HDFC offering Infinia against investment - is it worth it?

[amitr29]

With all due respect to your decision and reasoning, whenever someone talks about ULIP and Infinia, somehow you try to justify or convince people otherwise. I have M4B and I keep10 lacs balance in my account but I never respond to anyone, who says m4B is not worth 10 lacs FD or 30 lacs TRV or it's a shit card. You will find 100 of such posts. I have taken a call and don't need to justify anyone or respond to everyone.

Don't take me wrong but sometime if feels, that you are still trying to convince yourself about your decision, rather than someone else. People will have their opinion, just try to understand their side and not take everything personally. Cheers!

I had said this many times in many threads...
In fact that is the main factor that made me to think about this alternative route.
But people immediately react as soon as they see this four letter word,ULIP, as if it is the massive sin word. They don't even try to think the whole picture. They get poonakalu as soon as they see ULIP and vent whatever they have from their personal perspective, without considering the factors that influences at a macro level.

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

After reading this thread, a lot of similarities can be seen between an iPhone and an Infinia. First being that both starts with an i 😉

To get a free iphone , Club Mahindra would give it to you if you opt for their membership

And for Infinia , HDFC sells it through its ULIP routes 😂😂😂

Indeed there is a similarity

 

[SSV]

With all due respect to your decision and reasoning, whenever someone talks about ULIP and Infinia, somehow you try to justify or convince people otherwise. I have M4B and I keep10 lacs balance in my account but I never respond to anyone, who says m4B is not worth 10 lacs FD or 30 lacs TRV or it's a shit card. You will find 100 of such posts. I have taken a call and don't need to justify anyone or respond to everyone.

Don't take me wrong but sometime if feels, that you are still trying to convince yourself about your decision, rather than someone else. People will have their opinion, just try to understand their side and not take everything personally. Cheers!

Again I don't get offended by your views.
The same conclusion can be drawn for you and many others as soon as someone say they got something by investing in ULIP, how it can be dangerous to one's financial health repeatedly.

I don't need to defend , as you guys repeatedly said it is a healthy discussion otherwise there is no meaning in this forum.

You can see I had 11k posts, doing what??
discussing on different subjects across different spectrum.

I know exactly what I am doing and disclosing the same ..

And also most importantly, one will get to deduce some deductions mostly based on how they think..
I am not thinking about defending myselfat all .. are you??😉

 

[amitr29]

I am not thinking about defending.. are you??😉

Not at all, because If I want to take Infinia against ULIP ,it's easiest way & I can take tomorrow. God has been kind and all thanks to him 😃

 

[SSV]

Not at all, because If I want to take Infinia against ULIP ,it's easiest way & I can take tomorrow. God has been kind and all thanks to him 😃

I am not talking about infina and ULIP..
Defending your views..

 

[amitr29]

I am not talking about infina and ULIP..
Defending your views..

I have just given my opinion on initial post of this thread 🙂 but not got upset with anyone who has presented different opinion

 

[SSV]

I have just given my opinion on initial post of this thread 🙂 but not got upset with anyone who has presented different opinion

I am also doing the same thing
1) answering the questions posed
2) participating in the discussion from my view rather than keeping it open ended..
But you got a different impression of it..

 

[Lobogris]

Infinia would have been the best card if it had a 180000 yearly limit instead of 15000 monthly limit.

The card is still best for hotel bookings assuming prices on smartbuy are not inflated.

Also can any infinia user explain how do they optimise for 15000 points monthly?i mean 25k for amazon,15k for swiggy,10K for zomato.how do you spend rest every month is it flights/hotels? @S S V

There is no need to try and get 15k points every month. I just use it as needed and am happy with whatever points I end up earning.

 

[Riya]

As I said before, imagine if I had to go thru the traditional route , I need to wait for 10 years and spend upwards 30L amd most irritatingly beg HDFC, by that time whatever the card that would be available may not be useful....
As I am not working full time these days , I won't even qualify for their income criteria.

Hence this route suits me the most and now I am not even thinking about any CCs to get or need to plan any spending to get any premium cards..
Instead I have more time to manage my investment portfolio which includes ULIP as well...

Good thinking...👍
Focusing on assets, investments rather than liabilities (cards)...
Credit cards are unnecessary debt pits we are creating for ourselves...

 

[Zacobite]

could you give alternative card that is better than Infinia.? Assuming get aroung 6% above extra on that card. Actually if we purchase 3L smartbuy vouchers in a year, we get 50k. So, checking if I miss anything?

correct 13.33 -16.66% return in form of points + unlimited 3.33% on all other spends ( with some excl.) .. no card gives better base returns overall infinia / DCB of you have decent annual spends... SBI CB has 5.% on online with some limits.. SCB ULT has 3.33% but poor redemption options at a lower annual fee..The trap is if you don't have high spends and try to forcibly create spends just for returns or fee waiver.. then it is a big black hole...

 

[Zacobite]

Again I don't get offended by your views.
The same conclusion can be drawn for you and many others as soon as someone say they got something by investing in ULIP, how it can be dangerous to one's financial health repeatedly.

I don't need to defend , as you guys repeatedly said it is a healthy discussion otherwise there is no meaning in this forum.

You can see I had 11k posts, doing what??
discussing on different subjects across different spectrum.

I know exactly what I am doing and disclosing the same ..

And also most importantly, one will get to deduce some deductions mostly based on how they think..
I am not thinking about defending myselfat all .. are you??😉

Each to his own.. ULIP is a legal product and has advantages.. Infinia is a good product and has benefits.. I would guess... hear all sides and do what works for you.. I have to admit some divergent views always help in decisions.. Cheers to everyone sharing.. likw you said.. its the whole point of a forum... thx a lotttt 🙂

 

[Deleted member 9785]

one argument i hear is fund gives back all charge after 10 years?

But what about time value of money?

Wat about case you cant contunue with investment due to crisis. The surrender value goest shit

 

[Zacobite]

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I read in this forum that we can get Infinia by investment route. I enquired about it with bank. They are offering Infinia if I invest 1.5 Lakh/year (earlier they were demanding 2 Lakh/year, but when I declined they came down to 1.5, and now they are eager to sell the policy, calling multiple times a day saying they got approval for Infinia). They are saying I can surrender the policy after 3 years and get the money back. I have few questions: How much money I will get back if I surrender the policy after 3 years (they are claiming I will get back 6-6.5 lakhs) ?
Is it worth it to invest 1.5 Lakh to get Infinia? I have Regalia Gold.
Thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.
Note: Infinia offered is not LTF. They are claiming RBI made some rules, so they cannot offer LTF for super premium cards.
Policy offered is Sampoorna Jeevs

I read in this forum that we can get Infinia by investment route. I enquired about it with bank. They are offering Infinia if I invest 1.5 Lakh/year (earlier they were demanding 2 Lakh/year, but when I declined they came down to 1.5, and now they are eager to sell the policy, calling multiple times a day saying they got approval for Infinia). They are saying I can surrender the policy after 3 years and get the money back. I have few questions: How much money I will get back if I surrender the policy after 3 years (they are claiming I will get back 6-6.5 lakhs) ?
Is it worth it to invest 1.5 Lakh to get Infinia? I have Regalia Gold.
Thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.
Note: Infinia offered is not LTF. They are claiming RBI made some rules, so they cannot offer LTF for super premium cards.
Policy offered is Sampoorna Jeevan

Sampoorna Jeevan is not a ULIP.. it is a traditional plan with IRR at around 5.4 % although tax free .. So assume that you are making an FD.. with a lock in.. Surrender values are not good in such plans.. You will lose money.. if u can hold full term then take it.. else dont... the 12.5 k infinia fee is better.. atleast you will get points for the fee...Traditional plans ( not linked to stock market) have 30-40% year 1 commissions for the bank, ulip ( linked to stock market) commissions have dropped now so are not so aggressively sold by banks anymore... Technically ULIPs will make you more money that Traditional plans.. However there are better ways to invest in the stock market.. directly.. So.... Now you can decide if not done already

 

[amitr29]

one argument i hear is fund gives back all charge after 10 years?

But what about time value of money?

Wat about case you cant contunue with investment due to crisis. The surrender value goest shit

Funds never give back charges but sales pitch is such that you will recover your charges through market returns. What they don't tell is that charges are deducted from initial investment amount. Also, in case of emergency, if you withdraw, surrender value is pathetic. Unlike,MF where you can withdraw anytime.

 

[HumorSimpson]

Funds never give back charges but sales pitch is such that you will recover your charges through market returns. What they don't tell is that charges are deducted from initial investment amount. Also, in case of emergency, if you withdraw, surrender value is pathetic. Unlike,MF where you can withdraw anytime.

Too much truth in just 2 lines. Salute.

 

[SSV]

one argument i hear is fund gives back all charge after 10 years?

But what about time value of money?

Wat about case you cant contunue with investment due to crisis. The surrender value goest shit

In my view:

1) ULIPs should be part of your diversifed portfolio.. Ideally... not the only / main componenet of your Investment portfolio...
Example: if you have 10L to invest.. then ULIP shouldnot be part of your portfolio. If you have more than 1 cr investment portfolio, then ULIPs may be considered depending upon personal situations. (ULIPs here mean the modern ones, not the antiques that were referred here. things have changed since the last one / two decades) .

2) About pre-mature withdrawal, every investment vehicle has returns based on time invested.. If you are looking for pre-mature withdrawal especially before 5 to 10 years ULIPS are sh*t as you pointed out.. thats why I talked about these should be part of your diversified portfoio, not the solo, / main..
and also for most of the investments pre-mature withdrawl results in sh*t only, but whther sh*ttier / not depends on your crisis timing..
Eg: what happens when your crisis comes at a time, when your MF is underperforming at the loss of 10 to 20% ??

Note: Numbers quoted here are for illustration purposes only. Actual number may vary according to the individual situations..

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

could you give alternative card that is better than Infinia.? Assuming get aroung 6% above extra on that card. Actually if we purchase 3L smartbuy vouchers in a year, we get 50k. So, checking if I miss anything?

There can never be a single best card , it would depend on one's spends.

Like say for someone whose majority transactions are into government spends Infinia would give him 0 rewards , he would choose milestone based cards like the ones of vistara etc.

For someone who is into travelling a lot the accelerated points given on 5x/10x would be restricted to only 15k where has he can get unlimited 10% on atlas ( for Infinia this 33%/16% are all restricted to only 15k points a month)

For someone who purchases normal Apay vouchers for about 10-12k a month ( GC + MRCC ) combined would give higher returns than Infinia

For normal spending again Atlas would give higher base returns

For luxury spends ( Plat charge with its 20x/10x) would give better returns than Infinia

For high spending upwards 1.5 lakhs , Burgundy Magnus would beat the f*** out of Infinia

For forex there are cards like Prestige , Reserve , Plat Charge , even DCB with GVP gives simmilar or higher returns ( DCB metal even counts those spends for its quarterly milestones )

Newer cards like Marquee provides better returns than Infinia for medium spends, Yes Reserv with subscription is also good.

I still don't understand what category of spends does Infinia qualifies to be called as best rewarding card ??

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

In a typical case, it is not a few years,
It is an average of 7 to 8 years , and the spends of an average of 20 to 30L ( some of which would mostly include some forced spending to meet LE and upgrade spending targets, which otherwise they would not make).

On top of all of these , requesting for LEs and Upgrades ( people call it requesting, I call it begging the Bank ) .
I basically don’t like begging… especially when I am at customer’s side, with money in my hand.

It's not like that , there are hundreds of Infinia holders in this forum , many have been issued Infinia directly from the cc application site .
Mostly Infinia would come pre-approved with Diners if salary is more than 2.75 lakhs a month.

Many have Infinia LTF , when it was distributed to almost everyone during the MC ban

Many have easily upgraded to Infinia .

It doesn't take 7 years to get an upgrade , with a decent profile and decent spends it can issued.

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

The requirement to get Infinia is pretty simple and doesn't require any loopholes
Salary above 2.75 lakhs per month net
Spends 7.5 lakhs in last 6 months
Limit above 8-10 lakhs

If you meet those you can get your card upgraded to Infinia

 

[Lobogris]

The requirement to get Infinia is pretty simple and doesn't require any loopholes
Salary above 2.75 lakhs per month net
Spends 7.5 lakhs in last 6 months
Limit above 8-10 lakhs

If you meet those you can get your card upgraded to Infinia

And if you are stuck with Moneyback with a 60k limit and are self employed where HDFC doesn't like your ITR? ULIP route is taken by desperate people or people who value convenience and speed. If a person had a normal salary of 3 lakhs plus, a proper job with a large corporation and an existing HDFC Regalia with an 8 lakhs plus limit, then he isn't going to try the ULIP route.