Now that Jet Airways is gone, Vistara is the only full-service carrier that people can count on (apart from Air India, which I'm not a fan of). So, when they decided to launch a co-branded card with Axis, I was extremely eager to get it.

Given their poor eDGE rewards program, the Vistara cards are the only ones worth considering. Axis offers three variants of its Vistara co-branded card. In this review, I will talk about Vistara Infinite, the top-of-the-line offering that comes with an annual fee of ₹10,000/- plus taxes.

Application Process:

My first credit card ever was with Axis, and since then not much has changed in terms of the application process. Even after having an excellent credit score, income way above the required threshold, and a few business class trips on Vistara. I got 3 rejections over the year with no clear answer.

They really need to train their staff in order to make sure the information they hand over is correct, they added incorrect information in my CIBIL profile with spelling mistakes in the office address and the company name.

On my 4th attempt, I shared my experience on Twitter and somebody from their team reached out to me to get it looked into and I finally managed to get the card.

Welcome Bonus:

The Vistara Infinite is quite generous in terms of the welcome gifts. Here are the welcome gifts you get on payment of the annual fee:

1. Club Vistara Gold Membership
2. One business class voucher
3. 10,000 CV Points (On spending ₹1L within 90 days)

Apart from this, you also get two domestic business class upgrade vouchers and two lounge access vouchers as Club Vistara Gold membership perks.

I like the perks offered. They do make up for the annual fee that comes on this card. For somebody who frequently travels on Vistara, the Gold status alone can make up for the membership fee.

On-Going Benefits:

The ongoing benefits of the Vistara Infinite card are not as versatile as those offered by Amex Platinum or HDFC DinersBlack card. They do give some great benefits to frequent flyers.

Club Vistara Gold

You get Club Vistara's Gold tier as long as you hold the card. It comes with some great benefits and can help you earn CV miles and save on your travel.

1. CV Points: Earn 10 CV points per ₹100 spent on Vistara. You also get additional 6 CV points for every ₹200 spent on the card.
2. Vouchers: Gold members will earn three One-Class Upgrade vouchers on renewing their tier status. These vouchers can be used to get a confirmed upgrade to the next cabin class.
3. Priority Connect: This is one of my favorite features, customer support for most airlines can be very frustrating, however from my experience with Vistara's dedicated support desk there's virtually non-existent wait time.
4. 48hr Guaranteed Reservation: Gold members are entitled to a guaranteed seat in Economy Class. A request must be raised at least 48 hours prior to departure, in any sector flown by Vistara. This benefit is applicable only when you're unable to secure a seat in the Business Class or Premium Economy.
5. Rescheduling Fee Waiver: Gold members can make changes to their existing direct bookings at no additional charge. This benefit can be used for up to 1 change per booking for travel within India, up to 24 hours prior to departure. Fare difference will be applicable.
6. Priority Checkin and Boarding: For heavy traffic sectors, this can save you a lot of headaches and skip queues. The Gold Members can use the Business Class counter for check-in. Apart from this you also get Priority Baggage handling.
7. Baggage Allowance: Gold members are entitled to a 10kg additional check-in baggage allowance over and above the check-in baggage entitled to your cabin class. You also get 1pc check-in baggage for Economy-lite fare within and outside India.
8. Perks on Singapore Air: With Club Vistara Gold, you get perks like additional baggage, priority check-in, business class lounge access when flying Singapore Air. You may read more about them here.

Milestone Benefits

The card offers spend-based milestones. You get a free Business Class ticket for each milestone. Not something that'll benefit everyone; Even those with higher spending may not find it valuable to use this card for all their spending.

1. Spend ₹1,00,000 - 10,000 CV Points (First year only)
2. Spend ₹2,50,000 - 1 Business Class ticket
3. Spend ₹5,00,000 - 1 Business Class ticket
4. Spend ₹7,50,000 - 1 Business Class ticket
5. Spend ₹10,00,000 - 1 Business Class ticket

For me, business class for domestic travel doesn't make much sense for most routes, except those with their Boeing 787 or the new Airbus 321. You do get all the other perks with the Gold membership even when you're flying economy.

For the first year, you get good returns by spending ₹250,000/- This will give you the following.

1. 2 Business class tickers: ~₹30,000
2. Welcome Bonus (10,000 CV Points): ₹7,000
3. Spends (7500 CV Points) : ₹5250

Total Returns: ₹42,250 comes out to roughly ~16.9%. Also, this doesn't include the value of upgrade vouchers and lounge access. One can manage to get as much as 22% back on this card for the first 2.5 lakhs.

Please note, this probably only makes sense for frequent flyers and domestic business class travelers.

Lounge Access

Lounge perks are not that great for this card. You get access using the Visa network. Currently, they're offering only two complimentary lounge access per quarter. The complete list of lounges is available here.

However, you can use your Club Vistara Gold membership as well to access their partner lounge.

Golf Benefits

Often a not-so-popular perk, you also get Six Complimentary Rounds of Golf at some of the most popular clubs across India. If you're somebody who's a regular player, you have one more way to get the value out of this card. You can find the complete list of available clubs here.

Travel Insurance

Another valuable perk that comes with this card is travel insurance. Though this doesn't cover everything, it's good to have in certain situations and may save you some money. Here's what you get:

1. Loss of Travel Documents: $300
2. Delay of Check-in baggage: $300
3. Loss of Check-in baggage: $500
4. Lost Card Liability Protection: INR 3,00,000

You can read the complete list of terms and conditions here.

Dining and Experiences

The card offers up to 20% discount at various restaurants through their Axis Diners Delight program. They do have some good restaurants on the list, though the discounts are not exceptional given there are so many alternatives available.

Reward on Spends:

The Infinite variant of the Vistara co-branded card offers 6 CV points per ₹200 spent. Along with that, you get a fuel surcharge waiver as well. Here are a few terms and conditions to keep in mind:

• The CV Points are credited for eligible spend within ten working days from the statement generation date.
• No CV Points are credited for fuel transactions.
• Any reversal of transaction or conversion of a transaction to EMI will lead to the reversal of CV Points for the particular transaction.
• No CV Points are credited for transactions through wallet load.

You can maximize your earnings by using this card for booking Vistara flights. You'll earn miles for the flight as well as for the transaction. Here are the calculations for a sample itinerary:

Delhi to Bangalore (Premium Economy): ₹10,000 Round Trip

• CV Points for Flight: 1000 (Club Vistara Gold Tier)
• CV Points for Transaction: 300

Total Value: ~₹910 is a decent value.

Also, you don't pay any convenience fee for the booking on the official site.

Final Words:

India has limited full-service carriers. Axis Vistara Infinite has positioned itself as the only card that caters to the premium frequent flyers in the domestic market. It is an excellent card for those who fly Premium Economy or Business Class. The Club Vistara Gold membership alone is an excellent proposition and comes with some of the best.

What are your thoughts on the cards? Share your experiences and questions in the comments below. If you like my work, please follow me on Twitter or Instagram.

Disclaimer: Rights to the assets used in this article are owned by the respective companies. BrownPoints doesn't claim ownership of any of those assets and only uses them for demonstration purposes.

The big boy of all charge cards out there. Something that only used to be a rumour and came into existence as the most exclusive card out there, the American Express Centurion or The Black Card.

One of my followers on Instagram (follow us @brown.points), who is a Centurion Cardholder, reached out to me to share an update on the Shangri-La Diamond status, and he was kind enough to share some insights and details on this super exclusive card.

I'm not going to be writing this as a review because I don't have it and can't say much without using it for myself. But I'll document everything that the Centurion Card offers to its Indian cardholders, and you can decide for yourself if it's worth the annual fee.

The Invitation

As many of you may already be aware, one has to hit a few crores in personal spending to receive an invitation to apply for the Centurion Card. The categories you spend on are also important. However, if you are too big to be ignored by Amex, this may not even be a requirement.

You receive the invitation in a black box with a note from Mr. Adlakha, the CEO of American Express India, inviting you to the Centurion program. Once you accept the invitation, you pay a joining fee of ₹7 Lakhs + Taxes and an annual fee of ₹2.75 Lakhs + Taxes.

Ongoing Benefits

In terms of ongoing benefits, it's not very different from The Platinum Card. However, they do size it up to the Centurion level to make things better for its cardmembers.

Hotel Privileges

The Centurion card gives its members the elite statuses to the same hotel chains that you get with Platinum Card, but the tiers you get are different.

1. Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite: Similar to Platinum, you get the Gold Status at Marriott. I believe Marriott is very conservative in terms of handing out their elite statuses to credit cardholders. However, they probably do this to ensure the people who stay at their properties get better perks.
2. Hilton Honours Diamond: Unlike Platinum, you get the top tier with Hilton, which is of great value given you are eligible for Suite upgrades, lounge access, and free breakfast. These perks are also applicable to their top-of-the-line brands, Conrad and Waldorf Astoria.
3. Radisson Rewards Gold Elite: You get the Radisson Gold which gives you room upgrades, early check-in, late check-out, and in-room welcome gifts with each stay.
4. Taj InnerCircle Silver: The Centurion card offers the Taj Epicure membership which comes with the InnerCircle Silver tier. From my experience the Silver tier doesn't give you much benefits except a category upgrade.

On top of the memberships, you get free night stays at Taj and Oberoi properties every year:

1. Get a complimentary suite night with breakfast at any of the Taj properties. Cardmember will have to pay the taxes.
2. Get a complimentary room night without breakfast at Oberoi Hotels and Resorts as a birthday gift.

Some of the ongoing promotions include:

1. 50,000 Bonus Membership Rewards points at Ananda, Vana, RAAS, Atmantan, Ahilya Experiences, Kumarakom Lake Resort, The Postcard Hotels, and The Tamara on eligible bookings.
2. Enjoy 30% savings on Suites and more at select Taj Hotels, Palaces, Resorts, and Safaris. Along with the discount, you get airport transfer on arrival, breakfast, welcome drinks, a bottle of house wine, curated meal experience, and club access at properties with a club.
3. Get ₹50,000/- worth Taj Vouchers when you book a domestic trip worth ₹1 Lakh with the Centurion travel desk. You can avail of this benefit twice a year.

Centurion Fine Hotels & Resorts:

Similar to Platinum Card's FH&R, American Express tops it up with even better CFH&R for their Centurion cardholders.

The Centurion cardmembers you get up to $200 worth of room credits, dining or spa service compared to the $100 that you get with a Platinum Charge card. The rest of the perks remain the same.

Airline Privileges

The Centurion card's Airline perks are excellent and unique to this card. You get elite status along with preferential rates. The preferential rates overlap with what you get with the Platinum Card.

1. Emirates Gold: The Gold tier with Emirates gives you a host of benefits, like 50% Skywards Miles, Business Class lounge access for you and a guest, priority check-in, etc. Read more about the benefits.
2. Centurion Fare Guarantee: You always get the best fare when booking Etihad, British Airways, Lufthansa, Unites Airlines, and a few other member airlines.
3. Private Charter: You get a $1000 Credit when you book a private charter flight using their Private Charter Program.
4. Meet and Greet: Get expedited airport experience and one-way airport transfer when booking Business or First class with them.

Along with this, the Centurion card offers discounted fare similar to the Platinum card:

• 25% discount on Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and Premium Economy
• 15% discount on Vistara Business class and Premium Economy
• 10% discount on Emirates First and Business Class
• 14% discount on United First, Business, and Economy Class.

When you book a round trip international flight originating and terminating in India along with a hotel booking, this could be just a single night booking anytime during your trip. The flight has to be booked on a full service carrier You get to choose one of the following benefits:

1. Taj Voucher worth ₹25,000/-
2. 10x Membership Rewards points and Meet and Greet service.

Dining Privileges

Along with the invite-only tasting menu events organized by American Express, you get some year-long dining benefits, some of which overlap with the Platinum card.

1. Taj Epicure: You get a complimentary Taj Epicure membership offering you happy hours and 25% back as points at any Taj properties. You may read our full review for more details on the benefits.
2. ITC Culinary: Discontinued on the Platinum card. However, the Centurion Card still offers to its cardmembers. You get up to 25% as points on Dining, happy hours on Wednesdays, and experience vouchers. ITC Culinary program details.
3. EazyDiner Prime: Also available on the Platinum card, the prime membership offers you a 25% discount on the partner restaurants.
4. Diner Dines Free: Get up to 50% off on a minimum of 2 guests at various restaurants at Oberoi Hotels, Kimono Club, The Lodhi, Masala Library, Roseate, Bo Tai, Plum by Bentchair, Dragonfly, and more.
5. Complimentary Wine: Get a glass of wine on the house when you dine at any of Taj Hotels restaurants.

Taj Epicure Membership Review.

Being a Taj Epicure member from the past two years here’s my attempt to analyze its benefits and tips to help you maximize the value.

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

Additional Perks

This is where things get a lot different when comparing Centurion with Platinum. Amex does go above and beyond to make sure they give more than what you pay for every year.

1. Taj Chambers: One of the most exclusive clubs in India. With the Centurion, you get an invitation to join, 200k points, and three nights of complimentary stay at any of the Taj Palace properties when paying the fee with your Centurion Card.
2. Club Quorum: You get a complimentary standard membership to the Club Quorum in Gurugram, priced at ₹3.5 Lakhs for the first year. They are soon launching a space in Mumbai as well.
3. Hertz Gold Plus: You get a 20% discount on the bookings and priority service at the Hertz counter. The gold members can skip the at-counter part and simply go to the parking to collect the vehicle.
4. Special Access Events: These include access to invite-only dining experiences, exclusive privileges at music concerts, etc.
5. Google Play and App Store: Get 100% cash-back up to ₹10k a year on all your in-app purchases.
6. Salon Service: Get 100% cash-back up to ₹5,000 on a wide range of grooming product and services at the leading salons such as Silhouette Salon at The Oberoi and UK based Truefitt & Hill chain of salons.
7. Car Rental: Up to 50% discount on Eco Rent A Car. Choose from a selection of luxury cars like Chrysler Limousine, Mercedes S-Class, and more. This perk is also available to Platinum Cardholders.

Rewards Program

The Centurion card borrows a lot of reward program benefits from the Platinum card. You get 6 points per ₹200 spent on your card compared to 5 on the Platinum Card.

Apart from the regular earnings, the Centurion card offers you accelerated rewards in various categories.

1. Rewards Multiplier: You get 10x MR points when you shop using the rewards multiplier platform.
2. Luxury Shopping: Earn 10x MR points when shopping at Reliance Brands like Emporio Armani, Burberry, Coach, etc. Here's the complete list of participating brands.
3. Centurion Travel: When booking an international trip worth ₹2 Lakhs you can opt for 10x points with meet and greet service.

The Centurion Concierge

The concierge service is very unpredictable on the Platinum charge card, especially in the times of COVID. It's handy when it comes to getting a runner service. However, there days services like Dunzo are available to serve these needs and at a much affordable rate.

Going by the words of Centurion cardholder, the service doesn't live up to the expectations here either. They are quick in taking up the requests, but the results are not always desirable. Similar to Platinum Charge Card, it's just like offloading minuscule work on their team to save you some time.

I know for a fact that for the Platinum Charge card, they can't get you a table at a fully booked restaurant. What they do is make a call to the property and check for availability. The outcome for this will not be different from that of you calling them directly. The only difference is that it'll take more time.

I would love to hear about any other experiences with the Centurion Concierge, both good and bad. So, please feel free to share them in the comments and help us improve the content.

Disclaimer: Rights to the assets used in this article are owned by the respective companies. BrownPoints doesn't claim ownership of any of those assets and only uses them for demonstration purposes.

Over the past few months, I've been seeing a lot of very well reputed financial advisors bad-mouthing credit cards, calling it an instrument of wealth destruction. I agree if one is not disciplined with them, you can end up in a big mess. It's our lack of financial literacy that is to blame for this.

I got my first card at 18 and have been using them since then. I put all my spend on credit cards. Over the years, I have had zero late payments, excellent credit utilization, and earned lakhs worth of reward points.

In this post, I'll document some of the best practices one should follow to get the most out of your credit cards. Along the way, this will also help you develop the discipline to avoid the debt trap.

Your First Card

Getting the first credit card can be difficult. I applied for my first card when I got into college. This is very unusual in India. However, most people do it in the west to build a good credit history by the time you enter the job market.

If you are somebody like me who is planning to get one during your college time, you have limited options. Most banks require you to have a source of income (salary slips or ITR) to get one. However, some banks will issue a card against a fixed deposit.

For eg. You can get an ICICI Bank Coral card against an FD of 30,000 with the bank. This doesn't give you any big rewards, but it's a good starting point to build a credit history. Here are some of the features it offers:

• 25% discount on movie tickets at BookMyShow and INOX.
• One domestic lounge visit on spending ₹5000 in a quarter.
• 2 Payback points per ₹100 spent and double the rewards on dining, groceries and at supermarkets.
• Attractive dining offers.
• Special offers by VISA.

It's always a good idea to have a max spending limit set on the card. This helps you keep track of your spends, and also limits the risk of fraudulent transactions.

Read may read more about credit card security in the link below:

Growing Credit Card Fraud and How to Prevent it.

Credit cards are usually considered a safer mode of payment as compared tosomething like a Debit Card because it provides the customer with a grace periodwhere you can file a dispute against charges made on the card. This avoids asituation where your money is stuck with the merchant till the time…

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

Payments and EMIs

This is an essential aspect when it comes to good credit habits. I can not stress enough how important is it to pay your bills on time. By that, I mean paying the full bill amount and not just the minimum due.

Credit cards are a form of unsecured credit, which is a little riskier than secured credit Eg. a home loan. This means the banks charge a significantly higher interest rate on credit cards as compared to other secured credit forms.

The bank will charge interest even if you pay the minimum due, and this will grow over time if you fail to make the full payment. The only way to avoid it is to never spend more than what you have and always make the full payment.

The next part of this is the EMI purchases. Now some of you might feel tempted to make a big purchase and split the payments over a duration by paying the monthly interest. This is again something one should avoid in the early period. Over time you may end up accumulating all these monthly payments, which may turn out to be financial stress in times when your source of income is disrupted.

One can never be sure of tomorrow, which means you can never say with guarantee that you'll be earning the same amount or anything at all in the coming months. One thing COVID has taught us is how important it is to have an emergency fund in place. You obviously wouldn't want to spend that on the EMIs you have accumulated over time.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Never spend more than what you have. By that, I mean the full purchase amount, not the monthly installment. If you don't have a spare one lakh in your account, avoid buying an iPhone.
• Always opt for a no-cost EMI if you need one. If it's not available, you're better off making the full payment.
• Keep track of your active EMIs and avoid having more than one active EMI on your credit card.
• Never convert a transaction that is charged in full to an EMI later. You'll pay a significantly higher interest rate as compared to the merchant initiated EMIs.
• Make sure your card provider offers reward points on EMI transactions.

Selecting the Right Card

Once you have built good credit history and have a good selection of cards to choose from, you can start working on optimizing your reward earnings. Now, there are a few ways to do it. The idea is to earn maximum rewards on your existing spending. Not spending more to earn more rewards. (a lot more people end up doing the latter)

You start by analyzing your past 3 months' statements. In general, the past 3 months are enough to access your spending pattern. I'd recommend using CRED to do it because it makes it really simple to do.

• Find the top three or four categories where you spend the most. These would be your regular spendings like groceries, fuel, or rent payment.
• Now check the mode of payment you use for those categories, Eg. Wallet, online spend, POS swipe, etc.
• The next part requires a little research. Try to find different modes of payments for those categories Eg. you can buy groceries or pay your utility bills using Amazon Pay.
• Now look for cards that offer maximum rewards in one of those payment modes. You can get 10X reward points for an Amazon voucher using HDFC Diners Black or Infinia. Which can then be used for making insurance payments, utility bills, or buying groceries.
• You can revisit every 3-4 months and redo it. Each time it'll be less time consuming than before as you get better with it.

Quick Tip: Use a separate email address for all your credit card offers. That way, you won't miss out on offers just because the inbox is too crowded.

This will help you earn a consistent amount of reward points which you can accumulate over a period of time.

On top of this, always aim for a minimum of 2x rewards for each spend on your credit card. Just following these simple tips can help you save roughly 20-30% on all your spending.

Using Rewards

Once you have accumulated rewards, it's another challenge to use them right. I've met people who wasted a big chunk of their miles just because they picked the wrong airline when redeeming them.

In most cases, you're going to get maximum value for travel redemptions. I'm strictly against using rewards for statement credit unless it's absolutely necessary because you'll almost always get the worst rupee to point value when redeeming them for cash.

I'll keep the focus on travel redemptions because who doesn't like traveling? Here's is what you should do in order to maximise the value of your reward points.

• Have a rough travel plan in mind, Eg. you want to travel to Europe with your family by the end of the year.
• Now you'd want to list down all the cards that have partner airlines and Hotels where you can redeem your points for maximum value.
• Pick the airline that has low taxes when redeeming the miles Eg. booking British Airways business using miles will cost you close to ₹50k in taxes. However, on Singapore Airlines or ANA, it can be as low as ₹3k.
• Sometimes it's better to use miles for Upgrades than for award tickets. You can experience something which otherwise you wouldn't be able to afford Eg. business or first-class upgrades.
• Redeeming on hotels can be challenging. Sometimes it's better to go for something like an Airbnb if you're traveling with your family.
• If you have decided to go for hotels, try to find chains that offer free award nights when you redeem your points, Eg. Marriott.
• Always check hotels cost before you redeem your points for the stay and compare the rupee-to-point value. Places like the Maldives will give you a much higher rupee-to-point value as compared to India.
• Go for a chain where you have elite status. You will get a better value given possible room upgrades and additional amenities.

Final Words

Overtime you should try to build a discipline. With increasing credit limit one can easily get carried away and end up spending way more than what they can afford. Aim to maximise rewards from your existing spends, rather than spending on unnecessary stuff only because there's a discount going on.

Some may say that's too much effort to earn a few reward points. However, there's nothing wrong with being smart about your spending. I'd any-day take that one free first-class upgrade at the end of the year just by using the right card.

Never think of credit cards as spare cash that you can use and pay later. The ones who actually make use of the perks are the ones who never get them for the credit line in the first place.

With great credit line comes great responsibility.

Share some of your tips and tricks on building good credit habits in the comments below. :)

Credit cards are usually considered a safer mode of payment as compared to something like a Debit Card because it provides the customer with a grace period where you can file a dispute against charges made on the card. This avoids a situation where your money is stuck with the merchant till the time the dispute is resolved.

I've noticed in the past few months the fraudulent transaction on cards is increasing and also received a few requests on writing an article about how to defend yourself against credit card fraud.

To start with it, we need to understand a few methods that the attacker may use to get hold of your information and use it to plan an attack.

Social Engineering:

It is one of the leading causes of information leak. It usually involves the attacker calling you or emailing you. They first try to find an entry point, starting with collecting contact information. It can obtained from:

• Suspicious applications or websites, where you may have provided your contact information.
• Online surveys on different social media platforms claiming to provide you discount coupons etc.
• Data breach, sometimes hackers steal information from well known reputed corporations (Eg. Equifax, a major credit bureau.)

The attacker then tries to gather information to develop a profile of you. It helps them in increasing credibility.

Here's some of the information they may use:

• Using apps like Truecaller or social media platform to build your profile.
• Trying to get details like your hometown, spouse name, etc.

This information is then used to convince you in trusting the attacker and trick you into providing sensitive information like CVV number, expiry date, OTP codes.

Prevention Methods:

The first line of defence is to avoid your digital footprint. This means to avoid sharing information that is linked to your financial accounts.

• One should avoid sharing the phone number linked to your bank accounts or credit card account. It may be difficult to do sometimes. You can use most services using an email address, or use a different phone number if necessary.
• Disable lookup using the phone number on social media platforms. All big social media platforms provide privacy methods to block users from using your phone number or email address to look up your profiles.
• Use a separate email for your financial accounts, this is simple to do and I  keep a complex address to prevent lookups. Eg, cch121sa@<domain>.com

Data Leak:

It is a little more difficult to avoid than Social Engineering. We've seen in the past that even big corporates like Equifax failed to keep their database secured. There was also a case when the Marriott database was breached.

These type of breaches acts as a goldmine for attachers, they may not always find information that can be used directly to attack users, but it may increase their success rate. For eg., you're more likely to give your CVV to an attacker pretending to be a bank representative who already knows your card number and spouse name.

Prevention Methods:

• Only share information on trusted websites, the ones you're not sure about using a separate email and phone number. Avoid using contact details that you're using in your financial accounts.
• Check the website is secured with SSL before you provide payment information, get to know the payment gateways used by the website.
• Don't save card information on websites that you don't use very often.
• Don't let your physical cards go out of sight at restaurants or stores. All it takes is a second to click a picture of the card and misuse it later.
• Use a good password manager to maintain and monitor your passwords, apps like Dashlane also provides DarkWeb monitoring and will inform you if any of the services you use had a breach.

Secure Financial Accounts:

The last line of defence is to secure your financial accounts, just in case everything fails. The attacker may use leaked passwords or your personal information to run a brute-force attack.

• Use strong passwords, and don't repeat passwords for your financial accounts. Use a password manager if you find it difficult to remember passwords.
• Disable international transactions on your account when they are not needed. Some merchants don't require OTP to validate transactions in other countries. It's critical to disable these transactions.
• Set a limit on the per-transaction amount, you can set a limit for both online and offline transactions with banks. Based on your spending behavior, you can set it on top of your credit limit.

Final Thoughts:

In the ever-rising use of technology, it's crucial to be aware of how things work. Credit Cards and online banking is a great way to manage your finances. All it takes is to be a little careful about how you use them, and they are of great help to us in our day to day lives.

Please share your personal experiences in the comments below and I'll select one person per post for a ₹500 Amazon Gift card. The winner will be selected after one week.

In the time of pandemic where access to liquidity is critical, CRED the credit card bill payments platform, has come up with a new credit-line feature for its members called CRED Stash.

There are a few personal loan platforms available in this ecosystem, but I never found any of them attractive enough to try them out. I managed to get hands-on CRED Stash and here's what I think of it.

First Look

CRED Stash offers a hassle-free access to personal credit-line. Their process for approval is seamless as compared to the other players.

The interest rate offered by them is about one-third of a typical premium credit card rate, which is also the deciding factor for most of us. I believe this is possible because CRED is very selective criteria when it comes to whom they onboard (Credit Score of 750 or above), making their member base incredibly trustworthy. However, it's as par with other micro finance services available out there.  

It's practically an instant access credit line available only to the CRED members. There are no subscription or activation charges levied for the always open trade line.

Registration and Approval

As compared to a personal loan which sometimes takes a bunch of paperwork and time to get approval, CRED Stash is an instant credit line service.

On CRED, you can register from a credit-line within seconds, and the money chosen by you is directly transferred into your account. Once approved, there's no need to apply again every time you want to withdraw.

Flexibility

CRED Stash pretty flexible when it comes to withdrawing and payments, here are some of the key features.

Withdrawing:

• You have the option to withdraw only the amount you require, maximum being your approved credit limit.
• You may withdraw more, any number of times, till you have reached your pre-approved credit limit. The limit resets when you pay back the money you have withdrawn.

Payments and EMI:

• You may choose from a set of recommended plans or make one yourself. CRED gives you the flexibility to set your repayment period.
• You can make payments beforehand and even foreclose the stash withdrawn without any extra charges, this is big for somebody like me who ends up foreclosing the EMIs and Loan Payments most of the times.

CRED Stash transfers the opted amount directly to your bank account giving you the flexibility to use it however you like.

On the other hand, credit card EMIs are available only through select merchants. The "purchase to EMI" option offered by the banks is relatively more expensive and comes with a processing fee, usually around 2.5% of the total amount depending on the bank. Foreclosure fee is applicable on most of these offerings.

Eg. HDFC SmartEMI feature comes with an annual interest rate of 18% and a 3% foreclosure fee. Citi PayLite charges a one-time processing fee of 2.5% of the total value along with monthly interest, and foreclosure fee of 3%.

Transparency

CRED Stash is simple, transparent, and easy to understand. You gets to see the process in its entirety with all charges clearly stated out. The various fees charged by other banks have been eliminated with only an interest being charged on the amount withdrawn.

The interest rate is as par the standard industry rate applicable on personal loans. The unique combination of perks and a beautifully designed app makes it a competitive choice in this space.

Usability and Design

I admire CRED's design team. They made the entire process of applying for a credit line as simple as possible. Everything is easy to understand.

• You start with selecting the amount of money that you need. This can be any amount up-to the pre-approved limit available to you as a CRED member.

• At last you select the bank account into which you want the Stash money to be transferred.
• Upon selecting the amount, you are asked to pick a repayment schedule from one of the recommended plans, or make an EMI schedule of your own depending on your requirements.

• All the details required for the credit-line approval are available at the CKYC registry, which is a centralised repository of KYC records. This eliminates the lengthy registration and approval process.

• Once verified, you proceed to set up auto-pay if you haven't already. It's always a good idea to automate your recurring payments as it avoids unwanted charges and saves you from the headache of doing it manually. Timely repayment is critical for Stash, and to safeguard your credit score.
• CRED shows you the entire calculations based on the tenure you choose, including total interest charged and the repayment amount.

Finally, you'll see the signature CRED experience: You get to drag the money prepared for you into your account, which follows a sleek animation recreating the pleasing experience of withdrawing money. I ❤️ how they do this.

Final Words

CRED Stash is available among other perks only to CRED members. CRED functions as a credit card bill payment platform that rewards its members for every card bill paid with rewards from brands and curated experiences handpicked by CRED, I'll do a more detailed review on that later.

You can apply to be a CRED member if you have a credit score of 750 and above to get access to CRED Stash.

CRED has also announced RentPay to enable credit card payments for rent.

CRED RentPay Review: Move your rent to Credit Card.

CRED RentPay service enabling its members to pay rent by directly transferring the amount to their landlord using their credit card and UPI.

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

Disclaimer: Rights to the assets used in this article are owned by the respective companies. BrownPoints doesn't claim ownership of any of those assets and only uses them for demonstration purposes.

Many of us are trying to offset expenses because of the liquidity crises amidst pandemic. Our rent payment makes for a big chunk of monthly expenses. Unfortunately, since most landlords in India accept either cash or direct deposits as a mode of payment, it's challenging to earn reward points or offset rent payments.

CRED has rolled out their RentPay service enabling its members to pay rent by directly transferring the amount to their landlord using their credit card and UPI.

First Look

CRED RentPay is the latest product that Kunal Shah’s company has built exclusively for its members. Many of you may already know CRED is a community of individuals with high credit scores (above 750) and credit card holders. The app lets you pay your card bills on time and gives you smart insights into your spending history.

I was a part of the beta users of the app when it was first launched and have earned upwards of 4 million CRED Coins so far.

Rewards

Paying rent through one’s credit card on CRED can help you earn up to 3.3% reward points depending on your card issuer Eg. HDFC Diners Black, HDFC Infinia, Citi Prestige, Standard Chartered Ultimate.

On payment of your bills using the CRED app, you get additional CRED coins. This is something that's not offered by other competitors (Housing, or Red Girraffe). You can use these to redeem rewards from brands or curated experiences. Eg. VIP Tickets to concerts, or culinary experiences.

Since for most of us, our rent payment makes up for most of our monthly spending. This could also help you accelerate rewards milestones, or waive off your membership fees on credit cards.

Quick Tip: If you pay ₹20,000 every month for twelve months using AmEx Platinum Travel Card, you’ll end up spending ₹2,40,000 and unlock the first milestone giving you travel vouchers worth more than ₹7,700. On top of this, you'll earn standard reward points on your card, and CRED Coins for clearing the bill.

Paying rent using your credit card helps you offset your payments for up to 45 days depending on your billing cycle. This ensures you don't run out of liquidity for more critical expenses, or hold the payment from your landlord for whom this may be the primary source of income.

Service Charge

CRED RentPay charges 1.5% (Service Charge, GST is absorbed for now) for the service. This is slightly higher than the competitors like Housing.com who's offering the service at a 1.25% service charge, Red Girraffe on the other hand charges 0.39% + GST per transaction.

This is still a fresh market, we'll have to wait and see how these charges change in the future as the competition increases.

Usability and Design

Just like the other CRED offerings, RentPay is no different when it comes to beautiful design and intuitive user experience. I've never struggled with the core features they have to offer.

Housing's rent pay feature comes close to a similar design standard and cleaner interface. Red Girraffe on the other hand is a little overwhelming when you use it for the first time.

You start by entering the amount you wish to pay, details of your landlord's bank account or the UPI id, and your residence address. The rent gets instantly transferred, and you get to access additional perks.

There are a few apps that also let you pay rent using your credit card. However, a clean three-step interface is hard to find. For those who're already a part of the CRED ecosystem, it's good to have one less app on your device.

I'm looking forward to an auto-pay rent option. It's always good to automate recurring payments wherever you can. Payment of deposits and maintenance expenses could also be helpful.

Final Words

RentPay has been rolled out by CRED to a small set of CRED members. They’ll be rolling out this to more users over the next two weeks. So, if you get in early, make sure to try the product and earn additional points on your card as well as CRED coins.

CRED has also announced Stash to give its members instant access to a credit line.

CRED Stash Review: Instant credit line with sleek design.

CRED app now offers instent access to credit-line to it’s members using CRED Stash. Learn more about its features and how you can use it.

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

Disclaimer: Rights to the assets used in this article are owned by the respective companies. BrownPoints doesn't claim ownership of any of those assets and only uses them for demonstration purposes.

Update [1 June 2020]: HDFC has revised accelerated rewards for all categories. Capping 10x rewards on Diners Black to ₹7500. You may read more about it here.

Also known as the Diners Black Card, this card is the little brother to HDFC Infinia. HDFC has done an excellent job in developing this product. I've been using it for almost six months and is my favourite card in my wallet.

The Diners Black card comes with an annual membership fee of ₹10,000 (revised from 1st January 2020) plus taxes. However, you get a fee waived if you spend ₹500,000 in a calendar year. If you hold a good relationship with HDFC Bank (Imperia or Above) you may get it as lifetime free.

Application Process:

The application process depends on the relationship you hold with the bank. For HDFC Imperia customers, you may ask your relationship manager, and they will take care of it for you. If you're not doing banking with them, this may give you a headache.

For upgrades, if you hold an HDFC Regalia credit card with a limit upwards of ₹5,00,000. You can fill out their card upgrade form and mail it to their card office. Unfortunately, you can't do this online.

I applied for the card through my relationship manager and got it within ten business days.

Welcome Bonus:

Diners Black doesn't offer much here as compared to other super-premium cards like AmEx Platinum Charge Card, but that's okay as this product is in the league of its own.

AmEx Platinum Review India: Best in class travel perks.

An in-depth analysis of all the benefits offered by the American Express Platinum Charge in India, and tips on how to maximize your reward earnings.

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

HDFC has recently refreshed the card with a new design (however, they're still sending out cards with the old design) and added welcome benefits. One of them is free annual memberships upon completing the first transaction on your card.

Here's the list of complimentary annual memberships:

• Club Marriott: 20% discount on stay, spa, and dining at Marriott properties. On top of that you also get 30% off discount vouchers that can be used in a calendar year. This is good as earlier I used to get 15% with my Bonvoy Gold.
• Forbes Digital: Annual subscription of the Forbes digital magazine.
• Zomato Gold: I don't use it often but offers great value on dining at Gold Partner restaurants.
• Amazon Prime: A credit of ₹999 to your Amazon Pay wallet. So, if you already have Prime membership you may use it somewhere else.
• MakeMyTrip Double Black: I rarely use MakeMyTrip. However, you get five free domestic hotel and flight cancellations.
• Times Prime: This gives you DinerOut Gourmet Passport, Swiggy Super, Gaana Plus memberships, and a lot of on-going discounts. You can find a list of offers here.

Please note that these benefits are available only to the new cardmembers. The existing members can get these by upgrading to a new HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card with joining/renewal fees of ₹10,000, or on achieving annual spend milestone of ₹800,000 at the time of card anniversary on your existing Diners Black card.

Introductory Offer: Upon achieving spend milestone of ₹250,000 in the period Aug to Oct 2019 or Nov to Jan 2020, your card will be eligible for new Diners Club Black upgrade after 1st December 2019 (under current pricing of your card)

Reward on Spends:

Diners Black shines like no other in this category. None of the super-premium cards come anywhere close to what Diners Black offers (except Infinia but they're very much similar to each other).

With Diners Black, you get five reward points per ₹150 spent on the card. Each reward point is valued at ₹1, giving you a value of 3.3%. To make it even better, you get a whopping 10x reward points (50 reward points for every ₹150 spent) on SmartBuy bookings and other partners.

SmartBuy Portal

Flight Bookings

HDFC offers a clean interface to book your Hotel and Flight tickets. You get 10x Reward Points for all bookings made through SmartBuy. The 10x Reward Points are capped at 7,500 in a calendar month.

The best part about the HDFC Reward Points is that all bookings made through the SmartBuy portal are considered as revenue tickets, so you get the air miles too.

Hotel Bookings

There are times when you can get better value with other cards (Like targeted 10x on hotel bookings on AmEx Travel Online). I do look out for other offers before I make a booking through SmartBuy. Below are some of the examples that may offer you a better deal as compared to Diners Black.

• AmEx Platinum offers 3rd Night free at Oberoi properties, and flat 25% off on Taj Properties.
• There are times when the listed rates on SmartBuy are higher than those offered by other booking platforms. For eg, I always manage to find Roseate House Delhi rates almost 25% cheaper on Booking as compared to SmartBuy.

None the less, I still manage to get a lot of value out of SmartBuy for shorter, or cheaper stays.

What I do often is divided bookings between points and cash. For Eg, I booked one night at Sheraton Brigade Gateway in Bangalore using 20,000 Bonvoy Points when the booking price was close to ₹21,000 including taxes and used SmartBuy for the next night when the price was close to ₹9,000 including taxes.

Gift Cards

This is a recently added feature benefit to the SmartBuy portal. You can buy gift vouchers for several brands like Shoppers Stop, Amazon Pay, BookMyShow, Costa Coffee etc. using their dedicated gift voucher portal.

Another addition to an already diverse selection, meaning you can now get 10x for merchants that accept Amazon Pay as a payment method.

You may read more about it here.

On-Going Benefits:

Diners Black doesn't come loaded with on-going benefits, but the ones that are included are nice to have. Their amazing reward program makes up for it.

Annual Memberships

You can retain all welcome offer annual memberships upon achieving annual spend milestone of ₹800,000 at the time of card anniversary, which is pretty steep if you don't use it as your primary card.

Golf Benefits

If you are a casual player like me, there are plenty of options to choose from. They offer six complimentary golf rounds per quarter around the world.

You can find the list of available golf courses here:

• Domestic
• International

If you're a serious player, I'd recommend you check out the AmEx Platinum Reserve Credit Card which comes with four complimentary rounds/lessons per month and host of other benefits.

Lounge Access

You get unlimited Domestic and International lounge access with the Diners Black. You can find the list of the lounge here. Unlike other premium cards, you don't get a Priority Pass memberships, but your Diners Club card is enough to give you access.

Along with the primary cardmember, the add-on card members also get complimentary lounge access.

Monthly Milestone Benefits

You get vouchers worth ₹500 each every month on spends of ₹80,000 on your Diners Black card.

You can pick vouchers for the following partners:

• Ola Select Membership
• BookMyShow
• TataCLiQ

HDFC now has a neat portal to manage all your membership redemptions and milestone achievement vouchers, you can find it here.

Final Words:

HDFC Diners Black is an excellent card when it comes to rewards on 10X partner spends. The milestone-based vouchers and annual memberships are cherries on top.

HDFC offered it to me as a lifetime free card, which means I don't have to worry about reaching the fee waiver milestone. However, there are times when other super-premium cards may save you a lot more. So, it's always good to do your research before you hit that "Buy" button.

Disclaimer: Rights to the assets used in this article are owned by the respective companies. BrownPoints doesn't claim ownership of any of those assets and only uses them for demonstration purposes.

Update [1 January 2020]: Citi has revised some of the on-going benefits for the Citi Prestige Card and you may not like them.

The Citi Prestige card offers one of the best mileage earning rate when it comes to international spends, here's my analysis of the card after using it for almost a year.

Citi Prestige comes with an annual fee of ₹20,000/- plus taxes, but I wouldn't hesitate to pay it because the renewal benefits alone make up for it. However, this one still doesn't come close to HDFC DinersBlack which I got as a lifetime free card.

Application Process:

Citi Prestige is the star of this category. Their application process is the smoothest of all the cards I've applied for till now. I was previously using the Citi PremierMile, which came free with my Citi Priority Banking account.

I appealed for a new card, but the application got rejected because my company isn't incorporated in India. Still, I am happy that they communicated the decision within 24 hours.

I later contacted the CitiPhone helpline and requested them to upgrade my existing PremierMile card (with a limit of 3 Lakhs). My existing card was swapped with the Citi Prestige within 24 hours. It took another three days to receive the card. I am impressed by how quickly the request was processed. AmEx should learn a thing or two from them.

Welcome Bonus:

The welcome bonus (also apply to renewals) is equivalent to what you pay for the card.

You get ₹10,000 in hotel voucher (Taj or ITC). They sent me the voucher within two weeks from the date of first transaction. Please note that there are some differences between the two:

• Only the Taj voucher can be used to pay the corresponding taxes.
• You get one voucher of value ₹10,000 if you go for Taj, and you get four vouchers of value ₹2500 each if you go for ITC.

In my opinion, the Taj voucher gives much more value than the ITC voucher.

In addition to the hotel voucher, you get 2500 Prestige Reward Points equivalent to 10,000 air miles. The rewards points were credited within two weeks from the date of first transaction.

Upgrading from PremierMile to Prestige is even more rewarding. You can double your miles. You get a conversion of 2 PremierMiles to 1 Prestige Reward Point.

• Given that you have 10,000 PremierMiles,
• When upgraded you'll get 5000 Prestige Reward Points.
• 5000 Prestige Reward Points are equivalent to 20,000 Air Miles.

I upgraded my PremierMile card within a month so I got an annual fee reversal as well.

Rewards on Spend:

Citi Prestige offers an excellent reward earning rate, you get 1 Prestige Reward Point (or 4 Air Miles) / 100 on domestic spends, and 2 Prestige Reward Points (or 8 Air Miles) / 100 on international spends.

For international transactions in US$ Dollars, Citi adds a 3.5% mark-up
on the INR equivalent of the US Dollars, at the conversion rates published by the card networks.

For international transactions effected in currencies other than the US Dollar, the transaction amount is first converted into US Dollars, at the conversion rates published by the card networks. On the US Dollars amount, 3.5% mark-up is added on the INR equivalent.

During my recent trip to Europe here's the difference in currency conversion, this will help us calculate the exact reward benefit.

Date of Transaction: 19 July 2019 in Brussels

EUR to INR Rate: ₹77.44238
However, the conversion rate offered by the bank was ₹77.7911.

Transaction Amount: €100
Billed Amount: ₹7,779.11
Markup Charged: ₹272.27
Amount Charged: ₹8,051.37

Miles Earned: 155 Prestige Reward Points or 620 Air Miles.

This comes out to ~8%. Excluding the markup charged, the reward earnings come down to 4.5% to 5%. So, the rewards earned on domestic as well as international spends are approximately equal.

The estimation is for Air Miles redemption. This may vary based on how you use these reward points. One Prestige Reward Point is equivalent to ₹1. You get the maximum value when you convert these points to Air Miles.

On-Going Benefits:

Citi Prestige doesn't give as many on-going benefits as compared to AmEx Platinum Charge Card, which comes with a great selection of hotel elite tier statuses and dining benefits.

AmEx Platinum Review India: Best in class travel perks.

An in-depth analysis of all the benefits offered by the American Express Platinum Charge in India, and tips on how to maximize your reward earnings.

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

Taj Epicure

Taj Epicure membership alone is worth ₹13,500 + taxes. It offers come great perks like:

• 50% as Epicure Points on the first three transactions at any of the restaurants.
• Two room upgrade vouchers that are applicable for a maximum of 5 nights.
• Happy hours (1+1) on drinks between 6pm-8pm every day at all bars, plus an additional 25% as Epicure points.

Taj Epicure Membership Review.

Being a Taj Epicure member from the past two years here’s my attempt to analyze its benefits and tips to help you maximize the value.

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

Lounge Access and Airport Service

Citi Prestige comes with a complimentary Priority Pass membership with unlimited lounge access. The rupee value of this membership is around ₹30,000.

Lounge access for guests is not free. However, all supplementary cardholders also get a complimentary Priority Pass membership.

You also get access to all the lounges that are a part of Visa Airport Lounge Access Program.

Update (Jan 2020): You can now avail 20% off on retail rates for airport transfers and 25% off on retail rates for meet & assist services. In lieu of this, both the aforementioned annual complimentary services, each limited to 2 uses, will be withdrawn.

Overseas Medical Insurance

This is another great benefit offered by the Citi Prestige. I travel to Europe at least four times a year, and this saves me a minimum of ₹4,000.

The medical insurance issued to me was by THE NEW INDIA ASSURANCE COMPANY LTD and is valid for a maximum of 30 days per trip. It covers up-to US$50,000 in hospitalisation expenses, with US$100 in deductibles for each claim. The insurance is valid worldwide, including the US and Canada.

I'd recommend you to ask the Concierge to include your passport number in the certificate, as they don't do it by default. Some countries might raise a question on this.

Fourth Night Complimentary

I used this benefit for my stay in Capri, Italy. This alone saved me a minimum of ₹25,000. The concierge uses Hotels.com for this offer. You can use the website to find your preferred property, and ask the concierge to book it for you.

This option may not give you the maximum value every time. There have been multiple instances where I could get much better deal when booking using my DinersBlack Card or AmEx Platinum Charge Card.

The concierge will charge the card in USD. This means you also get 2x Prestige Reward Points for the booking as well.

Update (Jan 2020): Avail a complimentary 4^th night stay at select hotels, now up to twice in a year.

Golf Benefits

Update (Jan 2020): The earlier complimentary green fees benefit at select Golf courses globally, will be withdrawn.

Exclusive Relationship Bonus

You get accelerated earning if you do banking with Citi. For my CitiPriority account, I get added 15% Prestige Reward Points. The CitiGold gets added 30%, and the CitiGold Private Client gets added 50% Prestige Reward Points.

The Citi Prestige credit card is complimentary for CitiGold Private Client customers

Final Words:

Citi Prestige is an amazing card when it comes to benefits on international spends. Given that you get what you pay for every year, it doesn't hurt to have it in your wallet.

However, if you're not a frequent flyer, you may not be able to extract more than what you pay for.

Disclaimer: Rights to the assets used in this article are owned by the respective companies. BrownPoints doesn't claim ownership of any of those assets and only uses them for demonstration purposes.

Update [15 July 2020]: Amex now offers Reward Multiplier 5X offer on select merchants, capped at 25,000 MR points in a calendar month.

Update [21 Jan 2021]: Amex has discontinued Shangri-La Jade starting March 31, 2021, which also includes Taj Gold and KrisFlyer Silver.

Widely known as The Platinum Card, the American Express Platinum Charge card is considered the holy-grail across the world when it comes to travel perks. Here's my attempt to give you an in-depth analysis of the features and whether it justifies the massive annual fee of ₹70,000+.

The Platinum Card in India comes with roughly twice the annual membership fee of its US equivalent. In the US, the Platinum Card comes with an annual membership fee of US$550, with each renewal you get US$200 in Airline credits and US$200 in Uber credits. Which brings the cost of holding the card down to US$150.

I've held the Platinum card in the US briefly and will soon write a comparison review of the cards.

Application Process:

I didn't see any change in the application process since my review on Platinum Reserve Card. After getting rejected the first time I applied, American Express offered me an upgrade from the existing Gold Card, after estimated spending of 12 Lakhs in a year. After providing the consent to upgrade online, the card got delivered within four business days.

Overall, my experience with the upgrade process was pretty smooth, and the card arrived sooner than I expected. Given that they use a multi-channel process for new applications, I expect it to be much longer for fresh applications.

Welcome Bonus:

Depending on the offers you get different signup bonuses, all the fresh applicants get to choose between 100,000 Membership Reward points or ₹40,000 in Taj Hotel and Resorts vouchers.

However, they offer additional 25,000 Membership Reward points if you are upgrading from a Gold Charge card. Another reason why I went ahead with the upgrade.

I'd suggest you go with the membership reward points instead of Taj vouchers, as you can get better value out of the MR points.

Emirates First Class Experience: If you book a flex business class ticket, you can upgrade it to First class by using 35,000 skyward miles or 70,000 MR points.

The one-way business class from Delhi -> Rome costs ₹73,000/- whereas the first class on the same costs roughly ₹163,000/-

You can also redeem the same number of miles for Economy to Business class upgrades.

The Magical Maldives Experience: A night at St. Regis Maldives is priced at about $1900 (₹130,000) a night, you can book the same for 85,000 Bonvoy Points (1:1 with American Express Membership Reward points). This gives you high points-to-rupee value.

I assume for most people it wouldn't make sense to go for these options, but American Express Platinum for me is all about going for the things that I can't afford. I rarely use these points as cash replacement as they give rather low value.

Rewards on Spend:

American Express Platinum in India offers 1 MR point per ₹40 spent, except for spend at Fuel, Utilities, Insurance, and Cash Transactions. They have recently started offering 3X points on overseas spend, but Citi Prestige still rules that segment offering 8 miles per ₹100 spent in comparison to 7.5 MR points offered by American Express (roughly equivalent to 4 miles).

The trick here is to always use the right card for category bonuses to maximise your points earning. If you're earning 1X points on your spends on credit cards, you're losing value.

Always keep an eye on bonus category rewards like these to accelerate your earnings:

• 10x points on all spends at DLF malls, I added 5,000 bonus points in a month utilising this offer.
• 10x points on all hotel bookings using American Express Travel website. (Not available anymore)

Except for the accelerated earning categories, American Express doesn't offer a good enough earning rate with the Platinum Card. I prefer using Diners Black or Citi Prestige for my day-to-day expenses.

Reward Multiplier

Now get 5x MR points when spending on select merchant portals. The points are capped at 25,000 in a calendar month. I beleive they added this offer to make the Platinum Card more beneficial in the times when travel spends have declined heavily.

Here are some of the participating merchants, you may also find the completed list at: Merchant List.

There are some restrictions for some of the merchants. Link to complete terms and conditions. None the less, this is a great offer and can help you accelerate your earnings.

The only downside to this feature is that the additional MR points are credited in 120 days.

On-Going Benefits:

Hotel Privileges

The Platinum Card offers all the elite-tier statuses you'd need. These come handy if you travel frequently. Here's my take on each one of them:

1. Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite: This is the one that I've used the most, Marriott properties value their elite tier status customers. Unlike Taj, Marriott automatically upgrades the room without having to ask for it. I get a category upgrades whenever I stay at any of the Marriott properties (excluding ITC) except when there was no suite available on my Birthday, but the manager was kind enough to offer me a 70% discount on the Presidential Suite.
   Though after the SPG merger there has been some devaluation to the tier statuses and the points redemption. However, you still get 25% more Bonvoy points, 500 Bonvoy points as a welcome gift, and 2 PM late check-out with each stay.
2. Hilton Honours Gold: There are very few Hilton properties in India. I couldn't make use of their elite tier status. With Gold tier, you get a complimentary upgrade to the next category room (excluding suites), 80% more points, which is valuable if you travel to countries with better Hilton properties, and free Breakfast.
3. Shangri-La Jade Tier: (Discontinuing on March 31, 2021) This is exclusive to the Indian variant and offers excellent value. You get 25% more GC points for each stay, pay single occupancy price for double occupancy, complimentary breakfast, early check-in and late check-out (11 am - 4 pm), and next category upgrade.
   Another advantage of Golden Circle's Jade tier is, you get a status match to Taj InnerCircle Gold. Though it's not specified on their website, you get the status match to Gold after the tier revision (end of the year).
4. Radisson Rewards Gold Elite: You get room upgrades, early check-in late check-out, and in-room welcome gifts with each stay. I'm not a fan of Radisson properties in India, most of them are dated and doesn't quite feel like 5-star properties.

Fine Hotels and Resorts:
It's a unique program offered to the Platinum cardholders which grants some excellent benefits to go along with your stay like:

• Take advantage of noon check-in, when available, so you can get a head start.
• If an upgrade is also available when you arrive, it’s yours.
• 4 pm late check-out is guaranteed.
• Breakfast for two is complimentary, and so is your Wi-Fi.
• Each property will additionally offer you a unique amenity valued at $100, which may include anything from spa credit to a food and beverage credit.

Talk with the concierge, and they can directly book a higher category room instead of waiting for an upgrade at the time of check-in.

Below is a comparison between the best offer I could find on a third party website and Fine Hotels & Resorts for a two day stay in Delhi.

FH&R Price: ₹31,360
Booking.com Price: ₹32,300

Airline Privileges

American Express offers preferred airfares on the world’s finest airlines to destinations around the world. From my experience, the airfare provided by them at times can be more expensive than booking it directly with the airline.

However, they do have some on-going offers that are promising like First Class ticket when you book a Flexi Business with Etihad Airline.

Ongoing Airline Offers:

• 25% discount on Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and Premium Economy
• 15% discount on Vistara Business class and Premium Economy
• 10% discount on Emirates First and Business Class
• 14% discount on United First, Business, and Economy Class.

Example Itinerary: I asked the concierge to find me the best fares they have available for a flight from Delhi to Singapore in Business Class. Below is what was sent by them and the best airfare I could find online:

Delhi to Singapore on Singapore Airlines Business Class:

American Express Concierge Price: ₹89,428.37
Singapore Airlines Price: ₹96,711

❌ Delhi to Singapore on AirIndia Business Class:

The Air India offer is no-longer available for the Platinum Card holders. Hopefully they'll soon come up with a new airline partner offer. They had a similar offer going on with Air France - KLM.

American Express Concierge Price: ₹65,716.32
AirIndia Price: ₹75,906

The airline offers are a hit or miss, sometimes the business class fare is almost 50k cheaper than other options, but there are times when the fare is equivalent or more expensive than booking it directly from the airline.

Dining Privileges

The concierge is helpful when you need to make reservations for dining. I always offload the headache of finding a place to eat and making a reservation on them. The team does a decent job when it comes to finding the right place for the occasion.

Similar to Platinum Reserve Card, you get a complimentary Taj Epicure membership and EazyDiner Prime with the Platinum card too.

Taj Epicure Membership Review.

Being a Taj Epicure member from the past two years here’s my attempt to analyze its benefits and tips to help you maximize the value.

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

There has been some changes made to the dining benefits you get with the Platinum Card, they're discontinuing ITC Club Culinary membership starting from 22nd June 2019. To replace this, they've coming up with some exclusive dining privileges at select restaurants.

Platinum Dining Programs:

• Global Dining Collection: It's a list of specially curated dining experiences for Centurion and Platinum card holders across the world. Read more about the benefits.
• Platinum Fine Dining: With this you get exclusive discounts and special offers such a complimentary wine and/or dessert. List of ongoing offers.

On top of this Amex has also started inviting its members to exclusive tasting events. These events are complementary but with limited capacity (registration on first come basis).

Past Events:

• Celebrate whiskey in its 150 forms! at Whiskey Sambha.
• Sunday brunch and cocktails at The Roseate.

Lounge Access

American Express Global Lounge Collection offers the Platinum cardholders a variety of lounge options. You get access to all American Express lounges including the Centurion lounge. For places where you don't have access to an American Express lounge, you can use either Priority Pass or Delta Sky Club lounge free of cost.

Complimentary lounge access through Priority Pass is only available outside India (within India it's US$ 32 per guest per visit), but there are great options available at airports in India. Complete list of lounges.

Mumbai now has an all-new American Express Lounge on the Terminal-2 that I'm yet to try out but have heard great things about it. They have dedicated seating for the Platinum cardholders.

Golf

American Express Offers a decent selection of golf courses across India. The cardholders can go for a complimentary round/lesson at any of the partnered Golf Courses for a maximum of 4 times a month. You only get a green-fee waiver (ranging from ₹1000 to ₹5000), but this makes up for a lot if you're a serious player. Complete list of golf clubs and terms.

All bookings have to be made through their concierge service about 3 to 7 days in advance. From my experience, they sometimes are able to make the reservation on shorter notice.

You also get a complimentary membership to Preferred Golf program with over 60 world-renowned golf resorts such as The K-Club in Ireland and Finca Cortesin Hotel, Golf & Spa in Spain. The membership is worth US$295 and offers a free round of golf with each consecutive two-night stay at participating Preferred Golf member resorts. Further information about the program.

Platinum Concierge

The Platinum Concierge is one of the best you can get in India. I've started using it more frequently given how convenient it is. From the past two years, I've been able to extract tremendous value from the Concierge.

Here are some of my experiences with the Platinum concierge:

• I had a bottle of wine sent to my friend's home for her birthday when all the liquor stores were closed. The concierge not only sourced a nice bottle of wine but also delivered it to my friend's place on time.
• My friend's niece was visiting India for the first time. The concierge prepared a super detailed itinerary for her. They curated all the local hot-spots, suggested good hotels, commute options, and nice places to try-out authentic Indian food.
• Sourced a rare bottle of Dom Pérignon for me and delivered it to my place in Delhi.

The service comes handy when planning city tours. They do a remarkable job in detailing things out and prepare a printable PDF for you.

🔥 Additional Offers and Benefits

The Platinum Card rolls out various offers that can save you some cash. I've saved almost twice the membership fee with these offers. Here's a list of ongoing-offers on the Platinum Card (I'll make sure this section is updated):

• 35,000 Bonus Points: 35,000 Bonus Membership Rewards points at Ananda, Vana, RAAS, Atmantan, Ahilya Experiences, Kumarakom Lake Resort, The Postcard Hotels, and The Tamara on eligible bookings. Enjoy personalised experiences at select properties.
• 3X MR Points on International Spend: Your international trip becomes all the more fulfilling because you earn 3X Membership Rewards Points on all overseas spending. This offer also works on foreign transactions done online.
• 25% off on Taj Hotels and Resorts: Get flat 25% discount on Taj properties (including Palace properties) when booked directly. Choose the property you like from majestic palaces and grand hotels to beach resorts and luxurious safaris, and enjoy a warm and welcoming stay. This offer is valid until March 31, 2020, and you may make the booking here.
• Privileges at Oberoi Hotels & Resorts: Enjoy 50% off on Suites and Dining, a complimentary 3rd night when you book for two, complimentary bottle of wine, and guaranteed late checkout at Oberoi Hotels & Resorts in India. Complete Terms and Conditions.
• 10x on Luxury Shopping: Earn 10X MR Points when you make purchases at select brands from 25^th August 2020 until 31^st March 2021. Check complete list of brands.
• App Store and Google Play: Use your Platinum Charge card on App Store or Google Play Store and earn 100% cash-back on all purchases up to ₹2,500 every 6 months.
• Truefitt & Hill and Silhouette Salon: Oberoi and True: 100% cash-back of up to ₹10,000 at Truefitt & Hill and Silhouette Salon located in Oberoi Hotels.
• Car Rental: Up to 50% discount on Eco Rent A Car. Choose from a selection of luxury cars like Chrysler Limousine, Mercedes S-Class and more.

Complete list of ongoing benefits on The Platinum Card.

Final Words:

I picked the card because of the welcome bonus of 125,000 MR Points and hotel and dining privileges. I wouldn't use this card for 1x Points, that's losing value on the money spent. (Citi Prestige offers far better value.)

American Express needs to offer more long term accelerated rewards on Hotel and Flight booking. The elevated status alone can't justify the annual fee of The Platinum Card.

I'd recommend going for an upgrade with bonus MR points, and elevated hotel tiers for the first year. The renewal decision depends on the ongoing accelerated reward offers.

Disclaimer: Rights to the assets used in this article are owned by the respective companies. BrownPoints doesn't claim ownership of any of those assets and only uses them for demonstration purposes.

Update [11 October 2019]: Taj has revised the TIC rupee values (1 TIC = ₹1), and scrapped Epicure points. You'll now be earning TIC points for your dining transactions.

Update [10 January 2021]: Taj has introduced multiple tiers in their Epicure program.

I've been a Taj Epicure and TIC Gold member (status match with my Shangri-La Jade tier) since the past two years. In this article, I'll try to break down the program and analyse the perks that you get with it. I hope this helps you decide if you should go for this membership.

Overview

Epicure is a dining membership offered by Taj Hotels and Resorts. It does, however, offer a lot of other benefits too. To enrol, you can either purchase it directly from Taj, or signup for a premium credit card like AmEx Platinum Charge.

AmEx Platinum Review India: Best in class travel perks.

An in-depth analysis of all the benefits offered by the American Express Platinum Charge in India, and tips on how to maximize your reward earnings.

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

Once you enrol in Epicure, you get accelerated reward earnings when you stay or dine at any of the Taj properties worldwide.

Joining the Program

There are two approaches to join Epicure, either purchasing it directly from Taj Hotels or signing up for a Credit Card that offers complimentary Epicure membership.

Buying it From Taj

Taj has introduced multiple tiers to their Epicure program instead of just one. Both tiers come with different perks and different price points.

Preferred Tier (₹17,500 + Taxes)

• Discount: 25% on food and bereaves: On dine-in and takeaway.
• Discount: 20% on Qmin: Food delivery app.
• Discount: 20% on spa and salon.
• Discount: 20% on bookings. (Including Safari, Palace, and resorts)
• Voucher: 1 night stay.
• Voucher: Set lunch for two.
• Voucher: Spa treatment.
• Voucher: Room upgrade (one-level).
• Voucher: Free cake in birthday month.
• Voucher: Private dinner setup.

Privileged Tier (₹25,000 + Taxes)

• Discount: 25% on food and bereaves: On dine-in and takeaway.
• Discount: 20% on Qmin: Food delivery app.
• Discount: 20% on spa and salon.
• Discount: 20% on bookings. (Including Safari, Palace, and resorts)
• Voucher: 2 night stay.
• Voucher: Set lunch for two.
• Voucher: Spa treatment.
• Voucher: Room upgrade (one-level).
• Voucher: Free cake in birthday month.
• Voucher: Private dinner setup.
• Club lounge access (twice a year for two)
• Add-on card for spouse (Only discounts available)

Using a Credit Card

The following Credit Cards offer complimentary Taj Epicure memberships.

• American Express Platinum Reserve (₹10,000 + Taxes)
• American Express Platinum Charge (₹60,000 + Taxes)
• Citi Prestige (₹20,000 + Taxes)

As you can see, these cards come with a very steep joining fee, plus you don't get a complimentary vouchers with this method. So, signing up for them just for the Epicure membership doesn't make sense.

Earning Rewards

Epicure is an absolute star in this category as there are very few loyalty programs that give you this level of earning rate. Once you're enrolled you get:

• 25% as TIC points for Dining, and Spa.
• 50% as TIC points for first three walk-in dining transactions. (Doesn't count if you're staying at the hotel where you dine)
• 50% off, or Buy 1 Get 1 (depending on the property) at all bars at Taj properties. Plus, you get 25% as points 😉.

1 TIC point is worth ₹1/- (After revised changes in the program)

There are no blackout dates for points redemption. You can even use TIC points to pay for your in-room dining and laundry bills.

A quick example to explain the earnings:

• A 3-night stay at Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai will cost you about ₹50,000/- (You can get a 25% discount using your AmEx Platinum Card).
  A dinner for two would cost about ₹4,000/-
• This gives you 2500 TIC points (5% of the room charge) on the room charges being a Silver member, 7% if you're Gold.
  For the dining charges you'd earn 1000 TIC point (25% of the bill amount).

Not to mention, you get additional perks like room upgrades based on your TIC Silver status.

Ongoing Benefits

In addition to TIC points you get a range of other benefits too.

Happy Hours at Bars

You get flat 50% discount or buy one get one at all bars at Taj properties worldwide. You also get 25% points back on the bill amount too, which is cherry on the top. Overall these bars are cheaper for me as compared to any other places.

Eg. A pint of Corona costs ₹500 without taxes at Rick's Taj Mahal Hotel, Delhi. You get a 50% discount which brings the effective price down to ₹250. You also get 25% as TIC points (worth ₹62). The final amount of a bottle of Corona comes down to ₹188 that's cheaper than the MRP 😱.

Room Upgrade Vouchers

You get one room category upgrade vouchers with the membership which gives you one category upgrade for a stay up to 5 nights. The best way to use this is to book a room just below the Club Room category. This way you're guaranteed a Club Room upgrade (or even a suite if available).

Eg. I used one of the vouchers at Taj Dubai. They offered me a Junior Suite upgrade, but I went ahead with the Club Room as the Junior Suite didn't have the Burj Khalifa view. Club Rooms are of tremendous value as you get access to the Taj Club lounge which includes, dedicated breakfast area, free drinks during the cocktail hours, and snacks throughout the day.

Taj InnerCircle Silver Membership

Honestly, I don't see much value with Silver membership except you get a late checkout (5 PM). I've been denied room upgrades multiple times even when there were higher category rooms available, it's kind of an hit or miss when it comes to upgrades.

Final Words

Taj Epicure is unquestionably one of the finest loyalty programs in India. Over the past two years I've redeemed about five free nights using my TIC points, never paid for any of the in-room dining orders, and managed to get room upgrades 70% of the times.

There are a few places where the hotel properties fall short, and the service they provide is not up to the mark, be it denying upgrade when higher category rooms are available, or when I had to wait for 40 minutes when checking-in at 5 in the evening.

Disclaimer: Rights to the assets used in this article are owned by the respective companies. BrownPoints doesn't claim ownership of any of those assets and only uses them for demonstration purposes.

Update [1 June 2021]: Get a Taj voucher worth ₹10k when you spend ₹5 lakhs in a year. Only applicable on payment of the annual fee.

I'm writing this review after using it for a good one year, my spending pattern on this card range from 50,000 to 70,000 a month. This review is not necessarily specific to people with similar spending behaviour.

Application Process:

This topic is not covered by most reviewers, but I consider it an essential part of the service provided by the institute.

Compared to the service you get in the US, American Express in India lags miles behind (maybe because India being a high credit risk country). It took me more than one month and countless email exchanges to get the application processed.

Even after providing all the relevant documents and income proof American Express took ages to process the application and ship the card.

#TipThatWorks: Tweet about your negative experience and they will escalate your case. Helped me when I applied for a second card from American Express.

Welcome Gift:

As a welcome bonus, you get 11,000 reward points which is not much if you try to use it as a statement credit. Here I'm listing out a few ways that can help you maximise the point value for you.

First, I'd highly recommend applying for two supplementary cards which would give you an additional 5,000 reward points per approval. After two successful approvals, you'll get a total of 21,000 reward points.

Here's what 21,000 Membership Reward points can get you:

1. Club it with an American Express Gold Charge Card (First-year fee ₹1,000 and 4,000 Bonus points) and get a statement credit worth ₹10,000.
2. Transfer points to your Marriott Bonvoy account with a 1:1 ratio, and get up to 3 nights at Marriott properties in India or abroad, you may check the redemption list here.

The card offers a Taj voucher worth ₹10,000 on renewal to those who spends more than ₹500,000 over a year. This benefit is not applicable for those who get an annual fee waiver.

Rewards on Spend:

Earn 1 Membership Rewards Point for every ₹50 spent except for expenses made on fuel, insurance, utilities, and cash transactions.

Discontinued: Also, you earn 5X Membership Rewards points on booking domestic flights and 15X Membership Rewards points on prepaid domestic and international hotel bookings on American Express Domestic Travel website.

Now say you're planning a trip for your family with a budget of  ₹150,000:

• Hotel Booking: ₹75,000 spend on American Express Travel website gives you 1,500 points.
• Flight Booking: ₹50,000 spend on American Express Travel website gives you 1,000 points.

You may then convert these MR Points into miles for any of the partner airlines. One MR Point is equivalent to two air miles.

Or you may convert them into hotel points. Given that there are a limited number of Hilton Properties in India, I usually go with Marriott Bonvoy.

Overall, I'm not a fan of the earning rate provided by any of the American Express cards. The HDFC Diner Black card is the real star in this category (will write a review shortly).

On-going Benefits:

The platinum reserve card comes with a decent selection of perks that can help you save time and money. I'll go through the list one at a time and will share some tips on how you can get the most out of those benefits.

Taj Epicure

This membership alone is worth ₹13,500 + taxes. Here are some of the perks you get with it:

50% as Epicure Points on the first three transactions at any of the restaurants. I'd suggest you to use it for big gatherings or birthday parties to maximise the return. Because of these transactions, I've never paid for any in-room dining over the last year (~10 stays).

Two room upgrade vouchers that are applicable for a maximum of 5 nights. From my experience, I've noticed that the Taj properties here in India would make up excuses to avoid upgrades (sometimes I keep a booking tab open just to prove that there are rooms available in higher categories). Make sure you go for a room category that's either directly below Club Room (free cocktail hours, breakfast, and all day snacks) or Suite (better furnishings and more space).

Happy hours (1+1) on drinks between 6pm-8pm every day at all bars, plus an additional 25% as Epicure points.

Look out for special discounts at My Account > Epicure > Epicure Vouchers. Usually there are restaurants that give out a minimum of 25% discount.

Taj Epicure Membership Review.

Being a Taj Epicure member from the past two years here’s my attempt to analyze its benefits and tips to help you maximize the value.

Brown PointsChaitanya Choudhary

Lounge Access

The Platinum Reserve falls short in this category, they do provide you with a complimentary priority pass membership, but you'll have to pay for each visit ($27 per person). Even my SBI Elite card offers me 6 complimentary Lounge visits per year.

You do however get free access to the domestic lounge, but that's something which is offered by every debit or credit card I can think of.

Healthcare Benefits

Though I've never used this service, the Terms and Conditions state you get up to 30% discount on checkups and OPD at Max Hospital and Fortis Hospital. Ideally, I'd suggest you go for good health insurance instead of relying on something like this.

It does, however, provide you a 30% discount on preventive healthcare packages which gives you a head to toe screening.

Golf Benefits

Not sure how many people actually make use of this benefit, but there's a decent selection of course across different cities in India. You get green-fee (ranging from ₹1000 to ₹5000) waiver 4 times a month, this makes up for a lot if you're a serious player. For those who are interested in learning the sport, you can avail the discounted golf lessons.

All the bookings have to be made through their concierge service about 4 to 10 days in advance. The service is provided by a third party called GolfTripz, it also lets you rent the equipment if required.

Concierge Service

From my personal experience, I find it the most timesaving and useful feature of this card. I'm not sure how it holds up against the Platinum Charge 'do anything concierge' or if it's different at all. Over the year, I've called them countless times to do random things. So, far they've not failed me.

I used it the first time when I was in a different city, and I wanted to deliver a bottle of wine for my friend's birthday when all the liquor stores were closed. The concierge assistant not only sourced a nice bottle of wine from god knows where but also delivered it to my friend's place on time with a personal birthday message (he even helped me write it, GUILTY!)

Here are some of the not so usual things that you can make them do:

• Plan a get-together with your friends or family, let them take care of all the booking and invitations.
• Stop spending time on all those multi-city work trips, let them handle it for you.
  Sourcing rare items (remember those limited edition sneakers you missed out on) from stores across the world.

I'd love to hear concierge stories, please do post them in comments below.

Final Words:

Deciding if you should go for American Express Platinum Reserve card depends on your lifestyle and your spend pattern. Though you should be able to get a renewal fee waiver on the Platinum Reserve card without any trouble, but other than the Epicure Plus membership and the Concierge service this card doesn't offer much.

Given that this card has a very weak reward earning rate if you're somebody who doesn't prefer to stay at Taj properties, visit their restaurants, or play Golf, this is not the card for you.

Disclaimer: Rights to the assets used in this article are owned by the respective companies. BrownPoints doesn't claim ownership of any of those assets and only uses them for demonstration purposes.