HDFC Regalia is card that has stood the test of times and has been a veteran in the credit card industry. But, like all the good things, this card has started to age and after recent devaluation of lounge access feature, it would be wise to evaluate how good this card is in its current form and should one move on to some other HDFC card like the HDFC Regalia Gold credit card or something outside HDFC world.
Let’s see the card features and benefits in detail and figure out whether Regalia is still a decent rewards credit card or is it time for sun to set for this card.
Overview
Regalia is semi-premium rewards credit card and is placed between entry-level Regalia First credit card and more premium Regalia Gold credit card. There are a limited set of key features of this card which include lounge access (domestic & international), milestone benefits and low forex fee.
| Type | Semi-premium Rewards Credit Card |
| Reward Rate | 1.33% to 13.3% |
| Best for | Airport lounge access |
Design
The look of this card is pleasing and there is not much to complain about. The digits and name on the card are embossed which is nice touch for a card of this price range. Looking at the card in light, it feels like there is sort of a matte finish on the card as it doesn’t reflect light or looks glossy. The card is issued on Visa Signature network.
Fees & Charges
Joining & Renewal Fees
| Joining Fee | Rs. 2500 + 18% GST |
| Joining Fee Waiver | Gets issued as FYF sometimes |
| Joining Benefit | 2500 Reward Points (on paid cards) |
| Renewal Fee | Rs. 2500 + 18% GST |
| Renewal Fee Waiver | Waived off on spending Rs. 3 lakhs |
| Renewal Benefit | 2500 Reward Points (on paid cards) |
Most of the times, the card is issued as First Year Free as part of on-going offer from HDFC bank. If you lucky, you may even get this card as LTF card and if you do get LTF offer then I don’t think there is any reason to not jump on that offer 🙂
For paid cards, the joining and renewal benefit is not mouth-watering at all as 2500 points is worth 1250 when redeemed on Smartbuy portal for travel bookings or worth 875 if you redeem them for vouchers.
The renewal fee-waiver criteria of Rs. 3 lakhs is not exciting either.
Other Charges
Supplementary Card
There is no fee for applying for a supplementary card.
Forex Payments
3.5% of the transaction value + 18% GST (which adds up to 4.13%). Using this card for overseas spends would mean paying additional 2.8% extra (4.13% – 1.33%) as the base reward rate is 1.33%.
If you consider the Milestone benefit on this card and activate the HDFC Global value program, you can get ~1% returns as the return rate on milestone benefits is ~1% and Global value program gives 1% cashback of up to 1000 per statement cycle.
Fuel Purchases
For fuel purchases, you get 1% fuel surcharge waiver with a capping of Rs. 500 per cycle on purchases between Rs. 400 – Rs. 5000.
If you spend less than Rs. 15000 per transaction on fuel, no additional fee will be charged. However, if you spend more than Rs. 15000 per transaction on fuel, a 1% fee will be charged on the entire amount and capped at Rs. 3000 per transaction.
Rent Payments
Rent transactions are not eligible for any reward points. Also, if you use services like (but not limited to) CRED, PayTM, Cheq, MobiKwik, Freecharge, and others to pay rent, a 1% fee will be charged on the transaction amount and capped at Rs. 3000 per transaction. Also, these portals charge a rent payment fee of their own.
EMI Fees
For EMI transactions, a one-time processing fee of up to Rs. 299 + taxes is charged.
Benefits
Reward Points
The base points earn rate on this card is 4 points for every Rs. 150 spent.
| Spend Category | Points Earn Rate | Reward Rate |
| Retail Purchases (including Utilities, Insurance, Education) | 4 points on every Rs.150 spent | 1.33% |
| Flights & Vouchers purchase on SmartBuy | 20 points on every Rs.150 spent | 6.65% |
| Hotel spends on SmartBuy | 40 points on every Rs.150 spent | 13.30% |
| Reward Points Expiry | 2 years | |
| Points Redemption Fee | Rs. 99 per redemption request; For redeeming points towards statement credit Rs. 50 will be charged | |
| Exclusions | Fuel, EMI transactions, Post-transaction EMI conversion, Government services, Rent, Wallet loads |
- For any individual utilities transaction more than Rs. 50000, a 1% fee will be charged on the entire amount capped at Rs. 3000 per transaction. Insurance transactions are not considered as Utility transactions.
- Reward Points earned on Utility transactions will be capped at 2000 Reward Points per calendar month.
- Reward Points earned on Telecom & Cable transactions will be capped at 2000 Reward Points per calendar month.
- Education payments through third-party apps like (but not limited to) CRED, PayTM, Cheq, MobiKwik and others will attract a 1% fee capped at Rs. 3000 per transaction and no reward points will be awarded. Education payments through college/school websites or their POS machines will not have any additional charges and will be eligible for reward points. International education payments are excluded from this charge.
Note: If the card is not used for more than 365 days, reward points accrued will be nullified even though the points expiry deadline is of 2 years.
The reward rate on this card is very average and surely using this card as your primary credit card would not be a wise decision.
Some limitations on points earn rate applicable to HDFC Regalia card that you should know of are –
- The maximum reward points that can be earned in a statement cycle is 50000
- There is a capping of 2000 RPs per calendar month on grocery transactions
- There is a capping of 2000 RPs per day for Insurance transactions.
- For SmartBuy transactions, there is a cap of 4000 RPs per month & 2000 RPs per day.
The capping on points is very generous so you don’t have to worry about breaching the limit. Also Insurance, Education & Utilities transactions are eligible for reward points which is a positive thing.
Milestone Benefits
There are 2 annual milestones that one can achieve in a card membership year and posting of Bonus RPs happens within 2 days of the reaching the milestone.
| Spend Threshold | Reward | Reward Rate | Cumulative Reward Rate |
| 5 lakh spends in an anniversary year | 10000 RPs | 1% | 1% |
| 8 lakh spends in an anniversary year | 5000 RPs | 1.66% | 0.93% |
With the milestones the reward rate is ~1% and if we add the regular reward rate of 1.33% to it, then the overall reward rate goes up to 2.3% which is nothing special as there are cashback cards out there with 1/5th fee and almost double reward rate like like SBI Cashback credit card or Axis Ace credit card.
Reward Redemption
There are several options for redeeming the rewards on this card, some better than the others. Let’s have a look at all the options –
| Redemption Type | Value | Limit (per calendar month) |
| Flights and hotel bookings | 1 RP = 50p | 50000 RPs. The redemption of RPs will be capped at 70% of the total value. The remaining amount must be paid using credit card. |
| Air Miles conversion | 1 RP = upto 0.5 airmiles | 50000 RPs |
| Products & Vouchers | 1 RP = upto 35p | For some Products & Vouchers, the redemption of RPs will be capped at 70% of the total value. The remaining amount must be paid using credit card. |
| Redemption against statement balance | 1 RP = 20p | 50000 RPs |
The best option would be to redeem the points for travel bookings via Smartbuy portal but if you prefer to get something equivalent to cash then you can redeem the points for Amazon vouchers at 35p value.
Travel Benefits
Airport Lounge Access
HDFC has devalued the card when it comes to domestic lounge access as earlier there were 12 visits allowed in a year which has now come down to 8 (2 per quarter) and that too on reaching Rs. 1 lakh spends in a quarter. This is really a big set back as lounge access was the USP of this card.
Only good thing is that with this card one can access the lounges on the international terminal of domestic airports. List of domestic lounge can be checked here. For international lounge locations, visit the Priority Pass site.
| ACCESS TYPE | Via | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic (primary card only) | Visa / Mastercard | |
| International (primary & supplementary) | Priority Pass | 6 per year (combined) |
To get lounge access vouchers:
- Spend Rs.1 Lakh or more in a calendar quarter (Jan-Mar | Apr-June | Jul-Sept | Oct-Dec)
- On meeting the spends criteria, visit SmartBuy portal > Lounge Benefits > Lounge access voucher
- Click on “generate voucher” to receive voucher via SMS/e-mail.
- Click on the link in the SMS/e-mail to open a pdf file with QR code and scan it at the lounge terminal
Regarding Priority pass,
- You can apply for a Priority pass for a supplementary card holder to get them complimentary international lounge access. Limit is 6 complimentary visits in total for both combined.
- Priority Pass for primary and add-on member can be applied only after doing 4 retail transactions on Regalia credit card.
- To know about your lounge access history, you can send email to pp@prioritypass.com.hk with your name, 18 digit Priority Pass number and state that PP Membership is via HDFC Bank program.
Other Misc Benefits
Swiggy Dineout Dining Discount
On all the HDFC cards, you can get 5% – 15% discount on dining bills when you pay through Swiggy Dineout. For some reason HDFC has named it ‘Good Food Trail program’.
With HDFC Regalia credit card, you get additional 5% discount up to Rs. 200 on top of 10% Swiggy Dineout discount. This offer is applicable twice a month on a min. transaction value of Rs. 2500 post applying the Swiggy Dineout discount.
- Offer: 5% discount up to Rs. 200
- Min. Transaction: Rs. 2500
- Usage Limit: Twice a month per customer on Swiggy Dineout
Insurance benefits
This card comes with insurance benefits too. This is a good to have benefit and gives peace of mind.
- Accidental air death cover worth Rs. 1 cr
- Emergency overseas hospitalization cover up to Rs. 15 lakhs
- Credit Liability cover up to Rs. 9 lakhs
- Zero lost card liability cover up to Rs. 9 lakhs
You need to register a nominee here. Detailed terms and conditions for the insurance coverage can be found here.
Concierge Service
There is a concierge service hotline that you can call to get assistance regarding travel bookings, dining reservations, etc. You can call @ 1860 425 1188 or email @ regalia.support@smartbuyoffers.co
Best way to use this card
- Avoid using the card for regular spends and use SmartBuy for travel bookings
- Apply for Priority pass for International lounge access for self & add-on member.
How to apply
Existing HDFC Bank Credit Card holders can also apply for a 2nd HDFC credit card. The credit limit of existing card will be shared with the new credit card. In case of an existing HDFC Bank credit card holder the initial limit post-card creation will be Rs. 5000. The limit will be reset to your existing card limit in 5 working days from your card issuance date and will be shared across both the cards.
If you already hold 2 HDFC credit cards, then you might get approved for a third card but approval rate might be very low.
You can apply for this card from HDFC bank’s website.
Verdict
Like I said in the intro of this article, HDFC Regalia credit card is an old-horse which needs to be retired as there is hardly any feature of this card that stands out. Lounge access criteria is spend based now, reward rate is poor and there are no special dining or lifestyle benefits as well.
It seems like HDFC wants their customers to upgrade to HDFC Regalia Gold credit card or HDFC Marriott Bonvoy card or other premium credit cards as a lot of their customers might have got the Regalia card as LTF card and the cost of lounge visits was making a dent in their budget.
If by any chance you get this card as LTF, then only you should get this card. Otherwise, you would be better off going for cashback credit cards in this segment like SBI Cashback credit card or Axis Ace credit card which give 2%-5% returns as cashback without much complications.
If you want a good rewards credit card then go for Amex MRCC credit card (Apply Now) or you need rewards and some additional travel benefits then get Amex Plat Travel credit card (Apply Now).
What are your thoughts about the HDFC Regalia Credit Card? Feel free to share your views in the comment section below.
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