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HDFC Bank Credit Cards Huge Devaluation Effective From 1st August 2024 | Extra Fees On Utility, Education Payments

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A few months ago, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank, and several other banks started charging extra fees on utility, education, and a few other category payments. Recently, HDFC Bank has also joined this trend. Now, HDFC Bank customers need to pay additional service fees for making payments for utilities, education, and similar categories using HDFC Bank credit cards. Let's learn more about the applicable fees.

Rent Pay Transactions: 1% fee on transaction amount will be levied on rental transactions done on any applicable merchant for the month.
Fee capped at Rs 3000 per transaction.

Utility Transactions: 1% fee will be levied on utility transactions exceeding Rs 50,000 for consumer cards and Rs.75,000 for business cards in a month Fee will be applied on the total transacted amount.
Fee capped at Rs 3000 per transaction.

Education Transactions: 1% fee will be levied on Education transactions done through third party applications like (but not limited to) CRED, PhonePe, No-broker, Cheq etc.
Fee capped at Rs 3000 per transaction.
Education transactions done directly through college / school websites or through POS machines at their premises will not be charged. International Education transactions will not be charged.

Rewards Redemption Fee: ₹99 Per redemption request - Applicable for all cards other than Infinia/ Infinia (Metal Edition)/ Diners Black Metal Edition/ Diners Black Card/ BizBlack Metal Card/ H.O.G Diners Club Credit Card. Rewards Redemption Fee will not be charged on redemption of reward points towards cashback.

Cashback Redemption Charges: ₹50 per cashback redemption (Excluding Infinia , Infinia (Metal Edition), Diners Black, Diners Black (Metal Edition), Biz Black, Biz Black (Metal Edition), Tata Neu Infinity, Tata Neu Plus, Swiggy , Flipkart Wholesale ,Marriot Bonvoy, IndiGo 6E Rewards, IndiGo 6E Rewards XL , Intermiles)

The above service fees apply to all HDFC Bank credit cards. As you may already know, HDFC Bank has a fair use policy for all their credit cards, which means they have set a limit on the maximum rewards you can earn per statement cycle. For example, with the HDFC Bank Infinia Credit Card, you can earn a maximum of 2 lakhs, and with the Diners Black Card, 75K. I believe this is an effective way to prevent credit card misuse by business spenders. HDFC Bank has demonstrated to the industry that it is possible to curb misuse without devaluing the entire product. By capping the maximum rewards you can earn in a statement cycle and charging extra fees on low-margin categories like utility and education after certain spending limits are reached, they have struck a balance.

I think this devaluation will not affect majority of HDFC Bank credit card users, as the spending limits for each category are decent enough for a normal person. I believe other banks should follow this approach and implement fair use policies rather than devaluing the entire product.

Source Attached: HDFC Bank Credit Card MITC (25th June, 2024)
 

Attachments

So the 59 rs. fee on 3k redemption means 5% cashback now becomes ~4.9%. The loss is non zero, but is it really so much as to make the card useless ?!
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Every month I redeem the points to cashback now I have to wait to reduce the impact of reward redemption fee. Millenia was marketed as a cashback card now it's a rewards card
 
Rent Pay Transactions: 1% fee on transaction amount will be levied on rental transactions done on any applicable merchant for the month.
Fee capped at Rs 3000 per transaction.
My HDFC Mail says this:
1. Rental Transactions:

If you use services like (but not limited to) CRED, PayTM, Cheq, MobiKwik, Freecharge, and others to pay rent, a 1% fee will be charged on the transaction amount and capped at ₹3000 per transaction.

Category. Merchant Category Codes (MCC)
Rent 6513
So is it all or only 3rd party? Can I use HDFC Billpay and only end up with RedGiraffe appx 1% charges. Or Payzapp? What is its MCC for rent? If payzapp is also 3rd party, how about loading wallet and making the rent payment?

I want to make spends on my first CC which is DCP, if charges are only 1%(net) i can break even with Platinum DC and Unipay.
Will it count towards spend milestones? Even if not, spending and timely payment will help boost my cibil score right?
 
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I have Millennia and i received the same mail. But here one confusion, this education is max for per txn or 50k in whole statement? in my mail its mentioned, per txn......clarify plz
 
Has anyone noticed that people are slowly receiving these emails according to their card variants?
(initially people with freedom & moneyback got email, followed by Millennia users then Regalia & DCP)
I'm holding Infinia and still yet to receive this email.

MY THEORY: HDFC is slowly sending out to test the waters (unlike Axis) and gather customers' responses.

For all Millennia holders: Drop an email to HDFC accepting all other changes but asking them to reconsider Reward redemption fee for Millennia card.
If they receive a good no. of emails, they might roll it back.......
@TechnoFino @SSV What do you guys think?
 
Has anyone noticed that people are slowly receiving these emails according to their card variants?
(initially people with freedom & moneyback got email, followed by Millennia users then Regalia & DCP)
I'm holding Infinia and still yet to receive this email.
Did anyone with DCB receive this email?
 
Has anyone noticed that people are slowly receiving these emails according to their card variants?
(initially people with freedom & moneyback got email, followed by Millennia users then Regalia & DCP)
I'm holding Infinia and still yet to receive this email.

MY THEORY: HDFC is slowly sending out to test the waters (unlike Axis) and gather customers' responses.

For all Millennia holders: Drop an email to HDFC accepting all other changes but asking them to reconsider Reward redemption fee for Millennia card.
If they receive a good no. of emails, they might roll it back.......
@TechnoFino @SSV What do you guys think?
This is correct and it is definitely worth a try.
 
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