Financial and Banking Learnings of 2024

[Vas2398]

1. Got HDFC DCB, Atlas cards this year. Made goos returns on DCB.
2. Thought,Read,tried about how to get infinia for a long time and found it was not worth my time. Happy and content with HDFC DCB.
3. Cancelled many other cards and sticking to only above 2 cards.
4. Learnt about Accor, Marriott loyalty programs and gonna start using from 2025.
5. Invested in multiple IPOs after a long time and got lucky for 1 IPO.
6. Spending 5 mins on Technofino every day is giving me a lot of insights into CC and banking.
7. And much more than all of these, Health and Peace of mind are bigger/biggest rewards than all. More to work on this in 2025.

 

[manoj28]

Learnt about autopay for CC in BBPS (via HDFC and Slice bill pay). Big relief as I have an ICICI CC, without savings account.

Learnt about different new scams (through multiple sources, specifically thanks to IBF).

Learnt about the importance of paying MAD (min amount due) early. Thanks for TF community for this.

Hi , can u confirm that credit card bill autopay for any bank card is possible from HDFC bank. can u plz provide for more info on that. I have multiple cc from diff banks and no savings account in HDFC

 

[6ix9ine]

Hi , can u confirm that credit card bill autopay for any bank card is possible from HDFC bank. can u plz provide for more info on that. I have multiple cc from diff banks and no savings account in HDFC

It's not for you then. You need bank account.

 

[Pradumya]

1. Started this year with only 3 cards, ending with 8 cards now. All of the cards are useful for me in some spends or other.
2. Passed SEBI investor certification exam this year and now next year will give research analyst exam.
3. Applied in 40+ IPOs and got allotment in 5 of them.
4. Ending my year with 39% overall gains in stock market (incl realized and unrealized gains) as on 23rd December 2024.
5. Learnt that we can also escalate the complaint to PMO if RBI ombudsman doesn't solve the problem. Though there's no guarantee that it will be solved by them as well.

 

[kuchbhi]

2. Passed SEBI investor certification exam this year and now next year will give research analyst exam.

what is that exam
and what is eligibility criteria and benefits

 

[Strange]

5. Learnt that we can also escalate the complaint to PMO if RBI ombudsman doesn't solve the problem.

What's the process to register a complaint in PMO?

 

[Pradumya]

What's the process to register a complaint in PMO?

Sign up here

https://pmopg.gov.in/citizenreforms

 

[manoj28]

It's not for you then. You need bank account.

If i open hdfc bank account , will i be able to set autopay for other bank credit bills.
please let me know.

 

[AllThatStuff]

Nice thread to keep coming back ☺️

 

[naviworks]

Learnt to earn points by using debit card to pay cc bill which already earned me points 😎

Learnt to be more meticulous on ‘where to use which card’ for max benefits. For ex
Using airtel axis cc to pay airtel pp family plan bills and other utility bills
Using IndusInd easydiner for restaurant spends in easy diner app
Limiting spends on Amex travel to 4 lakh per year etc

Learnt it’s possible to live without any HDFC card and still get max benefits from alternate cards

Thanks @cardio_guy

 

[Nishan11]

Joined in mid 2022, and on 2024 I finally got in game of earning miles & points for flight redemption & luxury hotel bookings.

Added much needed super premium/premium cards for this. Still learning how to optimize my spends to earn more rewards. Hopefully in 2025, I will be fully professional on this front. I have 3-4 international trips next year & multiple domestic trips, I hope to utilize my cards fully for hitting milestones & earning big rewards.

This forum is super addictive. During official meetings/tours, most of the times I can't help myself from opening this forum to check out updates 😂.

Whatever knowledge I have about credit cards & its uses is all due to this forum only. 🥳

 

[cardio_guy]

@Nishan11 I totally agree that this forum is one of the best for day-to-day banking and card-related information. 😄

By the way, I'm also trying to switch from using cashback-based cards to reward-point-based cards. Currently, my go-to cards are Swiggy HDFC and Amazon Pay ICICI for all my purchases. Recently, I've started using Neu infinity for UPI spends as well.
However, I've noticed that my overall reward rate on combined spends is only around 3-4% at most. While there are some cards that offer 10% reward rate on some categories, there are many spends that fall into the basic 1% category (lower reward rate), which significantly brings down the overall returns. 😔

I'm really eager to explore reward point-based cards and would love to know how and where to get started. If someone could share their experience and let me know which cards you have and how beneficial they are, that would be amazing! 😊

Also, if anyone here is an expert in voucher/coupon multiplier sites like smartbuy, gyfr, grabdeals, cashkaro, Magicpin, Park+, I would greatly appreciate it if you could explain how they work and how to buy coupons for the best returns. Thank you so much! 🙏

 

[tachniki]

My biggest learning this year was that my expenses in not about 8 - 10 lakhs that I had been assuming for last 10 years but 17 lakhs last year. 😱. At start of this year, I reviewed bank accounts to check outflows and it was significant more than what I assumed. I have been reviewing my expenses monthly. Not particularly, to cut expenses as of now but making sure I am aware of my expenses.

Next I reviewed credit cards and I knew I needed different cards. I started with applying SBI cashback, Axis Airtel, HSBC Live+ and Infinia. I also applied some wasteful cards- ICICI MMT (that I didn't activate) and IDFC Wealth. I already had Citi rewards, ICICI Amazon pay, Sbi simplyclick and Tata Neu Infinity. Luckily CIBIL score has stayed in range of 802 - 807 in spite of all credit card activities.