The End of 'Lifetime Free'? ICICI's Big Change to Credit Cards 😲

[helloworld]

I know People who hold More than 12 ICICI CARDS just because they are LTF🤣 and I think this is the Reason , ICICI added this Clause in MITC.

They have All Network Variants of a Particular Card Varaint like Gemstone Cards on All Card Networks i.e, Amex/Visa/Mastercard/Rupay 🤣

Do People really need 4 LTF Cards that too of same Variant under different Networks ?

When People will get obsessed with LTF Cards like this, Holding All Network Variants of Same Card as LTF, then Why Bank Should not change the Pricing to Chargeable ?

But Bank should Allow any One Network as LTF and other Network Varaint of Same Card Chargeable If Cardholder want to hold the same due to obsession or any other Reason

Valid and as you mentioned applies both customer and bank.

 

[vine]

All comments above are all good suggestions .. to kill the credit card usage in India, and it's barely even taking off now (it's around 4% last time I heard).
Banks/People don't realise , credit cards are not the only non cash option now.
Without rewards, no one wants to use any credit card. I will just use UPI or any wallet.
With banks chasing liquidity, we should see better offers/rewards for debit cards/SB accounts.

 

[Andy1]

I would appreciate this move since people just going for freebies and discounts. How will banks make money. pay a minimum fee and keep the card this restores little bit glory in for a credit card. By the way joining and annual fees will itself make many customers to not take a credit card. Or else only devaluation happens and even who wants to truly spend are offended in getting something out of card. So it's a good move and no one can stop banks in charging fees, banks can give reasonable time and information if you still want to keep pay or else close if there are case of serious commitments bank will just discard the credit card and introduce new one where literally you won't have any option to walk out of commitments from bank given. If same card taking in different variant is automatically understood why are you taking such variants i can understand rupay and visa because rupay is convenient. But amex master visa rupay. Comon we know why taking such card networks.

Many says I got from this and that way LTF and who pays joining fee and annual fee what about them they take the burn in devaluation, it's best for banks to charge fees or else it's a mess.

Do you really support banks and not the customers?? Are you serious bro? Banks are charging 45-60% interest on outstandings, where is the glory in that? There are already options available in the market where you have to pay hefty fees and maintain balances for benefits. Banks are here to do business and public always wants more and that's a simple business equation. Gone are those days when only few handful people had access to banks, stocks and used to fly in planes. Just like earlier few used to have smartphones. In short if Icici continues this they'll shortly reach to the end of the curve where they'll lose all their credit card business to other banks and fintechs.

 

[MusicalMind]

If it happens most people close their cards and keeps two ₹500 per year cards from different banks. One for main usage and other for backup just like the pre 2010 era.

 

[bing1309]

Do you really support banks and not the customers?? Are you serious bro? Banks are charging 45-60% interest on outstandings, where is the glory in that? There are already options available in the market where you have to pay hefty fees and maintain balances for benefits. Banks are here to do business and public always wants more and that's a simple business equation. Gone are those days when only few handful people had access to banks, stocks and used to fly in planes. Just like earlier few used to have smartphones. In short if Icici continues this they'll shortly reach to the end of the curve where they'll lose all their credit card business to other banks and fintechs.

I do maintain balances and infact encourage banks to add fees and fees will be removed if you spend so much thats what banks wants, now a days the credit card knowledge has been increased and people know why to pay to avoid cibil dispute how to pay or rotate money by avoiding interest. So its not so simple as we think, I would still suggest the olden days where bank charge for credit card the fees or else devaluation will happen massively and end of the day credit card will be just credit nothing else.

 

[rogerthat]

As a person who has been using credit cards for the past 18 years, I can safely say that the past three years have been an anomaly. We were going through a period of unreal exuberance that is now coming to an end.

The concept of LTF credit cards wasn't that common pre-2019. You got a credit card without an annual fee only if it was secured, or if you had a solid banking relationship or salary account, or if the card had absolutely no benefits associated with it. Even ICICI Platinum had an annual fee! The annual fees was reason enough to keep most people off credit cards.

Post the fees, a reward rate of 1-2% was normal and expected of most cards. There were some better rewarding cards though, but those were mostly geared towards travellers and were too niche and complicated. Also, there wasn't really anyone to "educate" people how to use cards and extract the maximum benefit out of them. Banks were strict in issuance and common people were actually scared of cards.

And then COVID happened. Banks suddenly started seeing credit cards as a means to get people spending again and started issuing them like free water bottles. Easy approval for anyone who bothers applying, sometimes not even then (Remember "Magnus lelo, Magnus lelo"?). LTF for premier institute alumni, LTF for any salary accounts, LTF if you just asked. Sky was no limit when it came to designing card benefits. Free lounge for everyone! Unlimited cashback! Free 5* holidays! Movie and plane tickets worth thousands! 33%, 46%, 72% even 86% returns! For a brief period, as a banking instrument, Indian credit cards offered the highest assured returns probably in the history of mankind.

And not just that, the new breed of influencers minted during COVID started educating people on how to extract the most out of credit cards. So, it was the perfect storm of ultra pro max rewards, liberal banks and an aware customer base. Influencers were over the moon, and I remember one among them proclaiming that "The Golden Age of Indian credit cards has just begun". It wouldn't last six months.

The banks, being the typical shortsighted Indian corporate who are utterly unable of thinking beyond the next quarter's numbers, saw the card issuance rates and spends touching the Stratosphere and were probably ecstatic. It wouldn't be long before their accountants realised how they were bleeding and called for the brakes to be applied.

That was when sh!t hit the fan. The first casualty was Magnus and it has been in free fall ever since. What we are seeing now is the banks scrambling to clean up that mess (again looking at only next quarters numbers) and try to cut losses in their credit card departments. What were they (ICICI, HDFC, Axis) thinking would happen when they issued all those LTF cards? Oh right, they weren't.

Next year we will probably see them panicking with card issuance dipping and spending flatlining and them unable to meet targets. Again.