HDFC Rupay IRCTC Credit Card Review:Hello Friends, It is a matter of great pleasure that HDFC Bank has launched a credit card which will make your journey of railway traveling more convenient.
We already have three issuers with IRCTC co-branded credit cards – SBI Card, BOB and HDFC Bank. Will the HDFC Bank Rupay Credit Card be better for us than all this? In this article, we review the HDFC Bank Rupay IRCTC Credit Card and compare it with the existing IRCTC cards.
HDFC Bank Rupay IRCTC Credit Card Fees & Charges
Let’s talk about HDFC Bank Rupay IRCTC Credit Card Fees & Charges
The card joining fee and annual fee is same Rs.500+tax, and if we spend Rs. 1.5 Lakhs in a year we can waiver annual fee and Wlecome benefit Rs. 500 on Amazon GV first transcation withing a month
The joining fees is same as the IRCTC BoB and SBI IRCTC SBI Platinum Credit Cards but annual charges is higher by Rs 150.
Appreciable IRCTC Railway Lounge Access
4 complimentary visits to IRCTC Railway Lounge per year (1 per quarter)
Rewards Points
The Rewards of the card is very different from SBI and BoB IRCTC Cards.
5 CashPints/Rs. 100 and 5% savings with smarbuy on Railway Bookings.Other purchase 1 cashpointRs. 100 and no rewards on fuel
We can algo get a transaction charges waiver on IRCTC platform for amounts Rs.400 to 5000. This is capped at Rs. 250 PM
Rewards Redemption Criteria
Cashpoints earned will be valid for three years. Each Cashpoint can be redeemed for Re 1 on the IRCTC website.
Redemption is allowed from the IRCTC account of the cardholder. Purchase of tickets with redemption must have the cardholder as a passenger
We can also redeem cashpoints for flights, hotel bookings and statement redemption at 30 paise for 1 cashpoint. But, these options have no meaning. Redemption should be on IRCTC to get maximum value.
Final thoughts
We will rate HDFC Bank Rupay IRCTC Credit Card higher than SBI and BOB IRCTC cards. This is because it offers 10% value on all categories of railway bookings including sleeper class. SBI and Bank of Baroda IRCTC cards have good rewards for AC booking only.
SmartBuy is a key differentiator for this card. We also get other benefits through SmartBuy.
So, if you are looking for IRCTC co-branded credit card then you can apply for it.