[fiat_tarun]

I have been using a HDFC Platinum Plus & Citibank Indian Oil platinum for quite sometime now. Both these cards have a minimum annual spend criteria for fee waiver (IIRC its 50k for the HDFC & 30K for the Citibank).

The HDFC is my primary card and I have had good experiences with their customer care as well. They once waived off the late payment fees when I paid a day late. I explained to them that I was travelling and they waived it off !! For filling fuel full surcharge is waived off if the EDC machine is a HDFC machine, otherwise a small amount is charged, as pointed out in one of the posts above.

The Citibank card is not very useful for fuel, since it has to be used only at certain IOC pumps with Citibank EDC machines and a full surcharge is charged if used with another bank EDC. The Citibank card however has good offers at restaurants - you get 15% off on food at quite a few places.

If you want to use a Debit card for fuel, you can upgrade your card for 0 fuel surcharge. The HDFC Titanium Debit card for eg. has this feature.

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

Never use debit cards to fill up.

My Axis Bank Priority Debit Card has full fuel surcharge waiver. In other words, the fuel cost alone is debited from my saving account. On the other hand, my Axis Bank Platinum Credit Card has exemption of only 2.5% waiver for the fuel surcharge, i.e., first the full amount including the surcharge is charged to my credit card account, and then, 2.5% of the value is credited back towards surcharge waiver; but, the problem I face in this transaction is, some pumps like IOC charge extra service tax on the surcharge - while some pumps like BPCL don't - which is not included in the pay-back. So, I prefer debit card for all my fuel purchase, where I don't pay anything extra over and above the fuel cost.

[binand]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

the problem I face in this transaction is, some pumps like IOC charge extra service tax on the surcharge - while some pumps like BPCL don't - which is not included in the pay-back.

If the service charge is refunded, then there is no chargeable service and hence there should be no service tax. You can complain to the bank and ask for a refund. It happens to me once in a while (service charge refunded but not the tax), I send an email to HDFC Bank customer care, and I get the money back.

For me, the use-case where this happens is when my wife uses her add-on card at a fuel pump. If the fuel bill is on my primary card all refunds happen hunky-dory, on the other hand when the fuel bill is on the add-on card the service charge is refunded to the primary card, but the service tax is not refunded at all (without the email to customer care, that is).

Originally Posted by binand

I send an email to HDFC Bank customer care, and I get the money back.

These banks take refuge under fine prints. Axis Bank Platinum Credit Card terms and conditions include that fuel surcharge refund is restricted to 2.5% of the fuel cost only! So, I always use my Axis Bank Priority Debit Card for hassle-free fuel transactions.

[vrprabhu]

Let me try to clear the grey areas regarding Service Tax on fuel surcharge and its waiver -


a. In practice, the Service Tax has to be collected by the service provider and remitted to the Govt. This money does not go to the Bank. Probably, the manner in which the service tax is collected on fuel surcharge and accounted for varies from Bank to Bank and hence the discrepancies. AFAIK, once the amount of fuel surcharge is shown as collected, tax has to be paid to Govt., even if fuel surcharge is reimbursed subsequently.


b. Thus, only the surcharge (say @ 2.5% of txn amount) goes to the Bank as fee. (What happens thereafter itself warrants a separate thread ). Hence, normally only the surcharge is waived.


c. If you are high spending customer, the Bank makes enough money out of your spends. So, probably they don't want to hassle you with this petty amount of service tax and reverse that also!


d. Different Banks have different types of waiver. For eg., there is a ceiling of Rs. 5,000/- per month per card with a minimum spend of Rs. 500/- per transaction etc. Check the fine print. Generally co-branded cards eg. IOC+XYZ Bank etc. offer better terms for fuel surcharge waiver. The problem is that the offer will be valid only at their outlets.

[binand]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Axis Bank Platinum Credit Card terms and conditions include that fuel surcharge refund is restricted to 2.5% of the fuel cost only!

Good for you. The 2.5% does not include service tax on the surcharge, of course. The service tax has to be refunded in full.

Originally Posted by vrprabhu

AFAIK, once the amount of fuel surcharge is shown as collected, tax has to be paid to Govt., even if fuel surcharge is reimbursed subsequently.

This PoV are not correct. The governing rule is section 6(3) of the service tax rules, 1994, which very clearly says that service tax credit is available if the cost the service is refunded to the customer. If your bank has been charging you service tax despite refunding the entire surcharge, then the bank is in the wrong and I urge you to take it up with them and if that fails, the service tax authorities.

[babhishek]

Originally Posted by binand

Good for you. The 2.5% does not include service tax on the surcharge, of course. The service tax has to be refunded in full.



This PoV are not correct. The governing rule is section 6(3) of the service tax rules, 1994, which very clearly says that service tax credit is available if the cost the service is refunded to the customer. If your bank has been charging you service tax despite refunding the entire surcharge, then the bank is in the wrong and I urge you to take it up with them and if that fails, the service tax authorities.

While, I agree with you wholeheartedly, another consideration is the time value of money.. is the effort to get back the money worth the time/money spent making calls and requesting refunds?

[binand]

Originally Posted by babhishek

While, I agree with you wholeheartedly, another consideration is the time value of money.. is the effort to get back the money worth the time/money spent making calls and requesting refunds?

Well, you might have a point there. But on the other hand:

- We get shafted by almost every service provider we deal with, so the ones we can avoid or take to task - we should.
- All the correspondence is by way of email, which takes a couple of minutes on a mobile device (in the lift, waiting for the bus, at the coffee table, whatever).

[metropolis]

I have a HDFC platinum card and received a message yesterday to which i'm unable to comprehend. It says "As per RBI mandate, a daily international taxation limit of Rs.XXXX is being placed on your card. You can set your own limit also". What does this means, if anyone here can throw some light on this please?

Thanks

[Gokrish]

Originally Posted by metropolis

I have a HDFC platinum card and received a message yesterday to which i'm unable to comprehend. It says "As per RBI mandate, a daily international taxation limit of Rs.XXXX is being placed on your card. You can set your own limit also". What does this means, if anyone here can throw some light on this please?

Thanks

Is that taxation limit or transaction limit?

[metropolis]

Originally Posted by Gokrish

Is that taxation limit or transaction limit?

It states a taxation limit

[binand]

Originally Posted by metropolis

I have a HDFC platinum card and received a message yesterday to which i'm unable to comprehend. It says "As per RBI mandate, a daily international taxation limit of Rs.XXXX is being placed on your card. You can set your own limit also". What does this means, if anyone here can throw some light on this please?

Few months back, after handling several cases where Indian credit card numbers were stolen and used (where the VbV/MSC systems are not mandatory) for large forex transactions came to light, RBI asked banks to:

- Stop issuing internationally valid cards unless specifically requested for, and
- Put a $500 limit on forex transactions on all cards which hadn't been used internationally until then, and
- Put a daily limit based on customer consultation for cards that actually have been used internationally, and
- Implement realtime monitoring systems for forex transactions

Ref: http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/noti...RCOM130213.pdf

The banks had until Nov 30 to comply (extended from June 30 in the above doc, I think).

[Gokrish]

Originally Posted by metropolis

It states a taxation limit

RBI has issued a circular on Feb 28, 2013 on risk mitigation measures for all cards and online transactions. According to this, if a card has been used internationally at least once, then a daily threshold limit has to be fixed by the user. Till such time the limit is fixed, an ad-hoc limit is fixed by the banker. I think this SMS refers to the said limit. Does it mention Txn limit? Refer the circular.
http://rbi.org.in/scripts/Notificati...Id=7874&Mode=0

[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

My Axis Bank Priority Debit Card has full fuel surcharge waiver. In other words, the fuel cost alone is debited from my saving account. On the other hand, my Axis Bank Platinum Credit Card has exemption of only 2.5% waiver for the fuel surcharge, i.e., first the full amount including the surcharge is charged to my credit card account, and then, 2.5% of the value is credited back towards surcharge waiver; but, the problem I face in this transaction is, some pumps like IOC charge extra service tax on the surcharge - while some pumps like BPCL don't - which is not included in the pay-back. So, I prefer debit card for all my fuel purchase, where I don't pay anything extra over and above the fuel cost.

Thanks for the info, Raviji, I stand corrected.

ICICI upgraded my Silver Privilege debit card to a Platinum Chip card recently, and that card also has zero surcharge on fuel fills above 401 INR at all petrol pumps.

You are welcome, Sai Aditya.

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

ICICI upgraded my Silver Privilege debit card to a Platinum Chip card recently, and that card also has zero surcharge on fuel fills above 401 INR at all petrol pumps.

My new RBI-mandated, password-protected Axis Bank Platinum Credit Card is on its way! I received sms stating that my existing credit card would be valid for 90 days only.