Bank has joined the credit card trend. This is the first time IDFC First Bank has introduced credit cards under its brand name, even though they currently offer credit cards through a partnership with One Card. Here is all the information you require for this credit card.
The IDFC FIRST Wealth Visa Infinite Credit Card is a unique product that provides consumers with unequaled perks. You receive exclusive lifestyle and travel features as well as evergreen reward points from this lifetime-free credit card. For additional information regarding the IDFC FIRST Wealth Credit Card
Significant Features of the IDFC FIRST Wealth Visa Infinite Credit Card Unlimited Never-expiring reward points, a movie deal of “buy one, get one free,” and no yearly or over-limit fees Every three months, receive four free domestic and international airport lounge visits, as well as two free games of golf.
Credit Cards from IDFC
At once, IDFC Bank introduced four credit cards. All of these credit cards feature the same reward system and point system for earning rewards. They vary, nonetheless, in terms of the advantages the cardholder receives. E.g. While IDFC Millennia and IDFC Classic credit cards don’t provide access to airport lounges, IDFC Select offers four domestic airport lounges, while IDFC Wealth provides both domestic and international lounge access.
Benefit from limitless reward points
Rewards points are available with the IDFC FIRST Wealth Credit Card and never expire. As a result, you don’t have to be concerned about losing any unused reward points. Your reward points are always redeemable, and you can use those to instantly pay for in-person or online purchases. Despite having a lower value, evergreen reward points are superior to the perks provided by the Yes Bank Prosperity Reward Plus and Axis Bank ACE credit cards.
Advantages
A reward rate of 0.75–2.5% Given that all credit cards are LTF, the reward rate is quite favorable. Redeeming reward points solely because they are about to expire is made easier by never-expiring reward points.
Interest-free withdrawals of cash: – Cash withdrawals are interest-free, which is another distinctive feature that IDFC credit cards provide. In other words, one may withdraw cash up to the card’s cash limit; interest, however, will not apply until beyond the due date. This is another beneficial feature of the card, however, one should be aware that there will be 295 (250 + GST) cash withdrawal fees that must be paid. As a result, for a 20,000 cash withdrawal, one would have to pay 295 in implicit interest fees over 45 days, or an interest rate of about 11%. The interest rate will be lower for those who are allowed more frequent cash withdrawals.
4 lounge visits per 3 months: For the ordinary traveler, the IDFC Select and IDFC Wealth credit cards’ 4 domestic lounge passes each quarter are sufficient. Even lounge coverage is respectable (link). I believe no other LTF credit card offers access to foreign lounges and spas like the IDFC Wealth credit card does.
Free movie admission: – Buy One Get One movie tickets are offered by IDFC Select and IDFC Wealth. Limits on the IDFC Select and IDFC Wealth credit cards are up to 250 and 500 off, respectively, twice a month. The advantage of this is that, let’s say, I want to use my entire $2,500 discount on IDFC Wealth in a single transaction. Depending on usage and card type, this function alone can save anywhere from $3,000 to $12,000 annually.
Cons
No points awarded for insurance and EMI: Fuel, insurance, and EMI transactions are not eligible for reward points while using IDFC Bank credit cards. These purchases don’t even count toward the 10x barrier, which is a disadvantage of IDFC credit cards. Except for fuel and insurance costs, spending 20k in a month will be difficult unless an IDFC credit card is your primary card. Maybe the whole goal of offering 10x reward points only on purchases over $20,000 is to encourage you to use this card as your main payment method.
Access to the Railway Lounge is Currently Impossible
Since just four free visits are allowed with each of the four IDFC credit cards each quarter, entrance to the railway lounge is no longer permitted. However, the lounge list is rather limited, with only 6 venues. These are Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Madurai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur. Therefore, this service will only be accessible to most cards unless a person often goes to certain locations.
IDFC FIRST Wealth Credit Card Restrictions
As a lifetime-free credit card, IDFC FIRST Wealth has an advantage over many other premium credit cards because of the absence of an annual charge and an application cost. The interest-free cash withdrawal option is only accessible for 48 days with this card, and you can only receive a welcome voucher if you spend Rs. 15,000 within 90 days of card activation. The card also provides a respectable reward rate and facility for a premium credit card, aside from these.
Rating for the IDFC FIRST Wealth Visa Infinite Credit Card
| Rewards | ★★★ |
| Annual Fee | ★★★★★ |
| Movie Tickets | ★★★ |
| Offers & Discounts | ★★ |
| Overall Rating | ★★★ |
Enjoy access to both national and international lounges.
4 domestic and international airport lounges and spas are accessible to cardholders of the IDFC Wealth Credit Card each year. To use the advantages, all you have to do is scan your card at the airport lounges. To verify the validity of your credit card, a Rs 2 fee will be charged. Children under the age of two may enter the card’s participating lounges for free at their choice. However, only the principal cardholder is eligible for lounge access.
If you travel frequently, this can be an excellent alternative for you because IDFC offers better lounge access than credit cards like the HSBC VISA Platinum (2 complimentary lounge access (local and international)) and the Axis Bank ACE (4 complimentary visits per calendar year only for domestic airports).
Put an end to your concern over international purchases.
Get a low 1.5% forex markup with your IDFC FIRST Wealth Credit Card. For people who travel and shop internationally, this is an additional benefit. The low currency markup price charged by IDFC is equivalent to that of ultra-premium cards like Axis Reserve and Axis Burgundy.
How does foreign exchange markup function?
Imagine that you spent 200 USD on an item, and the current currency rate is 1 USD = 70 INR. In this instance, Rs. 14,000 will be the payment amount in INR. Now, if the foreign exchange markup fee is 3.5%, the extra amount you’ll have to pay will be Rs. 490 (3.5% of 14,000). Additionally, a GST of 18% will be applicable on the fee amount.
If the markup fee were to drop to 1.5%, the price would then only be Rs. 210 plus 18% GST. Therefore, if you frequently go abroad, having this card could help you save a lot of money on your purchases.
Keep yourself amused
Numerous entertainment bonuses are included with the IDFC FIRST Wealth Credit Card. Using the Pay to the mobile app; you may take advantage of the buy one, get one discount on movie tickets. The maximum amount that may be purchased with the deal is Rs. 500. The deal is only available twice a month. The movie offer is equivalent to that of cards like the ICICI Expressions Credit Card, SBI Simply Click, and SBI Elite. For those who enjoy movies, the IDFC FIRST Wealth Credit Card appears to be a perfect choice.
Dine at the restaurants you enjoy most
With this credit card, you can get up to 20% off at more than 1500 restaurants as well as more than 50 in-app promotions. This can be an excellent option for you if you enjoy eating out and consider yourself to be a foodie.
Take Advantage of Free Golf Rounds
The IDFC FIRST Wealth credit card offers two free rounds of golf each month, for a total of 24 free rounds per year. This card offers golf advantages that are on par with those of HDFC Diners Club Black. The golf privileges are one of the nicest advantages this card has to offer because there are no yearly fees.
Should I apply for credit cards from IDFC Bank?
Yes. One should use the cards because they are LTF, have a respectable reward rate, and offer useful bonuses. Take action, but only if you are receiving an IDFC Select or IDFC Wealth credit card.
Is the IDFC Wealth Credit Card right for you?
If you want to enjoy unlimited rewards on all purchases, enjoy dining out, enjoy watching movies in theaters, enjoy playing golf, and wish to have free access to domestic and international airport lounges, you should get an IDFC FIRST Wealth credit card.
Where can I apply?
I currently believe that IDFC credit cards are exclusively available to current bank customers. Therefore, you can apply through this link if you are an IDFC Bank member.
I applied using the aforementioned website, and my card was immediately authorized. The application was processed by IDFC without the need for any further paperwork, and the card was issued in about a week.
Credit Card from IDFC WOW
Fees and Qualification
No joining or yearly fees. That is, it is an LTF card.
Rewards and Advantages
There are no formal joining and ongoing perks.
Bonus Points:
- A 1% reward rate or four points for every $100 spent.
- There is no markup on foreign exchange purchases.
- Fuel and insurance purchases do not earn reward points.
- As reward redemption fees, IDFC Bank will charge INR99 plus taxes.
What unique qualities distinguish the IDFC WOW credit card?
A maximum credit limit of 200% and a minimum of 100%
100% of the FD recorded as a lien with the bank is the credit limit that IDFC WOW gives. The T&Cs in this case specify (section 36.5) that the credit limits may even be as high as 200% of the FD. In the best-case scenario, your credit limit would be 20,000 if you made an FD of 10,000.
This is something that I had never seen before. The greatest credit limit up to this point was 110% with One Card Lite, while a few banks used to provide up to 90%. This feature certainly distinguishes this credit card from others.
It merely needs an FD of 5K.
The IDFC WOW credit card can be obtained with just an FD of $5,000. Once more, this is something I have never encountered before. For any secured credit card, banks typically prefer FDs with a minimum balance of $10,000. This might be the case because banks often grant a secured credit card with an 80% credit limit against FDs. Therefore, any FD worth less than $10,000 and the resulting credit limit of $8,000 would not be beneficial to either the holder or the issuer. In exchange for a larger credit limit, the IDFC bank staff will presumably require you to make an FD of at least 10,000 instead of 5,000.
1% reward rate
While the 1% reward rate on credit cards is not very noteworthy. But it’s admirable that it’s provided on a secured credit card. Because no other secured credit card provides a reward rate of 1% flat, that is the explanation.
No currency markup
This card has 0% foreign exchange markup, which is special. Few credit cards, none of which are marketed as LTF for sure, have 0% foreign exchange markup. This is specific to this card, without a doubt. However, let’s be honest: Someone who uses a protected card won’t undoubtedly make many purchases outside of their country. Therefore, even if this feature might seem appealing on paper, it is unlikely that many consumers will utilize it.
The current highest FD rate is 6.25%.
The FD rate being given is a crucial factor that needs to be looked into for secured credit cards. On this front, the IDFC WOW credit card performs well. At 6.25%, IDFC First Bank now has the highest FD rates available for terms of one year.
Where the IDFC WOW credit card fails
No points are awarded for purchases of fuel and insurance.
On transactions involving fuel, insurance, EMIs, and cash withdrawals, the IDFC WOW credit card does not offer reward points. However, it is not done to not issue reward points for insurance transactions. If you are intrigued, look into the top fuel credit cards.
Not receiving milestone incentives
With this credit card, there is no milestone benefit available. The bank might have offered certain milestone expenditure levels at, say, $20,000 per month, exactly like it does for other IDFC bank credit cards. If not, they could have at least set an annual spending target of, say, 150k and a 1% incentive rate. If a milestone benefit is added on top of the 1% base reward rate, I think this proposal has a good chance of passing.
Fees for redeeming rewards
IDFC First Bank will begin charging a 99+GST reward redemption charge. This will also apply to IDFC WOW credit cards, as far as I can tell. For this reason, the WOW credit card is not exempt from the reward redemption cost, which is indicated in the credit card MITC document. As a result, the reward rate on this credit card will be less than 1%.
Comparing this secured credit card to others
The IDFC WOW credit card’s reward percentage can be compared to that of other secured credit cards using the dynamic calculator below. In the majority of cases, the IDFC card offers an excellent reward rate. However, in some use circumstances (depending on the user), its reward rate will be lower than in other cases.
Bottom-line
A credit card that is completely free for life and grants access to domestic and international airport lounges, free rounds of golf, and spa services! If you want a credit card that gives the most rewards, the IDFC FIRST Wealth Visa Infinite is a fantastic option.
Conclusion
With a respectable 1% reward rate, the IDFC WOW credit card appears to be a solid product. As I indicated in my prior article, first-time users who are unable to obtain a conventional credit card should choose secured credit cards over credit-line cards, such as One Card Lite, Kotak 811, or even the IDFC WOW.
To be completely transparent, Credit Cards may receive a referral bonus for anyone who applies through some of the links on this page and is approved. The opinions and views presented here, however, are solely those of the author and do not represent the bank, the credit card company, or any other party. They have also not been examined, approved, or otherwise supported by any of these organizations.
With the IDFC WOW credit card, IDFC First Bank has joined the market for secured credit cards. “Express Interest” is currently displayed on the bank’s website. That indicates that the bank has not yet begun issuing credit cards; instead, it has simply begun soliciting interest.