Infinia Infinia worthiness

[VGisHere]

I went through Infinia Metal Card review and noted some points.

Pros -
1. Unlimited lounge access (domestic, international) for both primary, add-on (up to 3) card holders! (Big pro, need not keep track or multiple cards)!
2. Unlimited Golf games/coaching (not sure how many people actually claim, but would still keep it)!
3. Some ITC hotels tie-up benefits!
4. Insurance cover (definitely worthy)


Reward Rate Structure -
1. 3.3% RP on normal/every transaction.
Redemption - 1% for statement credit, 1.65% for smartbuy shopping, 3.3% for Smartbuy (Apple, Tanishq, Flights, Hotels) + AirMiles conversion.

2. 33% RP for flights/hotels on Smartbuy.
Redemption - 10% for statement credit, 16.5% for smartbuy shopping, 33% for Smartbuy (Apple, Tanishq, Flights, Hotels) + AirMiles conversion.

3. 16.5% RP for Smartbuy (Amazon, Gift voucher)
Redemption - 5% for statement credit, 8.25% for smartbuy shopping, 16.5% for Smartbuy (Apple, Tanishq, Flights, Hotels) + AirMiles conversion.

4. 9.9% RP for Smartbuy (Flipkart, Train booking)
Redemption - 3% for statement credit, 5% for smartbuy shopping, 9.9% for Smartbuy (Apple, Tanishq, Flights, Hotels) + AirMiles conversion.


Cons -
1. High Fees (12.5k + GST) = Rs. 14750
2. Welcome/Renewal Benefit = 12.5k points (recovered only if used on Smartbuy for Apple/Tanishq/Flights/Hotels OR Airmiles conversion) (big con)
3. Capping of payment up to 70% of the price with RPs
4. Very high NRV eligibility criteria (filters out big chunk)
5. Capping for Smartbuy transactions (15k per month) (so if you book hotel/flights for 45k, that's it!)
6. Forex markup - 2% + GST (higher than bunch of cards in market)
7. High fee waiver criteria (10L)
8. Capping for insurance transactions (5k per day, i.e., 1.5L spend)
9. Rent payment RP (Not eligible) + charges 1% extra
10. Redemption capping - 1.5L RP for flights/hotels; 50k for Tanishq per month; 50k against statement balance


So, after all these Cons, I'm wondering why are some people still going for Infinia card?
Is it only the unlimited domestic/international lounge access for self and add on card holders?
Or am I missing something basic here?
What strategies do people use to maximise benefit out of this card?
For people holding Axis Magnus, does this card make sense at all (except for lounge access)?

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

Are you guys able to console yourselves after Magnus with Infinia? 15K bonus points/month for someone who has high spends can't expect anything near to what Magnus was offering. Imagine doing a travel booking with Infinia with that cap. Reward rates are mediocre at best.

 

[Cardmarvel]

Are you guys able to console yourselves after Magnus with Infinia? 15K bonus points/month for someone who has high spends can't expect anything near to what Magnus was offering. Imagine doing a travel booking with Infinia with that cap. Reward rates are mediocre at best.

Magnus party was going to end. Most of early movers knew this very well.

 

[navam]

Are you guys able to console yourselves after Magnus with Infinia? 15K bonus points/month for someone who has high spends can't expect anything near to what Magnus was offering. Imagine doing a travel booking with Infinia with that cap. Reward rates are mediocre at best.

Well what you are saying isn't wrong but keep in mind that's the best we got now and have had for quite some time. It's time we let magnus rest peacefully 😉

 

[thegame]

can someone please clarify/confirm my below query reg returns wrt to Cash redemption and Gift Vouchers as am not looking for airmiles/travel purpose
Infinia:
5RP for 150Rs means 3.33RP per 100 where each RP is 0.3 so effectively its only 1Re i.e. 1% CB per 100Rs right?, similarly for gift voucher, 1RP = 0.5Rs so effectively 1.67% and only for Airmiles/Travel its 1:1 so 3.33% CB... for direct cash in statement or gift vouchers where your spends are under 50k per month and if you are not using SmartBuy/Edge portals then its better to stick with ACE/FK Axis/SBI CB etc cards..
Magnus:
Magnus has no cash redemption against statement so only gift voucher which has conversion rate of 1RP = 0.20Rs so for every 200Rs you will get 12 RPs which is 1.2% voucher rate for every 100 spent whereas ACE would give 2%, Axis FK 1.5% and similarly SBI CB CC will give 5% CB online, if one is spending 1L per month to get those 25k points then its a big difference as one will be getting 25k + 6k RPs for 1L spend so for 31k RPs its 6200 so 6.2% CB? but now with no renewal benefit of 10k voucher (only option is to spend 15L to get waiver) I believe this will take a hit if one's spends are less than 15L/year..

 

[eatpepsi]

Are you guys able to console yourselves after Magnus with Infinia? 15K bonus points/month for someone who has high spends can't expect anything near to what Magnus was offering. Imagine doing a travel booking with Infinia with that cap. Reward rates are mediocre at best.

Well you are not wrong, and that’s the reason I also had to get the Magnus… but the rewards Magnus was offering wasn’t sustainable long term, I just regret getting it late and not getting the value I thought I would get out of it…

 

[CMGCMG is verified member.]

can someone please clarify/confirm my below query reg returns wrt to Cash redemption and Gift Vouchers as am not looking for airmiles/travel purpose
Infinia:
5RP for 150Rs means 3.33RP per 100 where each RP is 0.3 so effectively its only 1Re i.e. 1% CB per 100Rs right?, similarly for gift voucher, 1RP = 0.5Rs so effectively 1.67% and only for Airmiles/Travel its 1:1 so 3.33% CB... for direct cash in statement or gift vouchers where your spends are under 50k per month and if you are not using SmartBuy/Edge portals then its better to stick with ACE/FK Axis/SBI CB etc cards..
Magnus:
Magnus has no cash redemption against statement so only gift voucher which has conversion rate of 1RP = 0.20Rs so for every 200Rs you will get 12 RPs which is 1.2% voucher rate for every 100 spent whereas ACE would give 2%, Axis FK 1.5% and similarly SBI CB CC will give 5% CB online, if one is spending 1L per month to get those 25k points then its a big difference as one will be getting 25k + 6k RPs for 1L spend so for 31k RPs its 6200 so 6.2% CB? but now with no renewal benefit of 10k voucher (only option is to spend 15L to get waiver) I believe this will take a hit if one's spends are less than 15L/year..

1RP = 1 INR for Infinia and DCB

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

Magnus party was going to end. Most of early movers knew this very well.

True. But I guess no one anticipated such a drastic change. Although if you have spends of >1L/month, Magnus is still kind of reasonable. Should work out to around 7-8% if you optimize.

 

[thegame]

1RP = 1 INR for Infinia and DCB

against? as its definitely not 1Re wrt to cash or voucher for Infinia

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

against? as its definitely not 1Re wrt to cash or voucher for Infinia

Rs.1 on Smartbuy(flight/hotels), Tanishq and Apple vouchers
Reward catalogue- 0.2-0.5
cash- 0.3
Miles- 0.5 to 1

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

Scapia - LTF and unlimited domestic access. Not sure about add-on card holders though.

Scapia is not offering addon as of now

 

[thegame]

Rs.1 on Smartbuy(flight/hotels), Tanishq and Apple vouchers
Reward catalogue- 0.2-0.5
cash- 0.3
Miles- 0.5 to 10

Rewards - I thought its 0.5 for all vouchers, can you please let me know what is the reward rate for Amazon Gift Card as I guess below is the URL for Infinia redemption which doesn't allow freeview of the rewards as you need to have Infinia card, was looking for Infinia or Magnus mainly for the international lounge access for primary/add on member but after seeing the expected Magnus devaluation planning to aim for Infinia as renewal waiver is 10L compared to Magnus 15L

SmartBuy

offers.reward360.in

 

[bonheur]

Given the speculations around Axis Magnus/Reserve, if it comes out to be true, then I believe there would be no doubt over worthiness of Infinia, IMO 😜

"Ask not whether Infinia is worth it for you, ask if you are worthy of Infinia." - HDFC, probably.

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

Rewards - I thought its 0.5 for all vouchers, can you please let me know what is the reward rate for Amazon Gift Card as I guess below is the URL for Infinia redemption which doesn't allow freeview of the rewards as you need to have Infinia card, was looking for Infinia or Magnus mainly for the international lounge access for primary/add on member but after seeing the expected Magnus devaluation planning to aim for Infinia as renewal waiver is 10L compared to Magnus 15L

SmartBuy

offers.reward360.in

It's mostly 0.5 for vouchers. It is better if you transfer points to miles/book flights or hotels on smartbuy. But I hope you know that getting Infinia is a task in itself.

 

[moneydeep]

True. But I guess no one anticipated such a drastic change. Although if you have spends of >1L/month, Magnus is still kind of reasonable. Should work out to around 7-8% if you optimize.

Could you clarify a bit with some breakdown?
Consider me a noob in this regard.
The reason I got magnus was for priority pass as I travel often, and also the 10k that was getting reversed in tatacliq voucher per year.
Now not sure if spends will be worth the low points rewarded and paying the yearly fee.

 

[thegame]

It's mostly 0.5 for vouchers. It is better if you transfer points to miles/book flights or hotels on smartbuy. But I hope you know that getting Infinia is a task in itself.

thanks.. as mentioned earlier, am looking for only cash/vouchers and not into airmiles/travel..

 

[CARDBITRAGE]

Could you clarify a bit with some breakdown?
Consider me a noob in this regard.
The reason I got magnus was for priority pass as I travel often, and also the 10k that was getting reversed in tatacliq voucher per year.
Now not sure if spends will be worth the low points rewarded and paying the yearly fee.

7-8% is assuming one can hit the 1L/month milestone every month and not considering the annual fee as I think the non-spend based benefits and the renewal benefit will cover for that.
My calculation is based on maximizing the 5X accelerated rewards(10k ER/month) which should be around 35k. The rest 65k would be normal ER(3.9K ER/month). So on a monthly basis, you would be getting around 39k ER/Month. That works out to 468000 ER. The valuation of that is Rs.93600(1ER=Re.02).
So for 12L spends that would be roughly 7.8% return on spends.

 

[wokrishnahai]

Why I am still holding Infinia? Because it's lifetime free, else not worth TBH.

LTF! How did you get it?

 

[NikTravelEnthusiast]

IMO, only thing people are holding Magnus is that Axis is distributing crazy rewards points that no one can match at the moment.People took massive advantage and made Axis cry. But once Axis goes to core minimum level of devaluation, people will throw Magnus and will go back to old HDFC,Amex etc.They are more thrustworthy.

 

[rohitpgarg]

IMO, only thing people are holding Magnus is that Axis is distributing crazy rewards points that no one can match at the moment.People took massive advantage and made Axis cry. But once Axis goes to core minimum level of devaluation, people will throw Magnus and will go back to old HDFC,Amex etc.They are more thrustworthy.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[NikTravelEnthusiast]

Got Infinia delivered today.

My slogan now.

'Magnus tu to gaya,

Aagaya hai Infiniya'.😀😀

Time to say goodbye to Magnus..