Who do you bank with?

Mercury

Recruit
Sort of new to India , so which is your go-to bank at the moment ? I can see some assorted offers on amazon if you bank with HDFC or ICICI but not exactly consistent...
 
Bank offers on Amazon, Flipkart have turned into specific CC offers lately.
HDFC Platinum Debit card is the best in terms of rewards.
I personally use ICICI for savings account (app and website, UPI work most of the time). HSBC for salary (savings) account (HSBC because company told me so). Not sure about ICICI Debit Card offers, haven't heard much about them.
Many Credit Cards have different offers and kickbacks for different things (bill payments, online merchant transactions, specific merchants (Flipkart, Amazon), UPI and stuff.
I would recommend going through the Fintalks group on Facebook if you can. Likely that most of your questions have been answered there already.
 
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I had my first acc with SBI, then ICICI and HDFC salary account. I have since then closed ICICI and SBI accs. (SBI got deactivated due to non usage)
I have seen people deride HDFC, but it has been very good to me. I closed ICICI acc because their marketing kept driving me nuts with nonstop offers and calls. Never faced this issue with HDFC. Even the HDFC credit card calls were from third parties and not the bank as far as I can tell.

I like the minimalistic netbanking HDFC offers. SBI netbanking was too old-timey and ICICI was too cluttered/clunky. I've heard that ICICI phone app is much better, but I don't use phone banking. Netbanking works for most use cases.

For credit cards, I hold about 7-8 cards and HDFC Diners Black and ICICI Amazon get the most usage among them. All of them are LTF though, so I've never paid for any credit cards so far. Diners Black is very good at rewards and almost always pays 70% of my air fare through reward points. Recently added Tata Neu Rupay card and now I can use it to pay to merchant/businesses through GPay, which is good IMO. Never liked paying to businesses directly from bank accounts.
 
I had my first acc with SBI, then ICICI and HDFC salary account. I have since then closed ICICI and SBI accs. (SBI got deactivated due to non usage)
I have seen people deride HDFC, but it has been very good to me. I closed ICICI acc because their marketing kept driving me nuts with nonstop offers and calls. Never faced this issue with HDFC. Even the HDFC credit card calls were from third parties and not the bank as far as I can tell.

I like the minimalistic netbanking HDFC offers. SBI netbanking was too old-timey and ICICI was too cluttered/clunky. I've heard that ICICI phone app is much better, but I don't use phone banking. Netbanking works for most use cases.

For credit cards, I hold about 7-8 cards and HDFC Diners Black and ICICI Amazon get the most usage among them. All of them are LTF though, so I've never paid for any credit cards so far. Diners Black is very good at rewards and almost always pays 70% of my air fare through reward points. Recently added Tata Neu Rupay card and now I can use it to pay to merchant/businesses through GPay, which is good IMO. Never liked paying to businesses directly from bank accounts.
Try Magnus
 
@napstersquest which CC do you have?
IDFC First (For IDFC Specific offers), SBI Cashback (For online purchases), Apay ICICI (Bill payments and Amazon), TataNeu (UPI), IndusInd Legend (BMS 1+1 offer), Axis MyZone (BMS 1+1 offer and Axis offers), Onecard (Swiggy, Onecard and Federal specific offers), HSBC Platinum (got it with Salary account, use it for HSBC specific offers). All are LTF except TataNeu (spend based waiver, and I think with UPI I will definitely won't have to pay anything).
 
IDFC First (For IDFC Specific offers), SBI Cashback (For online purchases), Apay ICICI (Bill payments and Amazon), TataNeu (UPI), IndusInd Legend (BMS 1+1 offer), Axis MyZone (BMS 1+1 offer and Axis offers), Onecard (Swiggy, Onecard and Federal specific offers), HSBC Platinum (got it with Salary account, use it for HSBC specific offers). All are LTF except TataNeu (spend based waiver, and I think with UPI I will definitely won't have to pay anything).
No premium CCs?
 
No premium CCs?
Nope. I don't really spend much with cards (or at all) to justify paying the CC fees). Don't need airport lounge access, no golf, and likely won't reach any milestone rewards even if I got one so keeping it all LTF for now.
Part of reasons for getting any CC at all was to create a good payment history and build CIBIL score for house loan. I am earning for just 3 years now (am 25).
 
Not eligible yet, I guess. Also, I dont have an Axis bank account, so I might not get invited.

And do they even offer it LTF? Don't need a paid card.
Paid but you get 10k TataCliq voucher for that

All the 3 cards i use are paid but reward rate is too good
 
ICICI as my core banking and HDFC for salary because company opened it for me.
I don't care much about offers but just reliable uptime.
2 CC, one from each. I like to spend through my CC because it reminds me how much I am spending every month at the time of bill.
 
Axis bank gave me very hard time so will avoid, ICICI is good but recently there account manager pushed me too hard and lost 2 accounts which I was willing to open for my relatives. Tried HDFC for very basic accounts and they've been good upto now
 
Axis bank gave me very hard time so will avoid, ICICI is good but recently there account manager pushed me too hard and lost 2 accounts which I was willing to open for my relatives. Tried HDFC for very basic accounts and they've been good upto now
What happened with Axus?
 
What happened with Axus?
Brother had a salary account that we forgot. Few Years later when we checked, the account was in negative and all our money was gone in terms of Demat fee (700+ something yearly) If I remember correctly it had 2~3k balance. These guys kept on charging for service which we never opted (We never knew a demat account existed). Now when we tried to contact they asked to pay the remaining balance and only then account can be closed. We never bothered to check the dam account after that and its been 4~5yrs now when we had such conversation.
 
Brother had a salary account that we forgot. Few Years later when we checked, the account was in negative and all our money was gone in terms of Demat fee (700+ something yearly) If I remember correctly it had 2~3k balance. These guys kept on charging for service which we never opted (We never knew a demat account existed). Now when we tried to contact they asked to pay the remaining balance and only then account can be closed. We never bothered to check the dam account after that and its been 4~5yrs now when we had such conversation.
For CC axis is quite good, if you are into CCs then give Axis a try
 
My experience is that all banks are bad in India, you choose the best among the worst.

Forget SBI if you want decent customer support. My main account is Axis, but have had some bad experiences with them as well. The same goes for HDFC & ICICI.

IMO keep a savings account in a private bank + keep 1 SBI account.

For credit cards, get one from SBI, Axis, ICICI & HDFC, will get offers in these mostly. For ICICI, get their platinum CC, then apply for Amazon CC (both are lifetime free). For Axis, get Flipkart CC. I use HDFC Milennia (got it LTF) & SBI simplyclick, but for these 2 do your research & take your pick.

I use Axis FK mainly because of flat 1.5% cashback, I easily hit its 2L annual spends to make its annual charge nil. SBI CC is mainly used during sales, even my friends use my card, so for last year I hit the spends required to make its next annual charge 0. So overall, I'm always in positive in respect to rewards from CC.

If you are not disciplined enough, do not get CCs.
 
For CC axis is quite good, if you are into CCs then give Axis a try
I don't have any CC and don't plan to have one. Kind of old fashion, I want to buy something when I have the money to pay for it else No.
If you are not disciplined enough, do not get CCs.
My relative set an example where he went on a shopping spree in Dubai, borrowed money from us as well and after that he lost his job. Now after several years he is in deep debt with No job so there is no point talking about my money. The main reason of his debt is CC interest where as his primary amount was not too much.
 
My experience is that all banks are bad in India, you choose the best among the worst.

Forget SBI if you want decent customer support. My main account is Axis, but have had some bad experiences with them as well. The same goes for HDFC & ICICI.

IMO keep a savings account in a private bank + keep 1 SBI account.

For credit cards, get one from SBI, Axis, ICICI & HDFC, will get offers in these mostly. For ICICI, get their platinum CC, then apply for Amazon CC (both are lifetime free). For Axis, get Flipkart CC. I use HDFC Milennia (got it LTF) & SBI simplyclick, but for these 2 do your research & take your pick.

I use Axis FK mainly because of flat 1.5% cashback, I easily hit its 2L annual spends to make its annual charge nil. SBI CC is mainly used during sales, even my friends use my card, so for last year I hit the spends required to make its next annual charge 0. So overall, I'm always in positive in respect to rewards from CC.

If you are not disciplined enough, do not get CCs.
Axis Flipkart is available LTF, so try contacting customer care and ask them if it is possible. Most CCs which are available LTF to other users can be converted to LTF for anyone even if they are not eligible. You just need to threaten them with closing the card and they will convert it.
 
Axis Flipkart is available LTF, so try contacting customer care and ask them if it is possible. Most CCs which are available LTF to other users can be converted to LTF for anyone even if they are not eligible. You just need to threaten them with closing the card and they will convert it.
Is that card available LTF now?
My relative set an example where he went on a shopping spree in Dubai, borrowed money from us as well and after that he lost his job. Now after several years he is in deep debt with No job so there is no point talking about my money. The main reason of his debt is CC interest where as his primary amount was not too much.
What did he buy?
 
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