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

[TechnoFino]

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)

 

[sousnake]

Yes , this has to be the approach that every banker should follow..
Eliminate the weed to protect genuine.

I don't want to raise the name the other bank which actually does the opposite..
Eliminate the genuine and encourage the weed..

Sirji I think.. I think..... I think I know which bank you are talking about 😉

 

[sousnake]

Payzapp/Billpay se shayad abhi bhi 1st transaction free h. Ye 3rd party apps ke liye bole h shayad

Yeah need to confirm this.
If red giraffe + billpay still works without charges.

 

[Indrajeet100]

Want to understand education fees part. When I pay education fees on school website, it takes me to payment gateway where it charges .8% for Credit card payment. Now how this 1% will work. Does it mean over and above .8% already getting paid? Will make Regalia Card virtually useless for me. My quarterly fees itself got me quarterly milestone and annual 5lacs milestone.

 

[SunnyM]

Want to understand education fees part. When I pay education fees on school website, it takes me to payment gateway where it charges .8% for Credit card payment. Now how this 1% will work. Does it mean over and above .8% already getting paid? Will make Regalia Card virtually useless for me. My quarterly fees itself got me quarterly milestone and annual 5lacs milestone.

I have a similar query. I don't think paying directly on the school's website should have any extra charges but I am not sure about the reward/cashback on cards used.

 

[opaque]

For Millenia credit card, do rewards get added to statement automatically (or) should it be manually redeemed with Rs.50 charge going forward?

 

[varun__goel_]

For Millenia credit card, do rewards get added to statement automatically (or) should it be manually redeemed with Rs.50 charge going forward?

Have to be redeemed manually...

 

[sourpai]

Want to understand education fees part. When I pay education fees on school website, it takes me to payment gateway where it charges .8% for Credit card payment. Now how this 1% will work. Does it mean over and above .8% already getting paid? Will make Regalia Card virtually useless for me. My quarterly fees itself got me quarterly milestone and annual 5lacs milestone.

This will not attract 1%. As it constitutes to direct payment via school portal

If you pay via Cred, Paytm, housing etc by inputting account details / UPI ID manually then 1% will be charged

 

[Saipsy]

Got this mail.

Revisions to Your HDFC Bank Credit Card Terms Effective

August 1st, 2024

Dear Valued Cardholder,



Here’s an important update on your XXXXXX Credit Card. Effective August 1st , 2024, the following revision to your HDFC Bank Credit card charges will apply.

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
2. Fuel Transactions:

If you spend less than ₹ 15000 per transaction on fuel, no additional fee will be charged. However, if you spend more than ₹ 15000 per transaction on fuel, a 1% fee will be charged on the entire amount and capped at ₹3000 per transaction.

Category. Merchant Category Codes (MCC)
Fuel 1361,5172,5541,5542,5983,9752
3. Utility Transactions:

If you spend less than ₹ 50000 per transaction on Utilities, no additional fee will be charged. However, if you spend more than ₹50000 per transaction on utilities, a 1% fee will be charged on the entire amount and capped at ₹3000 per transaction.

Category. Merchant Category Codes (MCC)
Utility 4900
Insurance transactions will not be considered as Utility transactions and hence no charge will be applicable.

4. Educational Transactions:

If you make education payments through college/school websites or their POS machines, there will be no fees. International education payments are excluded from this charge. However, on education payments through third-party apps like (but not limited to) CRED, PayTM, Cheq, MobiKwik and others, a 1% fee will be charged and capped at ₹3000 per transaction.

Category. Merchant Category Codes (MCC)
Education 8211,8220,8241,8244,8249,8299
5. Late Payment:

Our late payment fee structure has been revised as follows:

Outstanding Amount Slab Revised Charges
<= ₹ 100 Nil
₹ 101 - 500 ₹ 100
₹ 501 - 1000 ₹ 500
₹ 1001 - 5000 ₹ 600
₹ 5001 - 10000 ₹ 750
₹ 10001 - 25000 ₹ 900
₹ 25001 - 50000 ₹ 1,100
> ₹ 50000 ₹ 1,300

6. Rewards Redemption towards Statement Credit:

If you redeem your rewards towards statement credit (CashBack), a ₹50 redemption fee will be charged.

7. Finance Charges:

If you avail the revolving credit facility & hence choose to pay an amount less than the total amount due reflected in the monthly billing statement, finance charges of 3.75% (per month) will be applicable from the transaction date till the outstanding balance is paid in full . Applicable to all retail & cash transactions

8. Easy-EMI Processing Fee:

If you avail the Easy-EMI option at any online / offline store, EMI processing fee of up to ₹299 will be charged.

All fees are subject to GST as per government regulations.



The Merchant Category codes are defined by the network (Visa, Master Card, Rupay, Diners). HDFC Bank does not define the merchant category.



For more details, kindly refer to MITC <link>



If you have any questions or need further information, please contact our customer service team or visit your nearest HDFC Bank branch.



Thank You for Choosing HDFC Bank!

Warm Regards,
HDFC Bank

 

[panu24]

Duplicate of
Thread 'HDFC Bank Credit Cards Huge Devaluation Effective From 1st August 2024 | Extra Fees On Utility, Education Payments' https://www.technofino.in/community...tra-fees-on-utility-education-payments.28196/

@vaibhav111 merge this.

 

[Buttman]

If you redeem your rewards towards statement credit (CashBack), a ₹50 redemption fee will be charged.

Nice hdfc

This shucks for my Millenia.

 

[akshayhs]

 

[James]

I don't like putting a reward redemption fee on millenia. They were advertising it as a cashback card. Other devaluations are okay

 

[Trust Me]

Ab millenia card bekar ho gaya with cash redemption fee. Swiggy is the new king

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 ?!
.

 

[SSV]

So the 59 rs. fee on 3k redemption means 5% cashback now becomes ~4.9%. The loss is so much as to make the card useless ?!
.

Correct .. Its all how we perceive things mentally..
and this is termed as HUGE devaluation at many places by many people.. ..
these days minor changes in T&Cs or fine tuning of the reward structure with an intent to benefit the genuine users by aiming to extend the longetivity of the cards... all these are termed as HUGE devaluation.. very sad..
What is missing here, the Banks also need to survive .. for this to achieve they need to fine tune their portfolio periodically ..
Just a normal business practice for many well run organisations.

 

[thanix]

My wife just received same mail for Regalia. There is real issue that international and cross currency transactions will have 3.5% mark up.

 

[ThriftyPlasticPundit]

can you get swiggy card based on card or relationship with hdfc or is exclusiv through app.

i think redemption fee is deal breaker for me, so might email nodal to swap millenia with swiggy

 

[thanix]

Essentially they killed Regalia. The 2% markup which reduces to 1% with GVP is the only remaining useful feature of that card after 1L spend criteria literally removed lounge access. Looks like hdfc is pushing for Regalia gold onwards and make it fee based for LTF cards.

 

[infinia_dedo]

I got email for my Regalia card

But thing is I already upgraded to Regalia Gold last week

Now I dont know whether same is applicable to Regalia Gold or not

 

[Hemang]

Essentially they killed Regalia. The 2% markup which reduces to 1% with GVP is the only remaining useful feature of that card after 1L spend criteria literally removed lounge access. Looks like hdfc is pushing for Regalia gold onwards and make it fee based for LTF cards.

bhai GVP kya hai ?

 

[Riva]

I don't understand what is HUGE in this devaluation...
It is just a normal devaluation in the course of a life cycle of any CC...

For a HUGE number of interaction in the thread the word HUGE needs to be there.. else who will click and read?