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How did you move from cashback to reward points card? Share your story

Sharing some more thoughts.
The journey to move to point based card is still on, and in progress. But like I told in the previous posts, I have been thinking of some ways to use the cards effectively and with less headaches and mental space. Like I told I am a non-frequent traveller, and optimizing and juicing out maximum on things like Accor china program and all is not at all for me. That's not my cup of tea. Card spend strategy is always personal, it depends on a lot of things like - cards held, spend categories, spend amounts, reward or return preferences etc.
Like I told I had been always a cashback person, and there was a huge inertia to move out of it. It is not very easy for someone who enjoys cashbacks to move to other forms of rewards. But as we keep adding better cards, our card strategy keeps evolving. As of now I have a short term plan, and later when I get more reward point based cards, I will need to alter it a bit.

Do not touch the 5% and 10% categories. There are some cards and some categories where I get these higher cashback returns. I plan to kepe them intact, without touching for now.
Like for example, Swiggy spends using HDFC Swiggy card - 10% cashback.
Utilities, mobile recharges, insurance etc using Neu infinity card - 5% neu coins.
Keep these things as is, no need to change this for now.

There are a lot of spend categories where I get no returns, or very less returns (like 1 - 1.5%) It is good to target these categories first. Main ones are like offline card swipes, fuel spends etc. Move them to reward based card. That's the first move. The card that I am talking about is Axis Atlas. This will be my entry to the voucher game as well. This will be a test case to buy HP Pay voucher and pay using HP app. Planning to keep Atlas as primary card for all non-excluded categories.

This setup will change when a HDFC point based card will come into my collection. That time, I need to consider 2-3 things - Smartbuy spends for hotels, Myntra and other vouchers.

Second change in the setup is when I need to maximise Mariott usage. Till I get Atlas, Mariott is the primary card for MB points. It will be replaced by Atlas, then some excluded categories of Atlas will be taken over by RG. In another excpetional scneario where a big spend can cover many milestones of Atlas, then all the above plans will change. In that case, Atlas will move out and MB/RG will move in. Anyway, exciting times ahead.
What about the phone black card coming into the picture>
 
What about the phone black card coming into the picture>
No I am not taking that. Realized that not everyone needs that card. The only highlight I could see there is 10% cashback on insurance spends through phonepe. Just for that purpose, I don't need that card -- because my insurance spends are not that high. And Neu infinity gives 5% on insurance, that's enough. I haven't installed phonepe ever, and I need to start from scratch, which I don't need. Rest of my cards fulfill my spends and returns, so keeping it aside for now.
 
No I am not taking that. Realized that not everyone needs that card. The only highlight I could see there is 10% cashback on insurance spends through phonepe. Just for that purpose, I don't need that card -- because my insurance spends are not that high. And Neu infinity gives 5% on insurance, that's enough. I haven't installed phonepe ever, and I need to start from scratch, which I don't need. Rest of my cards fulfill my spends and returns, so keeping it aside for now.
That also gives 10% on any bbps payment made via phonepe along with flights
 
After using Atlas for about a week, I now think that I should have moved from cashback card to reward point based card long back.
These are some of the problems of beginners and people who are not so indulged into cards from my learnings and experiences.
This is for people who are serious about their card journey and expect a good lifestyle

Do not focus on cards in the first few years of your work life. Atleast for the first 5-8 years, earn and make a stable income and a good corpus.
If you fix focus only on cashback cards, then target at leat 5% and above. Do not settle for lesser returns because it is not really rewarding.
This makes you take more then 3-4 cards because one card gives 10% only on some categories. So you will need more cards that give 5+ on different categories.
If at all one is going for cashback cards, go for those that do not have a limitation of low cappings, so that your rewards are not limited.

Another big thing is love for LTF cards. I was also once hooked upon LTF cards forever. The main reason is that even if I don't spend on that card, I don't have to pay any fees. That is in one sense good only. But just because of that one reason, there is no need to stack up all LTF cards available.
Take cards that you need and take cards that aligns with your spends. But there are some paid cards that gives equivalent points in return for the fees paid - both joining and renewal fees. So even though we pay fees, we get equal or more points in returns. So, paying fees is not always bad.

Coming to reward point based cards, Most of them comes with a good base reward rate of atleast 2% or higher which when transferred to partners can give better returns. Here you need to be a little careful. There are many types of reward cards. Some are tied to a specific hotel or airlies, some are generic cards, some are milestone based and all. So the first step I would say is to analyze and evaluate what kind of person are we, what are our spend patterns and what are our preferred redemption patterns etc. While choosing cards also first I would say study the ecosystem and then go for the card. Each ecosystem is different - HDFC, ICICI, Axis or Amex. We need to have a broad understanding of their exclusions, point earning systems, reward multiplier platforms, and redemption possibilities. After going through these, we need to see which one suits our needs and spends. Also look at milestone rewards, multiplier rewards and lot more.

I just thought of scribbling down some thoughts because I have only been exposed to one reward system, and I am yet to taste the other two. If someone is still hesitant to move from cashback to rewards, I think this thread can give some insights. All in all, I think this is also an investment that gives you better lifestyle experiences along the journey.
 
Coming to reward point based cards, Most of them comes with a good base reward rate of atleast 2% or higher which when transferred to partners can give better returns. Here you need to be a little careful. There are many types of reward cards. Some are tied to a specific hotel or airlies, some are generic cards, some are milestone based and all. So the first step I would say is to analyze and evaluate what kind of person are we, what are our spend patterns and what are our preferred redemption patterns etc. While choosing cards also first I would say study the ecosystem and then go for the card. Each ecosystem is different - HDFC, ICICI, Axis or Amex. We need to have a broad understanding of their exclusions, point earning systems, reward multiplier platforms, and redemption possibilities. After going through these, we need to see which one suits our needs and spends. Also look at milestone rewards, multiplier rewards and lot more.
You included earn factor but forgot burn factor. Most of these reward cards' points have just an year of longevity. Unless one travels frequently it's hard to burn the earned points else they vanish.
 
You included earn factor but forgot burn factor. Most of these reward cards' points have just an year of longevity. Unless one travels frequently it's hard to burn the earned points else they vanish.
Thanks, I will add the burn factor next with my real case example. Got too much of thoughts here itself, even earn factor I didn't write fully. Will plan and write more/better later.
 
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