HDFC Bank launched the Regalia Gold credit card in the 1st quarter of 2023. Since ‘Regalia’ is a well known time-tested brand of theirs, it makes sense to reuse the name for another credit card repackaged with a mix of benefits from original Regalia card with some meaningful additions.
As is evident from the name itself, HDFC Regalia Gold card is placed above original HDFC Regalia credit card as it comes with much better features that we will get to know in this article. Let’s see the card features and benefits in detail and figure out whether Regalia Gold is better than Regalia or not.
Overview
Regalia Gold is premium rewards credit card just like its ancestor Regalia. With key features like complimentary Club Vistara membership, more lucrative quarterly and annual milestone benefits, accelerated reward earn rate on preferred merchants and better lounge access with no restrictions this card seems like a better deal in every way.
| Type | Premium Rewards Credit Card |
| Reward Rate | 1.33% to 13.3% |
| Best for | Quarterly & Annual Milestone benefits, Airport lounge access, Accelerated earn rate with preferred merchants |
Design
HDFC design team has done a good job with this card and have followed similar theme here like their Marriott Bonvoy card by using gold lettering on black background. The ‘REGALIA GOLD’ name takes center stage with right side of the card donned with golden color. The card is issued on Mastercard World network.
Fees & Charges
Joining & Renewal Fees
| Joining Fee | Rs. 2500 + 18% GST |
| Joining Fee Waiver | N/A |
| Joining Benefit | Rs. 2500 voucher (on paid cards) + MMT Black Elite membership* + Vistara Silver tier membership* |
| Renewal Fee | Rs. 2500 + 18% GST |
| Renewal Fee Waiver | Waived off on spending Rs. 4 lakhs |
| Renewal Benefit | N/A |
There is no renewal benefit but you get fee waiver on reaching spend of Rs. 4 lakh which is not that difficult to reach. For joining benefit, the voucher worth 2500 is good enough as it covers the joining fee except the GST part.
The memberships of Vistara Silver tier and MMT Black Elite is activated on spending Rs. 1 lakh in the first 90 days of card issuance. Once the benefit is unlocked, you would have to download the memberships within 60 days from the end of the joining benefit period (If card is activated on 1st Jan, then spend 1 lakh by 31st March and activate the memberships by 30th May)
MMT Black Elite membership is not that useful but Club Vistara Silver Tier is beneficial as you get 1 one-class upgrade voucher, priority check-in & additional 5 Kg baggage allowance. You can check the steps to activate the membership here.
Other Charges
Supplementary Card
There is no fee for applying for a supplementary card.
Forex Payments
2% of the transaction value + 18% GST (which adds up to 2.36%). Using this card for overseas spends would mean paying additional ~1% extra (2.36% – 1.33%) as 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 better returns of more than 1% as the return rate on milestone benefits is 1%-2% and Global value program gives 1% cashback of up to 1000 per statement cycle.
Fuel Purchases
For fuel purchases, there are no reward points awarded and also you won’t get any fuel surcharge waiver. This is definitely a bummer as it is a very basic feature that comes with even with most of the entry-level cards.
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 and for preferred merchants the points earn rate is 5X i.e. 20 points per Rs. 150.
| Spend Category | Points Earn Rate | Reward Rate |
| Retail Purchases (including Utilities, Insurance, Education) | 4 points on every Rs.150 spent | 1.33% |
| Preferred Merchants (Marks & Spencer, Myntra, Reliance Digital, Nykaa) e-com and POS transactions | 20 points on every Rs.150 spent; 4 points on every Rs 150 spent after spending 37500 | 6.65% |
| 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 (No fee charged on redemption of reward points towards cashback) | |
| 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.
- 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. Education payments through college/school websites or their POS machines will not have any additional charges. 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.
As per the TnC, for the 5X category (spend on preferred merchants), there is a cap of 5000 RPs post which the earn rate goes down to 1X i.e. 4 points on every Rs. 150 spent. Incremental Reward Points will be posted within 90 days from the end of the calendar month in which the transaction was made.
Some general limitations applicable to all HDFC cards in this segment 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.
Overall the reward rate is decent on this card for regular spends but it would be wiser to use it for spends on SmartBuy portal or with preferred merchants to get good value. 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 big plus.
Milestone Benefits
Due to the quarterly and annual milestone benefits, the reward rate on the card gets even better. There is a quarterly milestone and 2 annual milestones that one can achieve in a card membership year.
For quarterly milestone, you get a brand voucher of your choice from the options given in table below. Myntra voucher looks like the best option here as you get maximum flexibility with that. For annual milestones, you get a one time use flight ticket voucher to redeem on SmartBuy. You can check the detailed terms & conditions and process to download the vouchers here & here.
| Spend Threshold | Reward | Reward Rate | Cumulative Reward Rate |
| 1.5 lakh spends in a quarter | Marriott Experience/Myntra/MMT Hotels/Marks & Spencer/Reliance Digital Voucher worth 1500 | 1% | 1% |
| 5 lakh spends in an anniversary year | SmartBuy Flight Voucher worth 5000 | 1% | 1.9% |
| 7.5 lakh spends in an anniversary year | SmartBuy Flight Voucher worth 5000 | 2% | 2.1% |
With the milestones the reward rate is 2.1% and if we add the regular reward rate of 1.33% to it, then the overall reward rate goes up to 3.43% which is not bad for a card of this category.
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) |
| Exclusive Gold Catalogue on select Premium brands | 1 RP = 65p | N/A |
| 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 in Gold catalogue at 65p per point value if you have lot of points as Gold catalogue has premium brand products such as Apple, Samsung, Bose, etc. However, accumulating so many points would take time as the points earn rate on this card is low. The next best thing to do would be to redeem the points for travel bookings.
Travel Benefits
Airport Lounge Access
| ACCESS TYPE | Via | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic (primary card only) | Visa / Mastercard | 12 per year |
| International (primary & supplementary) | Priority Pass | 6 per year (combined) |
List of domestic lounge can be checked here. For international lounge, visit the Priority Pass site.
There are a few advantages of this card over other credit cards in same price range –
- Lounge access limits are very good and also capping is for a year rather than quarterly which is useful in case you need to travel multiple times in a short span of time like during festive season.
- With this card one can also access the lounges on the international terminal of domestic airports.
- 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 Gold 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 Gold 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 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 @ regaliagold.support@smartbuyoffers.co
Best way to use this card
- Aim for reaching 1st quarterly milestone to get brand voucher and complimentary Vistara Silver tier membership.
- Avoid using the card for regular spends and use SmartBuy for travel bookings
- Avail lounge benefits
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
HDFC Regalia Gold Credit Card is a pretty good overall package if you consider all the benefits holistically. It is like jack of trades sort of card as you can use it for lounge access when travelling with family, use for travel bookings on Smartbuy for extra savings, get some dining discounts, even utilize it on foreign trips without having to pay anything extra from your pocket.
Having said that, using this card needs some amount of work as you need to keep track of milestones voucher expiry dates, posting of bonus points, knowledge of Smartbuy portal to do travel booking or purchase gift cards.
You should get Regalia Gold credit card over original Regalia card only if you don’t have a LTF Regalia card. If you don’t like HDFC cards all together then you can go for simple cashback credit cards 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 Gold Credit Card? Feel free to share your views in the comment section below.
CredCrux 