In December 2020, IDFC First bank announced its entry into credit card segment. It launched 4 card variants Millennia, Classic, Select and Wealth. Another one is for salary account holders. However cards are currently being offered to only its existing customers, but will likely be available to everyone very soon.
I am impressed with the way they launched all of their cards as lifetime free (LTF), and not just that, it is even offering the interest free cash along with industry lowest interest rates starting from 9% pa.
Features and Benefits
Since all cards are LTF, it seems currently card variants are being made available based on relationship value of the customers. While the reward rates are same across the variants, there are other benefits being offered on higher variants. Let’s see what’s on the offer. Below are the common features of all variants.
- Lifetime Free Credit Card
- 10X Reward Points on all Spends above ₹20,000 (2.5% return)
- 10X Rewards on all spends done on your Birthday (2.5% return)
- 6X Reward Points on Online Spends (1.5% return)
- 3X Reward Points on all Offline Spends (0.75% return)
- Welcome Gift Vouchers worth ₹500 on spending ₹15,000 within 90 days of card set-up
- Get 5% cashback on first EMI transaction performed within 90 days of card set-up
As you can see, the default reward rate is 0.75% which is inline with many other providers like ICICI and AmEx but is only comparable with entry level cards of other companies. ICICI and AmEx however make up for low reward rates with milestone bonuses, similarly, here you get higher reward points for monthly spends above 20k. Which makes it a decent card.
Other feature that I like about the cards include
- No Over limit Fee
- No Reward Redemption Fees
- Reward points are not capped and they don’t expire
Now let’s compare the variants with each other.
FIRST Millennia Credit Card
- 25% discount on movie tickets up to ₹100, once a month
- 4 complimentary Railway lounge visits every quarter
- Fuel surcharge waiver at all fuel stations across India up to ₹200 every month Personal Accident Cover worth ₹2 Lakh* & complimentary lost card liability cover of ₹25,000
- FX Markup – 3.5%
FIRST Classic Credit Card
- 25% discount on movie tickets up to ₹100, once a month
- 4 complimentary Railway lounge visits every quarter
- Fuel surcharge waiver at all fuel stations across India up to ₹200 every month
- Personal Accident Cover worth ₹2 Lakh* & complimentary lost card liability cover of ₹25,000
- Free Road Side Assistance (RSA) worth ₹1,399
- FX Markup – 3.5%
FIRST Select Credit Card
- Complimentary Domestic Airport Lounge & Railway Lounge accesses (4 each per quarter)
- Buy one get one offer on movie tickets of up to ₹250 per ticket, twice every month
- Fuel surcharge waiver at all fuel stations across India up to ₹300 every month
- Free Road Side Assistance (RSA) worth ₹1,399
- Personal Accident Cover of ₹5 Lakh * & Complimentary Lost Card Liability Cover of ₹ 50,000
- Comprehensive Travel Insurance Cover of ₹22,500
- FX Markup – 1.99%
FIRST Wealth Credit Card
- Top of the line VISA Infinite Card
- 4 complimentary Domestic & International Airport lounge and spa visits every calendar quarter
- Air Accident Cover of ₹1 Crore*
- Personal Accident Cover of ₹10 Lakh *
- Complimentary Lost Card Liability Cover of ₹50,000
- Comprehensive Travel Insurance Cover of $1200
- FX Markup – 1.5%
- Upto 2 Golf rounds/lessons per month
- Free Road Side Assistance (RSA) worth ₹1,399
- Fuel surcharge waiver at all fuel stations across India up to ₹400 every month
- Buy one get one offer on movie tickets of up to ₹500 per ticket, twice every month
Fees
All cards are currently being offered as Lifetime Free. No strings attached.
How to get the card
Currently this card is being offered to IDFC First bank customers, and likely will be available to everyone soon. I didn’t have to apply, the bank officials contacted me and processed. The card was issued immediately and I could see it linked with my banking account. I must say, for a relatively new bank, this process was too smooth and fast.
Verdict
These cards are being offered LTF, so your expectations should be as such. My experience with bank has been very good when it comes to transparency. Customer service is okay, and call center support is below par. So expect a similar treatment for the card users as well. As you can see the rewards points accrual is similar across the cards, only factor differentiating them is their add-on benefits.
Railway lounge access was so far only being offered by ICICI bank, which could be a very useful feature for domestic travelers. I haven’t used it so far though, so can’t say whether it’s worth. Accidental and lost liability covers are good addition for entry level cards. While, 1.5% FX on Wealth variant is among the best in industry as compared to top variants of other banks.
Going forward, for IDFC First, the most important thing to stand out is going to be offline and online vendor tie-ups. As most other card companies provide good card-based offers with most services, I have so far only seen IDFC offers on Zomato, Swiggy and BigBasket. IDFC first have to take care of this to come across as a serious contender in this space.
I have had my account with the bank having a decent NRV for more than 3 years, that likely made me eligible for wealth variant. However, I was only offered a 12% interest rate (as opposed to minimum 9%). But over all, I feel positive about the card.To put things in perspective, below are my final verdict
- Variant: Millennial | Classic
- Category: Entry Level
- Category Rating: 4/5
- Overall Rating: 2.5/5
- Variant: Select
- Category: Lifestyle
- Category Rating: 3/5
- Overall Rating: 2.5/5
- Variant: Wealth
- Category: Super Premium
- Category Rating: 3/5
- Overall Rating: 2.5/5
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