HDFC Money Back is an entry level credit card which gives you an “in” to the HDFCs ecosystem of offers. You get access to HDFC’s smartbuy and Payzapp which are quite rich in offers. You can also access the physical in-store HDFC offers. However, this is amongst the low tier HDFC credit cards and only gives low reward points. Maybe with time you will be upgraded to their premium cards.
Eligibility
· Gross Monthly Income> ₹25,000 (For employed)
· Income: ITR > ₹6.0 Lakhs per annum (For Self Employed)
You can apply from here.
Fees
Joining/Renewal Membership Fee – Rs. 500/- + Applicable Taxes: total Rs 590
Spend ₹50,000 and above in the first year and get renewal membership fee waived off.
This card will many a times come with certain simple conditions which will make this card Life Time Free.
Welcome Offer
500 Cash Points (applicable only on payment of membership fee). This does not compensate for the fees you pay. 500 cash points value is at best just Rs 125.
Alternatively,
Spend ₹20000 & above in the first 90 days and get first year memebership fee waived off.
Lounge Access
This card provides no airport Lounge Access.
Card Features
Earn 2 Reward Points on every Rs 150 spent
This is just 0.27% savings. I think this is too low a number making the reward points almost irrelevant. That means if you spend Rs 1lac the points you get will be just worth Rs 330. You would be better spending your time browsing Instagram videos than tracking your points with this card!
For online spends there is an additional 2X points which gives 4 reward Points/ Rs 150.
The cap on these extra points is 500 reward points per month. That means you can spend upto Rs 37500 each month to maximize this offer.
The savings here are just 0.53%. Again too low to bother about.
To make it worse, these paltry reward points are valid only for 2 years from the date of accumulation.
Reward point Redemption
The Best reward rate is with the product catalogue which thank fully at least includes e-gift vouchers. However the rate is dependent on the voucher brand.
The best rate you get is
1 reward point = Rs 0.25 (however, this is with only a few (not the best) merchants)
The most effective redemption you should go for is cash back
The reward rate here is
1 reward point = Rs 0.2 (I reckon, this is the most ideal redemption method)
Annual Spend based benefit or Milestone Benefit
This is the only satisfactory selling point other than it being HDFC.
Spend ₹50,000 and above in each calendar quarter and get ₹500 worth gift vouchers.
This means by spend Rs 2 lakhs in a year you can get vouchers worth Rs 2000. This is an acceptable 1% savings.
The present e-vouchers options are Dominos, Book My Show, Big Bazaar, Bata, Levis, Woodland, Mainland China, and Myntra.
Smartbuy
With HDFC’s Smart buy portal you can get most stuff at 5% discounts.
The link is https://offers.smartbuy.hdfcbank.com/
Things you should definitely here are:
Buy Amazon voucher worth Rs 5000 (maximum allowed) each month. You will get 5% cashback within 3 months. That is Rs 250 saved each month. There are other vouchers you can buy too at 5% which include Bata, Pantaloons, Central etc
Book all bus, flight as well as train tickets and here too you will get 5% cashback within 3 months.
Any purchases such on Amazon (5% cashback) and Flipkart (1% cashback) should be done by directing from smartbuy.
The maximum overall monthly cash back is Rs 1000 which is a decent limit for all smartbuy transactions.
PayZapp
HDFC’s Payzapp can be used to pay utility bill payments using coupon “BILLPAY”. You get 5% cashback upto Rs 75. You can max this out by paying Bill amount of Rs 1500.
Similarly, you can recharge your mobile by using coupon “RECHARGE” with same cap.
Savings Calculator
I was not really sure if this card deserves a SAVINGS CALCULATOR. As a stand-alone for this card, there was no point of multiplying number which are so close to zero and expect something meaningful. However, smart buy and payzapp included this card does qualify.
Add in you expenses and find out your savings with this card.
If the Calculator doesn't run, click here and run again :)
Considering spends of Rs 17500 with maximum spends in Smartbuy and Payzapp categories you get a healthy savings of 3.6%. However, I don’t think you will be able to spend so optimally and can expect a much lower number.
Similar or Better cards
Try if you can get HDFC Regalia First. ICICI Amazon pay credit card is superior Lifetime Free option. Axis Bank Freecharge Credit card can be considered if you are not eligible for these two suggestions. SBI SimplyClick credit card is also comparable with SBI providing the second most frequent offers. The only downside is this card is never given as Lifetime Free.
Conclusion
Everyone should have atleast one HDFC credit card. It is the industry leader by a big margin and I don’t see it changing anytime soon.
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