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Time to consolidate and actually move to just one card (with backup) with a focus on my lifestyle needs

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kaykayporty

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My regular expenses are the following - amount to about 40K CC monthly expenses in a tier-1 city.

  1. Uber - 3-4K per month
  2. Bigbasket - 4K per month
  3. Swiggy - 3000 per month
  4. Amazon (very minimal and have APay CC)
  5. Offline dining twice a month - Total 5K
  6. All bill payments - Electricity, Internet - Total on average 5500
  7. Once/Twice a month - a movie - 1000 per month
  8. Yearly subscriptions (Spotify, Google One)
  9. Once a year insurance spend - 20K
  10. Other miscellaneous expenses mostly offline.
I take a trip once or twice a year. Total of that would be 1.5 lakhs. And of course, other big purchases once a year of 60-100K

Total yearly expenses - close to 8 lakhs.

---
Cards I currently have:
  1. Regalia (LTF) -
    1. I don't use it anymore and only kept it for Priority Pass.
  2. Tata Neu Infinity (FYF) -
    1. Bill payments - electricity and internet
    2. Groceries from BigBasket
    3. I don't understand how 1.5% works for each transaction. That's not clear in the statement. I think it's cumulative.
    4. I ideally want to move away from this card since most merchant transactions are done via CC and most merchants don't use CC on UPI.
  3. Amazon ICICI (LTF) -
    1. I use it for offline transactions.
    2. Amazon, obviously.
  4. Scapia (LTF) -
    1. For 0 forex charges only
    2. Want to keep it for international travel and also not paying forex charges for international transactions.

Most expenses are on Amazon ICICI (amazon and offline), Tata Neu Infinity (bigbasket and all international transactions are on Scapia (1K a month)

---
What I want and what is my expectation:
I don't want to manage so many cards and want to simplify my life. Rewards are lovely but my mental peace is far more rewarding to me.

  1. I want to move to just one card for most things. Since most expenses are online, acceptance (like AMEX) isn't in an issue.
    1. Tracking transactions amongst so many cards is difficult, and I want to make life simple.
    2. A backup card, should be LTF, would be great.
  2. A simple reward rate of 2% is good enough for me for offline. Online can be managed with gift cards from Gyftr so sky is the limit.
    1. Tracking so many cards and their transactions and rewards is time consuming.
  3. What have I been redeeming my rewards on till date:
    1. I have been redeeming my points in Regalia for flights and hotels - which has worked well for me, but the value is too low. Only done twice with flights and once with a hotel.
    2. AmazonPay has been extremely rewarding but is, of course, limited to Amazon. But 5% is really great. Not stopping this card.
    3. Tata Neu has helped cut down on grocery bills so that's pretty good as well. I don't use other Tata brands at all.
    4. Scapia is useless for me since I travel rarely and the prices on their app are high. Zero forex for when I travel.
  4. I have no problem with reward points as I'm patient for them to accumulate over time. But it shouldn't devalue quickly.
    1. I'll consume them on a flight or a hotel booking.
    2. I don't stay in Marriot or such. Something mid-range like Ibis or Lemon tree (max).
I want a long-term card - something I should not be thinking about. I want to get out of the card game but stay with one primary card (with one or two more as backup).
 
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Nice post, I too carry only 2 cards in my wallet DCB, and backup Amazon Pay card. I do have other cards, but they are only used for online purchases and offers, ICICI, IDFC and OneCard all show card numbers on app, so I can get them whenever I want. Also, I added those cards to my Samsung Wallet just in case I need to pay them offline.

I use HDFC Rupay CC at petrol bunk, no running behind for surcharge waiver. In case merchant is not accepting I use cash. I love maintaining a slim wallet.
 
srikant said:
It doesn't seem to be that uncommon! In Bengaluru, I have encountered this problem, but not that much! Curious as to which Metro city you reside in.

Personally I prefer RuPay even on PoS / online transactions because it's Bharatiya.
Click to expand...
Its just that whatever merchants I use have CC also but the ones accepting UPI don't have Rupay enabled so not much value for me.

Plus, per spend clarity is not there. Lot of confusion. They just accumulate - which is great but no insights. Not very impressed.
 
Yugi said:
Nice post, I too carry only 2 cards in my wallet DCB, and backup Amazon Pay card. I do have other cards, but they are only used for online purchases and offers, ICICI, IDFC and OneCard all show card numbers on app, so I can get them whenever I want. Also, I added those cards to my Samsung Wallet just in case I need to pay them offline.

I use HDFC Rupay CC at petrol bunk, no running behind for surcharge waiver. In case merchant is not accepting I use cash. I love maintaining a slim wallet.
Click to expand...
This is the ideal setup I want to achieve.
Samsung wallet is the best! Hi5!
 
kaykayporty said:
Conclusion:

One of the three as main cards:
  1. Try to upgrade Regalia to DCB (plastic or metal).
    1. Best option as it has SmartBuy ✅
  2. Atlas is also a good option but devaluation is something that might happen soon ✅
  3. Additionally, I'll want to keep an AMEX maybe much later - but offline acceptance is a challenge 🆗🆗
Cards that I'll be ditching:
  1. Tata Neu Infinity
  2. Regalia will go as it will be upgraded to DCB.
Cards that I'll be keeping (mostly as backup):
  1. Amazon Pay ICICI - For local expenses if DCB isn't accepted offline and of course Amazon expenses.
  2. Scapia - Keeping it for now because of 0 forex and because it's on the VISA network.
Click to expand...
As others have said, don't ditch HDFC Tata Neu Infiniti. For starters, it is a Rupay card. Secondly, I believe I got the upgrade to Infinia from Regalia since my usage on my Tata Neu card increased due to Rupay on UPI. Paid society fees, school fees all through this card, and then I got the Infinia upgrade. Of course difficult to say with conviction that this was the reason and it could be a coincidence. But the fact that Regalia & Tata Neu shares limits, I believe it helped me
 
niks said:
As others have said, don't ditch HDFC Tata Neu Infiniti. For starters, it is a Rupay card. Secondly, I believe I got the upgrade to Infinia from Regalia since my usage on my Tata Neu card increased due to Rupay on UPI. Paid society fees, school fees all through this card, and then I got the Infinia upgrade. Of course difficult to say with conviction that this was the reason and it could be a coincidence. But the fact that Regalia & Tata Neu shares limits, I believe it helped me
Click to expand...
Did you get upgrade offer without much spend on Regala? How old is your Regalia and how much is the credit limit?
 
niks said:
As others have said, don't ditch HDFC Tata Neu Infiniti. For starters, it is a Rupay card. Secondly, I believe I got the upgrade to Infinia from Regalia since my usage on my Tata Neu card increased due to Rupay on UPI. Paid society fees, school fees all through this card, and then I got the Infinia upgrade. Of course difficult to say with conviction that this was the reason and it could be a coincidence. But the fact that Regalia & Tata Neu shares limits, I believe it helped me
Click to expand...
Oh, I'm not going to ditch any card until one of the 3 choices is complete. If my upgrade to DCB goes through, then great. I'll keep it as backup, I guess. But it needs to become LTF.
 
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kaykayporty said:
My regular expenses are the following - amount to about 40K CC monthly expenses in a tier-1 city.

  1. Uber - 3-4K per month
  2. Bigbasket - 4K per month
  3. Swiggy - 3000 per month
  4. Amazon (very minimal and have APay CC)
  5. Offline dining twice a month - Total 5K
  6. All bill payments - Electricity, Internet - Total on average 5500
  7. Once/Twice a month - a movie - 1000 per month
  8. Yearly subscriptions (Spotify, Google One)
  9. Once a year insurance spend - 20K
  10. Other miscellaneous expenses mostly offline.
I take a trip once or twice a year. Total of that would be 1.5 lakhs. And of course, other big purchases once a year of 60-100K

Total yearly expenses - close to 8 lakhs.

---
Cards I currently have:
  1. Regalia (LTF) -
    1. I don't use it anymore and only kept it for Priority Pass.
  2. Tata Neu Infinity (FYF) -
    1. Bill payments - electricity and internet
    2. Groceries from BigBasket
    3. I don't understand how 1.5% works for each transaction. That's not clear in the statement. I think it's cumulative.
    4. I ideally want to move away from this card since most merchant transactions are done via CC and most merchants don't use CC on UPI.
  3. Amazon ICICI (LTF) -
    1. I use it for offline transactions.
    2. Amazon, obviously.
  4. Scapia (LTF) -
    1. For 0 forex charges only
    2. Want to keep it for international travel and also not paying forex charges for international transactions.

Most expenses are on Amazon ICICI (amazon and offline), Tata Neu Infinity (bigbasket and all international transactions are on Scapia (1K a month)

---
What I want and what is my expectation:
I don't want to manage so many cards and want to simplify my life. Rewards are lovely but my mental peace is far more rewarding to me.

  1. I want to move to just one card for most things. Since most expenses are online, acceptance (like AMEX) isn't in an issue.
    1. Tracking transactions amongst so many cards is difficult, and I want to make life simple.
    2. A backup card, should be LTF, would be great.
  2. A simple reward rate of 2% is good enough for me for offline. Online can be managed with gift cards from Gyftr so sky is the limit.
    1. Tracking so many cards and their transactions and rewards is time consuming.
  3. What have I been redeeming my rewards on till date:
    1. I have been redeeming my points in Regalia for flights and hotels - which has worked well for me, but the value is too low. Only done twice with flights and once with a hotel.
    2. AmazonPay has been extremely rewarding but is, of course, limited to Amazon. But 5% is really great. Not stopping this card.
    3. Tata Neu has helped cut down on grocery bills so that's pretty good as well. I don't use other Tata brands at all.
    4. Scapia is useless for me since I travel rarely and the prices on their app are high. Zero forex for when I travel.
  4. I have no problem with reward points as I'm patient for them to accumulate over time. But it shouldn't devalue quickly.
    1. I'll consume them on a flight or a hotel booking.
    2. I don't stay in Marriot or such. Something mid-range like Ibis or Lemon tree (max).
I want a long-term card - something I should not be thinking about. I want to get out of the card game but stay with one primary card (with one or two more as backup).
Click to expand...
consolidated cc portfolio id gd.. issue is cancelling old cards and high limit cards.. will impact credit score.. still haven't solved that one..
 
kaykayporty said:
My regular expenses are the following - amount to about 40K CC monthly expenses in a tier-1 city.

  1. Uber - 3-4K per month
  2. Bigbasket - 4K per month
  3. Swiggy - 3000 per month
  4. Amazon (very minimal and have APay CC)
  5. Offline dining twice a month - Total 5K
  6. All bill payments - Electricity, Internet - Total on average 5500
  7. Once/Twice a month - a movie - 1000 per month
  8. Yearly subscriptions (Spotify, Google One)
  9. Once a year insurance spend - 20K
  10. Other miscellaneous expenses mostly offline.
I take a trip once or twice a year. Total of that would be 1.5 lakhs. And of course, other big purchases once a year of 60-100K

Total yearly expenses - close to 8 lakhs.

---
Cards I currently have:
  1. Regalia (LTF) -
    1. I don't use it anymore and only kept it for Priority Pass.
  2. Tata Neu Infinity (FYF) -
    1. Bill payments - electricity and internet
    2. Groceries from BigBasket
    3. I don't understand how 1.5% works for each transaction. That's not clear in the statement. I think it's cumulative.
    4. I ideally want to move away from this card since most merchant transactions are done via CC and most merchants don't use CC on UPI.
  3. Amazon ICICI (LTF) -
    1. I use it for offline transactions.
    2. Amazon, obviously.
  4. Scapia (LTF) -
    1. For 0 forex charges only
    2. Want to keep it for international travel and also not paying forex charges for international transactions.

Most expenses are on Amazon ICICI (amazon and offline), Tata Neu Infinity (bigbasket and all international transactions are on Scapia (1K a month)

---
What I want and what is my expectation:
I don't want to manage so many cards and want to simplify my life. Rewards are lovely but my mental peace is far more rewarding to me.

  1. I want to move to just one card for most things. Since most expenses are online, acceptance (like AMEX) isn't in an issue.
    1. Tracking transactions amongst so many cards is difficult, and I want to make life simple.
    2. A backup card, should be LTF, would be great.
  2. A simple reward rate of 2% is good enough for me for offline. Online can be managed with gift cards from Gyftr so sky is the limit.
    1. Tracking so many cards and their transactions and rewards is time consuming.
  3. What have I been redeeming my rewards on till date:
    1. I have been redeeming my points in Regalia for flights and hotels - which has worked well for me, but the value is too low. Only done twice with flights and once with a hotel.
    2. AmazonPay has been extremely rewarding but is, of course, limited to Amazon. But 5% is really great. Not stopping this card.
    3. Tata Neu has helped cut down on grocery bills so that's pretty good as well. I don't use other Tata brands at all.
    4. Scapia is useless for me since I travel rarely and the prices on their app are high. Zero forex for when I travel.
  4. I have no problem with reward points as I'm patient for them to accumulate over time. But it shouldn't devalue quickly.
    1. I'll consume them on a flight or a hotel booking.
    2. I don't stay in Marriot or such. Something mid-range like Ibis or Lemon tree (max).
I want a long-term card - something I should not be thinking about. I want to get out of the card game but stay with one primary card (with one or two more as backup).
Click to expand...
Refreshing to find people with similar philosophy.
Keep Regalia, and try to get upgraded to DCB plastic/metal :
* DCB has forex charges of 2% only, for 1.5L you only pay 3k, which is insignificant if you're looking for simplifying your life.
* No acceptance issue of DCB as of now, since it has tie-up with Rupay, Swipe works fine, Tap-to-pay may cause failures.

Keep Amazon Card:
* Gets you all sorts of cashback, and Visa/MC network works as backup of DCB.

Get rid of Scapia & Tata Neu:
* Within a year, scapia will get devalued. Currently it's the shiny new thing. Fin-tech model isnt sustainable for long term.
* For UPI payments, you can use online 0 MAB accounts like paytm banks, airtel bank, kotak 811 etc..., where you can transfer 5-10k every month from salary account for all small transactions.
 
card-shard said:
Refreshing to find people with similar philosophy.
Keep Regalia, and try to get upgraded to DCB plastic/metal :
* DCB has forex charges of 2% only, for 1.5L you only pay 3k, which is insignificant if you're looking for simplifying your life.
* No acceptance issue of DCB as of now, since it has tie-up with Rupay, Swipe works fine, Tap-to-pay may cause failures.

Keep Amazon Card:
* Gets you all sorts of cashback, and Visa/MC network works as backup of DCB.

Get rid of Scapia & Tata Neu:
* Within a year, scapia will get devalued. Currently it's the shiny new thing. Fin-tech model isnt sustainable for long term.
* For UPI payments, you can use online 0 MAB accounts like paytm banks, airtel bank, kotak 811 etc..., where you can transfer 5-10k every month from salary account for all small transactions.
Click to expand...
I've already gotten a spends account in place for UPI only. Don't really need TN Infinity.

Regarding DCB, since the reward rate is 3.33%, I will still be positive when it comes to expenses so I'm good there. Even for forex.

I want to keep Scapia for the plain old simple reason that DCB may not work internationally and I need a Visa/MasterCard as backup. I can't use Amazon for this since it's forex charges are crazy.

But your post is ideal and actually what I want to achieve.
 
kaykayporty said:
I've already gotten a spends account in place for UPI only. Don't really need TN Infinity.

Regarding DCB, since the reward rate is 3.33%, I will still be positive when it comes to expenses so I'm good there. Even for forex.

I want to keep Scapia for the plain old simple reason that DCB may not work internationally and I need a Visa/MasterCard as backup. I can't use Amazon for this since it's forex charges are crazy.

But your post is ideal and actually what I want to achieve.
Click to expand...

On Amazon card, forex charge is 3.5%, but you also get 1% cashback on international spends. Comes down to approx 2.5%
Not much of a diff from DCB for backup spends. But your call.
 
niks said:
As others have said, don't ditch HDFC Tata Neu Infiniti. For starters, it is a Rupay card. Secondly, I believe I got the upgrade to Infinia from Regalia since my usage on my Tata Neu card increased due to Rupay on UPI. Paid society fees, school fees all through this card, and then I got the Infinia upgrade. Of course difficult to say with conviction that this was the reason and it could be a coincidence. But the fact that Regalia & Tata Neu shares limits, I believe it helped me
Click to expand...
Can you share how many neu coins you accumulated by paying society and school fees?
 
cardio_guy said:
@kaykayporty what's your card portfolio now? How have you been able to consolidate? Just curious to know.
Click to expand...
These are what I use now actively

1. Amex MRCC - both milestones first
2. Amex Platinum Travel - if anything else specially big purchases
3. ICICI Amazon for anywhere amex isn't accepted or when I run out of gift cards that I've purchased with MRCC.

Side note:

1. I do still have Scapia because I wanted one zero forex card but it's not used day to day.

2. Keeping Regalia for Priority pass. That's it.

HDFC is being a complete ass with all their cards. Won't upgrade me to Regalia Gold unless I have spends even though I satisfy salary criteria for DCB lol. Why would I use Regalia?

All my active cards are on Auto pay so I'm very happy.
 
kaykayporty said:
These are what I use now actively
Click to expand...
Thanks. I am also looking to consolidate and here is my current status. Please do have a look if you get time.
cardio_guy

Post in thread 'Suggest to consolidate or close and optimize my cards'

I have re-looked once more and this is the present status:

Cards:

CardLimit & FeeBenefitStatus
ICICI Amazon Pay10L - LTF5% on all amazon purchases including hotels and flightsMain card now
HDFC Swiggy1.5L - 50010% on all Swiggy purchases, Instamart, GenieMain card now
ICICI Coral Rupay10L - LTFUPI scansMain card now for UPI
ICICI...
  • Like
 
cardio_guy said:
Thanks. I am also looking to consolidate and here is my current status. Please do have a look if you get time.
cardio_guy

Post in thread 'Suggest to consolidate or close and optimize my cards'

I have re-looked once more and this is the present status:

Cards:

CardLimit & FeeBenefitStatus
ICICI Amazon Pay10L - LTF5% on all amazon purchases including hotels and flightsMain card now
HDFC Swiggy1.5L - 50010% on all Swiggy purchases, Instamart, GenieMain card now
ICICI Coral Rupay10L - LTFUPI scansMain card now for UPI
ICICI...
  • Like
Click to expand...
Is this where you spend mostly? What is your monthly/yearly expenditure and is cashback your preferred form of reward?
 
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