2023 Credit Card Review: Milestones, Achievements, and Plans for 2024

[TechnoFino]

Hello TFCians,

It's December 25, 2023. We are just 6 days away from 2024. 2023 was full of action when it comes to credit cards. We have seen many credit cards go from being one of the best in India to almost useless, and we have also witnessed some extraordinary credit card launches in 2023. Let's discuss some personal milestones for the year, such as how many credit card accounts you opened, how many you closed, the amount of rewards you managed to earn (if you are comfortable sharing), the best deal you enjoyed using a credit card, which credit card you mainly use, your memorable purchase using a credit card, the trips you completed using credit card points, and your plans for 2024.

Let me share mine:

How many credit cards I have added in 2023 and how many I have closed?
I had 42 credit cards back in December 2022, and now I have 57, and closed 8 credit cards, so I have added 23 new credit cards in 2023.

The amount of rewards you managed to earn?
Before closing my Axis Magnus and Reserve, I managed to accumulate approximately 27.10 Lakhs EDGE Points in 2023. Accumulated Approximately 10 Lakhs MR Points in 2023. Accumulated 2.23 Lakhs ICICI Bank Credit Card reward points. Managed to get 2.8 Lakhs HDFC Infinia reward points. Managed to get 10 Lakhs Yes Private reward points. Also managed to get approx 1.58 Lakhs CV Points, 4 Business class tickets, and 4 Premium Economy class tickets using Vistara co-branded cards.

Your memorable purchase using a credit card?
Purchased a car using a credit card without paying any MDR fees.

The trips you completed using credit card points?
Almost all my domestic flights and hotels were sponsored by credit card rewards in 2023. All were mainly business/work trips. Took 28 flights in 2023, all were domestic flights.

Plan for 2024
Have booked 3 international trips so far, planning to visit 7 to 8 countries in 2024. And the main plan is to accumulate more rewards in 2024 than in 2023.

Which credit card did you use mainly?
I mainly used Axis Reserve, Magnus, Atlas, HDFC Infinia, Yes Private, ICICI Emeralde, Amex Plat Travel, MRCC, Gold Charge, SBI Cashback, SBI Vistara Prime, Axis Vistara Infinite, and maybe a few more cards.

Don't forget to share your yearly review!



Merry Christmas 🎄 & Happy New Year 2024
Cheers 🥂

 

[Cardenthu]

Mix or business and personal spends... you can not earn such high numbers of reward points without business spends, few top of the line personal cards also allow you to make some business expenses.

Car I purchased, hyundai venue sx knight edition. I just asked them to accept payment via credit card and they did without asking for MDR 😁


Will make best credit card 2024 video first, then best and worst card launch of 2023 😄

I tried for 2-Wheeler purchase but refused to accept the credit card. Did the MDR was waived by bank or merchant simply accepted the card?

 

[TechnoFino]

I tried for 2-Wheeler purchase but refused to accept the credit card. Did the MDR was waived by bank or merchant simply accepted the card?

MDR was charged to merchant. Merchant didn't charged me anything extra to cover MDR expenses.

 

[anirban.choudhury]

2023 indeed has been an awesome year for me too wrt credit cards and rewards.
Added around 25 cards and closed 9 cards.
Highest active card counts maxed out around 39-40 , current at 33 active cards.

Earned six digits Edge rewards , close to 6 digits Amex MR ( thanks to Amex MGM ), Decent DCB points, about 1 lakh Aurum points , 3 business class and 3 PY vistara vouchers around 18k vistara CV , 36k Indulge points, 50k ish Emirates Skywards.

Did a Hong Kong trip with extended family , Andaman , Udaipur , and recent Goa completely/partially with points.

Trips planned in 2024
Malaysia in Jan
Bali in June
London in August
Masai Mara and Diani in Oct
Finland in December 😀😀😀

Most Used card Amex ,Atlas & DCB.

 

[akshayhs]

Another year i didn't get infinia
But got SC card

Which one!? Platinum rewards?

 

[tech_ashes]

How the eff are people able to spend so.much using credit cards? Are you paying your home loan or your income tax from ccs? Is there a way to do it?

I should add mine too obviously.

This year I added DCB(alumni offer) , Kotak iocl, Sbi yatra, axis iocl.

I closed a few too - axis Flipkart, kotak pvr.

I mostly wanted rupay credit cards this year because of the UPI support.

Points earned
CV point - 40k+, 4 business tickets
I must have taken over 6-7 flights all free thanks to airmiles accrued in vistara and indigo ( using kotak indigo)
Over 60k amex Mr points ( must be much more than that but this is the lower limit)

Most memorable trip
Not mine, but I booked a london to Delhi ticket for someone for a total of Rs 899/- iirc.

I used to have around 23+ active cards but I have brought it down to 13 currently.

Trips planned in 2024
Planning a eurotrip with family
Hopefully a few domestic trips like Andaman, kodai, Ooty, etc.

Most memorable purchase
A soundbar that I grabbed partially by redeemed amex Mr points for Amazon vouchers.

 

[Cryptopsycho]

Hi, It's been great year in the world of credit cards for me.
Cards I added and cards I closed during 2023:
currently having 25 Credit cards with me.
I have added 7 new credit cards in 2023. RBL Icon, Tata Neu infinity, PNB Rupay, Kotak White, Kotak League Rupay, Axis Airtel and Indusind ED....

2 cards I have closed this year: Axis LIC and RBL Zomato.

The amount of rewards you managed to earn?
Approx. 50k RP on HDFC DCB, 10K cashback on SBI cashback and approx 24K MR points on MRCC...

Your memorable purchase using a credit card?
None.

The trips you completed using credit card points?
Took 20+ domestic flights in 2023, few of which taken using DCB RP.

Plan for 2024
To get HDFC Infinia, SBI vistara, ICICI Emeralde or Sapphiro as LTF and to mint and use the credit card points for all my domestic travels.

Which credit card did you use mainly?
I mainly used HDFC DCB, SC Ultimate, Amex MRCC, SBI Cashback, and few other cards occasionally.

 

[nrj1007]

Cards added: Axis Atlas, HDFC DCB (alumni), ICICI Sapphiro (alumni), IDFC Wealth, SBI Etihad Premier, Tata Neu Infinity rupay, ICICI Coral Rupay

Cards closed: Axis Flipkart, ICICI hpcl coral, Axis Privilege.

Points earned: 50k Edge miles, 25k DCB points

Mostly used cards: Atlas

Plan 2024: infinia

 

[ssnthegenius]

Which card did you use to purchase the car? How much benifit did you get using the same? Do share dada..

@TechnoFino ... ... ..

 

[Deleted member 9785]

ya, its an example of debt trap indians are

I sincerely hope you have just copy-pasted the post from Reddit and the person involved is not you.

 

[bigbrain]

From Dec 2022 - got 5 new card (Axis Magnus; Axis reserve; Amex MRCC; Amex Plat travel; SBI Vistara). Upgraded Reglia to Infinia, changed Tata Neu infinity from Visa to Rupay.

Closed SBI Vistara card

Tried getting AU LIT; Scapia cards and were denied for no proper reason.

Managed to accumulate 4.5 lakh ER points; 50k MR points; 12.5k Infinia points.

Nothing note while purchased on credit card.

Converted ER points to Krisflyer and Accor points and booked NZ trip for 2024 (~80% funded with credit card points.)

For 2024: planning to close axis reserve; considering getting Amex plat charge card. And looking for a credit it card that offers good points for fuel and govt spends.

Targeting to accumulate points to support 2025 international trip.

 

[Avatar Aang]

Added 10 cards, closed 2 Axis Flipkart and RBL Zomato.

Earned around 1.5L ER thanks to Magnus 25K benefit. 1.6L MR points thans to MGM. 25K DCB points.

Hoping to upgrade DCB to infinia in 2024.

Mainly used cards DCB, Magnus, Tata Neu Infinity, SBI BPCL Octane

 

[Pavan]

Which one!? Platinum rewards?

Smart and easymytrip ri

 

[TechnoFino]

Which card did you use to purchase the car? How much benifit did you get using the same? Do share dada..

Purchased a Hyundai Venue SX Knight Edition in September 2023. There were no extra benefits from Hyundai, as car manufacturers don't offer any discounts on their top-selling cars. Almost all showrooms in South Bengal were quoting the same price. My local dealer didn't charge me any extra for accepting credit card payment, and I was happy with almost a 26k discount (considering a 2% MDR) plus got some reward points also. I used my Amex Plat Travel, HDFC Infinia, Yes Private, and IDFC First Select Card.

 

[R@J]

Purchased a Hyundai Venue SX Knight Edition in September 2023. There were no extra benefits from Hyundai, as car manufacturers don't offer any discounts on their top-selling cars. Almost all showrooms in South Bengal were quoting the same price. My local dealer didn't charge me any extra for accepting credit card payment, and I was happy with almost a 26k discount (considering a 2% MDR) plus got some reward points also. I used my Amex Plat Travel, HDFC Infinia, Yes Private, and IDFC First Select Card.

Hi @TechnoFino , I think the most good/unbelievable part is that the dealer dint ask for the MDR charges to be charged additionally. I remember going to a small jewelers "chain" and he asked for 2% charges. When I asked for its mention in the bill, he said it would come as "Other charges" in the invoice. I said it is not other charge, I want the exact description to be captured along with the HSN codes in the invoice, as I will then raise it to their HQ and claim the charges levied unethically..... after some 10-15 minute discussion with some seniors, he said ok sir, we will not charge anything extra as you are valued customer, etc etc....
Did you too have to go through such discussion/arguements....or the dealer simply dint wanted to loose on a customer bcz of the MDR, and absorbed it without any hassles?

 

[D7162]

few top of the line cards do allow business spends.

ispe thoda prakash daalie

 

[D7162]

Bro... Axis reversed all the EDGE points that were accumulated through the replacement trick.

But you received NOC before this reversal happened, right ?

 

[D7162]

2023, I joined TF and then knew about this airmiles and all

Before joining TF, huge amount of ER were redeemed against amazon voucher (may be most stupid thing I did)
Then few ERs sold, then few purchased. As of now secured some accor, marriot points, few avios etc

Cant exactly tell which cards added this year but Main addition is Amex, already complted 2 trifactia for my bro and wife, waiting my Platinum travel to complete my self

Next year target,
atleast one planned international trip using points/miles
Mostly will get Platinum charge card for wife (she is eligible)
will try to get atleast DCB from HDFC

fir dekhte hai..

 

[Farhad sekh]

Purchased a Hyundai Venue SX Knight Edition in September 2023. There were no extra benefits from Hyundai, as car manufacturers don't offer any discounts on their top-selling cars. Almost all showrooms in South Bengal were quoting the same price. My local dealer didn't charge me any extra for accepting credit card payment, and I was happy with almost a 26k discount (considering a 2% MDR) plus got some reward points also. I used my Amex Plat Travel, HDFC Infinia, Yes Private, and IDFC First Select Card.

Hlw sir,
I am also from Kolkata, can you share me from which dealer you have bought the car (if it is in Kolkata) without MDR,

I am also planning to buy car, but everyone is charging MDR

 

[Vasuki]

Wait what ? This isn't your story right?

eventually banks are winning the battle by trapping people in loans. People with 20 lac plus income acting dumb

Just need to maintain discipline in cc market



Hi,

This year was the worst year of my life. I saw a lot of setbacks in my personal life and professional life this year and then I lost 30L rupees in a scam.

This was a lot of my stupidity too. I took around 9 personal loans from different personal loan mobile apps and used my credit cards to the max hoping I will make some money in e-commerce and foreclose the loans from apps in a month or two. But a guy scammed me from China and I lost 29 lakhs in a day.

Now my situation is - my salary is 1.5 Lakh per month. I have a homelone with a EMI of 40K. Rest I have these 9 loans from apps and 3 credit cards which has a total debt of 27lakhs and now my monthly emi for all of this is way more than my salary. All these loan apps and credit card has very high interest rates.

I am in this situation since 2 months now where i am paying more emi's then my salary asking my family for money. I have managed till now and no EMI has bounced but i think i won't be able to manage after 1-2 months.

I was trying to get a big loan of around 25lakhs from a proper bank with a better interest rate so I can close all the app loans and credit card and just pay one EMI. That should be within my salary. But since my Cibil is now showing all these 9 loans and credit cards and my recent loan inquiries are also very high, no bank is giving me a loan because my account is overleveraged and my loan inquiries are so many in the recent days.

I tried contacting some private finance people but nobody i found that can help me here. I think if a private finance company can loan me around 25lakh for 3 months so that I can clear all these app loans and clear my Cibil, I can then contact a bank again for a bigger personal loan which should be easily approved. I can then close the loan from the private finance company and pay the bank a single EMI. But i can't find any such company.

Now I feel all my doors are closed and I don't see a way out of this. Can anyone suggest what could be a way out of this? Thank you!

 

[Vasuki]

Hehehee 😁..
You should be buying car of your choice .
Select the model then ask for specific like i wnna buy this car now which dealship.
You can always leverage 0.5-1% .
Try negotiate .
You aren't buying same car as him are you?

Hlw sir,
I am also from Kolkata, can you share me from which dealer you have bought the car (if it is in Kolkata) without MDR,

I am also planning to buy car, but everyone is charging MDR