Financial and Banking Learnings

[Vas2398]

1. Got HDFC DCB, Atlas cards this year. Made goos returns on DCB.
2. Thought,Read,tried about how to get infinia for a long time and found it was not worth my time. Happy and content with HDFC DCB.
3. Cancelled many other cards and sticking to only above 2 cards.
4. Learnt about Accor, Marriott loyalty programs and gonna start using from 2025.
5. Invested in multiple IPOs after a long time and got lucky for 1 IPO.
6. Spending 5 mins on Technofino every day is giving me a lot of insights into CC and banking.
7. And much more than all of these, Health and Peace of mind are bigger/biggest rewards than all. More to work on this in 2025.

 

[manoj28]

Learnt about autopay for CC in BBPS (via HDFC and Slice bill pay). Big relief as I have an ICICI CC, without savings account.

Learnt about different new scams (through multiple sources, specifically thanks to IBF).

Learnt about the importance of paying MAD (min amount due) early. Thanks for TF community for this.

Hi , can u confirm that credit card bill autopay for any bank card is possible from HDFC bank. can u plz provide for more info on that. I have multiple cc from diff banks and no savings account in HDFC

 

[6ix9ine]

Hi , can u confirm that credit card bill autopay for any bank card is possible from HDFC bank. can u plz provide for more info on that. I have multiple cc from diff banks and no savings account in HDFC

It's not for you then. You need bank account.

 

[Deleted member 18439]

1. Started this year with only 3 cards, ending with 8 cards now. All of the cards are useful for me in some spends or other.
2. Passed SEBI investor certification exam this year and now next year will give research analyst exam.
3. Applied in 40+ IPOs and got allotment in 5 of them.
4. Ending my year with 39% overall gains in stock market (incl realized and unrealized gains) as on 23rd December 2024.
5. Learnt that we can also escalate the complaint to PMO if RBI ombudsman doesn't solve the problem. Though there's no guarantee that it will be solved by them as well.

 

[kuchbhikuchbhi is verified member.]

2. Passed SEBI investor certification exam this year and now next year will give research analyst exam.

what is that exam
and what is eligibility criteria and benefits

 

[Strange]

5. Learnt that we can also escalate the complaint to PMO if RBI ombudsman doesn't solve the problem.

What's the process to register a complaint in PMO?

 

[Deleted member 18439]

What's the process to register a complaint in PMO?

Sign up here

https://pmopg.gov.in/citizenreforms

 

[manoj28]

It's not for you then. You need bank account.

If i open hdfc bank account , will i be able to set autopay for other bank credit bills.
please let me know.

 

[AllThatStuff]

Nice thread to keep coming back ☺️

 

[naviworks]

Learnt to earn points by using debit card to pay cc bill which already earned me points 😎

Learnt to be more meticulous on ‘where to use which card’ for max benefits. For ex
Using airtel axis cc to pay airtel pp family plan bills and other utility bills
Using IndusInd easydiner for restaurant spends in easy diner app
Limiting spends on Amex travel to 4 lakh per year etc

Learnt it’s possible to live without any HDFC card and still get max benefits from alternate cards

Thanks @cardio_guy

 

[Nishan11]

Joined in mid 2022, and on 2024 I finally got in game of earning miles & points for flight redemption & luxury hotel bookings.

Added much needed super premium/premium cards for this. Still learning how to optimize my spends to earn more rewards. Hopefully in 2025, I will be fully professional on this front. I have 3-4 international trips next year & multiple domestic trips, I hope to utilize my cards fully for hitting milestones & earning big rewards.

This forum is super addictive. During official meetings/tours, most of the times I can't help myself from opening this forum to check out updates 😂.

Whatever knowledge I have about credit cards & its uses is all due to this forum only. 🥳

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

@Nishan11 I totally agree that this forum is one of the best for day-to-day banking and card-related information. 😄

By the way, I'm also trying to switch from using cashback-based cards to reward-point-based cards. Currently, my go-to cards are Swiggy HDFC and Amazon Pay ICICI for all my purchases. Recently, I've started using Neu infinity for UPI spends as well.
However, I've noticed that my overall reward rate on combined spends is only around 3-4% at most. While there are some cards that offer 10% reward rate on some categories, there are many spends that fall into the basic 1% category (lower reward rate), which significantly brings down the overall returns. 😔

I'm really eager to explore reward point-based cards and would love to know how and where to get started. If someone could share their experience and let me know which cards you have and how beneficial they are, that would be amazing! 😊

Also, if anyone here is an expert in voucher/coupon multiplier sites like smartbuy, gyfr, grabdeals, cashkaro, Magicpin, Park+, I would greatly appreciate it if you could explain how they work and how to buy coupons for the best returns. Thank you so much! 🙏

 

[tachniki]

My biggest learning this year was that my expenses in not about 8 - 10 lakhs that I had been assuming for last 10 years but 17 lakhs last year. 😱. At start of this year, I reviewed bank accounts to check outflows and it was significant more than what I assumed. I have been reviewing my expenses monthly. Not particularly, to cut expenses as of now but making sure I am aware of my expenses.

Next I reviewed credit cards and I knew I needed different cards. I started with applying SBI cashback, Axis Airtel, HSBC Live+ and Infinia. I also applied some wasteful cards- ICICI MMT (that I didn't activate) and IDFC Wealth. I already had Citi rewards, ICICI Amazon pay, Sbi simplyclick and Tata Neu Infinity. Luckily CIBIL score has stayed in range of 802 - 807 in spite of all credit card activities.

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Adding one more - Compilation of making best use of available debit cards.

• Use HDFC Easyshop Platinum debit card to pay credit card bills using SBI Unipay and get upto Rs 750 per month.
• Use SBI virtual debit card to pay credit card bills using SBI Unipay and and get 2x points (looks like limited-period offer). Use those points to again pay bills using rewardz.sbi.
• Use Rupay platinum debit card in Amazon pay on Fridays for 20% off on utility bill payments up to Rs 100.
• Use Federal Bank debit card points in Federal Rewards site for mobile recharge (or utility bills payments) with convenience fee of Rs 10/- only. This site charges Rs 50/- for most other redeeming options. You can use up to 70% of the available coins.
• Use SBI debit card on birthday month for extra multiplier reward points (bank-based offer).

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Yep you have to cancel and resubscribe using Google play balance but keep in mind if there is insufficient balance then that'll lead to subscription cancellation.

I have a doubt here. Please help. I am using Amazon Pay ICICI card as the payment method for Google One. But I am not able to change it to Play Balance.
You mean to say - I need to cancel the subscription and resubscribe again using play balance? Can I not change the payment method while existing subscription is active? (Either Google One or YouTube Premium)

 

[theflash]

I have a doubt here. Please help. I am using Amazon Pay ICICI card as the payment method for Google One. But I am not able to change it to Play Balance.
You mean to say - I need to cancel the subscription and resubscribe again using play balance? Can I not change the payment method while existing subscription is active? (Either Google One or YouTube Premium)

In YouTube premium you can add as backup and then cancel mandate from SI hub if you want to try that.

Or as you've said cancel and resubscribing.

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Addding some more learnings in the first 6 months of this 2025:

• Get as many add-on cards as possible and give to family members, channelize their spends so as to get better rewards and achieve milestones faster.
• Combine multiple loyalty programs by linking accounts - For example, link Indigo bluchip to Swiggy, Earn indigo bluchips for Swiggy purchases.
• Link educational or corporate email ID in Swiggy and unlock more offers.
• Lateral entry to hotel loyalty programs through cards or corportae tie ups. Like silver status in Mariott Bonvoy through HDFC MB card etc.
• Look for flexible dates while hotel bookings to get best deals.
• Enroll for status challenges, off-season discounts, new launch discounts etc in hotel programs and get accelerated rewards.
• Claim retro points in airlines for trips that you have missed to add membership ID during booking.

 

[Wealth is my birth right!]

Ditto.
Additional:
1. This year itself I Lost my fortune in F&O (3x of my annual income). It's much bigger than many would think. (I won't reveal either)
2. Back to something which makes me happy.
3. Opened 3-4 new bank accounts and 3-4 new CCs to gain a few hundreds; and to connect my family with my badly shaped financial world.
4. Realised that a stress-free gain of a few hundred rupees can give more happiness than making stressful f&o gain of few lakhs per day.
5. Realised that financial depression can be extremely extremely difficult to deal with even if we have a good steady salary.
6. Sold my favourite new and only car (cost equivalent to my annual gross salary) to manage my finances.

In short experienced / experiencing the most severe financial crisis of my life.

(I won't reply to any que related to this post).

This post appeared when i searched on some market related things
You are correct end of the day what is our status that’s important 👍
Same scenario for me in 2010 there left trading with a costly lesson and currently a long term investor only…

 

[hender]

This post appeared when i searched on some market related things
You are correct end of the day what is our status that’s important 👍
Same scenario for me in 2010 there left trading with a costly lesson and currently a long term investor only…

Market tend to behave this way, newcomers easily grappled and come back with LIFE LESSONS.