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

[kaykayporty]

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).

 

[cardio_guy]

Is this where you spend mostly? What is your monthly/yearly expenditure and is cashback your preferred form of reward?

Yes, these are my spends. I have added a summary table in this post at the bottom.

So far, cashback have been the preferred option - mainly because of 10% swiggy groceries, 5% Amazon spends, and 2% on bill payments using Amazon gift card using Amazon pay card. These form a big chunk of my expenses. (Apart from fuel, that is a separate big one).
I haven't preferred rewards yet, either as hotel points or airmiles, mainly because I don't fly or stay in hotels frequently (Maybe once in 3-4 months, not more than that).

 

[kaykayporty]

Yes, these are my spends. I have added a summary table in this post at the bottom.

So far, cashback have been the preferred option - mainly because of 10% swiggy groceries, 5% Amazon spends, and 2% on bill payments using Amazon gift card using Amazon pay card. These form a big chunk of my expenses. (Apart from fuel, that is a separate big one).
I haven't preferred rewards yet, either as hotel points or airmiles, mainly because I don't fly or stay in hotels frequently (Maybe once in 3-4 months, not more than that).

This looks good then. The Swiggy card is being offered LTF now to some people. Maybe you can email HDFC and get that converted to LTF when you're close to a year of it being with you.

 

[Riya Sharma]

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.
   2. 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.
   3. AmazonPay has been extremely rewarding but is, of course, limited to Amazon. But 5% is really great. Not stopping this card.
   4. 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.
   5. Scapia is useless for me since I travel rarely and the prices on their app are high. Zero forex for when I travel.
3. 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).

If I was you I would move all my spends to Axis Atlas. (buy Amazon GV using Amazon for ineligible categories).

 

[kaykayporty]

If I was you I would move all my spends to Axis Atlas. (buy Amazon GV using Amazon for ineligible categories).

I don't want Axis. Their service is pathetic.

 

[Riya Sharma]

I don't want Axis. Their service is pathetic.

Still better than HDFC tbh