Infinia Upgrade Journey Nov 2024

[Yugi]

Hi Everyone,

Background

Salary: Little less than 2L per month
Job: In private MNC has salary account tie-up with HDFC
AMB: around 1L
Salary Account: HDFC
Account Type: Preferred
CL: 8.69L (recently increased from 7.9L)
Cards with HDFC: DCB LTF, Tata Neu Infinity Paid, Rupay Virtual LTF

Journey

I had DCB LTF from alumni programmed since Apr 2023. From this forum came to know about how to upgrade Infinia based on spends criteria and CL. Before that extensively used HDFC Regalia to pay college (MBA) fee but was not aware of upgrade criteria hence missed the opportunity to upgrade, nevertheless got DCB LTF post college. Now I was waiting for opportunity to spend more than 7.5 L and upgrade to Infinia. I have put marriage expenses on my DCB but they came just a bit more than 7L. I raised a request back in July to upgrade my card, they flat out refused saying that I should atleast have 10L CL to be eligible for upgrade, escalated it but HDFC did not budge. Sent my salary slips with little hope for CL increase but that too was rejected. I gave up on Infinia dream. Add to the blow they increased the salary criteria for Infinia recently. Infinia was getting impossible to achieve.

Now, during Diwali got a target spend offer around 1.2L for some voucher. Came to know about an app from the community wherein we can order for others on Flipkart (not mentioning the name as it can be risky). Spent 70k on it (which was the money I was willing to lose of things got bad, luckily got paid without any issues). On aggregate spent 1.5L on DCB and achieved the target. To my luck I got a CL increase which I was waiting for 1 year. Now my CL was 8.69L. This was my chance to raise for Infinia request again.

But to my shock my last six months spends dropped to 6L as some major spends drifted away because I spent them early 2024. So, in the mail I put both my Tata Neu and DCB spends together which amounted to 11L in past 6 months (thanks to SBI Unipay loophole I came to know from the forum which got patched in May 2024). Again, got a rejection as expected. Escalated to next level and got rejected again. Finally escalated to PNO and as they say luck favours the brave, I got lucky, and they agreed to upgrade my DCB LTF to FYF Infinia Metal. ("Mann mei ladoo phoota"). All my mail replies were taken care by ChatGPT o1-preview, that thing is damn good, worth the money paid for.

I got greedy, as many of members in forum have both Infinia and DCB, I also wanted to try my luck in it. As they were upgrading my card on based on combined spends criteria, I thought I will ask them to upgrade my Tata Neu to Infinia and retain my DCB as floater since it has virtual priority pass and access to some lounges which are not available on Infinia. They rejected my proposal and sent mail that are not going to reply any further on this topic and entertain any other requests.

Finally filled the upgrade form on Nov 7th and today I can see Infinia Metal on NetBanking. Thank you to this forum for providing valuable insights. I milked many benefits thanks to this forum (Hitting 4L milestone on Plat Travel using the Housing app hack) (Upgraded to IDFC Wealth before devaluation and used SPA benefits).

Special Thanks to @SSV who shared his journey and helped us with valuable insights, not easy for someone constantly being picked on for the upgrade path he took (which best suited him). Yet he stayed and answered all the queries.

 

[dexter_greycells]

To anyone reading this thread - social media and forums like TF have blown Infinia out of proportion and championed as some sort of card that will get you free vacations in Europe. Infinia is a reward points based travel oriented card i.e. it is worth it if and only if you take flights or stay in hotels a few times a year. Either that or you become a travel agent for friends and family. Some people also use the reward points for 1:1 redemption on Tanishq vouchers and Apple products (at MRP) but I consider that as niche and over-priced uses.

One needs to very carefully review their spending patterns and lifestyle before they chase Infinia. Plenty of people who are more than eligible for an Infinia are much better served through mid-budget cards like SBI Cashback, HDFC Millennia/Swiggy, Axis Ace, Axis Airtel and others or a combination of those. I don't think if your spends are, say, less than 4L/year you should even bother with an Infinia.

A prayer for the HDFC representatives at the receiving end of the calls, emails from customers after reading threads like this 🙏

 

[_ayush]

All the best for your bride search, this one is even difficult than getting Infinia 😛

Once you hit 8L spends mark in 6 months, I suggest you increase CL to 8L against an FD and raise a request for Infinia because getting CL increase automatically is unpredictable. Later you can remove the lien, and they will reduce you CL again. This was done by one of the fellow members. Search the forum and connect with him.

I increased the credit limit on FD lein but they are not ready to remove the lein. They are saying that base limit for Infinia is 8L so I will be downgrade to dcb if I remove lein.

 

[Yugi]

I increased the credit limit on FD lein but they are not ready to remove the lein. They are saying that base limit for Infinia is 8L so I will be downgrade to dcb if I remove lein.

Ohh, thats bad then. Try and increase your CL then through other ways. What was your CL before FD lein?

 

[Yugi]

To anyone reading this thread - social media and forums like TF have blown Infinia out of proportion and championed as some sort of card that will get you free vacations in Europe. Infinia is a reward points based travel oriented card i.e. it is worth it if and only if you take flights or stay in hotels a few times a year. Either that or you become a travel agent for friends and family. Some people also use the reward points for 1:1 redemption on Tanishq vouchers and Apple products (at MRP) but I consider that as niche and over-priced uses.

One needs to very carefully review their spending patterns and lifestyle before they chase Infinia. Plenty of people who are more than eligible for an Infinia are much better served through mid-budget cards like SBI Cashback, HDFC Millennia/Swiggy, Axis Ace, Axis Airtel and others or a combination of those. I don't think if your spends are, say, less than 4L/year you should even bother with an Infinia.

A prayer for the HDFC representatives at the receiving end of the calls, emails from customers after reading threads like this 🙏

You are absolutely right. Infinia USP lies around travel. Unlimited lounges, 1:1 redemptions of points etc. If some does a family trip annually, I guess it would be worth for them as it would easily burn 50K points for to and fro domestically (assuming family of 5).

 

[pgarg24]

I have been chasing them for last 2 months and now after multiple escalations they say your card is approved and will be delivered to you in next 10 days.

How much time it took to appear in net banking after the approval ?

What was your cl on the previous card and what was the previous card it was upgraded from? I have tried asking for cl for 2 years and they have denied.. i have only 4.7L cl on my dcb right now so they always decline an upgrade to infinia for me.

 

[_ayush]

Ohh, thats bad then. Try and increase your CL then through other ways. What was your CL before FD lein?

It was 5L before. Its not that bad. I was anyways keeping some FD with them as emergency fund. In case of emergency ig, downgrading card wouldn't matter and I'll withdraw.