How to improve the return % on credit cards?

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Hi all,
This could be a noob question. I have only cashback credit cards.
I have been tracking the cashback percentage on the last few months and it has always been mostly less than 2%.
I will list down the cards that I have, this month's bill and cashback received:

Card	Bill Amount	Cashback Received	Cashback %	Main Usage
Amazon Pay ICICI	20061	661	3.29 %	Amazon Spends - 12000 IRCTC - 6000
Swiggy HDFC	28072	394	1.4 %	Insurance - 26000 Swiggy - 1200
Tata Neu Infinity HDFC	22802	229	1 %	UPI - 7000 Insurance - 13000
Total	70935	1284	1.81 %

The main reason for the low returns is because I use it for excluded categories, spends that mostly get only base returns, etc.

Insurance payment via Amazon gift voucher is not possible in my case.
I visit the office and swipe card at their POS. Better as of now is Tata Neu Infinity (1.5% straight neu coins.)

Spoiler: Ignore this

(Insurance spend on the above cards is a commercial usage, I use the card to pay for others insurances.)

My question is how to improve the returns on my credit card to anything above 4-5%?

Some things that I thought about:

1. Use the cards only for specific best-return usecases. (Like Amazon card only for Amazon spends, Swiggy card only for Swiggy spends etc)
2. I cannot use the above strategy for Tata Neu card, because that is my primary card. So I cannot use it exculusively for Tata Neu spends. I use it for UPI and offline swipes mainly.
3. Get some better return giving cards. (Here is where I need suggestions)
4. Cashback has been working for me well and good. I am not very heavy on travel and hotel spends. So I don't demand for hotel or flight benefits in returns.
4. If I take a reward point based card and use it for insurance spends, will I get any reward points or will it be counted for milestone benefits? In many cards, insurance is an excluded category.

Seeking your thoughts.

 

[kodiswaran]

Just curious, do you pay 38k (26000 + 12000) insurance premium every month?

 

[kodiswaran]

Sharing my thoughts based on the credit cards that you have,

Spend	CashBack (%)	Comment
Amazon Spends	5%	AmazonPay credit card
Swiggy	10%	Swiggy credit card
IRCTC	1%	Any credit card (preferable to use paid credit card to reach the spend criteria)

For Insurance you can use AmazonPay credit card which would give me 2% CashBack right?

Steps:
1. But AmazonPay Gift Voucher which gives 2% cashback
2. Redeem the voucher
3. Use amazon wallet to pay the insurance

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Just curious, do you pay 38k (26000 + 12000) insurance premium every month?

Read the spoiler in the main post. 😉

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

For Insurance you can use AmazonPay credit card which would give me 2% CashBack right?

This is not possible. I visit the office and pay at their POS. Better as of now is Tata Neu Infinity (1.5% straight neu coins.)

 

[Half Human]

This is not possible. I visit the office and pay at their POS. Better as of now is Tata Neu Infinity (1.5% straight neu coins.)

Better to mention that in the post. I was thinking of online payment of premium...

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Better to mention that in the post. I was thinking of online payment of premium...

Thanks. Added that.

 

[suhasa010]

Insurance payment via Amazon gift voucher is not possible in my case.
I visit the office and swipe card at their POS. Better as of now is Tata Neu Infinity (1.5% straight neu coins.)

Use Tata Neu Infinity CC on Tata Neu app directly (bill pay) for 5% neucoins.

 

[tachniki]

While calculating return percentage is cool, I don't see why improving that should be goal. Your goal should be reduce your cash outflow to least with same expense. So, unless you are using card with milestones, it may be best to just pick the card which will give you highest return.

From above, I may suggest to use IRCTC on amazon using amazon pay bought using swiggy card (on amazon) or using Tata Neu infinity card bought on Tata Neu app.

 

[D₹V]

Pay Insurance using Tata Neu Card on Tata Neu app, easy 5%.

Use Swiggy card as well to buy Amazon gift card for travel expenses of IRCTC.

For rest, use apay ICICI.

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

One unconventional way to get additional 1% return on credit card - is to use a good debit card to pay the bills and get upto 1% (sometimes even more) cashback. Somehting like SBI VDC on unipay. So if the return is 2%, with the cashback on bill payment, technically we can think of it as 3%.

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Back here. After this month's statement got generated, I am feeling bad again.
The return % is roughly 3% max.
It is somewhat less I think. It is mainly because of the cards I hold.
That too after spending around 1.6L.

I am not explicitly writing down each card's bill amount, cashback received etc.
I mainly used Amazon pay ICICI, Swiggy HDFC, and Tata Neu Infinity HDFC.
Overall, I feel it could have been better. Am I wrong in expecting higher rewards or returns?

Without buying Amazon pay and other vouchers (without entering the voucher game), and without travel and hotel spends, is it not possible to get a better reward?
My spends are not voucher based and hence I find it difficult to go that way.

Apart from that, when people posting free hotel stays and business class flights, I feel I am missing something.
Other than that, for normal offline card swipes and some bit of online spends, is this the best we can achieve?

Any hacks, tips or tricks?

 

[2025]

Back here. After this month's statement got generated, I am feeling bad again.
The return % is roughly 3% max.
It is somewhat less I think. It is mainly because of the cards I hold.
That too after spending around 1.6L.

I am not explicitly writing down each card's bill amount, cashback received etc.
I mainly used Amazon pay ICICI, Swiggy HDFC, and Tata Neu Infinity HDFC.
Overall, I feel it could have been better. Am I wrong in expecting higher rewards or returns?

Without buying Amazon pay and other vouchers (without entering the voucher game), and without travel and hotel spends, is it not possible to get a better reward?
My spends are not voucher based and hence I find it difficult to go that way.

Apart from that, when people posting free hotel stays and business class flights, I feel I am missing something.
Other than that, for normal offline card swipes and some bit of online spends, is this the best we can achieve?

Any hacks, tips or tricks?

Though mostly u are sorted about your costs and options based on circumstances, still I might able to suggest you some improvement. DM me with list of cards u have.

 

[SatyG]

2. I cannot use the above strategy for Tata Neu card, because that is my primary card. So I cannot use it exculusively for Tata Neu spends. I use it for UPI and offline swipes mainly.

Why don't you use your Tata Neu Infinity on Tata neu app for the insurance payments? It will fetch 5% points instead of 1.5% via offline POS swipe

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

Why don't you use your Tata Neu Infinity on Tata neu app for the insurance payments? It will fetch 5% points instead of 1.5% via offline POS swipe

Thanks. I'm paying my personal insurance premiums through app only. Getting 5%. But that is only a small part. Majority is offline swipe.

 

[MDFinance]

I buy Amazon Pay Gift Card using my SBI Cashback or HDFC Millennia Card and book IRCTC tickets through Amazon for 5% effective cashback.

You can get Airtel Axis Card which I am using for my utility spends to improve overall return percentage.

 

[helloworld]

Hi all,
This could be a noob question. I have only cashback credit cards.
I have been tracking the cashback percentage on the last few months and it has always been mostly less than 2%.
I will list down the cards that I have, this month's bill and cashback received:

Card	Bill Amount	Cashback Received	Cashback %	Main Usage
Amazon Pay ICICI	20061	661	3.29 %	Amazon Spends - 12000 IRCTC - 6000
Swiggy HDFC	28072	394	1.4 %	Insurance - 26000 Swiggy - 1200
Tata Neu Infinity HDFC	22802	229	1 %	UPI - 7000 Insurance - 13000
Total	70935	1284	1.81 %

The main reason for the low returns is because I use it for excluded categories, spends that mostly get only base returns, etc.

Insurance payment via Amazon gift voucher is not possible in my case.
I visit the office and swipe card at their POS. Better as of now is Tata Neu Infinity (1.5% straight neu coins.)

Spoiler: Ignore this

(Insurance spend on the above cards is a commercial usage, I use the card to pay for others insurances.)

My question is how to improve the returns on my credit card to anything above 4-5%?

Some things that I thought about:

1. Use the cards only for specific best-return usecases. (Like Amazon card only for Amazon spends, Swiggy card only for Swiggy spends etc)
2. I cannot use the above strategy for Tata Neu card, because that is my primary card. So I cannot use it exculusively for Tata Neu spends. I use it for UPI and offline swipes mainly.
3. Get some better return giving cards. (Here is where I need suggestions)
4. Cashback has been working for me well and good. I am not very heavy on travel and hotel spends. So I don't demand for hotel or flight benefits in returns.
4. If I take a reward point based card and use it for insurance spends, will I get any reward points or will it be counted for milestone benefits? In many cards, insurance is an excluded category.

Seeking your thoughts.

I told multiple times in various posts but people blindly thinking highest return % on that card is what they should get at the end of the day...

take this for example: https://www.technofino.in/community...k-credit-card-maximizing-your-cashback.31701/

airtel card on paper people thinking that they're getting 25%, 10% but reality with careful optimization its only 11% that too if u stop spending after 1L and didn't spend single time on 1%.. then only its 11%.

Problem is we can't predict some purchases, lets take an example of Live+: https://www.technofino.in/community...-credit-card-elevate-everyday-spending.17087/

I spent everyday and only on 10% categories: net return 10% (10000 spends)
but on single day either got 1.5% or spent 1.5% categories (10000 spends): net return 5.75% (a drastic change)

need to pick and use the cards for the same purpose and expect same. Like in your case if u want to use TataNeu then u should expect return % only 1.5% on UPI not above 4-5%.

Currently in market, not all categories in above 5%. Do check any other threads or forums but TBH >3% is very very good return % when it comes to credit card.

We don't realize but consider MDR and all, bank also know the game!

I can say you're thinking too much, I've been that phase it ate a lot of time in thinking..



this is multi-statement credit card return % and u can see even with 46.50% in one time doesn't average the averall much, on average I got only 1.5%.

--------------------

few things that give u peaceful mind:

1. Focus on using less cards
2. Close un-necessary cards (helps for CIBIL, build relationship with usage cards, avoid unnecessary spends, get LE/high limit on most used cards etc.)
3. Optimize spends based on category..

If I have same cards and spend then I would expect net % = 2%

but tbh, for these spends 1 card is more than enough and apay works same for swgy vouchers, irctc purchase too..

its upto you, people mostly don't belive >3% is highest only time can tell

- https://www.technofino.in/community...dit-card-basic-requirements.32560/post-889063

 

[cardio_guycardio_guy is verified member.]

few things that give u peaceful mind:

Thanks for the detailed reply and thanks for your time to compose this.
Yes we have seen in different threads regarding optimising usage and returns. What you told is 💯 right.
Maybe it was my lack of confidence or confirmation bias that led to thinking on the same thing again.
But all suggestions taken, and I will move forward. Thanks again.

 

[MDFinance]

I also prefer cashback cards and I use this strategy for my spends to maximize the effective return. I am sharing my complete strategy so that you can pick up whatever points you find relevant as per your need.

Utility: Airtel Axis Rupay Select Card for 25% cashback on Airtel & 10% on other Utility spends. Recently, they've started charging usage fee of approx 1.24% on other utility spends.

Grocery: I stocked groceries on RCB match days by using Airtel Axis Card (15% Discount + 10% Cashback + Neucoins by ordering on Tata Neu). Otherwise, I use SBI Cashback for 5% cashback or any other card giving good discount on grocery from Amazon or Flipkart. Sometimes, I also order groceries on Swiggy Instamart through HDFC Swiggy for 10% cashback when I get good discount.

Medicines: 10% cashback through HDFC Millennia by ordering through HDFC Smartbuy.

Zomato / Swiggy Food Orders: Airtel Axis Rupay Select Card for 10% cashback on Swiggy & Zomato. If spends through Airtel Axis on Big Basket, Zomato & Swiggy cross Rs 5K in a month then I use HDFC Swiggy for 10% on Swiggy.

Insurance: Amazon Gift Card using SBI Cashback for 5% effective cashback.

UPI: Airtel Axis Rupay Select Card for 1% on UPI.

SBI VDC: I use SBI VDC on Unipay for credit card bill payments to gain extra cashback on my spends and to maximize overall return.

Exception 1 (HDFC Marriott Bonvoy Card): For free one night stay at Marriott Properties in a year and for international & domestic lounge access without any spend criteria.

Exception 2 (Axis Neo Rupay Card): For 40% off upto Rs 120 two times a month on Zomato.

My SBI Cashback, Airtel Axis Rupay Select & HDFC Marriott Bonvoy Cards are paid cards. Most probably, SBI will waive off the fee on SBI Cashback. Other cards are LTF.

 

[helloworld]

Thanks for the detailed reply and thanks for your time to compose this.
Yes we have seen in different threads regarding optimising usage and returns. What you told is 💯 right.
Maybe it was my lack of confidence or confirmation bias that led to thinking on the same thing again.
But all suggestions taken, and I will move forward. Thanks again.

its for general and all, maybe I'm not composed better (will edit as usual later when I find interest / time 🙂 ).. you can expect better returns, no issue with that but expecting 4-5% on Insurance, UPI, IRCTC is wrong! (atleast as per my knowledge)..

so, think of this as cricket team / stock market where ur apay purchases will provide high score / returns but others just for stability shouldn't expect much score/ return from them (credit period).

Overall, >3% is very very good as per my knowledge.

As said in above example, Live+ provide 10% upto 10k per month that means yearly you can spend only 1.2L but they take annual fee if not spent 2L.. they know the game! with that return will be less. And its not possible to us to spend 10k every month in that case it will be even less and some other card with milestone might provide same benefit because for less spends its not useful to divert spends..

- https://www.technofino.in/community...-fee-a-guide-to-evaluating-net-rewards.25803/