HDFC Infinia or HDFC DCB | Advice regarding Primary Card

[sd.ac]

I am new to this informative forum. I request advice.

I have a HDFC account with a paid DCB with a CL of 8L and spends of about 7L in the last 7 months. I asked HDFC (Priority.Redressal) for some options and they offer (1) a LTF DCB (under an ongoing 'alumnus offer') or (2) a FYF Metal Infinia.

I am confused by this choice because my annual spends are usually 5-7 L so I will not reach the waiver mark of 10L for Infinia. On the other hand, the DCB has been devalued a lot with strict limits on Smartbuy. Also, the DCB has limitations with offline acceptance and I find that tap-to-pay often does not work. So for DCB I will need one more Visa card (suggestions welcome).

Another option: apply for a SC Ultimate Card (will have to apply to find out if I am eligible).

Would be grateful for advice from members of this forum. Thank you.

(I travel only a few times in the year; spends are usually on shopping - online and offline, restaurants, utilities, Zomato/Swiggy and Amazon)

 

[moonsmart]

If you can optimally use Infinia rewards, travel and airmiles, etc., then even the paid variant makes sense. But if you don't wish to redeem on airmiles, SC ultimate might better suit you and you can get DCB converted to LTF.

 

[vaibhav111vaibhav111 is verified member.]

I am new to this informative forum. I request advice.

I have a HDFC account with a paid DCB with a CL of 8L and spends of about 7L in the last 7 months. I asked HDFC (Priority.Redressal) for some options and they offer (1) a LTF DCB (under an ongoing 'alumnus offer') or (2) a FYF Metal Infinia.

I am confused by this choice because my annual spends are usually 5-7 L so I will not reach the waiver mark of 10L for Infinia. On the other hand, the DCB has been devalued a lot with strict limits on Smartbuy. Also, the DCB has limitations with offline acceptance and I find that tap-to-pay often does not work. So for DCB I will need one more Visa card (suggestions welcome).

Another option: apply for a SC Ultimate Card (will have to apply to find out if I am eligible).

Would be grateful for advice from members of this forum. Thank you.

(I travel only a few times in the year; spends are usually on shopping - online and offline, restaurants, utilities, Zomato/Swiggy and Amazon)

see you got get reward point in exchange of paying fees only difference is GST amount you would pay and in second year you can call hdfc cc before the fees is applicable and ask for wavier (Credit card Retention Team does help and won't let good customer go), or apply for magnus cause you had spend 1 lakhs each month it seem and get DCB as LTF

 

[RiddhiDeopura]

I don't see any reason not to get the Infinia. You'll get reward points of equal value to the Fees paid every year. You'll only have to pay gst.

 

[hashiro7hashiro7 is verified member.]

I am new to this informative forum. I request advice.

Get FYF Infinia - think about the fees and all from next year. Don't think and take advice, just take it. Thank me later.

 

[sd.ac]

Thank you all for the helpful responses. Since I do not fly frequently, and Amazon (which I use regularly) is off smartbuy, isn't the Infinia only a 'little better' than a DCB (both returning 3.3% offline) - so the LTF on the DCB appears extra-attractive. Unless I am missing something here...

 

[gurubhai]

Think of it in this way: DCB is anyways LTF for you if you spend above 5L in general but you are kind of forced to spend till 5L.
Getting DCB LTF will open opportunities for you to explore other cards such as SC Ultimate Card and you won't be forced to use DCB in order to get fees waived off.
Also in future always there will be an option for you to upgrade to infinia based on your spends/salary. (If DCB devaluated more )
If you go for FYF Infinia now and I feel you will be in kind of handcuffed situation or you will be ok with paying renewal fees every year.
This is my take on this. Choice is yours.
PS. I also went for DCB LTF only when I was in your situation a month back.

 

[rjsudeep]

Yeah, Infinia too has been devalued quite a bit, so DCB LTF would make sense I guess.

 

[sd.ac]

Question: when redeeming points for flights or hotel bookings, there is ZERO difference between DCB and Infinia. Differences are ONLY when making bookings - due to per day capping of accelerated rewards. Is this correct? Thank you

 

[anotheruser]

yes, both value reward points equally

 

[mojo_jojo123]

Do we know till when Alumni offer is available ?

 

[sd.ac]

Posting this because my experience may be useful to people confused about (1) choosing between a LTF DCB and a paid Infinia OR (2) people considering a move from Visa to Diners Club.

I hold a LTF DCB and have found the DCB to be a good card overall. However, I suddenly experienced a few offline rejections, in a tier 1 city, for important spends. I am not comfortable with this uncertainty over whether Diners will be accepted in a particular establishment or not. I also found myself wasting time in new places wondering whether to swipe the DCB or a backup Visa card (and tap-to-pay never worked).

I wrote to HDFC requesting an upgrade to an Infinia. Grievance Redressal said ‘No’ because of ‘internal guidelines’ - I suspect because I upgraded to the LTF DCB only 3 weeks ago. From this nice forum, I saw two mentions of writing to Mr. Parag Rao - something that would not have occurred to me (thank you). I did so and just received an email from Priority-Redressal-Chairman/MD-desk approving this upgrade.

While Diners acceptance is fairly good, my message is to not rely on it as your primary card - even in major cities. Also, as discussed on page 1 of this thread, I miss the tap-to-pay feature which I find extremely convenient for small amounts.

I didn’t consider a Magnus card because (a) I have infrequent travel, (b) my spends are below 1L a month and (c) I have dealt with Axis customer support for many years.

In hindsight, I should have just listened to ' hashiro7 ' above, ha ha - thank you hashiro7 !

 

[Mohur]

Infinia all the way. Getting 2% or 3% rewards in any card is okay but the real difference lies in their reward catalog and the point whether you can get 1RP = Rs 1.

Being a non-traveller, I convert infinia rewards points to tanishq vouchers. You can also convert to apple products.

Other cards magnus, Amex etc have more emphasis on travel and hotel benefits.

 

[gurubhai]

Infinia all the way. Getting 2% or 3% rewards in any card is okay but the real difference lies in their reward catalog and the point whether you can get 1RP = Rs 1.

Being a non-traveller, I convert infinia rewards points to tanishq vouchers. You can also convert to apple products.

Other cards magnus, Amex etc have more emphasis on travel and hotel benefits.

Tanishq voucher and apple product option is not available to DCB right??

 

[Slayer]

Tanishq voucher and apple product option is not available to DCB right??

Through smartbuy reward redemption, reward catalogue is common for both dcb and infinia
And anyway you can only pay upto 70% via points of any tanishq voucher or apple products

 

[gurubhai]

Through smartbuy reward redemption, reward catalogue is common for both dcb and infinia
And anyway you can only pay upto 70% via points of any tanishq voucher or apple products

this is nice. It is not written on DCB website page afaik so I never considered them.

 

[Slayer]

this is nice. It is not written on DCB website page afaik so I never considered them.

That's basically 80-90% of super-premium card holders (including my father)

 

[Mohur]

Tanishq voucher and apple product option is not available to DCB right??

I am not sure about DCB since I never used it. For infinia, Tanishq is what I use for reward point redemption.

You must confirm the same for DCB from someone holding DCB or by calling HDFC credit card customer care

 

[mojo_jojo123]

Posting this because my experience may be useful to people confused about (1) choosing between a LTF DCB and a paid Infinia OR (2) people considering a move from Visa to Diners Club.

I hold a LTF DCB and have found the DCB to be a good card overall. However, I suddenly experienced a few offline rejections, in a tier 1 city, for important spends. I am not comfortable with this uncertainty over whether Diners will be accepted in a particular establishment or not. I also found myself wasting time in new places wondering whether to swipe the DCB or a backup Visa card (and tap-to-pay never worked).

I wrote to HDFC requesting an upgrade to an Infinia. Grievance Redressal said ‘No’ because of ‘internal guidelines’ - I suspect because I upgraded to the LTF DCB only 3 weeks ago. From this nice forum, I saw two mentions of writing to Mr. Parag Rao - something that would not have occurred to me (thank you). I did so and just received an email from Priority-Redressal-Chairman/MD-desk approving this upgrade.

While Diners acceptance is fairly good, my message is to not rely on it as your primary card - even in major cities. Also, as discussed on page 1 of this thread, I miss the tap-to-pay feature which I find extremely convenient for small amounts.

I didn’t consider a Magnus card because (a) I have infrequent travel, (b) my spends are below 1L a month and (c) I have dealt with Axis customer support for many years.

In hindsight, I should have just listened to ' hashiro7 ' above, ha ha - thank you hashiro7 !

So you got recently LTF infinia ?

 

[churn]

Do we know till when Alumni offer is available ?

They had these Alumni offer going on for a very long time- more than 7 years- but at that time they used to set up stalls during our alumni meet, and you needed to apply there (Give them the details, and they will follow up). Also, at that time, only a limited number of institutions were part of the list. Now, they have increased the institutions on the list, and also you could apply outside of these alumni meets. I do not think it will be stopped all of a sudden, but maybe DCB will be devalued over a period of time. But if you are eligible, why do u hold yourself from applying?