Zomato Edition credit card had entered the Indian Market with a bang. It was a too good to be true kind of deal. 5% cashback on restaurants, 10% cashback on Birthdays, Free Zomato Gold membership and that too issued as LTF.
It was unsustainable and they did try to course correct by removing the Birthday Benefit as well as down grading the restaurant benefit. The final nail was when the Zomato Pro Membership was also discontinued. After all this, my Zomato Edition Credit card was just collecting dust. Discontinuing this card was the logical next step.
Both the Edition Classic as well Edition Black credit cards are being discontinued from 14th May, 2023.
It was informed by mail to all credit card holders.
Replacement card
RBL will be providing ShopRite credit card as LTF from 15th May as LTF.
ShopRite credit card is an average credit card which gives accelerated Reward Points on grocery spends 20 RP per Rs 100 spent. This can be as high as 5% if you go for voucher redemption (Amazon, Flipkart will give lower value). The maximum Grocery spends per month is Rs 5000, beyond which not RP are given.
You need to pay Redemption fee of Rs 99+ GST to redeem the points. It’s a good deal if you use it exclusively for Grocery shopping.
Other options you should consider for groceries spends are
· Standard Chartered Manhattan credit card: 5%
· Au Zenith Credit card: 2.5%
· SBI Prime credit card / SBI Elite credit card: 2.5%
A Fair Deal
Any outstanding Edition Cash balance will be credited as cashback into your RBL Bank Shoprite Credit Card account by May 30, 2023.
So, if you have made up your mind to get the RBL ShopRite credit card, don’t use up your Edition cash as it will become statement credit.
In case you have paid annual/ renewal fee on your Edition Card post May 1, 2022, it will be reversed into your Edition Card account by May 10, 2023.
Unsustainable credit cards
It has become a trend to launch credit cards with unsustainable features.
Examples are
1) Bank of Baroda Eterna credit card
2) RBL Edition Zomato credit card
4) Axis Magnus credit card
5) IDFC Wealth/Select credit card
As soon as enough cards are in circulation, their features have more and more “conditions”. The Indian credit card market has cut throat competition. But these guys push the balance ever more in the favor of the customers even if they survive for a short while.
Just a few years ago 1% cashback on credit cards was a premium feature and few credit cards gave it.
Now, we won’t even give a second glance to a discontinuing credit card which gave 1% cashback while being LTF.