[ramki.grandhi]

Thank you GTX+, dvl666, Shome, for the detailed inputs. Your replies are like better starting guide to new Infinia customers than HDFC official guide.

One last question, is there any card that gives movie tickets offers and supports UPI payments to retailers? Thanks in advance.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by mukeshgoel

I think it's random, or the funds in account.

My wife is a home-maker and got this upgrade.

Yes if you have decent funds or ULIP, you can get even Infinia. My friend whose monthly take-home is less than me got a ULIP and was awarded a paid infinia.

My RM tried pushing the same scheme to which I bluntly denied and hence all I got was Regalia gold LTF.

Originally Posted by Naetik30

Regalia and Regalia gold are one and the same. Regalia is discontinued and Regalia gold is not LTF. So I would consider it a downgrade in several aspects.

After Regalia got devalued, they aren’t the same. Gold is better for travel oriented expenses & of course lounge access. And No, people are getting the Gold LTF, I got it and folks in this thread itself already mentioned the same.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by Naetik30

Regalia and Regalia gold are one and the same. Regalia is discontinued and Regalia gold is not LTF. So I would consider it a downgrade in several aspects.

They are not exactly the same. Regalia doesn't get Miles Transfer partners that Regalia Gold gets and there are some really good options there which enhance the value of Regalia Gold Points.

So I would suggest to take the upgrade to Regalia Gold even with the fee. The fee gets waived off at Rs. 4 Lacs annual spends or the fee gets recovered easily on spends thru Smartbuy.

[tejas08]

Wow! This thread is suddenly on fire with a lot of Infinia discussions.

Originally Posted by ramki.grandhi

I didn't even know that we've a credit card thread in team bhp, it's a pleasant surprise for me. I recently closed couple of my cards and moved to Infinia metal card. I've couple of questions, as I'm a new user for this card. Any longterm user, please help me with your inputs.

You already have answers to most of the queries raised by you. Just one more tip. Take a deep look at the Instant Vouchers section under Smartbuy. If you are smart enough, you will be able to route about 60-70% of your everyday spends on 5X (Thats 16.7% Reward Rate). Might need small tweaks to your spending habits, stores, vendors etc. though.

Originally Posted by Naetik30

I received my Infinia last week. The policy is -

1. For domestic swipe the Infinia card and use. One pax per card. Add on also has access.

2. For international use priority pass. Add on card holder also receives priority pass.

Infinia & Citi Prestige Priority Passes can be used on Domestic Lounges without any charges. Have been using the Infinia one for more than 3 years now. There are few domestic lounges were Infinia is not accepted but Infinia's Priority Pass will get accepted.

Originally Posted by SoumenD

My RM tried pushing the same scheme to which I bluntly denied and hence all I got was Regalia gold LTF.

Try the Spending + Credit Limit Route for upgrade. Far much easier. Ditch the RM and send an email to Priority Redressal team requesting for the upgrade. You need to have more than 8 Lacs Credit Limit + Rs. 7.5+ Lacs spends in the past 6 months on existing HDFC Credit card.

[AtheK]

My Regalia had expired and was sent a new Regalia card itself as replacement, it is LTF while Regalia gold is 2500. Like others they have been sending me messages to upgrade, but I will hold on for now. Maybe after sometime they will offer Regalia Gold as LTF for me as well.

I have Sapphiro as LTF and have been given an option to upgrade to Emeralde, but that will be a paid card. I would have taken up the offer if it was Emeralde Private metal card, I have asked my RM but seems it will be tough to get private card immediately. Still thinking if I should go for normal card as the cost is almost the same.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by tejas08

Try the Spending + Credit Limit Route for upgrade. Far much easier. Ditch the RM and send an email to Priority Redressal team requesting for the upgrade. You need to have more than 8 Lacs Credit Limit + Rs. 7.5+ Lacs spends in the past 6 months on existing HDFC Credit card.

Yeah that’s the plan. My limit is 8L+ already but spends I am limiting only travel related ones to this card for now. I have like 6-7 cards all LTF(amazon icici, flipkart axis, swiggy hdfc, regalia gold, indusind rupay for upi & scapia) for specific usages. Airtel Axis is the only one paid

Need to mentally come out of the purpose-specific usage and route all spends through the regalia gold even if that would mean letting go of my sweet 5-10% CBs

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by Old_Salt

I have never swiped my credit card at domestic lounges. Have always presented the priority pass along with boarding card.

Originally Posted by tejas08

Infinia & Citi Prestige Priority Passes can be used on Domestic Lounges without any charges.

On the topic of lounge access, is there any limit on per day visits? For e.g. if you have a layover/s, can the lounges be used used on first+second airports?

Originally Posted by Shome

New login with add on card mobile number

I searched some more on the internet. It seems HDFC is now issuing add-on cards with different numbers. Previously they had same number for both primary and add-on. With different numbers, I think you can have a new mob no.+card no. combo to use on smartbuy.

I have same number on primary and add-on so don't think I can use it separately.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by shipnil

On the topic of lounge access, is there any limit on per day visits? For e.g. if you have a layover/s, can the lounges be used used on first+second airports?

You cannot swipe the Priority Pass in the same lounge twice in a day. That's the only key condition on Infinia.

[Rookie_Jeeper]

Great to see such an active credit card thread on Team BHP. I'm no credit card expert but have been an enthusiast for a long time now.

I used to have close to 15 active cards at one point of time. Then around 2 years back Infinia happened and most of my existing cards became useless all of a sudden

Sharing the list of my current active cards just for fun. Infinia is the only one which is not life time free and infact the only reason why haven't closed most of these is because they don't have any fee and I just use them for merchant offers. Please keep in mind that cards have been acquired over a long time and if you apply too many cards in a short time you might come across as credit hungry and this will have an impact on your cibil.


Primary Cards

1. HDFC Infinia
2. RBL World Safari - Mostly a backup card for international spends. Infinia global value program has a limit of 1 lakh
3. ICICI Saphiro Mastercard - Mostly used for movie tickets

Other 8 cards

1. Yes First Preferred
2. SBI Simply Click
3. Axis My Zone
4. ICICI Amazon Pay
5. ICICI Saphiro Amex
6. ICICI MMT Platinum
7. IndusInd Pinnacle
8. HSBC Advance Platinum

If anyone has any tips to optimise spends with the cards that I have please do share

P. S. In the image some of the card designs are probably looking weird as I had to mask the card number and name.

[tejas08]

Since this thread has becoming super-active recently, I thought it would be a good time to add some fuel to the fire.

I have been talking about Credit Cards on a few Social Media Platforms with X (Formerly Twitter) being probably the maximum and some on Youtube (In collaboration with other Youtubers)

But today I am going to focus on a side of Credit Cards that many people often neglect - Frequent Flyer Program & Hotel Loyalty Program Partners. With the help of these, I have done 4 International Vacations in past 24 Months (Bali, Mauritius, Ho Chi Minh City + Singapore, Spain) where 27 Nights, One First Class, 14 Business Class & 6 Economy International Tickets were paid for by Points. I ended spending only for food, local travel & Sightseeing / Attractions tickets.

Many have heard about Frequent Flyer & Hotel Loyalty Programs; some would have even used them. But most people often ignore deep diving into it thinking that it only benefits the frequent Travelers. I am NOT a frequent Traveler. I only travel for vacations and my profession involves max. one International Trip for max couple of weeks and 2-3 Overnighter Domestic Trips through the year.

The main source of Frequent Flyer & Hotel Loyalty Points earning is thru Credit Card Reward Points earned on your regular spends (Essential & Discretionary Both). One of the biggest changes in Credit Card usage that people need to bring to achieve this is to avoid mixing Travel-Focused & Cashback cards in the regular usage. This reduces the points earning & accumulation opportunity.

Consider Cashbacks as Instant Gratification & Reward Points used for Travel as Delayed Gratification. The overall annual Reward Rates thru Cashback would generally remain in the 2-3% max. whereas that in Travel Redemptions would easily reach upwards of 7-8% even after considering 1-2 devaluations.

I look at these Credit Card Reward Points giving me experiential benefits like the latest one – Qatar Airways Business Class – Booked Barcelona to Mumbai Qatar Airways Business Class with 55,000 Miles + ₹18,xxx as Taxes. The ticket would generally cost upwards of ₹1.5 Lacs. Some Photos of the experience:















While 9 out of 12 Nights in Spain were in Novotels (Mid-Range Hotel from EU Standards), these too were paid using Accor Points which were converted from Axis & HDFC Credit Cards. On average, the price per night was ₹24,000 with Barcelona being Pricier than other of course.

But I did end up with an Upscale Hotel booking too on the trip for the experience – 3 Nights at Westin Valencia. Even this was booked on Credit Card Points – Amex MR Points specifically. This is probably one of the most popular usage of Amex Points after Taj vouchers – Amex MR Points converted to Marriott Bonvoy Points. Standard Room Booking combined with an Elite Status in the Marriott Bonvoy Program held thru Amex Platinum Charge card, ended up getting me a room worth €740 (₹68,xxx) per Night for absolute zero money paid from my pocket. The hotel room came with a Private Terrace and a Jacuzzi in this Private Terrace. Here are some Photos of the Hotel Room







There are tons of more redemptions that have been done using Credit Card reward points. Apologies for not being able to post a lot of Redemption Content over here. It is extremely time-consuming to consistently post about these Redemptions & Experiences across different platforms as each Platform requires customization depending on the target audience.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by tejas08

Since this thread has becoming super-active recently, I thought it would be a good time to add some fuel to the fire.

Blissfully wondering how much you need to spend to accrue such miles and hotel points

Just wondering and a rhetorical query only.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Blissfully wondering how much you need to spend to accrue such miles and hotel points

Just wondering and a rhetorical query only.

Not the first time and definitely not the last time I will be seeing that question.

I wont get into the specifics of how much I spent to achieve it but will try to sum it up to a certain level to give direction to everyone.

- You need annual spends upwards of Rs. 12-15 Lacs to consider this part of Credit Card Rewards

- You need to find ways to move your Cash / UPI transactions on Credit Cards. How about I tell you 7-8% Reward Rate on Fuel without using a Fuel Co-branded card? Amex Platinum Travel or Amex MRCC on HPCL fuel bunks.

- I did four vacations in Two years. This was due to two major factors - First, Covid period meant that points started accumulating in 2019 and couldn't be redeemed till early 2022. So that's almost 30 Months of Points accumulation. Second, Axis Bank goofed up on their Credit Card rewards giving people superlative rewards (Going upwards of 50% Reward Rate easily in most discretionary spends). People who capitalized on this opportunity, raked in a Million points easily in a span of 12-15 months.

- A more realistic approach - One Vacation in two years or probably only Flights or Hotels being taken care if you take one vacation every year. Its still money saved significantly.

- Ignore all cashback - So that's a little bit of a loss that I am taking to achieve this. But the returns are exponential.

- Getting Hands on the right credit cards is the most important aspect. Stop chasing Lifetime Free Cards. Cards with Annual Fees reward back multiple times of its fees.

This side of Credit Card Rewards is definitely lucrative only for a small percentage of Credit Card users, but no harm evaluating the option. You never know how well it might work out.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by tejas08

- You need annual spends upwards of Rs. 12-15 Lacs to consider this part of Credit Card Rewards

Thanks for giving a ballpark figure. I think it's time I planned my spends better Better late than never

[MalnadMansha]

Originally Posted by shipnil

I searched some more on the internet. It seems HDFC is now issuing add-on cards with different numbers. Previously they had same number for both primary and add-on. With different numbers, I think you can have a new mob no.+card no. combo to use on smartbuy.

Yes. I got an add-on Infinia card for my spouse which came with a different card number, however I was getting OTPs. Had to write a letter to Chennai branch to change mobile number for add-on card. Now my spouse only gets the OTPs on add-on card.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Thanks for giving a ballpark figure. I think it's time I planned my spends better Better late than never

If you are not able to achieve super high reward rates like Tejas, don't blame yourself. Its a very special skill, only few people like him have a knack for. I had tried this points maximising game but I just lost enthusiam to carry multiple cards and switch them based on transaction type, look up or keep track of spend-based offers, search for mile transfers, pleading with your spouse to use the right card etc etc.

But even without deep-diving into the points game, you can still acheive a good reward rate of maybe 10% on your spends. With annual spend of 10-12 lakhs, that still equates cool 1L savings. I wouldn't mind saving 1L annually without any effort.