People who got super premium cards (Amex Centurion, HDFC Infinia, ICICI Emeralde etc) with an FD on the bank., pls mention your experience and minimum fixed deposit amount bank asked for the card
You won't get Infinia against FD/ULIP these days, forget about LTF. Eligibility for the card has been hiked significantly from Oct 1. Not sure about the other cards.
Obtaining a Lifetime Free (LTF) credit card largely depends on your relationship with the bank. It is very hard to get especially when it comes to FD cases.
Why? Simple. The bank is paying you interest on your fixed deposits.
It may be possible to obtain a LTF credit card if you have an FD of Rs 25-30 lakhs atleast.
My cousin recently made a fixed deposit of Rs 45 lakhs and the bank placed a lien on it. They offered him a LTF credit card against that FD, specifically the Pioneer Private credit card.
Second, he is getting monthly interest on that FD in his account.
In any case such cards are not free. Let me take a simple & realistic example of a 365 day FD - Currently HDFC offers 6.6% on a 1 yr FD while IDFC first offers 7.75%. On a 50L FD, you are losing out on 57,500 Rs a year had you chosen a bank of your choice for FD and not HDFC. Even for a 10L FD, you lose 11500 Rs and no points which you would otherwise get on fee payment.
Again, I understand such FDs would be done for long term but calcs won't change much on the ground. Moreover, if you invest the same amount in MFs or other better instruments (having reasonable safety), the returns would be way higher.
There are no free luncheons. On FD/ULIPs banks make much more than what you do. On Infinia, card against FD isn't offered anymore to the best of my knowledge, there could be exceptions though which I'm not aware. Take your judicious call even if it's offered this way.