per month at max.

SBI Cashback card seems to be 10k/month for 5% and unlimited for remaining 1% (SBI CC T&C - pt 4) while Amazon ICICI is 5% unlimited for purchases on Amazon as a prime member.
 
nemo_online said:
@Ssreek That's a important point you mention there. 5% cashback without any restrictions on HDFC Millenia sounded too good to be true. Am I correct in understanding that for e.g if I buy a laptop worth 70K my cashback will be limited to 1000 rupees?
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As per there t&c doc, yes. It is limited to 1000 per billing cycle. Meanwhile for laptops bought on amazon website, u get full cb 5% with amazon pay icici cc
 
Nice. So have decided on one thing at least, not going for HDFC Millennia. I absolutely detest misleading advertising although I am afraid I might be taking a foolish stand here.
 
nemo_online said:
Nice. So have decided on one thing at least, not going for HDFC Millennia. I absolutely detest misleading advertising although I am afraid I might be taking a foolish stand here.
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Nothing foolish…that cap on points is unacceptable and not usually visible on product page, I found it in t&c.. we shop often on flipk and myntra, so it’s okay for me, for amazon there is amz icici cc anyways.. besides, i took the hdfc cc only bcz my cousin wanted iPhone and was getting almost 9k discount on hdfc cc many months ago. And then there was washing machine purchase on rel-digital and got discount with hdfc cc.
I still use the card for smaller spends. Lifetime free so no issues holding it.
 
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