Devaluation ICICI Bank Credit Cards Huge Devaluation Effective from 15th November 2024

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Now it's ICICI Bank's turn—they've joined the 2024 devaluation party. Here’s a simplified breakdown of the changes:

1. Utility & Insurance Capping:
   You will continue to earn reward points for utility and insurance spends up to Rs. 80,000 at the current earn rate on Rubyx and higher variant cards*.
   For Coral and lower variant cards**, the cap is Rs. 40,000 for both utility and insurance spends
2. Grocery Capping:
   Earn reward points for grocery and departmental store spends up to Rs. 40,000 per month on Rubyx or higher variant cards.
   The cap is Rs. 20,000 per month for Coral or lower variant cards.
3. No Reward Points on Government-Related Spends. (Fees on Emeralde private metal card - unclear)
4. Fuel Surcharge Waiver:
   Waiver applies to fuel spends up to Rs. 50,000 per month for all cards except ICICI Emeralde Private Metal.
   For the Emeralde Private Metal card, the waiver limit is Rs. 1,00,000 per month.
5. Spa Access Discontinued:
   Spa access through DreamFolks card is discontinued for all cards.
6. Exclusion of Rent, Government, and Education Payments:
   These payments are excluded from spend thresholds for annual fee reversal and milestone benefits on all cards.
7. Spend Threshold for Annual Fee Reversal Reduced to 10L:
   The threshold for annual fee reversal is reduced to Rs. 10 lakh per annum from Rs. 15 lakh for ICICI Emeralde and Emeralde Private Metal credit cards.
8. 1% Fee on Education Payments via Third Party:
   No fee for direct payments to schools or colleges, including international payments, but a 1% fee applies to education payments made through third-party apps. - applicable on all cards.
9. 1% Fee on Utility Transactions Over Rs. 50,000. - applicable on all cards.
10. 1% Fee on Fuel Transactions Over Rs. 10,000. - applicable on all cards.
11. Add-on Fee of Rs. 199:
    Supplementary cardholders will now have an annual fee of Rs. 199. - applicable on all cards.
12. INR 75K Quarterly Spend for Domestic Lounge Access:
    To enjoy complimentary airport lounge access, you need to spend Rs. 75,000 in the preceding quarter. - applicable for all cards except ICICI Emeralde and Emeralde Private Metal.

[*Coral or lower variant cards: ICICI Bank Platinum Chip Credit Card, ICICI Bank Platinum Credit Card, ICICI Bank Indiabulls Platinum Card, Instant Platinum Credit Card, ICICI Bank JPMC Platinum Visa Credit Card, ICICI Bank Indian Platinum Credit Card, ICICI Bank MasterCard Platinum chip Credit Card, ICICI Bank Unifare MasterCard Platinum Chip Transit Credit Card, ICICI Bank Instant Platinum Chip Credit Card, ICICI Bank HPCL Coral Platinum Credit Card, HPCL GOLD CARD ( SOLID GOLD ), ICICI Bank HPCL Airtel Master Gold, ICICI Bank HPCL Platinum Credit Card, HPCL GOLD ( SOLID GOLD ), ICICI Bank HPCL Titanium Credit Card, MASTER CARD HPCL SILVER ( STERLING SILVER ), ICICI Bank HPCL Platinum Chip Credit Card, ICICI Bank HPCL Coral Visa Contactless Credit Card, ICICI Bank HPCL Coral American Express Credit Card, ICICI HPCL CARD ( STERLING SILVER ), HPCL SMART GOLD ( SOLID GOLD ), ICICI Bank MasterCard Coral Credit Card, ICICI Bank Secured NRI Coral Credit Card,ICICI Bank NRI Coral Credit Card, ICICI Bank Coral RuPay Credit Card, ICICI Bank Coral Credit Card, ICICI Bank Secured Coral Credit Card, ICICI Bank MasterCard Coral Credit Card, ICICI Bank LeadtheNew Coral Credit Card, ICICI Bank Coral Contactless Credit Card, ICICI Bank Coral American Express Credit Card, Coral Unsecured Credit Card, Coral Secured Credit Card, ICICI Bank Secured Coral MasterCard Credit Card, Manchester United Platinum Credit Card by ICICI Bank, Manchester United Signature Credit Card by ICICI Bank, Chennai Super Kings ICICI Bank Credit Card, ICICI Bank Parakram Credit Card, ICICI Bank Parakram Select Credit Card, ICICI Bank Secured Expressions Credit Card, ICICI Bank Expressions Secured Credit Card, ICICI Bank Expressions Credit Card, ICICI Bank Expressions Secured Credit Card]

[**Rubyx or higher variant cards: ICICI Bank Rubyx Visa Credit Card, ICICI Bank Rubyx RuPay Credit Card, ICICI Bank Rubyx Visa Credit Card, ICICI Rubyx Master PLT Chip Card, ICICI Rubyx PLT Credit Card (AMEX), ICICI Bank LeadtheNew Rubyx Credit Card, Rubyx Credit Card, ICICI Bank Secured Rubyx MasterCard Credit Card, Rubyx VISA expense card, ICICI Bank Sapphiro Visa Credit Card, ICICI Bank NRI Sapphiro Credit Card, ICICI Bank Sapphiro RuPay Credit Card, ICICI Bank Sapphiro VISA Credit Card, ICICI Sapphiro Master PLT Chip Card, ICICI Sapphiro Card (Amex), ICICI Bank LeadtheNew Sapphiro Credit Card, ICICI Bank NRI Sapphiro Credit Card, ICICI Bank Emeralde Visa Credit Card , ICICI Bank Emeralde Credit Card, ICICI Bank Emeralde Private]

Additionally, they've updated the late payment fees, interest rate (APR), and increased the markup fee to 2% for Emeralde and Emeralde Private Metal credit cards.


This devaluation is outrageous. ICICI Bank already offers one of the lowest reward rates across all their credit cards compared to other banks in the same category. Capping reward points for utility and government spends is understandable, but charging fees for add-on cards, even for super-premium cards like Emeralde private metal, is hard to justify. Now, customers need to spend Rs. 75K in a quarter to get complimentary lounge access, which is a very high requirement.

If you closely examine point 4 and point 10, ICICI Bank's hypocrisy becomes clear. They offer fuel surcharge waivers up to Rs. 50K for Coral and lower variant cards and Rs. 100K for Rubyx and higher variant cards, yet they charge an extra 1% fee for fuel spends over Rs. 10K. It’s absurd, and they haven't clarified whether this 1% fee applies to a single transaction over Rs. 10K or cumulative transactions exceeding that amount. Same with 1% extra fees on utility transactions, their t&c is not clear as usual.

Overall, this is a brutal devaluation. I hope people switch to other banks, as ICICI doesn't offer significant rewards on card spends anyway.

 

[whywhy]

This makes most of ICICI cards completely and utterly useless, doesn't it? Shit reward rate, high spend based lounge access, overenthusiastic capping of most categories, no spa benefits anymore. Only useful for card discounts now.

 

[arunkd386]

Looks like Icici wants to be out of CC business.

 

[qf037x42v]

Any idea if the addon fee will be applicable on free addons issued for LTF cards already?

 

[arunkd386]

Already their rewards system was lowest among all banks. Now spa, lounge etc have been curtailed.

 

[cardio_guy]

Most horrible devaluation ever. It is as good as useless now. Even an LTF emeralde will not make sense anymore.
Yes understandable that the credit card party is over.
But for ICICI they are ending the party sooner.
There are few better premium cards out there.

Especially ICICI is bad In terms of spend based benefits and non-spend based benefits
People who are stuck with basic/middle variant LTF cards suffers the most.

Some other banks premium/super premium luxury cards are worth paying fees I think.

 

[arunkd386]

Any idea if the addon fee will be applicable on free addons issued for LTF cards already?

Are u asking about annual fee?

 

[arunkd386]

Icici has made sapphiro completely useless now.

 

[Dobbiee]

Why? just for lounge 350rs. i.e., 1% if you availed 2 lounges every month. 1 lounge 0.5%.

Btw, yes based on pdf possible.

At a point in the pdf it says 'The spend threshold for annual fee reversal and milestone benefits will exclude rent, government, and education payments made via credit card.'

Hope the lounge access criteria of spends of 75k in the previous quarter, is not considered a milestone. And spends on these excluded categories is also included in the 75k criteria.

 

[qf037x42v]

Are u asking about annual fee?

y e s

 

[NamanGupta]

Time to Close Icici cards earlier also their cards were not too beneficial after this devaluation they will be completely useless

 

[panchabhut]

Rs. 199+GST = 234.82 for Add on card.

It didn't explained whether add-on card for other member or add-on self card also as I have RuPay coral card which is add-on to ICICI Sapphiro Amex. If they charge it, I will call to close it. It is already useless for me. Will clear that out with Customer NoCare tomorrow.

"Supplementary cardholders will enjoy enhanced benefits with an annual fee of Rs.199"
Logically that should mean a person other than the original card holder.

 

[desiviru]

In short, what we understand from happening in CC industry in India is, banks/RBI want most people to close their CC and want payments to be made on due dates only not in advance. Conservative Indian mindset and then they think they can become economic superpowers like West. Fake reports of people getting under debt trap are circulated so that they get a chance to keep people away from access to money. Same is with SEBI, who to keep retails participation from FnO market is increasing margin per lot size to 20 Lakh capping so that only big hands which includes SEBI chief to access markets while rest other are restricted. Indians don't even understand the word Free Market and Open Access to all.

 

[Bodhi]

I paid 2950 one time fee for MakeMyTrip card to get one free Spa every year and after payment they permanently cancelled the spa offer

Bro, since your card is paid for - you can, I think very well demand the benefits that you signed up for before paying and/or ask for the card to be turned LTF or perhaps threaten to cancel the card and demand for reversal of the fees.

These are just suggestions, please research and decide accordingly.

All the best!

 

[panchabhut]

There are only 3 ICICI cards worth having.
1. Amazon Pay LTF
2. Platinum LTF (for those sale offers which exclude Amz Pay)
3. Rupay Coral LTF (for using on UPI) as companion linked card to Platinum

 

[shivamk]

You will get it if you pay it via College websites or POS and not fron any 3rd party apps like Cred, SuperPe etc.

Any idea about CC Avenue integration on college website?

 

[Swastik]

Maine to aajtak use h nai kia :”)
Usse pehle h devaluation hogaya

You still have good lounge benefits with no spend criteria on an LTF card, not bad

 

[Bodhi]

I understand that but for me My Sapphiro had come with Amex/Master dual variant and then after 4 years I got pre-approved RuPay coral with LTF but single statement for all 3. 🙂 I am also of opinion that it should not be charged but with ICICI it is always better to clarify.

According to my knowledge, your Rupay card is not considered an add-on if it is issued in your name.

It will only be considered an add-on if it is issued in someone else's name (family member).

 

[alwayswin69]

Sapphiro and above still worth it (if LTF) just for the BMS offer

 

[adi_0001]

Any idea about CC Avenue integration on college website?

No clue about it.

 

[alwayswin69]

abhi 1 week phle hi sapphiro dual variant, ruby ka add-on bnwaya tha 😭