HDFC MoneyBack Credit Card Review

When I joined my first company back in 2013, I chose to open my salary account with HDFC Bank. While the bank's executive was getting my initials on all the papers, he inquired if I would like to get a credit card as well, and I replied in affirmative. Back then, I was totally a noob in terms of credit cards; hence, I shared no preference on the type of credit card that I wanted.

In a week, the envelope was delivered to me, and inside it was the 'HDFC MoneyBack Credit Card.' I was very excited to get my first-ever credit card, and I still remember that the first thing that I did post receiving the credit card was to hop to the Reliance Digital Store at TGIP, Noida; and bought myself the latest Samsung Galaxy Note 2 against 6 months of EMI.

The card stayed with me for a long time until it was upgraded to HDFC Allmiles CC (discontinued).

The Moneyback credit card offers:

• Reward Points

- 2 Reward Points for every Rs 150 spent on the card

- 2X Reward Points for shopping online

- 1 RP = 0.2 INR

- RPs can be adjusted against your card's outstanding balance

(Its biggest attraction used to be the 3x reward points that you earned earlier on your online shopping. But, now you get only 2x rewards points on online spends.

Also, the RP value of 1:5 used to be on the higher side in the past. As far as I remember, it was 0.6 INR)

• Milestone Benefits

- You get an e-voucher worth Rs 500 every quarter on spending Rs 50,000 on your card

- Valid on retail transactions only

• Zero Lost Card liability

- Zero Lost Card liability post reporting of the loss of card

• Annual Charges

First-year fee: Rs. 500 + applicable taxes

Renewal fee: Rs. 500 + applicable taxes

(Waived off if the cardholder spends Rs. 50,000 or above in a year)

To conclude, this was a decent credit card but not so modest after it went through a series of down-gradations in terms of benefits. However, you can still consider having this card if you are applying for your first credit card. Also, holding any HDFC credit card makes you eligible for common HDFC Credit Card benefits such as Insta Loan and Insta Jumbo Loan, which are mostly offered with the Best Interest Rates as compared to other banks.