Citibank Indian Oil Credit Card Review
Looking for a fuel credit card? Citibank Indian Oil Credit Card might serve the purpose but only if you’re happy to fuel your vehicle with Indian Oil petrol pumps.
Its normal for Credit card companies to tie up with a single company and give some rewards for that. For example, ICICI and Amex has tie up with Hindustan Petroleum(HP). HDFC has tie up with Bharat Petroleum (BPCL).
Similarly, Citi bank has tie up with Indian oil and they promise to give about 5% value back, which is 2.5% surcharge waiver and another 2.6% cashback as points.
Overview
| Type | Fuel Credit Card |
| Reward Rate | Upto 2.6% |
| Annual Fee | 1,000 INR+GST |
| Best for | IOCL Spends |
| USP | Citi reliability & support |
I would never suggest fuel credit cards to anyone, however Citi may be an exception because of the customer support.
Joining Fees
| Joining Fee | 1,000 INR+GST |
| Welcome Benefit | 250 Points on first spend within 30 days |
| Renewal Fee | 1,000 INR+GST |
| Renewal Fee Waiver | On annual spends of Rs.30,000 |
Your joining fee is only partly offset by the welcome benefit. While that’s a disappointment, you maybe okay with that after looking into the rewards that this card has to offer.
Reward Points
While 2.6% as a inbuilt feature of a card appears nice, do note that they have an upper ceiling. Lets look into all the in & outs of the card.
- IOCL Fuel Spends: 2.6% cashback points (Citi Swipe machines only)
- Upper Cap: Rs.10,000 (or 267 Turbo Points) per transaction
- 2 Turbo Points on every Rs.150 spent at groceries and supermarkets [ capped to spends up to Rs.5,000 (or 67 points) per month ]
- 1 Turbo Point = Rs.1 worth of fuel.
Lets see the real life scenario. Most of us would fuel for about Rs.5000 and that would give us about Rs.132 worth of points for which you need to go through all tiny terms every single time. Moreover, Citi terminals are nowhere located out of metro cities. That means less acceptance of the card to get points. Also, too much of restrictions to earn too small points.
Will I take a card for earning Rs.132 a month? Never. I will rather stick to my other cards and use cash/e-wallet for fuel or use any of the other credit/debit cards .
Features
- Complementary Airport lounge access: Nil
- Foreign Exchange Markup fee: 3.5% + Service Tax
As you can see, its a decent credit card if you live in a metro city and just want one card for fuel, provided IOC pump is nearby your location. Else, forget it.
You can get far better value from your spends with other cards, considering Fuel expense is minimal for most of us.
- CardExpert Rating: 3.9/5
