Please suggest the right credit card mix for me

[abhishek0882]

Dear Friends,

This is my first post on the Technofino Community and at the outset I would like to congratulate and thank everyone here for creating this amazing platform for sharing knowledge.

While I have been using credit cards for a few years now, it was not until recently that I realized the true potential of cashbacks, rewards and miles and how much I have been missing out on. So now trying to learn the game.

Below is the list of my cards and how I use/plan to use them. Request fellow members to suggest the following:

• Would like to consolidate and reduce the number of cards. Please suggest which ones I should let go off (Would like to have as few cards as possible, but also attract max value)
• Please check if the category of spends I use for the cards is optimal, else suggest a better match for spend category and cards
• For optimizing point 2, please suggest if I need any other card for any particular spend category. While I know as per point 1 I want to reduce cards, but if there’s a card that will add substantial value, I am open to it
• Should I get the HDFC Tata Neu Infinity card? Is it worth it if I am getting the Plus version LTF instead of Infinity? Reasons for considering it – (i) I do not have any RuPay credit cards (ii) I do not have any HDFC cards currently and I am assuming that most offers on electronics and online sales on HDFC bank maybe accessed with this card (iii) Not on the Tata ecosystem at all but do use 1Mg a lot for medicines (parents and in-laws) and BbDaily for a moderate amount each month. Is it worth it to add the card for this?

Card	Fees	Spend Categories	Remarks
Axis Magnus	10,000	1. Mostly spend from this card only in those months where expected spend is more than 1 lakh 2. When I need to buy vouchers from giftedge or through grabdeals 3. Plan to make all spends from this card once spends on Vistara Infinite have crossed 7.5 lakhs for the year	Important for me because: 1. Domestic and international lounge access for self and family 2. Reward Rate 3. Regular offers on Grabdeals and Giftedge
Axis Vistara Infinite	10,000 (FY fee should be reversed – promotion)	1. Rent (thru CRED), plan to shift to Magnus from June 2. Insurance 3. Mostly spend all general spends from this card in months where spend is less than 1 lakh or if Magnus eligible spends cross 1 lakh	Important for me because: 1. Vistara benefits and tickets 2. Rent and insurance were getting rewards
AMEX Platinum Reserve	10,000 (Usually gets reversed or receive 10,000 Taj vouchers)	Almost No spends now – earlier used this as the default card wherever AMEX was accepted, used to always get 500 FK voucher. But post AXIS cards, no spends	Important for me because: 1. AMEX lounge in Delhi relatively less crowded and better service 2. With higher spending pre AXIS, would get Taj Vouchers for annual and periodic spend based milestones and retention benefit
AMEX Gold Charge	4,500 (Always reversed)	1. Wallet Loads 2. Utility Bills 3. Fuel 4. Complete 6 transactions of 1000 each per month for 1000 bonus points	Important for me because: 1. Rewards on wallets, utility bills and fuel 2. Reward rate with bonus points
AMEX MRCC	LTF	1. Wallet Loads 2. Utility Bills 3. Complete 4 transactions of 1500 each per month for 1000 bonus points 4. Pre AXIS cards, used to split spends between MRCC and Plat Reserve and get 1000 bonus points on 20k spends, but no spends beyond 4 transactions of 1500 now	Important for me because: 1. Rewards on wallets, utility bills 2. Reward rate with bonus points 3. LTF
IDFC First Select	LTF	Almost no spends now. Used to pay rent earlier, but now shifted that to AXIS Vistara and plan to shift to Magnus from June	Currently does not hold much value to me. Wondering whether to close or continue because it is LTF
Citibank Premiermiles	3000	Almost no spends now. Rarely when there is a better than AXIS or AMEX on dining, will avail, but rare, as dining also use mostly AXIS or AMEX	Currently not much value. May close when renewal comes up or if AXIS offers a better card
ICICI APay	LTF	199 monthly subscription of Amazon Audible. Else no spend at all.	Currently not much value. Wondering whether to keep it only because it is LTF. I am not sure whether it is eligible for ICICI offers on sale or should I switch to any other ICICI LTF card
Kotak Zen	1500	No spends now. Earlier would spend 1.5 lakhs in the year to get renewal fee waiver	Plan to close this card
SC Manhattan	NA	Card Inactive but shows up on CIBIL	Validity expired a few years back. SC sent a new card, that got returned because address was not updated. Address change only possible from branch. Very few branches, even in Delhi. Went and submitted docs – staff lost the docs. Didn’t go back again. While CIBIL shows the card, no renewal fees being charged since the time new card was not delivered. Wondering what to do with this.

Thanking all in advance.

 

[Salvo08]

A well articulated post. I don't think it is complicated in your case. I would suggest Axis Magnus, Amex MRCC & Amex Gold Charge (Though do not personally prefer Amex Cards) for use and IDFC Select and ICICI APay being LTF for a lucrative offer which may come your way.

 

[abhishek0882]

A well articulated post. I don't think it is complicated in your case. I would suggest Axis Magnus, Amex MRCC & Amex Gold Charge (Though do not personally prefer Amex Cards) for use and IDFC Select and ICICI APay being LTF for a lucrative offer which may come your way.

Thank you. Any particular reason you do not prefer Amex apart from low acceptability?

Btw, IDFC First just upgraded me to Wealth credit card from Select.

Sadly, APay is mostly not eligible for most ICICI lucrative offers.

 

[4uziaul]

Sadly, APay is mostly not eligible for most ICICI lucrative offers.

Even for offline offers and discounts.

 

[Quiksilver27]

Dear Friends,

This is my first post on the Technofino Community and at the outset I would like to congratulate and thank everyone here for creating this amazing platform for sharing knowledge.

While I have been using credit cards for a few years now, it was not until recently that I realized the true potential of cashbacks, rewards and miles and how much I have been missing out on. So now trying to learn the game.

Below is the list of my cards and how I use/plan to use them. Request fellow members to suggest the following:

• Would like to consolidate and reduce the number of cards. Please suggest which ones I should let go off (Would like to have as few cards as possible, but also attract max value)
• Please check if the category of spends I use for the cards is optimal, else suggest a better match for spend category and cards
• For optimizing point 2, please suggest if I need any other card for any particular spend category. While I know as per point 1 I want to reduce cards, but if there’s a card that will add substantial value, I am open to it
• Should I get the HDFC Tata Neu Infinity card? Is it worth it if I am getting the Plus version LTF instead of Infinity? Reasons for considering it – (i) I do not have any RuPay credit cards (ii) I do not have any HDFC cards currently and I am assuming that most offers on electronics and online sales on HDFC bank maybe accessed with this card (iii) Not on the Tata ecosystem at all but do use 1Mg a lot for medicines (parents and in-laws) and BbDaily for a moderate amount each month. Is it worth it to add the card for this?

Card	Fees	Spend Categories	Remarks
Axis Magnus	10,000	1. Mostly spend from this card only in those months where expected spend is more than 1 lakh 2. When I need to buy vouchers from giftedge or through grabdeals 3. Plan to make all spends from this card once spends on Vistara Infinite have crossed 7.5 lakhs for the year	Important for me because: 1. Domestic and international lounge access for self and family 2. Reward Rate 3. Regular offers on Grabdeals and Giftedge
Axis Vistara Infinite	10,000 (FY fee should be reversed – promotion)	1. Rent (thru CRED), plan to shift to Magnus from June 2. Insurance dont 3. Mostly spend all general spends from this card in months where spend is less than 1 lakh or if Magnus eligible spends cross 1 lakh	Important for me because: 1. Vistara benefits and tickets 2. Rent and insurance were getting rewards
AMEX Platinum Reserve	10,000 (Usually gets reversed or receive 10,000 Taj vouchers)	Almost No spends now – earlier used this as the default card wherever AMEX was accepted, used to always get 500 FK voucher. But post AXIS cards, no spends	Important for me because: 1. AMEX lounge in Delhi relatively less crowded and better service 2. With higher spending pre AXIS, would get Taj Vouchers for annual and periodic spend based milestones and retention benefit
AMEX Gold Charge	4,500 (Always reversed)	1. Wallet Loads 2. Utility Bills 3. Fuel 4. Complete 6 transactions of 1000 each per month for 1000 bonus points	Important for me because: 1. Rewards on wallets, utility bills and fuel 2. Reward rate with bonus points
AMEX MRCC	LTF	1. Wallet Loads 2. Utility Bills 3. Complete 4 transactions of 1500 each per month for 1000 bonus points 4. Pre AXIS cards, used to split spends between MRCC and Plat Reserve and get 1000 bonus points on 20k spends, but no spends beyond 4 transactions of 1500 now	Important for me because: 1. Rewards on wallets, utility bills 2. Reward rate with bonus points 3. LTF
IDFC First Select	LTF	Almost no spends now. Used to pay rent earlier, but now shifted that to AXIS Vistara and plan to shift to Magnus from June	Currently does not hold much value to me. Wondering whether to close or continue because it is LTF
Citibank Premiermiles	3000	Almost no spends now. Rarely when there is a better than AXIS or AMEX on dining, will avail, but rare, as dining also use mostly AXIS or AMEX	Currently not much value. May close when renewal comes up or if AXIS offers a better card
ICICI APay	LTF	199 monthly subscription of Amazon Audible. Else no spend at all.	Currently not much value. Wondering whether to keep it only because it is LTF. I am not sure whether it is eligible for ICICI offers on sale or should I switch to any other ICICI LTF card
Kotak Zen	1500	No spends now. Earlier would spend 1.5 lakhs in the year to get renewal fee waiver	Plan to close this card
SC Manhattan	NA	Card Inactive but shows up on CIBIL	Validity expired a few years back. SC sent a new card, that got returned because address was not updated. Address change only possible from branch. Very few branches, even in Delhi. Went and submitted docs – staff lost the docs. Didn’t go back again. While CIBIL shows the card, no renewal fees being charged since the time new card was not delivered. Wondering what to do with this.

Thanking all in advance.

Wow.. just as the previous comment mentioned, its a very well articulated post! You have most of the logic sorted out!

So for me i also have both the magnus and vistara infinite but even in months where i dont think i will cross milestone i still prefer to use the magnus for all spends and have kept the vistara infinite just for the vistara gold benefit and for Eazydiner discounts. The fee is offset with the ticket.
This totally depends on how you value the domestic business class tickets which the VI milestone offers. I had 3 business class tickets this year in March, the first of which was going to expire in April. So we so made an impromptu plan over that weekend to use those tickets up! While the experience was good thats not something that i would target in the future.. would have any day taken regular edge reward points over the milestone tickets, much more flexibility! The default reward rate per spend for the Vistara Infinite is 6 cv per 200 which comes to 3 cv per 100, and magnus 12ER/200 comes to 4.8 cv per 100.
Again this just coz i do not find value in domestic business class tickets which if you do that changes the value proposition tremendously and means your getting the best value out of the vistara infinite!

 

[Deleted member 13981]

Dear Friends,

This is my first post on the Technofino Community and at the outset I would like to congratulate and thank everyone here for creating this amazing platform for sharing knowledge.

While I have been using credit cards for a few years now, it was not until recently that I realized the true potential of cashbacks, rewards and miles and how much I have been missing out on. So now trying to learn the game.

Below is the list of my cards and how I use/plan to use them. Request fellow members to suggest the following:

• Would like to consolidate and reduce the number of cards. Please suggest which ones I should let go off (Would like to have as few cards as possible, but also attract max value)
• Please check if the category of spends I use for the cards is optimal, else suggest a better match for spend category and cards
• For optimizing point 2, please suggest if I need any other card for any particular spend category. While I know as per point 1 I want to reduce cards, but if there’s a card that will add substantial value, I am open to it
• Should I get the HDFC Tata Neu Infinity card? Is it worth it if I am getting the Plus version LTF instead of Infinity? Reasons for considering it – (i) I do not have any RuPay credit cards (ii) I do not have any HDFC cards currently and I am assuming that most offers on electronics and online sales on HDFC bank maybe accessed with this card (iii) Not on the Tata ecosystem at all but do use 1Mg a lot for medicines (parents and in-laws) and BbDaily for a moderate amount each month. Is it worth it to add the card for this?

Card	Fees	Spend Categories	Remarks
Axis Magnus	10,000	1. Mostly spend from this card only in those months where expected spend is more than 1 lakh 2. When I need to buy vouchers from giftedge or through grabdeals 3. Plan to make all spends from this card once spends on Vistara Infinite have crossed 7.5 lakhs for the year	Important for me because: 1. Domestic and international lounge access for self and family 2. Reward Rate 3. Regular offers on Grabdeals and Giftedge
Axis Vistara Infinite	10,000 (FY fee should be reversed – promotion)	1. Rent (thru CRED), plan to shift to Magnus from June 2. Insurance 3. Mostly spend all general spends from this card in months where spend is less than 1 lakh or if Magnus eligible spends cross 1 lakh	Important for me because: 1. Vistara benefits and tickets 2. Rent and insurance were getting rewards
AMEX Platinum Reserve	10,000 (Usually gets reversed or receive 10,000 Taj vouchers)	Almost No spends now – earlier used this as the default card wherever AMEX was accepted, used to always get 500 FK voucher. But post AXIS cards, no spends	Important for me because: 1. AMEX lounge in Delhi relatively less crowded and better service 2. With higher spending pre AXIS, would get Taj Vouchers for annual and periodic spend based milestones and retention benefit
AMEX Gold Charge	4,500 (Always reversed)	1. Wallet Loads 2. Utility Bills 3. Fuel 4. Complete 6 transactions of 1000 each per month for 1000 bonus points	Important for me because: 1. Rewards on wallets, utility bills and fuel 2. Reward rate with bonus points
AMEX MRCC	LTF	1. Wallet Loads 2. Utility Bills 3. Complete 4 transactions of 1500 each per month for 1000 bonus points 4. Pre AXIS cards, used to split spends between MRCC and Plat Reserve and get 1000 bonus points on 20k spends, but no spends beyond 4 transactions of 1500 now	Important for me because: 1. Rewards on wallets, utility bills 2. Reward rate with bonus points 3. LTF
IDFC First Select	LTF	Almost no spends now. Used to pay rent earlier, but now shifted that to AXIS Vistara and plan to shift to Magnus from June	Currently does not hold much value to me. Wondering whether to close or continue because it is LTF
Citibank Premiermiles	3000	Almost no spends now. Rarely when there is a better than AXIS or AMEX on dining, will avail, but rare, as dining also use mostly AXIS or AMEX	Currently not much value. May close when renewal comes up or if AXIS offers a better card
ICICI APay	LTF	199 monthly subscription of Amazon Audible. Else no spend at all.	Currently not much value. Wondering whether to keep it only because it is LTF. I am not sure whether it is eligible for ICICI offers on sale or should I switch to any other ICICI LTF card
Kotak Zen	1500	No spends now. Earlier would spend 1.5 lakhs in the year to get renewal fee waiver	Plan to close this card
SC Manhattan	NA	Card Inactive but shows up on CIBIL	Validity expired a few years back. SC sent a new card, that got returned because address was not updated. Address change only possible from branch. Very few branches, even in Delhi. Went and submitted docs – staff lost the docs. Didn’t go back again. While CIBIL shows the card, no renewal fees being charged since the time new card was not delivered. Wondering what to do with this.

Thanking all in advance.

Hii.. I was at the same spot a year back. Reduced the number from 20 to 10. Will try to go down further to 7-8. Now my strategy is simple.. "Keep updating the portfolio as per the need and maximize the reward rate". Occasional offers and LTF do not matter much to me now. I would suggest you to kill away with Kotak, APay (if not useful) and SC Manhattan (if you're not targeting SC Ultimate). Keep Citi as for now and get other axis card later. Magnus and Vistara are good. Add Samsung Infinite to the mix if you want, good for maximizing rewards. Try to churn more value from Amex (those monthly reward points are nice). Platinum Reserve is totally your decision as it is more of a luxury and comfort thing than returns. Tata Neu I didn't find much use and value hence closed. My card collection:
1. HDFC Infinia - 2014 (free)
2. Citi Rewards - 2015 (free)
3. Amex MRCC - 2016 (free)
4. Amex Gold - 2020 (paid but reversed annually)
5. ICICI APay - 2020 (Keeping just for amazon)
6. Emeralde Amex - 2020 (free)
7. Axis Magnus - 2022 (paid)
8. Axis Atlas - 2022 (Planning to change to Samsung Infinite Card. My international spends are high)
9. SBI Aurum (will close soon. one year affair)
10. IDFC Wealth (free)
I'm planning to close Aurum, Emeralde and will merge Citi with Axis next year. Getting Axis Reserve next month.

 

[Salvo08]

Thank you. Any particular reason you do not prefer Amex apart from low acceptability?

Btw, IDFC First just upgraded me to Wealth credit card from Select.

Sadly, APay is mostly not eligible for most ICICI lucrative offers.

For Amex, no particular reason always heard about low acceptance. One main reason for me not having one is that my Job takes me places every couple of years. Now I’m in Pune and they approved Travel Platinum but do not accept any document other than Aadhar, DL and passport for address proof. They wanted me to get the address changed in Aadhar but I wasn’t keen probably because I never kind of missed having an Amex Card.

I‘ve IDFC Classic and twice they refused to upgrade to Wealth but instead offered Select which I don’t want as Classic at times can be used for 25% discount on movie ticket if one ticket needs to be booked. Apart from lounge access, Select offers me no tangible benefit. Want wealth primarily for keep sakes and as it offers spend based spa access. I’m a Wealth account holder but their CC department really sucks. Can you share your experience of the upgrade?

Agree that ICICI Apay can not be used for most online offers but for some retail offers. I am myself considering option of closing my 11 year Old Rubyx and downgrade to ICICI Platinum.

 

[Deleted member 11974]

Dear Friends,

This is my first post on the Technofino Community and at the outset I would like to congratulate and thank everyone here for creating this amazing platform for sharing knowledge.

While I have been using credit cards for a few years now, it was not until recently that I realized the true potential of cashbacks, rewards and miles and how much I have been missing out on. So now trying to learn the game.

Below is the list of my cards and how I use/plan to use them. Request fellow members to suggest the following:

• Would like to consolidate and reduce the number of cards. Please suggest which ones I should let go off (Would like to have as few cards as possible, but also attract max value)
• Please check if the category of spends I use for the cards is optimal, else suggest a better match for spend category and cards
• For optimizing point 2, please suggest if I need any other card for any particular spend category. While I know as per point 1 I want to reduce cards, but if there’s a card that will add substantial value, I am open to it
• Should I get the HDFC Tata Neu Infinity card? Is it worth it if I am getting the Plus version LTF instead of Infinity? Reasons for considering it – (i) I do not have any RuPay credit cards (ii) I do not have any HDFC cards currently and I am assuming that most offers on electronics and online sales on HDFC bank maybe accessed with this card (iii) Not on the Tata ecosystem at all but do use 1Mg a lot for medicines (parents and in-laws) and BbDaily for a moderate amount each month. Is it worth it to add the card for this?

Card	Fees	Spend Categories	Remarks
Axis Magnus	10,000	1. Mostly spend from this card only in those months where expected spend is more than 1 lakh 2. When I need to buy vouchers from giftedge or through grabdeals 3. Plan to make all spends from this card once spends on Vistara Infinite have crossed 7.5 lakhs for the year	Important for me because: 1. Domestic and international lounge access for self and family 2. Reward Rate 3. Regular offers on Grabdeals and Giftedge
Axis Vistara Infinite	10,000 (FY fee should be reversed – promotion)	1. Rent (thru CRED), plan to shift to Magnus from June 2. Insurance 3. Mostly spend all general spends from this card in months where spend is less than 1 lakh or if Magnus eligible spends cross 1 lakh	Important for me because: 1. Vistara benefits and tickets 2. Rent and insurance were getting rewards
AMEX Platinum Reserve	10,000 (Usually gets reversed or receive 10,000 Taj vouchers)	Almost No spends now – earlier used this as the default card wherever AMEX was accepted, used to always get 500 FK voucher. But post AXIS cards, no spends	Important for me because: 1. AMEX lounge in Delhi relatively less crowded and better service 2. With higher spending pre AXIS, would get Taj Vouchers for annual and periodic spend based milestones and retention benefit
AMEX Gold Charge	4,500 (Always reversed)	1. Wallet Loads 2. Utility Bills 3. Fuel 4. Complete 6 transactions of 1000 each per month for 1000 bonus points	Important for me because: 1. Rewards on wallets, utility bills and fuel 2. Reward rate with bonus points
AMEX MRCC	LTF	1. Wallet Loads 2. Utility Bills 3. Complete 4 transactions of 1500 each per month for 1000 bonus points 4. Pre AXIS cards, used to split spends between MRCC and Plat Reserve and get 1000 bonus points on 20k spends, but no spends beyond 4 transactions of 1500 now	Important for me because: 1. Rewards on wallets, utility bills 2. Reward rate with bonus points 3. LTF
IDFC First Select	LTF	Almost no spends now. Used to pay rent earlier, but now shifted that to AXIS Vistara and plan to shift to Magnus from June	Currently does not hold much value to me. Wondering whether to close or continue because it is LTF
Citibank Premiermiles	3000	Almost no spends now. Rarely when there is a better than AXIS or AMEX on dining, will avail, but rare, as dining also use mostly AXIS or AMEX	Currently not much value. May close when renewal comes up or if AXIS offers a better card
ICICI APay	LTF	199 monthly subscription of Amazon Audible. Else no spend at all.	Currently not much value. Wondering whether to keep it only because it is LTF. I am not sure whether it is eligible for ICICI offers on sale or should I switch to any other ICICI LTF card
Kotak Zen	1500	No spends now. Earlier would spend 1.5 lakhs in the year to get renewal fee waiver	Plan to close this card
SC Manhattan	NA	Card Inactive but shows up on CIBIL	Validity expired a few years back. SC sent a new card, that got returned because address was not updated. Address change only possible from branch. Very few branches, even in Delhi. Went and submitted docs – staff lost the docs. Didn’t go back again. While CIBIL shows the card, no renewal fees being charged since the time new card was not delivered. Wondering what to do with this.

Thanking all in advance.

How do you get reversal for amex reserve
also citi premier has a 2% reward rate can use those points for domestic flight booking through third party agents at 1 pts =0.45 rs or transfer it to airline partner at 2:1 ratio.
i was able to get a good buisness class dal through premier miles at 35k taxes

 

[abhishek0882]

Wow.. just as the previous comment mentioned, its a very well articulated post! You have most of the logic sorted out!

So for me i also have both the magnus and vistara infinite but even in months where i dont think i will cross milestone i still prefer to use the magnus for all spends and have kept the vistara infinite just for the vistara gold benefit and for Eazydiner discounts. The fee is offset with the ticket.
This totally depends on how you value the domestic business class tickets which the VI milestone offers. I had 3 business class tickets this year in March, the first of which was going to expire in April. So we so made an impromptu plan over that weekend to use those tickets up! While the experience was good thats not something that i would target in the future.. would have any day taken regular edge reward points over the milestone tickets, much more flexibility! The default reward rate per spend for the Vistara Infinite is 6 cv per 200 which comes to 3 cv per 100, and magnus 12ER/200 comes to 4.8 cv per 100.
Again this just coz i do not find value in domestic business class tickets which if you do that changes the value proposition tremendously and means your getting the best value out of the vistara infinite!

Point taken and very good logic, esp with 3 vs 4.8 CV per 100. But yes, the domestic business class tickets also are useful and hold value for us, so I have had that dilemma before. I guess will mix and match. For a lot of spends nowadays we are anyways doing via Magnus because of the accelerated points on Gyftr and Grabdeals, so maybe we will end up spending more on Magnus eventually.

 

[abhishek0882]

Reduced the number from 20 to 10. Will try to go down further to 7-8.

Great work on that.

I would suggest you to kill away with Kotak, APay (if not useful) and SC Manhattan (if you're not targeting SC Ultimate). Keep Citi as for now and get other axis card later. Magnus and Vistara are good. Add Samsung Infinite to the mix if you want, good for maximizing rewards. Try to churn more value from Amex (those monthly reward points are nice). Platinum Reserve is totally your decision as it is more of a luxury and comfort thing than returns. Tata Neu I didn't find much use and value hence closed.

Thanks for all the advice, really helpful. My only hesitation in closing Kotak and Apay is that they are the ones who have been giving me most frequent LE offers, automatically - don't know if I can expect the same from others, as of now they don't. I usually do not prefer sharing income docs and hence this is important. Not targeting any SC card so will properly close SC Manhattan. Plat Reserve is more sentimental, have had many memories attached and has been real useful in many ways, so keeping it, also because keep getting offers to upgrade to Plat Charge and maybe one day I will take them up on it. Tata Neu only because I neither have an HDFC card (for the offers) nor any Rupay card as of now, so considering it, but still not sure if I want to add another card.
Samsung Infinity - haven't done a deep dive on the features of the card, so don't really know how much value it will add. Maybe post your message will see the features and reviews but with already two Axis cards and one Citi which may get converted to another Axis, I would like to keep an Axis slot open for maybe the Reserve, who knows. But terribly frustrated with Axis service, not just with their cards but also with overall banking, so not to keen to add anything but Reserve, and that too not immediately.

 

[abhishek0882]

For Amex, no particular reason always heard about low acceptance. One main reason for me not having one is that my Job takes me places every couple of years. Now I’m in Pune and they approved Travel Platinum but do not accept any document other than Aadhar, DL and passport for address proof. They wanted me to get the address changed in Aadhar but I wasn’t keen probably because I never kind of missed having an Amex Card.

I‘ve IDFC Classic and twice they refused to upgrade to Wealth but instead offered Select which I don’t want as Classic at times can be used for 25% discount on movie ticket if one ticket needs to be booked. Apart from lounge access, Select offers me no tangible benefit. Want wealth primarily for keep sakes and as it offers spend based spa access. I’m a Wealth account holder but their CC department really sucks. Can you share your experience of the upgrade?

Agree that ICICI Apay can not be used for most online offers but for some retail offers. I am myself considering option of closing my 11 year Old Rubyx and downgrade to ICICI Platinum.

For me, Amex is largely for the Amex experience, it is really good. Once I have to deal with Axis customer care, talking to Amex cc is like therapy . They do have good reward multipliers and offers from time to time and reward rates of MRCC and Gold Charge is good. More of a premium experience. Low acceptance for sure but milestones get easily achieved with wallet recharge and some other stuff.

Yes, IDFC banking sucks, for me too. Account I never got any kind of service and whenever I needed, they messed up. Never had to deal with cc for the Select card much. Once their was a pre-approved LE from 4 to 5 lakhs, I called them and asked them to upgrade to Wealth, they did and it was seamless, no hassles. Got the new card in a week. Yet to use it.

 

[abhishek0882]

How do you get reversal for amex reserve

By calling them just before renewal. They either waive the charges or give Taj Vouchers.

 

[Deleted member 11974]

By calling them just before renewal. They either waive the charges or give Taj Vouchers.

I heard they didn't waive off charges on amex cards and I have tried that with reserve in 2016.
Let's see will try it this time as well

 

[abhishek0882]

I heard they didn't waive off charges on amex cards and I have tried that with reserve in 2016.
Let's see will try it this time as well

They do not waive it on Plat Charge for sure. Personally for me, they have either waived or provided Taj vouchers for Plat Reserve every year. Not just that, they also waived for Gold Charge card as well, every year. MRCC was anyways LTF as companion to Gold Charge. So practically all 3 AMEX cards have been LTF for me, except the FYF, which I did pay on all cards but in AMEX the FYF is lower for all cards (except Charge) than the renewal fee.

All the best for getting the waiver this year. Do tell them you are considering closing the card since the offers on the card have reduced significantly post COVID so it does not justify paying the fee.

 

[Deleted member 11974]

They do not waive it on Plat Charge for sure. Personally for me, they have either waived or provided Taj vouchers for Plat Reserve every year. Not just that, they also waived for Gold Charge card as well, every year. MRCC was anyways LTF as companion to Gold Charge. So practically all 3 AMEX cards have been LTF for me, except the FYF, which I did pay on all cards but in AMEX the FYF is lower for all cards (except Charge) than the renewal fee.

All the best for getting the waiver this year. Do tell them you are considering closing the card since the offers on the card have reduced significantly post COVID so it does not justify paying the fee.

I have amex plat travel fyf and reserve first year paid.Both took this year itself.
Will try this waiver thing for amex reserve although I have heard that amex doesn't have any spend based waver of fee and also doesn't waver fee.
Infact I had SC emirates card since 5+ years as ltf until their partnership ended and it got converted to ultimate fyf.I spent more than 15L on that card in an fy yet they didn't waive off the fees and I closed my card even though I held a priority banking ltf cc.

 

[Deleted member 13981]

Great work on that.

Thanks for all the advice, really helpful. My only hesitation in closing Kotak and Apay is that they are the ones who have been giving me most frequent LE offers, automatically - don't know if I can expect the same from others, as of now they don't. I usually do not prefer sharing income docs and hence this is important. Tata Neu only because I neither have an HDFC card (for the offers) nor any Rupay card as of now, so considering it, but still not sure if I want to add another card.
Samsung Infinite - haven't done a deep dive on the features of the card, so don't really know how much value it will add. Maybe post your message will see the features and reviews but with already two Axis cards and one Citi which may get converted to another Axis, I would like to keep an Axis slot open for maybe the Reserve, who knows. But terribly frustrated with Axis service, not just with their cards but also with overall banking, so not to keen to add anything but Reserve, and that too not immediately.

Glad you found my view helpful. I understand why you want to keep Kotak and APay. But consider the fact that every responsible lender when asked for credit limit increase, looks into Income, Spend on their card and Credit exposure. Having a very high credit limit on a useless card like Kotak increases your credit exposure for no reason and makes you totally dependent on NRV/TRV with other banks and their algorithm to offer you a limit increase. Guys with high ICICI and Kotak limits get paltry limit on their HDFC and Axis cards when applied C2C.

By accepting a limit increase on Kotak and ICICI every now and then, you're reducing chances of limit increase on Axis, Amex and HDFC. I think its better to keep doors open for limit increase on more rewarding cards by keeping spends consistent while avoiding high limit on cards eating dust. This is the reason I closed all those unnecessary cards.

This is my take and I do not expect everyone to agree with me. I welcome you to correct me if I am wrong.

 

[abhishek0882]

Glad you found my view helpful. I understand why you want to keep Kotak and APay. But consider the fact that every responsible lender when asked for credit limit increase, looks into Income, Spend on their card and Credit exposure. Having a very high credit limit on a useless card like Kotak increases your credit exposure for no reason and makes you totally dependent on NRV/TRV with the bank and their algorithm to offer you a limit increase. Guys with high ICICI and Kotak limits get paltry limit on their HDFC and Axis cards when applied C2C.

By accepting a limit increase on Kotak and ICICI every now and then, you're reducing chances of limit increase on Axis, Amex and HDFC. I think its better to keep doors open for limit increase on more rewarding cards by keeping spends consistent while avoiding high limit on cards eating dust. This is the reason I closed all those unnecessary cards.

This is my take and I do not expect everyone to agree with me. I welcome you to correct me if I am wrong.

I respect your views but I beg to differ.

I do not like sharing my income docs not because of anything else but just because of privacy and confidentiality reasons, and because I am not sure the way the bank and executives handle, store these docs. Not that I am very rigid about it, I know privacy in this day and age is a myth, but just about having those docs moving around everywhere, either physically or digitally is a thought I am not very comfortable with.

Now coming to the credit exposure and limit enhancement, I feel banks to not take high limits on any card as a negative factor. Infact, I used my Kotak card to apply for Magus C2C, and Axis matched that limit. So I think that may not be a factor.

 

[Deleted member 13981]

I respect your views but I beg to differ.

I do not like sharing my income docs not because of anything else but just because of privacy and confidentiality reasons, and because I am not sure the way the bank and executives handle, store these docs. Not that I am very rigid about it, I know privacy in this day and age is a myth, but just about having those docs moving around everywhere, either physically or digitally is a thought I am not very comfortable with.

Now coming to the credit exposure and limit enhancement, I feel banks to not take high limits on any card as a negative factor. Infact, I used my Kotak card to apply for Magus C2C, and Axis matched that limit. So I think that may not be a factor.

I don't like to share my income details either. Last I gave my Income documents was in 2020 to Amex for Platinum Charge (later I decided not to upgrade).

It's nice that you got the limit matched on your Axis application. But we have banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered who don't issues a card if one has multiple credit lines or high credit exposure. There are people (in this community) who have 2-3 Cr of total credit limit but were given 5 lacs on their Reserve against some ICICI card with 25 Lacs+ credit limit. So after a point that high limit becomes irrelevant, if not negative.

After reducing no. of cards and shifting spends on more rewarding ones, I recovered most of the lost credit line in a year. Got auto limit increase twice on Axis, Amex, HDFC and thrice on ICICI.

I like a small portfolio with optimum credit limit on the cards I mostly use. Cards just lying in a drawer without significant use irritate me.

I wish you all the very best in finding a balanced credit card portfolio. I'm learning here a lot from wonderful people like you. Hope to share thoughts again real soon. TkCr.

 

[abhishek0882]

I don't like to share my income details either. Last I gave my Income documents was in 2020 to Amex for Platinum Charge (later I decided not to upgrade).

It's nice that you got the limit matched on your Axis application. But we have banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered who don't issues a card if one has multiple credit lines or high credit exposure. There are people (in this community) who have 2-3 Cr of total credit limit but were given 5 lacs on their Reserve against some ICICI card with 25 Lacs+ credit limit. So after a point that high limit becomes irrelevant, if not negative.

After reducing no. of cards and shifting spends on more rewarding ones, I recovered most of the lost credit line in a year. Got auto limit increase twice on Axis, Amex, HDFC and thrice on ICICI.

I like a small portfolio with optimum credit limit on the cards I mostly use. Cards just lying in a drawer without significant use irritate me.

I wish you all the very best in finding a balanced credit card portfolio. I'm learning here a lot from wonderful people like you. Hope to share thoughts again real soon. TkCr.

Point taken .

Even I am looking to reduce and consolidate my cards, so let's see.

Yeah, learning a lot from this community.

 

[Salvo08]

Hi @abhishek0882,

1. Now with centurion lounges gone, are you planning to close your Platinum Reserve?

2. I too got the card in the first week of Jul and preferred it over Plat Travel for centurion lounge access only. So either I’ll have to go for Plat Travel after few months or work out a way to get the annual fee waived off. But I have gone through many posts where users say that Amex is fussy for fee waivers for the last couple of years. Can you please share as to how do you manage to get the annual fee waived off?