Credit cards with international rewards and 0 forex charges

[zephyr0]

After searching the forums, I understand that the ONLY credit card with reward points for international spending and a zero-forex charge is the IDFC Wow card. I looked at Scapia and RBL world safari. However, both of them do not give any rewards for international spend.

Is anyone aware of alternatives?

 

[hs23]

1% milestone bonus on 5L spends

You can get Vistara Explorer for 11800 joining fee. You can free 1 business class tickets, Vistara gold FY and 2x3000 Rs Easy diner vouchers.

 

[drsel]

1% milestone bonus on 5L spends

You can get Vistara Explorer for 11800 joining fee. You can free 1 business class tickets, Vistara gold FY and 2x3000 Rs Easy diner vouchers.

I got a SpiceJet 4000 voucher for 2360 and I still have not been able to use it.
I have travelled and seen the whole of India so I don't have much use for domestic tickets.

 

[drsel]

All Vistara award flights are only for domestic travel and only 4 award economy seats per flight, that too only on selected domestic flights, not on all flights.

Also there are many lacs of Vistara credit cards issued by three different banks-- SBI, Axis, IndusInd
So a lot of technofino members & Vistara credit card holders are not able to get award flights of their choice.

 

[drsel]

A lot of Vistara credit card holders have got Vistara flight vouchers expiring in a few months, and are unable to sell them or get any resale value for them.
There are no buyers for expiring Vistara flight vouchers

 

[hs23]

Some reward without forex expense is still better then paying forex fee to get rewards.

 

[hs23]

I would suggest Eterna card for 2.4% cashback if spending limitations are acceptable. 42k / m , 5L / y.

Vistara is suitable for my use case 5L/m spends where even GVP 1L /m threshold is exceeded. Plus DCB is not accepted by my merchant.

 

[hs23]

IDFC Wealth LTF card is interesting option also. 2.5% cashback post 30K spends on online transaction with 1.77% Forex fee for net cash returns of 0.73%. Can be applied c2c with an existing card with 5L limit.

For my use case it seem better then Eterna - when exceeding 84k per month online spends but not as good as Vistara Explorer. Catch is that this return of 0.73% is international online only, while Eterna will give 1.39% upto 42k on International offline purchase also. Very useful for paying in hotels for room, meals and tour packages.

For me some reward without forex expense is still better than paying forex fee to get rewards. Others have different preference.

I would only consider pay forex if getting 2X - 3X returns such as as in the case of Axis Reserve or Magnus Burgundy + Samsung Infinite. That's an option for the future.

 

[sourpai]

IDFC Wealth LTF card is interesting option also. 2.5% cashback post 30K spends on online transaction with 1.77% Forex fee for net cash returns of 0.73%. Can be applied c2c with an existing card with 5L limit.

For my use case it seem better then Eterna - when exceeding 84k per month online spends but not as good as Vistara Explorer. Catch is that this return of 0.73% is international online only, while Eterna will give 1.39% upto 42k on International offline purchase also. Very useful for paying in hotels for room, meals and tour packages.

For me some reward without forex expense is still better than paying forex fee to get rewards. Others have different preference.

I would only consider pay forex if getting 2X - 3X returns such as as in the case of Axis Reserve or Magnus Burgundy + Samsung Infinite. That's an option for the future.

Have you considered IDFC WoW with zero forex markup and reward rate of 0.67%? - Given than you prefer some reward without forex expense is still better than paying forex fee to get rewards

 

[hs23]

IDFC WOW requires FD, Wealth card gives better return without FD. The forex expense nil as you get cashback in 2 days.

 

[sourpai]

Yes but with IDFC wow you can make cash withdrawals also free of forex charges. Wealth card cash withdrawal will be at 1.77% with no reward points. I personally feel Wow is better, although it depends on individual use case as well

 

[hs23]

I have heard on TF that if you get IDFC wow card, you will not be eligible unsecured card from IDFC. You can use zero forex debit card for cash withdrawal. Wealth card has other benefits that include 4 spas/quarter, CFAR, Road assistance that you will not get with WOW.

 

[hs23]

For spends upto 80K, Eterna is still better then WOW / Wealth. Only for high spends Wealth is better. IDFC Wealth card is generally issued with minimum limit of 5Lakhs. WOW card will required high FD also. If you ever need to close the FD, the card will be closed and as per the report you will not get unsecured card from IDFC also.

 

[sourpai]

Best option is to get IDFC Wealth first followed by WoW for forex transactions and cash withdrawals. Taking Wow first may not be the best option if one is interested in wealth card also

 

[hs23]

Yes but with IDFC wow you can make cash withdrawals also free of forex charges. Wealth card cash withdrawal will be at 1.77% with no reward points. I personally feel Wow is better, although it depends on individual use case as well

Edit - Wealth card has Interest free ATM cash withdrawal also but it will charge forex fee. Only for offline use, WOW card is better.

 

[drsel]

Edit - Wealth card has Interest free ATM cash withdrawal also but it will charge forex fee. Only for offline use, WOW card is better.

The foreign ATM will also charge you transaction fees.

 

[AritraSaha]

The foreign ATM will also charge you transaction fees.

Why use credit card in atm anyway..
Use dc for that

 

[hs23]

I found 2 issues with IDFC Wealth. 1) 117 Rs redemption fee for rewards 2) need to spend 5000 in preceding month to get spa/ lounge benefits in current month.

To keep redemption fee under 1%, I need to redeem 11700 points, this means I can redeem after accumulating 468000 spends + 8283 forex fee. I am looking at this as back up card, So the redemption will not be instant and have to wait a long time.

Edit - you need to spend 47500 per month to make this net zero forex card. The rewards will be earned only on spends beyond this amount due to loss on 6X reward applicable on first 30k spend every month.

Now Zenith plus looks more promising as backup card to Vistara Explorer / DCB. For 900 gst (5000 fee points =5000 Apay) you get 4 meet and greet, better rewards 2% and 1000 bonus on 75k monthly spends. 1.18% forex fee.

Another good back up card is RBL World Safari FYF with possibility of fee waiver. Its a no nonsense card with zero forex. if you can do 7.5 L, you can get 10k Apay voucher plus 6250 worth RP that can be redeemed on flights 1:1.

 

[MeTejaHu]

IDFC Wealth LTF card is interesting option also. 2.5% cashback post 30K spends on online transaction with 1.77% Forex fee for net cash returns of 0.73%. Can be applied c2c with an existing card with 5L limit.

For my use case it seem better then Eterna - when exceeding 84k per month online spends but not as good as Vistara Explorer. Catch is that this return of 0.73% is international online only, while Eterna will give 1.39% upto 42k on International offline purchase also. Very useful for paying in hotels for room, meals and tour packages.

For me some reward without forex expense is still better than paying forex fee to get rewards. Others have different preference.

I would only consider pay forex if getting 2X - 3X returns such as as in the case of Axis Reserve or Magnus Burgundy + Samsung Infinite. That's an option for the future.

Thank you for this, I was looking for something similar.

Any tips on how to apply for IDFC wealth on C2C basis? I have HDFC DCB with limit 9.8L, Amex MRCC 7.5L, SBI octane and few others slightly above 5L

 

[dopodo]

What about IndusInd INDIE visa signature debit card? It has zero forex charge.

 

[percolate]

Thank you for this, I was looking for something similar.

Any tips on how to apply for IDFC wealth on C2C basis? I have HDFC DCB with limit 9.8L, Amex MRCC 7.5L, SBI octane and few others slightly above 5L

just apply online, it will be approved instantly.