Flipkart Credit Card Vs Amazon Pay Card Vs Paytm First card Vs Ola Money Card
These days everyone into e-commerce, Payments business & Cab aggregator are getting into the credit card industry to play the lending game. This has undoubtedly taking the reward rate of entry-level credits cards in India to a whole new level.
While the offerings are pretty good for an entry-level card, card holders are having tough times in choosing the right one, as the offers are almost similar. So here’s a quick guide in choosing the best of best credit cards from these big brands.
Before we get into finding the best card, let’s have a quick look into the rewards & other essential factors while applying for a new credit card.
Reward Rate
Reward rate is probably the most important aspect of a credit card. Here are the cards with respective reward rates. Click on the links below for detailed information.
- Amazon Pay Card – Upto 5% on Amazon Spends, 2% with partners, 1% everywhere else.
- Flipkart Credit Card – 5% with flipkart brands, 4% with select partners, 1.5% everywhere else
- Paytm First Card – 1% universal cashback
- OLA Money Card – 7% return on cab spend, Upto 20% on travel spends, 1% everywhere else.
Multiple Cards
Every bank limits the # of credit cards you can have with them. This section doesn’t matter to you if you’re new to credit cards, but if you’re already hold a credit card from these banks, this might help.
- ICICI – ICICI don’t usually have any limits per se, as they beautifully share the same limit across all cards. ICICI easily allows to hold 2-3 cards per customer.
- Citi – 2 per customer
- SBI Card – 2 per customer
- Axis – 2-4 per customer (based on the profile)
Remember, these limits are decided in a such a way that the bank allows one bank owned card + one co-brand card. So if you ask whether you can hold 2 co-brand cards, well that varies with the issuer.
Ease Of Applying
This is a major factor as it decides the conversion of those who’re interested in getting one of them.
- Amazon Pay Card – As long as you’re eligible, its hardly 2 minute process, 48 hrs card delivery.
- Paytm First Card – Citi is usually the toughest to get through & the friction is still there.
- Ola Money Card – SBI should be easy too, yet no reports of applications being processed.
- Flipkart Card – Axis is easy too. Reports says if you’ve their Buzz Card, Axis quickly converts it to this Flipkart card. Mass issuance expected by Sep 2019
That said, Amazon Pay ICICI card is by far the best when it comes to user experience in applying for the card. Amazon & ICICI has the BEST kind of integration for credit card issuance in India at the moment.
Okay so you now know all the details. If you’re still confused, its because you never know what you want!
I mean, while choosing a credit card, you need to have a goal, which could be: Cashback, Shopping benefit, Travel benefit. If you do-not have one, do set your mind for one and read below.
For Cashbacks
If all you need is just direct cashback to your Credit card statement, then you’ve to look at Flipkart card and Paytm card. A simple math would show that the Flipkart card is 50% more rewarding than Paytm First card.
So Flipkart Card Wins here.
But this generally doesn’t make much difference as Ola Money & Amazon Pay wallet has very good acceptance, good enough to treat them as real cash.
For Shopping
This totally depends on where you shop. I primarily prefer amazon over flipkart, so my choice would obviously be Amazon Pay card but remember that the Flipkart card is bit more rewarding on regular spends.
Ideally, if you’re a Flipkart User, then its better to get both cards as Amazon card anyway is not going to cost you anything.
Moreover, the Amazon card is super easy & fast to get, especially when you’ve existing relationship with ICICI. None of the competition has made issuance of a new card this faster.
For Travel
That obviously goes to the Ola Money SBI card as you get nice 7% returns on cab charges and also even greater savings for the spends done on Cleartrip.
Best Card for Beginners
One of the very common question that I get asked from my friends these days is…
Which is the best credit card for me? I spend about a lakh p.a. and I fly domestic once a year.
I think that’s also the question of every millennial starting his career and applying for his/her first Credit card.
So to answer that query with above cards in mind, the vote goes to the Flipkart Credit Card as it also comes with MasterCard’s airport lounge access benefit. This card infact is as good as a premium credit card if one doesn’t need international lounge benefit.
That said, you may also get the Amazon Pay Credit card any day as its anyway free.
Bottomline
So as always, there is no single credit card that fits everyone. As there are so many credit cards in the market these days, you first need to prioritise your needs/goals and then choose the cards accordingly.
Looking at the above card launches, it seems 2019 is a grand year for credit card industry. But hey, don’t forget about the big dad: HDFC Bank. They may come up with a new semi-premium credit card anytime soon targeting “millennials” of India !.
