Is Diners Club Privilige really worth it?

[nayra]

Hello CC Experts, new to CC world and TF too.

So my RM told me best pre approved card I could get was DCP, which I will get for LTF and I applied and got it. Im a salaried guy with salary account in HDFC from one year.

I don't travel nor order food online a lot, was thinking smartbuy is the best usecase for me along with bookmyshow BOGO. Now when I actually explored it, I can see that DCP Reward Points at best are only 6% when redeemed for flights hotels or the limited food vouchers, whereas the lower card Millenia CC gives 5% cashback as points which are almost same as cash. Yes I know DCP will have higher cap than Millenia for points but I wonder if the card is fit for me. I don't have much purchases except utility bills and the likes. Amazon Pay takes more charges so i only get 3% at best returns from that, might as well use 1% Platinum DC Billpay cashback.

Did HDFC give this to me so I spend more to upgrade my card? My current limit is 3.8L. How do I upgrade?
Or Is it possible to downgrade to millenia to escape from this rat chase of reward points?

Do guide. Thanks!

 

[nayra]

I am currently in Preferred Banking, but days before it activated I was already getting the Pre approved DCP, should I have waited some time to get better cards?

 

[nayra]

Bump.
I can see that reselling of gyftr vouchers being mentioned here, any information on that. Is it only worth it for Infinia holders?

 

[Vasuki]

Hello CC Experts, new to CC world and TF too.

So my RM told me best pre approved card I could get was DCP, which I will get for LTF and I applied and got it. Im a salaried guy with salary account in HDFC from one year.

I don't travel nor order food online a lot, was thinking smartbuy is the best usecase for me along with bookmyshow BOGO. Now when I actually explored it, I can see that DCP Reward Points at best are only 6% when redeemed for flights hotels or the limited food vouchers, whereas the lower card Millenia CC gives 5% cashback as points which are almost same as cash. Yes I know DCP will have higher cap than Millenia for points but I wonder if the card is fit for me. I don't have much purchases except utility bills and the likes. Amazon Pay takes more charges so i only get 3% at best returns from that, might as well use 1% Platinum DC Billpay cashback.

Did HDFC give this to me so I spend more to upgrade my card? My current limit is 3.8L. How do I upgrade?
Or Is it possible to downgrade to millenia to escape from this rat chase of reward points?

Do guide. Thanks!

Keep anything ltf from hdfc

Don't downgrade

 

[nayra]

Keep anything ltf from hdfc

Seems the community also accepts that DCP is useless compared to Millenia.
How should I make best use of it and upgrade then?

 

[Vasuki]

Seems the community also accepts that DCP is useless compared to Millenia.
How should I make best use of it and upgrade then?

Upgrade is INFINIA
So 8 lakh limit and
6 lakh spend in last 6 month


Any card is useless unless u don't use it in right direction

 

[nayra]

Upgrade is INFINIA
So 8 lakh limit and
6 lakh spend in last 6 month

Is Diners Black not an upgrade?

And by useless I meant reward point max value (is there a short term to say this?) is 0.5 so at max returns are 6% while millenia is giving 5% already (comparing both on smartbuy)

And millenia covers few eCommerce sites directly.

Any card is useless unless u don't use it in right direction

My main concern is many times I saw people saying Smartbuy portal flight booking portals have higher prices making reward points useless.

 

[Swastik]

You need 5L limit for DCB upgrade ,
Don't think about downgrading,
Just keep using this card sparingly,
And then eventually upgrade it when you get limit enhancement

 

[Vasuki]

My main concern is many times I saw people saying Smartbuy portal flight booking portals have higher prices making reward points useless

Infinia point are 1:1
So even if PPL get 85or 90:1 they are happy
But mostly use it for voucher not flight

Flight axis or marquee of yes bank

 

[nayra]

You need 5L limit for DCB upgrade ,
Don't think about downgrading,
Just keep using this card sparingly,
And then eventually upgrade it when you get limit enhancement

Will it be possible to get LTF for DCB upgrade? And how to get LE?

Infinia point are 1:1

Yeah but Infinia a long way to go for me..

 

[Swastik]

Will it be possible to get LTF for DCB upgrade? And how to get LE?

LTF DCB is difficult to get for now ,but times might change ,untill last year Regalia Gold LTF was difficult, but now a lot of people are getting it

As for LE ,income documents are your best bet ,other just wait and watch

 

[nayra]

As for LE ,income documents are your best bet ,other just wait and watch

I got this LTF Card from HDFC coz I had salary account with them? They should already have idea of my income right? Or submitting payslips or ITR stuff matters?

 

[Swastik]

I got this LTF Card from HDFC coz I had salary account with them? They should already have idea of my income right? Or submitting payslips or ITR stuff matters?

Well they’re not very forthright with upgrades and limit enhancements, but you can wait

 

[nayra]

Got it.

On another note which all platforms do come under MCC for utility bills? I have HDFC platinum DC so was thinking of Unipay for 1% cashback but i can see many people facing issues. Or there no other platforms?

And I have BOGO Bookmyshow on my DCP, and i rarely go to movies, can I sell these in RML? As in are such transactions already taking place? I get max 250off.

 

[jk51]

Seems the community also accepts that DCP is useless compared to Millenia.
How should I make best use of it and upgrade then?

Apart from super premium cards such as Infinia, DCB and cards which are meant for miles transfer, this card is one of the best especially when it comes for direct insurance payments. As mostly insurance as an MCC is excluded from most of the cards nowadays. If you are targeting an upgrade then I would recommend to make this your primary card for the next 6 months while generously making use of Smartbuy as well.

Otherwise any card which doesn’t fit one’s use case is anyways a burden. To carry the same or not is your call.

 

[PrinceHeart]

Upgrade is INFINIA
So 8 lakh limit and
6 lakh spend in last 6 month


Any card is useless unless u don't use it in right direction

Just got LE for my millennia from 1L to 1.25L in 8yrs lol, spend 20k approx last month only. Its 5 months now, got millennia upgrade from regalia first.

So whats after millennia ? Regalia gold ? How much will i have to spend in next 6 months ?

I know infinia is 6L spend in 6months with a 8L limit. What about regalia gold and dcb ?

I dont think i will get another LE soon. So maybe i will try the fd lien route to increase the limit.

I got standard acc, should i upgrade my saving acc also ? Will that trigger any LE or pre approved upgrades ?

@SSV also can suggest.

If this is already discussed, then sorry for asking, point me to that thread / post 🙏

 

[nayra]

As mostly insurance as an MCC is excluded from most of the cards nowadays.

Funny enough, my first payment was of insurance, but I thought it would give no reward points. I was using card for spends and later paying to just improve my cibil. I was surprised to see the points.

But later learned that Smartbuy apay voucher will give 6% max returns in reward points but you have to pay 3% while buying the voucher. Which is better I am confused.

Both ways I can get 1% using my hdfc dc if Unipay works out.

 

[nayra]

If you are targeting an upgrade then I would recommend to make this your primary card for the next 6 months while generously making use of Smartbuy as well.

Well, this is my only card and I plan to use it properly for CIBIL, but I don't think I will get upgrade if it isn't LTF since my spends don't support that...

Since we are talking about insurance, I have NPS, MF and Insurance payments, which is the card that I should get for this?

 

[jk51]

Funny enough, my first payment was of insurance, but I thought it would give no reward points. I was using card for spends and later paying to just improve my cibil. I was surprised to see the points.

But later learned that Smartbuy apay voucher will give 6% max returns in reward points but you have to pay 3% while buying the voucher. Which is better I am confused.

Both ways I can get 1% using my hdfc dc if Unipay works out.

If your policy provider is listed at Amazon and policy premium is small then Amazon is good through Smartbuy route however if policy amount is big (>1,00,000) then it makes more sense to use it directly on insurers website. You’ll still get base reward point and quarterly milestone as well.

 

[jk51]

Well, this is my only card and I plan to use it properly for CIBIL, but I don't think I will get upgrade if it isn't LTF since my spends don't support that...

Since we are talking about insurance, I have NPS, MF and Insurance payments, which is the card that I should get for this?

Usually depends upon what one wants. Be it cashback, points transfer or simply gift voucher/card. For points transfer super premium cards such as Infinia, DCB, Magnus Burgundy, etc make sense. For cashback SBI Cashback card for policies where Apay route works. I personally prefer Amex Trifecta especially for insurance.