HDFC Bank credit card to levy forex markup fee on use in India with overseas merchant

The bank has said rent payments will not earn reward points, and redemption of reward points on various cards have been capped in certain segments.

India’s largest credit card issuer -- HDFC Bank -- has revised its reward points programme and fees structure for its credit card customers, effective January 1, 2023.

The bank has said rent payments will not earn reward points, and redemption of reward points on various cards have been capped in certain segments.

According to the communication shared by the bank to its customers, the redemption of reward points for flights and hotel bookings on the bank’s SmartBuy portal will be capped per calendar month at 150,000 reward points for Infinia cards, 75,000 reward points for Diners Black card, and 50,000 reward points for all other cards.

Similarly, the redemption of reward points for Tanishq vouchers would be capped at 50,000 reward points per calendar month for Infinia cards.

Further, on Millennia, EasyEMI Millennia, Bharat, Pharmeasy and Paytm cards, cashback redemption will be capped per calendar month at 3,000 reward points for Millennia, and 50,000 points for all other cards, effective from February 1, 2023.

The bank said for select products and vouchers, redemption of reward points will be capped at 70 per cent of the total value, but this is not applicable for Infinia and Diners Black cards.

The bank has further clarified that government related transactions will not earn reward points on all the cards except Business Regalia, Business Regalia first, Business Money back, CSC small business moneyback, Paytm Business, Flipkart Business, Retailio, Best Price Save Smart, Best Price Save Max and Pinelabs. Similarly, education related transactions will not earn reward Points on certain cards.

They have also introduced caps on reward points earned on grocery transactions per calendar month at 2,000 for Infinia cards, Diners Black, Regalia, Regalia Gold, Regalia First, Business Regalia, Business Regalia First, Diners Privilege, Diners Premium, Diners Clubmiles, Tata Neu Infinity cards and, 1,000 for the rest of the cards.

On rent payment, the bank said, payments made through third-party merchants, a fee of 1 per cent of the total transaction amount would be levied from the second rental transaction of the calendar month.

Further, if a customer conducts a transaction (in-store or online) in Indian currency at an international location or with a merchant located in India but registered overseas, a dynamic and static conversion markup fee of 1 per cent will be charged, the bank said.