HDFC Infinia Credit Card Review
HDFC Infinia is most talked credit card in our country . However, surprisingly I didn’t have a dedicated review for HDFC Infinia. so , I decided to review it. Further, the rise of Axis Magnus and a series of devaluations on HDFC Infinia; it makes sense it see where the once favourite credit card now stands.
HDFC Infinia Credit Card
Fees
- Joining/Annual fee of 12,500 + taxes. IT is Waived off on spending 10lakhs.
Reward and Benefits
- Base Reward Rate:3.3% reward rate (5 reward points on 150 spent. Value of 1RP=INR 1). No reward points is given for fuel, wallet load and EMI (EasyEMI and SmartEMI) spends.
- Accelerated Reward Rate: 3x-10x RPs on HDFC SmartBuy, i.e. 9.9%-33.3% reward rate. However, SmartBuy reward points accrual has monthly and daily caps, which may limit the reward rate.
- Rent payment reward point capping at 2000 RPs per month, i.e. max spend of ~60,600 per month. (Starting Jan 2023, rent payment will not get any reward points.)
- 1+1 buffet dinner at selected ITC hotels. Book a stay for 3-nights and pay for two on participating ITC hotels.
- Lounge Access:Unlimited domestic and international lounge access for primary and add-on cardholders.
Eligibility criteria for HDFC Infinia Credit Card
Bank’s official stance is that HDFC Infinia is an invite-only credit card. However, there are cases people got this card by simply requesting it. Further, during the credit card ban on HDFC Bank (2020-2022), the bank doled out HDFC Infinia to many customers as an upgrade.
The eligibility criteria remains sketchy but I have gathered something from the internet, talking customer care and social media sites are as follows. You need to meet at least one of the below to get this card.
- Monthly salary of 3lk+
- Existing HDFC credit card with a limit of 8-10lakhs and last 6 months spends of 7-8lakhs.
- Relationships with the bank. i.e. the number of loan accounts, balance in SA/CA/TD account etc.
Positives of HDFC Infinia Credit Card
Highest base reward rate
At a 3.3% reward rate, HDFC Infinia carries the highest base reward rate in the industry. It is matched by HDFC Dinners black and StanC Ultimate. The current favourite Axis Magnus has a base reward rate of only 1.2%.
Accelerated reward rate on SmartBuy
HDFC SmartBuy portal gives you 3-10x reward points on HDFC Infinia credit card. This is where HDFC Infinia really has an edge .You get an reward rate for anything and everything on Smartbuy. If you love to travel then booking hotels will give you 33.3% reward rate. Flight and bus booking will give you a 16.5% reward rate and even train ticket booking on IRCTC will give you nearly 10% reward rate.
Gift vouchers bought on SmartBuy will give you a 16.5% reward rate. These brand vouchers in turn can be used in daily purchases. You can buy gift vouchers from, Flipkart, Croma, Vijay Sales, Tata Cliq, Reliance Smart, BigBasket, Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato, Ola and many more.
Unlimited lounge access
HDFC Infinia is one of the very few cards that offer unlimited lounge access both within India and outside. That’s not all it gives unlimited lounge access to all add-on cardholders.
Only 2% forex markup
HDFC Infinia has a low forex markup of 2%. While you may argue, there are credit and debit cards that offer 0% forex markup. However, considering that HDFC Infinia has a reward rate of 3.3% even adjusting for a 2.36% (2% +GST) forex markup, you get nearly a 1% reward rate on foreign spending. That’s not all, if you enrol for HDFC’s global value program you get a ~1.95% reward rate. The 1% is in form of cashback as a feature of the Global Value Program.
1+1 on ITC Buffet and 1 night free at ITC Hotels
HDFC Infinia offers 1+1 buffet in selected ITC hotels . The offer is for a weekend buffet, however, they are offering a weekday buffet too till 31st Dec . You can redeem this offer every month and kids under 6 are free. Thus for those few special days that come every year
Further, you can book from a list of ITC hotels , where you can stay for 3 nights but pay only for 2 nights. Breakfast includes this offer. Again, this offer can be used if one is planning a vacation to Goa, Andaman etc. apart from major Indian cities.
Negatives of HDFC Infinia Credit Card
RP redemption limit of 70%
For redemption on SmartBuy only 70% of the booking amount can be set off against points. The rest needs to be paid by card. While for most, this restriction doesn’t matter, but this sort of leaves cardholders with a feeling of being short-changed.
Frequent Devaluations
While credit card devaluations are quite normal, the pace at which HDFC Infinia has been devalued in recent times is unprecedented. The reason for devaluations in my opinion is just too many Infinia being doled out during the ban period. It’s like the famous dialogue from the movie Incredibles, “When everyone is a Super, no one is”. Further, overall at the industry level revolve rate has declined to an all-time low of ~25%. This is putting immense pressure on banks’ profitability. Thus they are devaluing cards to protect their bottom line.
Daily/monthly capping on SmartBuy
HDFC Infinia’s strength is accelerated reward points on the SmartBuy portal. However, much of the edge is taken off by imposing a daily/monthly cap on accelerated rewards.
You can earn upto 7500 accelerated RPs in a day and 15000 RPs in a month on Infinia on SmartBuy. IT means to maximize your RPs you need to spend less than 25k on a 10x partner (hotels) in a day and less than 56k on a 5x partner (flights). This sort of restricts your savings potential on the SmartBuy portal and in turn on the HDFC Infinia credit card.
Reward points will be nullified, if the card is not used for 365 days
This is weird rule in Infinia. Even though the validity of reward points is 3 years, if you don’t use your card for 365 days, all the accrued RPs will be null
