Overhaul existing portfolio. Procure ATLAS or AMEX Plat Trav etc?

[arcticvolcano]

I think its time to completely overhaul my portfolio since I do not hold any decent cards except one or two. I would appreciate any and all suggestions for this.

Quick summary of my finances -

• Self employed freelance type work. Revenue into bank account of around 12 to 14 LPA, post expenses ITR around 9 to 9.5 LPA. No GST or other registration.
• bunch of FDs adding up to 9.5L. However, this includes my emergency funds as well so I would like to avoid using the FD as a lein in order to get some card.
• My SB balance is usually around 3L to 4L
• My present account is with Fed Bank. But I am open to moving to another bank (or multiple banks), and shift my FDs there if it will help.
• My current CIBIL is 777. No late payments. 8 active cards
• Total card expenses between 6 to 8 LPA.

The cards I hold at present -

1. ICICI APay - since 2021. Limit is 4.6L
2. RBL World SAFARI LTF - since 2022. Limit 1.6L. Upgraded from ZOMATO Edition. I mainly got this for LTF and Priority pass + zero forex
3. SBI Simplyclick - since 2022. Limit 1L (I mainly use this for discounts on cleartrip and other SBI discounts. I don't mind upgrading to Elite or Prime if that helps)
4. HDFC Millenia Paid - since 2023. Limit 1.5L. I am keeping this hoping to get upgraded to some of their better cards.
5. AXIS Airtel paid- since 2023. Limit 2.76L. I use this for my zomato purchases until the cashback is exhausted and then switch to Millenia.
6. AXIS Vistara paid - since 2023. Shared limit with Airtel. Used 1 free ticket on signing up and hit the 1.25L milestone and used the other ticket. Planning to close this card though. Free tickets are very tough to book nowadays and I have to wait 2 to 3 weeks sometimes.
7. IDFC Select LTF- since 2023. Limit 2.4L. Just have it because it was LTF and had good offers occasionally.
8. Fed Bank CELESTA LTF - since 2023. Limit 3.6L. Even though i have a TRV of 20L with Fed bank, it was a big hassle to get this card. I just have it because of its 4 lounge access and also good zomato discounts.
9. ICICI Plat LTF - Limit of 5L. Got this for ICICI offers that exclude APAY.
10. IndusInd Legend LTF - Limit of 5L. I want to see if I can get a cheaper upgrade to Pinnacle. Might use the LEGEND to get 0 MAB Select account.
11. HDFC TATA Neu Infinity FYF - Limit of 1.5L shared with Millenia. I got this as it was FYF. I use BB and 1mg. But I mostly will cancel this before my annual fee is charged since I definitely wont spend 3L on this to hit the waiver.

These are the upgrade/add on card offers currently available to me via the apps -

1. AXIS Atlas
2. ICICI Sapphiro MC + AMEX dual. Paid though.
3. ICICI Coral Rupay LTF
4. IndusInd Plat Rupay LTF

I do not travel too often. Maybe 4 to 5 times a year. But I am open to suggestions for travel cards too.
Initially I was all about cashbacks and instant discounts etc, but now I want to move onto RP and making the best use of them eventually.

It seems like ATLAS is a good choice even post the devaluations.
I have had some people DM regd the AMEX Plat Travel card and if used well it seems great in terms of travel stuff.
My wife has a Regalia Gold and that looks like a great card too! Not sure how to get the upgrade for me though.
I dont think Sapphiro paid version makes sense.
I looked at the SBI prime and Elite

I would love to hear your thoughts. I plan to shift all my spends to maybe 2 to 3 cards max. (Or maybe even just 1 card if it helps). I am definitely looking to switch banks as well, so if that can accelerate the process, I am open to that.

@Vasuki @SSV @Strange - I thank you in advance for any inputs here

 

[drsel]

Go for Atlas if you travel and use hotels and airlines.
All your plans are logical and correct

 

[arcticvolcano]

@anirban.choudhury @Walter White @D₹V - I appreciate your inputs too

 

[arcticvolcano]

Go for Atlas if you travel and use hotels and airlines.
All your plans are logical and correct

Honestly I am not too sure of my travel plans. Hence I am looking for alternate cards as well. I do not have any work related travel. And personal travel is maybe 3 to 4 times a year mostly to small hill stations or less visited areas etc that my wife and I like to explore (so no major hotels and stuff).

But I am seriously considering the ATLAS anyway.

Also, replacing my TATA NEU infinity with The IndusInd Plat rupay makes sense? (it has 1:1 CV rewards transfer). Or is there another rupay card I can look at? (Coral is being offered LTF)

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

It's good that you want to move towards airmiles cards to maximise your return.

If you really want to get the maximum returns out of your spends then close all your existing cards ( If you are a cc enthusiast you may keep the LTF ones )
But then just keep them as souvenir.

Basis on your spends ( 8 L per year )
I suggest you to get 2 cards
1) Axis Atlas
2) Amex Gold Charge / HDFC DCB Metal or Infinia

Split the spends as 7.5L on Atlas and atleast 72k on gold Charge only through reward multiplier.

Atlas would be your default card for every spend except insurance , rental , government transactions.

Gold Charge would be your card to buy vouchers.

If you have Major spends into insurance outside amazon pay or other categories which doesn't not give you reward points , you can opt for Amex platinum travel.

For a spend of 8 lakhs a year, it won't be possible to get a completely free international holiday for a family of 2, but this cards can help you save a lot on your hotels and if you are looking out for promo fares or bonus transfers from Amex , it even help you get free flights to in some sectors.

Also you can keep your hdfc card active and try to upgrade to Regalia Gold or DCB metal. And use it basis on any planned redemption. Regalia Gold is good for accor.

 

[arcticvolcano]

It's good that you want to move towards airmiles cards to maximise your return.

If you really want to get the maximum returns out of your spends then close all your existing cards ( If you are a cc enthusiast you may keep the LTF ones )
But then just keep them as souvenir.

Basis on your spends ( 8 L per year )
I suggest you to get 2 cards
1) Axis Atlas
2) Amex Gold Charge / HDFC DCB Metal or Infinia

Split the spends as 7.5L on Atlas and atleast 72k on gold Charge only through reward multiplier.

Atlas would be your default card for every spend except insurance , rental , government transactions.

Gold Charge would be your card to buy vouchers.

If you have Major spends into insurance outside amazon pay or other categories which doesn't not give you reward points , you can opt for Amex platinum travel.

For a spend of 8 lakhs a year, it won't be possible to get a completely free international holiday for a family of 2, but this cards can help you save a lot on your hotels and if you are looking out for promo fares or bonus transfers from Amex , it even help you get free flights to in some sectors.

Also you can keep your hdfc card active and try to upgrade to Regalia Gold or DCB metal. And use it basis on any planned redemption. Regalia Gold is good for accor.

Thanks a ton @anirban.choudhury for such a detailed response!

My insurance spends are - 35000 (LIC + Health + Vehicle)

Just a few followups if you do not mind -

1. Will i be eligible for Gold Charge or DCB Metal or Infinia with an ITR of 9.5LPA freelance?
2. Gold charge is to buy vouchers for APay etc?
3. How do I go about upgrading to Regalia Gold or DCB? Should I shift all my spends to Millenia right now? or try offline through agent C2C?
4. While I am definitely open to getting a Travel card, my wife and I usually go to off beat locations with small airbnbs or cottages etc. So major hotels etc may not always be around. In that case, just to sort of keep my options open - any other cards I can look at? I understand that travel redemptions offer best value - but anything else I can think about?

I am just thinking that even with my 7 to 8L spends, I don't think I can get a waiver right? Its 4k for Gold charge and 5k for ATLAS. I felt between ATLAS and REGALIA GOLD, the latter was a good option?

 

[Vasuki]

Thanks a ton @anirban.choudhury for such a detailed response!

My insurance spends are - 35000 (LIC + Health + Vehicle)

Just a few followups if you do not mind -

1. Will i be eligible for Gold Charge or DCB Metal or Infinia with an ITR of 9.5LPA freelance?
2. Gold charge is to buy vouchers for APay etc?
3. How do I go about upgrading to Regalia Gold or DCB? Should I shift all my spends to Millenia right now? or try offline through agent C2C?
4. While I am definitely open to getting a Travel card, my wife and I usually go to off beat locations with small airbnbs or cottages etc. So major hotels etc may not always be around. In that case, just to sort of keep my options open - any other cards I can look at? I understand that travel redemptions offer best value - but anything else I can think about?

I am just thinking that even with my 7 to 8L spends, I don't think I can get a waiver right? Its 4k for Gold charge and 5k for ATLAS. I felt between ATLAS and REGALIA GOLD, the latter was a good option?

Bruh if u shop offline (4%)+ hotel & flight (10%)
Then go for atlas

Else
Take mrcc & do 1500x4 6k amazon gv transaction - 15-20% return
Talk to @coolguy1 or @the_dark_knight for amex query they know well .
@coolguy1 has thread on benefits he will share the links

Honestly I would say u need sbi cashback card
U can take mrcc ( u don't need gold card ) u can take later.

For atlas bru u don't travel u will feel stuck after taking.
U can take yes marque if u want since ur better half already have hdfc regalia

Don't take plat travel or atlas .

 

[arcticvolcano]

Bruh if u shop offline (4%)+ hotel & flight (10%)
Then go for atlas

Else
Take mrcc & do 1500x4 6k amazon gv transaction - 15-20% return
Talk to @coolguy1 or @the_dark_knight for amex query they know well .
@coolguy1 has thread on benefits he will share the links

Honestly I would say u need sbi cashback card
U can take mrcc ( u don't need gold card ) u can take later.

For atlas bru u don't travel u will feel stuck after taking.
U can take yes marque if u want since ur better half already have hdfc regalia

Don't take plat travel or atlas .

Thanks for your response @Vasuki !
Appreciate it a lot

Yes I've already spoke to @coolguy1 regd Amex. Just trying to get an idea abt other cards I can look at just as alternatives

Thanks a lot once again!

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

Thanks a ton @anirban.choudhury for such a detailed response!

My insurance spends are - 35000 (LIC + Health + Vehicle)

Just a few followups if you do not mind -

1. Will i be eligible for Gold Charge or DCB Metal or Infinia with an ITR of 9.5LPA freelance?
2. Gold charge is to buy vouchers for APay etc?
3. How do I go about upgrading to Regalia Gold or DCB? Should I shift all my spends to Millenia right now? or try offline through agent C2C?
4. While I am definitely open to getting a Travel card, my wife and I usually go to off beat locations with small airbnbs or cottages etc. So major hotels etc may not always be around. In that case, just to sort of keep my options open - any other cards I can look at? I understand that travel redemptions offer best value - but anything else I can think about?

I am just thinking that even with my 7 to 8L spends, I don't think I can get a waiver right? Its 4k for Gold charge and 5k for ATLAS. I felt between ATLAS and REGALIA GOLD, the latter was a good option?

For 35000 insurance spends , if amazon is an option then you can buy amazon pay vouchers using reward multiplier through gold Charge.

If you have 6000 voucher(apay , asv, swiggy etc) requirement per month
Then you can get 1600 MR every month.
That's 19200 MR a year.

Since you don't have much travel requirements, you should redeem them for vouchers for gold collection where you get 6000 amazon pay voucher against 18000 MR points

So with just 72k Rs spend you get 6000 apay + additional 1200 MR
Gold Charge fees is 4500 + gst comes to around 5300, with the amazon pay vouchers it gets nullified plus your earn extra 700 Rs apay + 1200 MR
Plus when you pay gold card full fees , generally they give you 10k MR.

Also since you mentioned you generally travel to offbeat places and stay in airbnbs , then going for any air miles card would be a waste.
Don't go for atlas as that would be completely useless for you.

Getting a DCB Metal or dcb would be advisable as atleast you can redeem 70% of value against homestays booked through MMT or cleartrip can be redeemed at 1:1.

It would be difficult to get DCB or infinia with freelancing ITR of 9.5 unless you opt for ulips.

My suggestion would be to continues using regalia gold

Get an amex gold Charge

And get sbi cashback.

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

MRCC won't be usefully for you unless you hit 20k every month, since your voucher requirements are not that high
I would suggest to take Gold Charge instead.
It gives 1600 points against MRCC's 1200 for 6000 Rs spend.

With MRCC, for 6000 Rs every month spend neither will you get partial waiver nor get access to the 18k gold collection in a year.

 

[sourpai]

There are so many people on this forum who have excess Vistara points, excess MR points, excess Axis edge points and want to sell them as they are not able to use them. Although I will say that Infinia / DCB points are much more useful for any random hotel / flight bookings

You should venture in this area (Axis / Amex cards) only if you are doing 2-3 vacations per year which requires flight travel and stay in luxury hotels (marriott / accor / ITC etc). Or if your hometown and workplace are connected with Vistara flights. Else SBI cashback is the best card which you should aim for

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

There are so many people on this forum who have excess Vistara points, excess MR points, excess Axis edge points and want to sell them as they are not able to use them. Although I will say that Infinia / DCB points are much more useful for any random hotel / flight bookings

You should venture in this area (Axis / Amex cards) only if you are doing 2-3 vacations per year which requires flight travel and stay in luxury hotels (marriott / accor / ITC etc). Or if your hometown and workplace are connected with Vistara flights. Else SBI cashback is the best card which you should aim for

Actually there are many who even wants to sell their hdfc points too.
I get multiple DM's for buying their points.

Whether it's axis , amex or hdfc unless you are not sure of the Redemption options you should steer clear of any card that gives reward points and should always take cards that give direct statement credit or some other forms of cashback.

 

[arcticvolcano]

My suggestion would be to continues using regalia gold

I don't have one yet, my wife has a regalia gold.

How do I go about trying to upgrade? The last time I requested it they asked me for ITR and it wasn't enough.
Do I shift all my expenses to the Millenia card and then hope for a credit limit increase?

Will try to get the cashback card for now. Though, from whatever I see on the forum, it's quite hard to get one.

I think then for now, I'll not upgrade to any travel card yet, until we reach a point where I take more than just 2 or 4 flights a year and/or stay in luxury hotels.

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

I don't have one yet, my wife has a regalia gold.

How do I go about trying to upgrade? The last time I requested it they asked me for ITR and it wasn't enough.
Do I shift all my expenses to the Millenia card and then hope for a credit limit increase?

Will try to get the cashback card for now. Though, from whatever I see on the forum, it's quite hard to get one.

I think then for now, I'll not upgrade to any travel card yet, until we reach a point where I take more than just 2 or 4 flights a year and/or stay in luxury hotels.

Yeah travel card won't make much sense.
Even DCB Infinia won't be much good for you.

If sbi cashback is difficult , get Yes Marquee the card is well compensated for joining and annual fees
It also gets 4.5% return for online spends in terms of vouchers or travel booking.

Another card that can be an alternative to sbi cashback would be Hdfc swiggy since now it gives direct statement Credit, very good card for online spends upto 30k.

The airmiles card can be good if you have spends upwards 7.5 lakhs and that max of it under accelerated category as unlike cashback card, a airmiles card is only worth of you can aquire the entire miles requirement for a Redemption, even if you are short of few hundreds either you will need to buy points or you will have to drop the requirement.

Some hotel do allow miles + cash but that is again costly.
Plus you need to be flexible and these FFP's are mostly for luxury category so you might need to spend extra on FNB..

So yeah for your requirements you don't need a airmiles card.

 

[Vasuki]

I don't have one yet, my wife has a regalia gold.

How do I go about trying to upgrade? The last time I requested it they asked me for ITR and it wasn't enough.
Do I shift all my expenses to the Millenia card and then hope for a credit limit increase?

Will try to get the cashback card for now. Though, from whatever I see on the forum, it's quite hard to get one.

I think then for now, I'll not upgrade to any travel card yet, until we reach a point where I take more than just 2 or 4 flights a year and/or stay in luxury hotels.

See
As @anirban.choudhury explained
Get gold charge card & then apply mrcc as surrogate ( both possible via single application) right @coolguy1

& Get sbi cashback card

U need nothing more

 

[anirban.choudhuryanirban.choudhury is verified member.]

See
As @anirban.choudhury explained
Get gold charge card & then apply mrcc as surrogate ( both possible via single application) right @coolguy1

& Get sbi cashback card

U need nothing more

Amex doesn't issue companion cards nowadays for lower end cards, only platinum charge would get a companion card.

Regarding sbi cashback , yeah it's a good card for his usecase , other alternatives can be hdfc swiggy or Yes Marquee

 

[Vasuki]

Amex doesn't issue companion cards nowadays for lower end cards, only platinum charge would get a companion card.

Regarding sbi cashback , yeah it's a good card for his usecase , other alternatives can be hdfc swiggy or Yes Marquee

They saying complimentary yes marque on yes grandeur account opening.
Onto it

 

[arcticvolcano]

Thank you so much @anirban.choudhury and @Vasuki.

Will look into Amex gold charge, and sbi cashback, Yes Marquee. Will continue occasionally using Millenia and hopefully they upgrade.

Once my expenses do increase ans/or I start travelling more, I'll look into the ATLAS and other cards.

Last query - I'm going to give up the Neu Infinity by this year end since I definitely don't use UPI and BBasket enough For 3L annual spends. Any other rupay card that I can look at? I'm being offered Coral LTF. I read on the forum that PNB's rupay card is good? I'm not looking for anything too major here. Just a rupay card for occasional UPI uses (maybe 1L a year).