Devaluation ICICI Bank Credit Cards: Major Devaluation Announced (Effective Jan–Feb 2026)

[ash_m]

Did the forex fee increase?

Forex markup has got no changes. Same as 2%.

DCC fee goes up from 1% to 2%.

 

[abhiaj_geek]

Forex markup has got no changes. Same as 2%.

DCC fee goes up from 1% to 2%.

Whats dcc vs forex?

 

[iNokia]

 

[ash_m]

Whats dcc vs forex?

DCC fee is an additional fee applicable when you pay in INR on POS machines overseas. You might get that option at some places.

It's something people generally avoid. Might be beneficial at some places, I don't know for sure.

Anyway, I don't think EPM is the right card for foreign spends. Even if you are net positive after 2% + GST fee, the final return rate is just way too less to be anything of significance. Better to use a zero forex card and save upfront instead.

 

[theflash]

ICICI Bank Emeralde Metal Credit Card
• Reward points on transportation MCCs (4111, 4112, 4784, 4131)
• Capped at ₹20,000 per month
Earlier → uncapped earning
Now → monthly ceiling introduced

I got this for my Timesblack...

"A fee of 1% of the amount will be charged for transactions carried out through Transportation Merchant Category (MCC: 4111, 4112, 4784, 4131) exceeding ₹50,000."

 

[Mekala ManojKumar]

Hope Times black is excluded from devaluation.

 

[TechnoFinoTechnoFino is verified member.]

I got this for my Timesblack...

"A fee of 1% of the amount will be charged for transactions carried out through Transportation Merchant Category (MCC: 4111, 4112, 4784, 4131) exceeding ₹50,000."

those fees are for all retail cards

 

[athul]

Why do you have to take the ₹100 offer away??? I'm not going to spend 25k with my coral card!

 

[Strange]

💰 Wallet Loading​

• 1% fee on wallet loads ₹5,000+

Not applicable on Amazon Pay ICICI credit card right?

 

[theflash]

those fees are for all retail cards

I meant the capping for TB is 50k as mentioned in email...

 

[TechnoFinoTechnoFino is verified member.]

Not applicable on Amazon Pay ICICI credit card right?

They have mentioned all retail cards, so it should also include Amazon pay card.

 

[theflash]

Hope Times black is excluded from devaluation.

It is a part of the Devaluation too...

 

[bing1309]

Offers spend based ok, now transportation is capped ? Just imagine you use credit card for vehicle purchase or vehicle maintenance or uber Ola etc that's going to be a massive hit. This will not stop here, wait and watch every daily spends which we are doing in credit card will be capped and an interest will be levied.... mark it, save it 😂

 

[Mekala ManojKumar]

It is a part of the Devaluation too...

Only Dynamic Currency Conversion Fee revised from 1% to 1.49%

 

[Dr. Hritaban]

Offers spend based ok, now transportation is capped ? Just imagine you use credit card for vehicle purchase or vehicle maintenance or uber Ola etc that's going to be a massive hit. This will not stop here, wait and watch every daily spends which we are doing in credit card will be capped and an interest will be levied.... mark it, save it 😂

Well, we’ll be going back to old plain simole UPI again then lmao. But genuinely, the only use of these shietty ICICI cards are for the spend based offers

 

[nikhilv0303]

There is no change to points earning, as far as I can see.

But there are 2 big changes:
1. Add on cards now come with a hefty 3.5K one-time fee per card (still some time, if you were ever planning to apply for it)

2. BOGO upto 750 on Bookmyshow is now conditional on spends of 25K in the preceding quarter. TBH, it makes zero sense on a super premium card. Looks like ICIC thought - Infinia does not give free movie tickets. So why should we keep doing this? Let's apply spend based criteria on EPM as well.

Afterall, it is almost like ICICI just wants to keep EPM an inch ahead of Infinia somehow. Doesn't look like the other rewards are going to last long on EPM at this rate. iShop devaluations are highly likely too pretty soon.

25k quarterly on EPM should be piece of cake.

I can understand folks who own Sapphiro may not be spending 25k quarterly on it. But everyone who owns EPM will be spending about a lakh per monthly easily.

Yeah, you're right.

Especially when you're buying vouchers, even if no such big expenses are there in one such quarter you can easily meet that. So probably not a very big deal, but it does set some precedence for future devaluations like this - like lounge access, for example. Sounds unlikely at this moment as ICICI still wants EPM to compete with Infinia, but this is an indication that they'd continue to make devaluations.

I actually have Sapphiro too, came LTF when I had opened an account with them years back. That becomes useless for me, atleast.

For EPM BoGo still remains unconditional. The email doesn’t mention anything about BOGO

 

[2025]

Not applicable on Amazon Pay ICICI credit card right?

They have mentioned all retail cards, so it should also include Amazon pay card.

Don't remember exactly, but I think earlier also ICICI said no rewards for wallet load, still we were getting rewards for the same for Apay untill now.

Btw, no email received yet specifically for apay cc. For other cards got the email.

If they charge additional for wallet then this is the only thing would affect me to some extent. Free rotation (~0.5%) to chargeable (~1.5%). We need to have a 1.5% bill payment reward DC to cover this up.

Remaining ICICI cards were already dead for most of us. They are useful only for taking loan/debt or instant bank discounts.

 

[Card doctor]

Thank God I did not take Sappahro credit card ( was getting life time free in view of Corportae tie up ) ..

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

I think it is now safe to end the relationship with ICICI fully. These are my accounts with them -

• Amazon Pay ICICI LTF - My first credit card, got in 2022, but not used anymore. It has become a drawer card altogether.
• Sapphiro LTF - Was used only for BMS BOGO, now that is also spend based.
• Salary account - I opened a salary account last year, but moved to HDFC. HDFC is overall better than ICICI anytime.

This will be a good cleanup activity in to start 2026.

 

[sunit123]

Before taking "emotional" and "hasty" decision of cancellation, keep following important points in mind

1. ICICI wealth account is 0 MAB if you have CC with good limit...My savings account is 0 MAB....After cancellation, you might need to maintain MAB...This scheme is now discontinued for new customers.

Based on wealth account, i have LTF World DC on which 1 lounge access is free per quarter so it is indirect benefit.

2. My ICICI CC is 2nd oldest after HDFC i.e. took it in 2014 with 2nd highest limit of 15 lakhs....Cancellation of oldest and highest CC limit will immediately drop your CIBIL score

3. ICICI CC gives discount in almost all the sales...If it is LTF then keep them in drawer for sales benefit

4. I use priority pass for international lounge which is still not spend based

5. ICICI Sapphiro Amex versions gives instant 150 Rs discount on Swiggy on spend of just 699 Rs i.e. 21% discount once a month

6. ICICI sapphiro gives fuel surcharge benefit which is withdrawn by most of the cards.

7. ICICI sapphiro in iportal still gives 2% to 3% discount on some GV's which are not available anywhere else like Shell petrol pump GV

8. ICICI is liberal in no of CC you can hold...You can get even 10 CC from ICICI

9. LAST but not the least...even if you have 10 ICICI CC's, it is reported as only SINGLE entry except Amazon pay in CIBIL which is not the case with other banks.

I agree amazon pay is now most valuable card in ICICI kitty.