How to convert DCB into LTF?

[Bugs Bunny]

Can you guys please guide me to convert DCB into LTF as it has devalued a lot. Tried contacting the RM by offering good balance but he's useless. Threatened to close the credit card but bank is adamant. Is there any way to convert it to ltf?

 

[Prime Carlsen]

If I was OP I'd just switch to Magnus and continue to use it in place of DCB. Simply because Magnus gives you better value than DCB at every turn.

IFF I could afford the card's annual fees. I wouldn't worry about the card spend bonuses (unless my daddy was really really wealthy!) 🙂

Hotel booking? On smartbuy DCB gives 33% airmiles as opposed to 24% on magnus via travel edge.

Ofcourse considering milestone benefits of Magnus things may change, but on a flat return basis DCB seems to have an edge here. Or am I missing something?

 

[Bugs Bunny]

Well said
Credit cards are actually not meant for students .
This rewards/cashback are just a kind of push sales from banks , they just want you to spend and particularly spend on things which you don’t want .

Realised this sir. Thank you for making me realise 😊

 

[PiperatGatesofDawn]

Hotel booking? On smartbuy DCB gives 33% airmiles as opposed to 24% on magnus via travel edge.

Ofcourse considering milestone benefits of Magnus things may change, but on a flat return basis DCB seems to have an edge here. Or am I missing something?

You're missing a lot of things (I was going to say in many places but I won't 😛 ). Where to begin....

1. As a student you're making an average of 0.0 - 0.0000 hotel bookings in a year. So hotel bookings or even things like say golfing benefits (which is utilized by ~2 students or so in a year) is really irrelevant to this case
2. DCB has stupidly low daily and monthly caps on accelerated rewards. Whatever you save on the delta for the few random hotels available on DCB where you got a better deal vs. Agoda/Hotels.com/Other OTAs vs. 10x you get using various vouchers through Magnus etc. you will easily loose on the same month (or the next) in other spends where Magnus' superior rewards rates kick in. Keep in mind as a student and most other people look for the outright cheaper rate not the Rate-Reward rate that people in the miles game are more inclined towards
3. You will always try and spend on Magnus to get milestone and other benefits
4. When you go to en-cash your rewards on DCB - there is a possibility of losing out even more if for example if you want to credit your miles to UA

So while you're technically right 33% is greater than 24% in practical terms there is a sliver of a fraction of people who will really benefit from that. And if that person is you. Well good for you! 🙂

Separately here's my advice to student OP which is very contrary to what everyone else is saying here. Absolutely get interested in this. However like all things you will have to strike the right balance with how much time, money and effort you spend on this. Here's why you should follow this:

1. If it interests you even as a hobby, learning about finances and fiscal responsibility etc. are worthy life skills
2. It will help you build your credit record and credit score which will give you a great edge over others who start this later in life. Try and do all your spends on your card even for example if your parents pay for your insurance - you should pay for it through your card and let them reimburse you or HDFC. Again remember this is a powerful tool but you have to use it responsibly
3. Even if you are spending small amounts on your credit card it doesn't matter. In sometime you might be able to book a BOM-GOI ticket (or wherever you are) for yourself or your mom - how good will that feel! The points will all add up and pay out some time. You will have to plan it out carefully and strategize - again good life skills. I'll give you an example. I have got an free ticket through Intermiles just by building points on them by going through their link to Flipkart & Amazon while doing my shopping. It took me a couple of years to do it. It didn't cost me anything to do, just 2 more clicks while shopping and I enjoyed my reward even though I was accumulating 5, 10, 12 miles for many transactions. They always add up.

Good luck with DCB or Magnus. And do it responsibly and smartly.

Long rant over! 🙂

 

[Bugs Bunny]

You're missing a lot of things (I was going to say in many places but I won't 😛 ). Where to begin....

1. As a student you're making an average of 0.0 - 0.0000 hotel bookings in a year. So hotel bookings or even things like say golfing benefits (which is utilized by ~2 students or so in a year) is really irrelevant to this case
2. DCB has stupidly low daily and monthly caps on accelerated rewards. Whatever you save on the delta for the few random hotels available on DCB where you got a better deal vs. Agoda/Hotels.com/Other OTAs vs. 10x you get using various vouchers through Magnus etc. you will easily loose on the same month (or the next) in other spends where Magnus' superior rewards rates kick in. Keep in mind as a student and most other people look for the outright cheaper rate not the Rate-Reward rate that people in the miles game are more inclined towards
3. You will always try and spend on Magnus to get milestone and other benefits
4. When you go to en-cash your rewards on DCB - there is a possibility of losing out even more if for example if you want to credit your miles to UA

So while you're technically right 33% is greater than 24% in practical terms there is a sliver of a fraction of people who will really benefit from that. And if that person is you. Well good for you! 🙂

Separately here's my advice to student OP which is very contrary to what everyone else is saying here. Absolutely get interested in this. However like all things you will have to strike the right balance with how much time, money and effort you spend on this. Here's why you should follow this:

1. If it interests you even as a hobby, learning about finances and fiscal responsibility etc. are worthy life skills
2. It will help you build your credit record and credit score which will give you a great edge over others who start this later in life. Try and do all your spends on your card even for example if your parents pay for your insurance - you should pay for it through your card and let them reimburse you or HDFC. Again remember this is a powerful tool but you have to use it responsibly
3. Even if you are spending small amounts on your credit card it doesn't matter. In sometime you might be able to book a BOM-GOI ticket (or wherever you are) for yourself or your mom - how good will that feel! The points will all add up and pay out some time. You will have to plan it out carefully and strategize - again good life skills. I'll give you an example. I have got an free ticket through Intermiles just by building points on them by going through their link to Flipkart & Amazon while doing my shopping. It took me a couple of years to do it. It didn't cost me anything to do, just 2 more clicks while shopping and I enjoyed my reward even though I was accumulating 5, 10, 12 miles for many transactions. They always add up.

Good luck with DCB or Magnus. And do it responsibly and smartly.

Long rant over! 🙂

You guys are so awesome, like a big brother I never had. This is so overwhelming. Thank you so much bhaiyaaa. I'd literally follow each and every thing advised by you 🥺

 

[Prime Carlsen]

You're missing a lot of things (I was going to say in many places but I won't 😛 ). Where to begin....

1. As a student you're making an average of 0.0 - 0.0000 hotel bookings in a year. So hotel bookings or even things like say golfing benefits (which is utilized by ~2 students or so in a year) is really irrelevant to this case
2. DCB has stupidly low daily and monthly caps on accelerated rewards. Whatever you save on the delta for the few random hotels available on DCB where you got a better deal vs. Agoda/Hotels.com/Other ETAs vs. 10x you get using various vouchers through Magnus etc. you will easily loose on the same month (or the next) in other spends where Magnus' superior rewards rates kick in. Keep in mind as a student and most other people look for the outright cheaper rate not the Rate-Reward rate that people in the miles game are more inclined towards
3. You will always try and spend on Magnus to get milestone and other benefits
4. When you go to en-cash your rewards on DCB - there is a possibility of losing out even more if for example if you want to credit your miles to UA

So while you're technically right 33% is greater than 24% in practical terms there is a sliver of a fraction of people who will really benefit from that. And if that person is you. Well good for your! 🙂

Separately here's my advice to student OP which is very contrary to what everyone else is saying here. Absolutely get interested in this. However like all things you will have to strike the right balance with how much time, money and effort you spend on this. Here's why you should follow this:

1. If it interests you even as a hobby, learning about finances and fiscal responsibility etc. are worthy life skills
2. It will help you build your credit record and credit score which will give you a great edge over others who start this later in life. Try and do all your spends on your card even for example if your parents pay for your insurance - you should pay for it through your card and let them reimburse you or HDFC. Again remember this is a powerful tool but you have to use it responsibly
3. Even if you are spending small amounts on your credit card it doesn't matter. In sometime you might be able to book a BOM-GOI ticket (or wherever you are) for yourself or your mom - how good will that feel! The points will all add up and pay out some time. You will have to plan it out carefully and strategize - again good life skills. I'll give you an example. I have got an free ticket through Intermiles just by building points on them by going through their link to Flipkart & Amazon while doing my shopping. It took me a couple of years to do it. It didn't cost me anything to do, just 2 more clicks while shopping and I enjoyed my reward even though I was accumulating 5, 10, 12 miles for many transactions. They always add up.

Good luck with DCB or Magnus. And do it responsibly and smartly.

Long rant over! 🙂

Thank you for well detailed reply. First of all, I was trying to raise a case for a general user and not particularly for a student. And it was more of a question to your 'at every turn' remark which I see often and wanted to see how so.

Even I came to the same conclusion that in general DCB is less rewarding but for the usecase of hotel booking under some specific conditions, it looked more rewarding. But your point of these condition being too restrictive to be considered practical seems fair.

I did not understand what you meant in point 4, I considered airmiles earned from both to be equal but is the airmiles utilisation of DCB somehow lower?

And OP, I support PiperatGatesOfDawn suggestion of not leaving this completely as a measure to save time. It is much better instead to learn how to manage time between each of your hobbies and studies than to obsess over one thing at the cost of any other.

 

[PiperatGatesofDawn]

I did not understand what you meant in point 4, I considered airmiles earned from both to be equal but is the airmiles utilisation of DCB somehow lower?

My reply was to student OP's situation not a general user. In which case they were tuned more to what I assume were OP's needs/requirements.

We calculate Magnus standard rewards rate @ 4.8% and not 6% because we get miles in the 5:4 ratio and assume a return of ₹1/mile. This calculation goes for a toss for example if you transfer to Marriott. Why, who knows! Hotel miles are usually 1/2 the rate of airline miles and here it's double!

We calculate DCB standard rewards rate @ 3.3% because that the number of miles we get for transferring miles ONLY to certain partners like SQ etc. For some partners like UA, BA and others the transfer rate is 2:1... making the rewards rate 1.65%. Which again should be avoided.