Credit cards focussed on shopping can be rewarding
2 min read 16 May 2021, 05:48 PM ISTThese cards are equally rewarding if you take do shop a lot, especially with the partnering brand.
PremiumCredit cards focused on rewarding users for shopping are popular, especially those that focus on online shopping benefits.
Take Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card as an example. According to the bank, the co-branded card is the fastest to cross 1 million in less than 20 months of its launch.
Besides rewarding customers for shopping, the features of cards in this category are similar to other credit cards. Most of them come with a joining and annual fee. HDFC Millennia, for example, has a joining and annual fee of Rs1,000. SBI SimplyCLICK charges Rs500, according to data from Paisabazaar.com. For the Amazon Pay-ICICI card, there is no joining or renewal fee.
Most issuers also waive off these fees if a customer spends the specified amount. In the case of HDFC Millennia and SBI SimplyCLICK cards, the renewal fee is waived off if the customer spends Rs1 lakh. For Flipkart-Axis card, there is no annual fee if the customers' spends are Rs2 lakh or more. For Citi Rewards card, the limit is Rs30,000 every year.
The interest rates or annual percentage rate (APR) is above 40%. Flipkart-Axis credit card has the highest APR at 49.36%, according to data from Paisabazaar.com. Amazon-ICICI Bank APR ranges between 42% and 46%. The APR on Citi Rewards is 45%.
These cards are equally rewarding if you take do shop a lot, especially with the partnering brand. HDFC Millenia offers Rs1,000 points when you pay the membership fee. There's no annual fee if the user spends Rs30,000 in the first 90 days of taking the card. In the first year, the bank gives Rs1,000 worth of gift vouchers if the user spends Rs1 lakh every quarter. There's 5% cashback on specified online transactions, eight complimentary domestic lounge access each year, and a 1% fuel surcharge waiver, among other benefits.
In the case of the Flipkart-Axis card, there is Rs2,900 activation benefits. Besides 5% cashback on Flipkart, Myntra and 2GUD, there's 4% cashback on preferred partners like Swiggy and Uber. There are also four complimentary domestic lounge visits.
Citi offers 1,500 bonus points on the first spend made within 30 days of the card issuance and 10X reward points for shopping at departmental or apparel story, both physical and online.
SBI SimplyCLICK and Amazon Pay ICICI cards, too, come with many such cashback offers on their cards.
If you are opting for a co-branded card, ensure that your spending with the partner brands is high; only then you would be able to make the most use of a co-branded card. If you are not loyal to a brand, opt for a general shopping credit card.
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