If you want to hold just one credit card in your pocket. HDFC Regalia is the most deserving candidate. Read on to find out why or just use the calculator to confirm.
HDFC bank has many online offers going around and is a market leader for in shop offers too. It has a decent reward rate on its own. HDFC Smartbuy portal while a bit duller than before is still among the best. Of course, it provides domestic as well as international lounge access at airports.
Welcome Offer and fees
Income eligibility is ₹ 1Lac per month and HDFC is quite strict on it.
Card to Card limit > ₹ 3Lac
Fees is stated as ₹2500+ Taxes = ₹2950. However, they often give it out as Life time Free (LTF) or make it LTF on meeting reasonable and simple conditions.
Lounge Access
Domestic: 12 complimentary visits per year
International: 6 complementary per year access allowed.
Notably your addon card members (addon cards are given free) can also avail lounge benefit.
Reward Programme
4 Reward Points on every Rs. 150 spent
1 Reward Point = ₹ 0.5. Making the effective savings as 1.33%.
No points on wallet & fuel transactions. But they are given for Rent payments.
The reward points expire after 2 years.
Reward Point Redemption
The maximum value for the Reward points is ₹ 0.5.
It is for booking flight and hotels where you are allowed to pay upto 70% of the amount by points and the rest you can pay via the same Regalia card.
You can also get statement credit, voucher etc however these give poorer Points to Rupee ratios and should be avoided.
Annual Milestone Benefits
10,000 Reward Points (worth ₹ 5000) when you spend ₹ 5 lakhs. 1% additional value
5,000 Reward Points (worth ₹ 2500) when you spend ₹ 8 lakhs. 0.3% additional value
SMARTBUY
This is the most shining feature of HDFC and where you should be able to save the most.
Make your purchases on websites like Flipkart, Amazon, flight, hotels etc via https://offers.smartbuy.hdfcbank.com/
Upto 5X Bonus Reward Points will be posted to your card statement within 3 months for such transactions
It is a very long wait for the bonus points. It is generally difficult to track the points. Let me know how you track them.
The gem here is the Instant vouchers (Bata, Central, shoppers stop, etc) especially Amazon.
Amazon vouchers are capped at ₹5000 monthly and charged 2.5 additional. Effectively leaving you just 3.7% which will come to you after 3 months. Earlier, it made sense to max out these each month. Now, not so much.
Savings Calculator
In the savings Calculator default monthly spends of less than ₹50k have been considered.
The savings are 3.1%. The card does shine here.
Put in your own spends category wise and "calculate" the savings for yourself.
Better or Similar cards
Regalia was the king for its tier for a long time. However, there are so many cards in direct completion.
HDFC’s own Diner Privilege credit card has monthly milestone voucher which could work out better for you. However, its network at physical stores is limited.
Axis Ace gives 2% cash back without any hassle. Axis Flipkart is also good.
Citi Premiermiles is better if you travel more.
SBI Prime is still relevant especially considering SBI frequent online sale offers.
Rating
4/5
Conclusion
HDFC Regalia is still the best in its tier for general use. But its lead is quite narrowed down and there are multiple options to choose from in the recent Indian market.
HDFC Regalia is a one card does all; and you will not feel the need for another card in your pocket, unless of course you are like me. And I say the more the merrier.