Hype around Axis Magnus

[Bigde]

Off late I have been observing a lot of hype around Axis Magnus, people on Twitter going bonkers for this card. I see unboxing images for it almost every other day on Twitter and absolute craze around this card simply reminds me of the hey days of Infinia and DCB. Since Infinia is an invite only card and DCB lost its sheen during recent devaluations, card enthusiasts are finding solace in Magnus. Almost 6% returns on spending of 1L sounds too good to be true and recent Edge reward conversion to Kris Flyer miles added icing on the cake for the travel enthusiasts.

While HDFC created exclusivity around Infinia and DCB, Magnus is easily available to those with annual income of 18L+ who are willing to shell out 10K+GST, this easy availability led to hoard of people applying for it, Axis is also showering card approvals in return as Magnus is truly bringing in lot of revenues for their credit card department in terms of joining and annual fees. Some may argue that in lieu of joining or annual fee one is getting 10K worth of Air ticket or Tata Cliq voucher, first of all air ticket comes with its own set of terms and conditions and not everyone would be comfortable complying with those. Secondly, Tata Cliq voucher does bring in some additional value however a person can get better deals on Amazon or Flipkart than on Tata Cliq and on top of this not all PIN codes are serviceable by Tata Cliq.

It would have really a match made in heaven had Axis offered 10K worth of Amazon Gift card in place of Tata Cliq. Alas, not all wishes come true.

Inspired by the social media hype around Magnus a lot of gullible individuals have applied for Magnus now finding it difficult to spend 1L per month to extract 6% value out of this card. Many of them are contacting Card experts on Twitter for suggestion to manufacture the 1L monthly spends.

This brings me to the crux of this topic, is the hoopla around Magnus really justified? Does one really have to be a part of the Magnus bandwagon to get this card?

Ask yourself following questions if you really wish to opt for this card.
1. Are you comfortable spending 1L every month?
2. If you yearly income ranges between 18L-24 L (18L is eligibility criteria for Magnus) and if you are spending 1L each month are you really saving enough for those emergency days?
3. Are you okay with a meagre reward rate of 1.2% if you do not manage to spend 1L in a month?
4. Is it really worth getting 6% value back on spending 1L via manufactured spends? You can make a fix deposit in bank and get 6% interest on your principle amount,
5. Even if you are having genuine spends of 1L aren't you letting go more returns on other cards in form of instant discounts (10% discounts offer from different banks offered on Flipkart/Amazon time to time).
6. Are you a travel enthusiast who can get more bang for buck in terms of Air miles.

If answers to above questions are a BIG NO then I would recommend you considering following cards.
1. SBI Cashback card:

Flat 5% discount on most of the online transactions except a few (utility, rent, insurance and fuel) it is offered first year free and an annual fee of 999 +GST doesn't hurt as at the end of each billing cycle you will be getting your cashback credited back your card account. Cashback in account worth more than those edge rewards.

2. Axis Ace:


Flat 5% off on utility bill payments (Via GPay Android) and 2% on all offline spends (except fuel, EMI and cash advances) makes this a perfect card to carry with you all the time. A meagre fee of 499 +GST is nothing in comparison to the value it offers.

3. BOB Eterna:



This one is a bit low profile card which 5X rewards (3.75%) value back on International, Travel and Dinning spends, for now one can get rewards on rent and insurance payments too. Best for those who have a monthly online spends of 42,000.

In the end I would say do not fall prey to Magnus bandwagon, there are better cards available which offer more value than Magnus. Make your decision wisely. Sooner or later Magnus will get devalued and then you would be staring at an annul fee of 11800 (including GST) every year without being able to extract most value out of it.

Do let me know your thoughts in the comment section of this thread.

 

[Slayer]

Very good thread.
But need to know some hacks to get Infinia even if someone has annual income > 40 L

 

[Bigde]

Very good thread.
But need to know some hacks to get Infinia even if someone has annual income > 40 L

Technofino has already shared hacks for getting Infinia through his Youtube videos.

 

[Bigde]

@Slayer here is the post from fellow member @hashiro7 https://www.technofino.in/community/threads/how-to-get-infinia-credit-card.2192/post-40222 outlining Infinia eligibility criteria.

 

[vaibhav111]

@Bigde thanks for the insight, even i have come across on twitter , people showing off their magnus unboxing images and felt should i get this card and i stopped myself , not now may be 2023 cause i knew even there was chances of 2-3 in a year of 1 lakhs spend those spend always have some other cc offer and hence i didn't apply , didn't knew the criteria of 18 lakhs ITR need to apply , once again thanks for sharing.

 

[Gkcards]

Very good thread.
But need to know some hacks to get Infinia even if someone has annual income > 40 L

easiest way is open an imperia account if you can, though may not work always. I know someone who got infinia invite (not LTF) soon after opening account

 

[sdogg525]

easiest way is open an imperia account if you can, though may not work always. I know someone who got infinia invite (not LTF) soon after opening account

I opened Imperia recently and the max they offered without income proof was Regalia with 5L limit.

 

[Pavan]

Hi @Bigde nice article now am really thinking if i need hold the Magnus.. Since my spends are split between Airtel Axis, ACE, Eterna and DCB
Only USP was i wanted to close DCB because of acceptance issue.

For sure i alone can't spend 15L per year and in a year i can hardly make 1 lakh for only two months for now

 

[Pavan]

Hi @Bigde nice article now am really thinking if i need hold the Magnus.. Since my spends are split between Airtel Axis, ACE, Eterna and DCB
Only USP was i wanted to close DCB because of acceptance issue.

For sure i alone can't spend 15L per year and in a year i can hardly make 1 lakh for only two months for now

And for sure this card can't be used as daily card..Reasons no cashback for less than 200 RS and for 399 spent you get only 12 Edge points

 

[Bigde]

Hi @Bigde nice article now am really thinking if i need hold the Magnus.. Since my spends are split between Airtel Axis, ACE, Eterna and DCB
Only USP was i wanted to close DCB because of acceptance issue.

For sure i alone can't spend 15L per year and in a year i can hardly make 1 lakh for only two months for now

Thanks for sharing your valuable inputs Pavan, your experience is certainly reaffirming my decision of not going for Magnus and opting for ACE instead. It becomes really difficult for a person holding multiple cards (Eterna, ACE, DCB/Infinia) to spend 1L alone on a specific card like Magnus.

 

[vysakh]

I get the hype and I think it's worth the hype. The base reward rate on the Magnus is 4.8% (with the 5:4 airmiles redemption) and that's more than the 3.3% given by Infinia, DCB or the ultimate. With the grab deals multiplier, things get better like things do with smartbuy, perhaps not to the same extent. The 1L milestone is like the icing and cherry on top of the cake, but without those too, the cake is sweet as hell.

 

[Gkcards]

I opened Imperia recently and the max they offered without income proof was Regalia with 5L limit.

For that person, it just appeared on internet banking one day, didnt have hdfc credit card before. He applied through the same link in netbanking. Maybe it was some offer running that time

 

[amit]

I get the hype and I think it's worth the hype. The base reward rate on the Magnus is 4.8% (with the 5:4 airmiles redemption) and that's more than the 3.3% given by Infinia, DCB or the ultimate. With the grab deals multiplier, things get better like things do with smartbuy, perhaps not to the same extent. The 1L milestone is like the icing and cherry on top of the cake, but without those too, the cake is sweet as h

Magnus is like garibo ka Infinia. Upgrade in Infinia via DCB/Regalia getting difficult theses days, u require floor limit as well as specific spend in past 6-8 months, both are not available through C2C.
Thgus Magnus is within reach of most of us.

 

[sahil624]

Is 10k Tata Cliq voucher every year or only one time?

 

[CMG]

Is 10k Tata Cliq voucher every year or only one time?

Currently, it is a renewal benefit too.

 

[kej]

I actually completely agree with the hype around Magnus. I got my hands on this card earlier this year and already have lakhs of edge rewards! But you do have to be careful to not give in to the temptation of spending more just to achieve the 1L milestone. Rent payment definitely was a help but since that stopped working via payzapp it's gonna be difficult to meet the milestone.

 

[naviworks]

What’s the base reward rate for spends under 1lakh 1.2% or 4.8%? Is it like when converted into air miles reward rate becomes 1.2 to 4.8?

 

[Slayer]

When you convert EDGE points into airmiles then it becomes 4.8%

What’s the base reward rate for spends under 1lakh 1.2% or 4.8%? Is it like when converted into air miles reward rate becomes 1.2 to 4.8?

 

[Tejas]

Ask yourself following questions if you really wish to opt for this card.
1. Are you comfortable spending 1L every month?
2. If you yearly income ranges between 18L-24 L (18L is eligibility criteria for Magnus) and if you are spending 1L each month are you really saving enough for those emergency days?
3. Are you okay with a meagre reward rate of 1.2% if you do not manage to spend 1L in a month?
4. Is it really worth getting 6% value back on spending 1L via manufactured spends? You can make a fix deposit in bank and get 6% interest on your principle amount,
5. Even if you are having genuine spends of 1L aren't you letting go more returns on other cards in form of instant discounts (10% discounts offer from different banks offered on Flipkart/Amazon time to time).
6. Are you a travel enthusiast who can get more bang for buck in terms of Air miles.

1. There is no compulsion to spend 1 Lac every month. Its all about how you can manage your spends across the year.

2. Somebody in that income range can easily spend 1 Lac in 5-6 out of 12 Months and that's a good enough reason to take the card. Add to it, somebody in that income range, in my opinion, should not be concentrating on Cashback cards if the person takes even 1 family vacation in a year. There is a whole misconception that 1 Lacs spends a month means a person is splurging money. Its all about Smart spending. My Essential spends (Utilities, Fuel, Toll, School Fees, NPS, Insurance Premiums, Car Maintenance) would cross 5 Lacs annually which I can spread out to meet 1 Lac in two months at least. People underestimate their expenses by at least 20-25%.

3. Axis Magnus is a super-Premium Category card. If people are taking it for the 1.2% Regular reward rate or 6% Reward Rate @ 1 Lac Spends, then they are wasting a lot of opportunities.

4. No Comments on Manufactured Spending.

5. Goes back to the same answer as for Point No. 3

6. Yes. Any time of the day. Even if you wake me up in the middle of the night in deep sleep.

 

[Credit Karma]

Off late I have been observing a lot of hype around Axis Magnus, people on Twitter going bonkers for this card. I see unboxing images for it almost every other day on Twitter and absolute craze around this card simply reminds me of the hey days of Infinia and DCB. Since Infinia is an invite only card and DCB lost its sheen during recent devaluations, card enthusiasts are finding solace in Magnus. Almost 6% returns on spending of 1L sounds too good to be true and recent Edge reward conversion to Kris Flyer miles added icing on the cake for the travel enthusiasts.

While HDFC created exclusivity around Infinia and DCB, Magnus is easily available to those with annual income of 18L+ who are willing to shell out 10K+GST, this easy availability led to hoard of people applying for it, Axis is also showering card approvals in return as Magnus is truly bringing in lot of revenues for their credit card department in terms of joining and annual fees. Some may argue that in lieu of joining or annual fee one is getting 10K worth of Air ticket or Tata Cliq voucher, first of all air ticket comes with its own set of terms and conditions and not everyone would be comfortable complying with those. Secondly, Tata Cliq voucher does bring in some additional value however a person can get better deals on Amazon or Flipkart than on Tata Cliq and on top of this not all PIN codes are serviceable by Tata Cliq.

It would have really a match made in heaven had Axis offered 10K worth of Amazon Gift card in place of Tata Cliq. Alas, not all wishes come true.

Inspired by the social media hype around Magnus a lot of gullible individuals have applied for Magnus now finding it difficult to spend 1L per month to extract 6% value out of this card. Many of them are contacting Card experts on Twitter for suggestion to manufacture the 1L monthly spends.

This brings me to the crux of this topic, is the hoopla around Magnus really justified? Does one really have to be a part of the Magnus bandwagon to get this card?

Ask yourself following questions if you really wish to opt for this card.
1. Are you comfortable spending 1L every month?
2. If you yearly income ranges between 18L-24 L (18L is eligibility criteria for Magnus) and if you are spending 1L each month are you really saving enough for those emergency days?
3. Are you okay with a meagre reward rate of 1.2% if you do not manage to spend 1L in a month?
4. Is it really worth getting 6% value back on spending 1L via manufactured spends? You can make a fix deposit in bank and get 6% interest on your principle amount,
5. Even if you are having genuine spends of 1L aren't you letting go more returns on other cards in form of instant discounts (10% discounts offer from different banks offered on Flipkart/Amazon time to time).
6. Are you a travel enthusiast who can get more bang for buck in terms of Air miles.

If answers to above questions are a BIG NO then I would recommend you considering following cards.
1. SBI Cashback card:

Flat 5% discount on most of the online transactions except a few (utility, rent, insurance and fuel) it is offered first year free and an annual fee of 999 +GST doesn't hurt as at the end of each billing cycle you will be getting your cashback credited back your card account. Cashback in account worth more than those edge rewards.

2. Axis Ace:


Flat 5% off on utility bill payments (Via GPay Android) and 2% on all offline spends (except fuel, EMI and cash advances) makes this a perfect card to carry with you all the time. A meagre fee of 499 +GST is nothing in comparison to the value it offers.

3. BOB Eterna:



This one is a bit low profile card which 5X rewards (3.75%) value back on International, Travel and Dinning spends, for now one can get rewards on rent and insurance payments too. Best for those who have a monthly online spends of 42,000.

In the end I would say do not fall prey to Magnus bandwagon, there are better cards available which offer more value than Magnus. Make your decision wisely. Sooner or later Magnus will get devalued and then you would be staring at an annul fee of 11800 (including GST) every year without being able to extract most value out of it.

Do let me know your thoughts in the comment section of this thread.

Just a question-

Isn't it hard for people to get Axis Ace?

I mean not to those who have incomes mentioned by you but Aam Janta?

What should be one's ITR so that they can get Axis Ace in a one go?