It's coming home - Emeralde Metal Private

[callsignmaverick]

Since this is my first post here, let me start the post by giving a little background about me in credit cards context.

I have been using credit cards for almost 14 years now and started my journey with the humble Citi Rewards as my first credit card. When I got into the credit card world, it wasn't for points or prestige. It was just simple math - You are getting an amount interest free period of 50 days.

Slowly, I started getting into the points & rewards game and started building up my credit card portfolio. I remember the cards that gave me most points till around 5-6 years back were SBI Elite and SC Ultimate. Then once my salary account was moved to HDFC (from ICICI due to job change), I got hold of DCB. Just to point out, life was much simpler back then, you saw a card you liked - you checked the eligibility criteria and if you could meet it then apply. No FYF, LTF fundas. In fact except Magnus Burgundy I never asked for a free card (yes I was naive). I had DCB free for some years only because I met their annual spend criteria. After DCB, got hold of INFINIA in few years and then came Magnus followed by Magnus Burgundy [both came thanks to Axis burgundy account]. And I had to say Axis spoiled me, I had made lakhs of points of Ultimate, DCB, Infinia before but this was madness. The rewards were too good, but as someone who comes from a financial background I knew it would be mess sooner or later.

Now let me come back to the main topic, why the need for Emeralde Private when you already have INFINIA, Magnus Burgundy & Yes Marquee (recently acquired)?
One word answer - Exclusivity. At my age and with the years of experience in the credit card domain, plain points or benefits don't excite me as much as the exclusivity factor. I still remember the envious looks that I used to get 2-3 years back when I would pull out of my DCB or Infinia. In fact, till few months back most of my friends in the same financial bracket as me couldn't get INFINIA. But now that's kind of gone, while Infinia is still relatively exclusive - off late lot of people have started getting upgraded to INFINIA quite easily, which also makes me believe that an INFINIA devaluation is not far. And more importantly the card loses its exclusivity/snob factor. Less I talk about Magnus the better.

What cards I would have loved to get from an Exclusivity point of view:

1. Axis Private [Well quite someway to go for this]
2. Amex Platinum [All my friends used to swear by this card few years back, now everyone swears because of it. Customer service has gone down big time. Almost anyone who can pay the fees has this card can get it. Personally, I feel Amex has ruined it for most of their old customers. Most of my friends who held this card for many years, cancelled this last year or early this year. So this was ruled out completely]
3. Amex Centurion [Well with no. 2 not happening, this will never happen considering its offered only to select few Amex Platinum customers with high spends]
4. Axis Reserve [Was willing to overlook the reward transfer rate but then Axis hit the final nail in the coffin with the removal of transfers]
5. ICICI Emeralde Private [Seemed most sensible of the lot with benefits outweighing the fees and the fact that very very very few people have it, this would take care of the exclusivity factor]

I had to recently visit ICICI branch for some work with my home loan & was casually chatting with the branch manager about how far behind ICICI was in the credit cards game and he told me about this Emeralde Private Card and asked if I would be interested. Obviously, I said yes but he fore-warned me that in spite of the relationship there are absolute no guarantee that I might get the card and the process might take a month or more as they need to take 4 approvals including 1 from their Credit Card India head. [More on the application process later in another post].

So yesterday finally after almost 1.5 months, I got the card approved and I can see it on IMobile. The physical card should arrive in a day or two. While it was a long wait, it was definitely worth it because ICICI almost doubled my INFINIA credit limit and has offered a limit of 30L on the card. Another thing that makes the card worth it was the difficulty in getting it. Will become my daily driver card along with INFINIA from next month onwards.

 

[Lord Silvr]

But let me ask everyone here this ,does Exclusivity really matter in real world ,maybe if you come from a Finance Background or hangout with a lot of credit card enthusiasts

Take me for example, i come from a Medical Background ,i hold most number of cards from anyone i personally know ,and i know a lot of rich successful Doctor's, most of whom either don't care for credit cards or are just ignorant about it

One of my best friend, lives in a Bungalow in posh residential area of Ahmedabad, Drives a Hyryder ,has a high paying Job ,takes foreign trips annually ,but still holds a single Axis Neo with 1.5L limit ,when i told him to look into other cards ,he says why bother ,this is more then enough for me

Nobody seems to care about my card Collection or limits let alone be impressed by it

I can attest that i've had many conversations with my batch-mates, guys receiving 2.5-3.5L+ monthly, yet, either completely 'unaware' or 'skeptical' of shifting their spends to Credit Cards. It may be a matter of their personal choice, which i can respect, since its between friends, but i think the primary culprit is Financial Literacy.
'Self discipline' is Key when it comes to CC spends, point blank.
India is presently at a juncture where Banks are willing to reward their CC spenders with a decent return / redemption.
Many advanced economies limit this benefit at merely a Priority Pass, accompanied with terrible returns.
So let's make hay while the sun shines.
(P.S.: Thanks to this post, just made acquaintance with a medical professional in AMD, Yay !!)

 

[Lord Silvr]

Have any of you ever impressed anyone by your cards or Limits,

Have you ever noticed being treated differently at commercial establishments(Hotels ,Restaurants, etc) because of some card you pulled out

Not from a Commercial establishment though,
One instance i remember fondly, skipping the queue and walking up to the 'Business' class check-in counter at Mumbai Adani Lounge and asking whether my card works (proceeded to pull out my Infinia).
She promptly acknowledged, swiped and I saved 20 mins of queuing time.

 

[Swastik]

I can attest that i've had many conversations with my batch-mates, guys receiving 2.5-3.5L+ monthly, yet, either completely 'unaware' or 'skeptical' of shifting their spends to Credit Cards. It may be a matter of their personal choice, which i can respect, since its between friends, but i think the primary culprit is Financial Literacy.
'Self discipline' is Key when it comes to CC spends, point blank.
India is presently at a juncture where Banks are willing to reward their CC spenders with a decent return / redemption.
Many advanced economies limit this benefit at merely a Priority Pass, accompanied with terrible returns.
So let's make hay while the sun shines.
(P.S.: Thanks to this post, just made acquaintance with a medical professional in AMD, Yay !!)

Yup ,many people either don't understand or are downright scared of credit cards ,and then their are others who don’t declare their full income to authorities & transact in mostly cash

I don't know much about credit cards in other countries but US cards seem to be very lucrative and rewarding ,check out Chase Saphire Reserve or Capital one venture x or even US Amex Plat Charge(one my close relative is a US citizen, we visit once in awhile ,so I've got some idea about their cards)

P.s. my friend is in AMD ,I'm currently based out of Vizag 😀

 

[Swastik]

Not from a Commercial establishment though,
One instance i remember fondly, skipping the queue and walking up to the 'Business' class check-in counter at Mumbai Adani Lounge and asking whether my card works (proceeded to pull out my Infinia).
She promptly acknowledged, swiped and I saved 20 mins of queuing time.

I thought the Business Class Adani Lounge at BOM T2 is only for Business Class Passengers, no cards work there ,at least that's what i was told when i was flying out of BOM to DXB last October
Cards are accepted at TFS Lounge though

 

[Lord Silvr]

Yup ,many people either don't understand or are downright scared of credit cards ,and then theur are others who don’t declare their full income to authorities & deal with only cash

I don't know much about credit cards in other countries but US cards seem to be very lucrative and rewarding ,check out Chase Saphire Reserve or Capital one venture x or even US Amex Plat Charge(one my close relative is a US citizen, we visit once in awhile ,so I've got some idea about their cards)

P.s. my friend is in AMD ,I'm currently based out of Vizag 😀

Yup, US issued cards are quite-rewarding and are the OG in my opinion.
But that's also the country where student loans can reach a figure enough to buy a house in India. Lol
P.S. : I If i'm ever in Vizag for work, I assure you the flight shall be booked via RP's and I will engage your medical brain in person.
Doctors making Bank, Globally !

 

[Swastik]

Yup, US issued cards are quite-rewarding and are the OG in my opinion.
But that's also the country where student loans can reach a figure enough to buy a house in India. Lol
P.S. : I If i'm ever in Vizag for work, I assure you the flight shall be booked via RP's and I will engage your medical brain in person.
Doctors making Bank, Globally !

Always welcome 😄

 

[Lord Silvr]

I thought the Business Class Adani Lounge at BOM T2 is only for Business Class Passengers, no cards work there ,at least that's what i was told when i was flying out of BOM to DXB last October
Cards are accepted at TFS Lounge though

You are right,

I thought the Business Class Adani Lounge at BOM T2 is only for Business Class Passengers, no cards work there ,at least that's what i was told when i was flying out of BOM to DXB last October
Cards are accepted at TFS Lounge though

It was this one for sure 👇

Adani Lounge (Domestic) - Terminal 2, Domestic - BOM

The Adani Lounge blends with the aesthetics of Mumbai Airport's striking Terminal 2. Enjoy premium dining and luxurious surroundings while awaiting your departure.

www.loungebuddy.com

I remember having the soda machine refilled cuz of poor maintenance.

 

[manju1]

That’s really nice that you have 2 🥳. INFINIA isn’t that hard anymore - a sure fire way that’s worked for most people is spend 5-7lacs in 6 months on your existing HDFC card and you should get Infinia. I know folks with less than 20LPA who got upgraded to INFINIA from regalia or regalia gold (don’t remember which one).

Even the creditcardsindia reddit is filled with people with INFINIA. I hardly saw 1-2 who had Emeralde private.

I have spent 8 lacs in last 6 months on my Diners black but the branch, credit card team at priority redressal have denied Infinia to me.
Based on your information, can you kindly elaborate how should i approach them to get Infinia

 

[Swastik]

I have spent 8 lacs in last 6 months on my Diners black but the branch, credit card team at priority redressal have denied Infinia to me.
Based on your information, can you kindly elaborate how should i approach them to get Infinia

You can try and escalate to higher level ,but they might tell you ,you need 10L limit for infinia uograde(that's what customer care told me) apart from spends

HDFC keeps Infinia well gaurded and exclusive enough so that it can use it as a laverage ,
The easier way to get it if you can convince your RM/BM at Branch ,switch branches if you need to ,the harder way is to get some Ulip or some other financial product from them(you might get LTF in this case)

P.s. if you meet both spend and CL criteria ,why not just download an Card Upgrade form from HDFC website, fill it and courier it Chennai yourself ,you won't get LTF but might get FYF

 

[callsignmaverick]

I have spent 8 lacs in last 6 months on my Diners black but the branch, credit card team at priority redressal have denied Infinia to me.
Based on your information, can you kindly elaborate how should i approach them to get Infinia

Most cases after this you see an upgrade option within the HDFC app itself. No need to approach anyone.
Also if I may ask if you already have DCB then why go through all this hassle. It's just a credit card at the end of the day. I had DCB for good 2-3 years and 99% of the time it was good enough. It was only when I made bigger flight purchases on smartbuy when the daily cap of 2500 started affecting me. So I shifted my travel spends to travel edge on Axis.

 

[callsignmaverick]

Heartiest Congratulations.
The details of your journey described in this article are well received, Sir !
Cheers !!

Thank you so much for your kind words, cheers 🙂

 

[callsignmaverick]

First of all, congrats on getting this Emeralde Private metal.

I understand there are 3 variants of this card -

• Emeralde
• Emeralde Private PVC
• Emeralde Private metal

Out of these, I am seeing "Emeralde" option in my iMobile app (with a Joining fee and annual fee of Rs 12000/- + GST)
Currently, I am having Sapphiro LTF.

Is there a way I can get Emeralde Private (PVC at least)? Is it needed to talk to the BM/RM or will it appear in the app?

Also, is there some link that compares the features and benefits of all these 3 clearly?

Thanks, I didn't know there were 3 options. I am aware of just the 2 like others mentioned. Most people have an app offer to upgrade to Emeralde PVC (which frankly doesn't justify the fees, in fact no icici card does at least when it comes to rewards %).
If you are getting it free though, then no harm.

I have no idea about what Emeralde Private PVC is and what are the benefits on that one.

 

[callsignmaverick]

Tell me about it ,i got my GF 3 Add on's on my Amex Plat Travel, Axis Vistara Signature and Magnus ,still she uses phonepe all the time 😬

I'm trying to convince her to get her own Rupay card for small UPI transactions and credit score building , but she thinks 3 Add on's are enough headache already 🥲

I hear you brother. Kahani ghar ghar ki...

 

[callsignmaverick]

I can attest that i've had many conversations with my batch-mates, guys receiving 2.5-3.5L+ monthly, yet, either completely 'unaware' or 'skeptical' of shifting their spends to Credit Cards. It may be a matter of their personal choice, which i can respect, since its between friends, but i think the primary culprit is Financial Literacy.
'Self discipline' is Key when it comes to CC spends, point blank.
India is presently at a juncture where Banks are willing to reward their CC spenders with a decent return / redemption.
Many advanced economies limit this benefit at merely a Priority Pass, accompanied with terrible returns.
So let's make hay while the sun shines.
(P.S.: Thanks to this post, just made acquaintance with a medical professional in AMD, Yay !!)

Exactly. Considering the MDR normally doesn’t exceed 2.5% any bank offering more than 1.5% rewards is burning its own money. Basic calculation is that out of the MDR major part goes to the card issuing bank and some part is taken by the network and some by aggregators or payment gateways).

In US they can afford giving heavy rewards on certain cards because it’s a fundamentally different market. One of my friends has been in US for 10 years and he told me that most people in US are ok with making minimum due payments and paying hefty interest payments. In US most banks earn heavily from credit card outstanding interests and it’s a major chunk of their income.

On the contrary you’ll hardly find anyone in India who would not try to pay the full amount. So credit card model in India won’t be sustainable in the long run. Reward rates will soon drop down. Lounge access is another big overhead for banks now since at the minimum the bank pays 500-600/visit to the lounge service provider.

 

[techt]

In US they can afford giving heavy rewards on certain cards because it’s a fundamentally different market. One of my friends has been in US for 10 years and he told me that most people in US are ok with making minimum due payments and paying hefty interest payments. In US most banks earn heavily from credit card outstanding interests and it’s a major chunk of their income.

On the contrary you’ll hardly find anyone in India who would not try to pay the full amount. So credit card model in India won’t be sustainable in the long run. Reward rates will soon drop down. Lounge access is another big overhead for banks now since at the minimum the bank pays 500-600/visit to the lounge service provider.

This is exactly what I said in some time back. Perpetual deep debts is the american way of life.

 

[dungeonMaster]

I couldn’t agree more. Besides most people don’t realize that optimising rewards/cashbacks and finding the best card for everything are time and mental peace consuming habits. And there comes a time in everyone’s life where all you want is to be at peace.

Here’s one example from my younger days. When I wanted to buy something I would check 10 websites, check every bank offer then find a friend who owned the offer card and then make the payment. Basically, tried Sam dand bhed to just get the best possible rate. And trust me doing this is a lot of effort, almost borderline obsessive and unhealthy.

And now I am at a juncture in life where I don’t have the liberty of so much free time. I find it much peaceful to just compare 1-2 sites and if I find the price reasonable I buy it (apparel, flight tickets etc)

Yeah used to do the same, now I don't care on optimising minute returns. We can optimise on bigger levels to create more impact on society and our income as well.

I also don't like to compare on 2-3 sites for flights etc, that's why I liked premium cards you can do flights with much better benefits.

 

[Lord Silvr]

I couldn’t agree more. Besides most people don’t realize that optimising rewards/cashbacks and finding the best card for everything are time and mental peace consuming habits. And there comes a time in everyone’s life where all you want is to be at peace.

Here’s one example from my younger days. When I wanted to buy something I would check 10 websites, check every bank offer then find a friend who owned the offer card and then make the payment. Basically, tried Sam dand bhed to just get the best possible rate. And trust me doing this is a lot of effort, almost borderline obsessive and unhealthy.

And now I am at a juncture in life where I don’t have the liberty of so much free time. I find it much peaceful to just compare 1-2 sites and if I find the price reasonable I buy it (apparel, flight tickets etc)

True dat !
Curiosity can quickly develop into a habit of becoming 'Penny-wise, Pound Foolish'.
Investing in developing the self is the best investment, that's why forums such as ours are a good-read; Community sharing from personal experience & helping each other maximize knowledge, spending & earning (hopefully).
Time is the most precious resource in life ( avoiding eye-contact with self while writing this at 1 AM).
Note to self: Sleep on time.......

 

[Lord Silvr]

Most cases after this you see an upgrade option within the HDFC app itself. No need to approach anyone.
Also if I may ask if you already have DCB then why go through all this hassle. It's just a credit card at the end of the day. I had DCB for good 2-3 years and 99% of the time it was good enough. It was only when I made bigger flight purchases on smartbuy when the daily cap of 2500 started affecting me. So I shifted my travel spends to travel edge on Axis.

From my experience, standard earning rate is same for both (150 INR =5 RP), but when it comes to spends, stuff like GYFTR vouchers are 3X with DCB instead of 5X with Infinia.
Plus maybe the acceptance rate across commercial establishments, though that's hearsay, not from personal exp.

 

[rajantech]

Since this is my first post here, let me start the post by giving a little background about me in credit cards context.

I have been using credit cards for almost 14 years now and started my journey with the humble Citi Rewards as my first credit card. When I got into the credit card world, it wasn't for points or prestige. It was just simple math - You are getting an amount interest free period of 50 days.

Slowly, I started getting into the points & rewards game and started building up my credit card portfolio. I remember the cards that gave me most points till around 5-6 years back were SBI Elite and SC Ultimate. Then once my salary account was moved to HDFC (from ICICI due to job change), I got hold of DCB. Just to point out, life was much simpler back then, you saw a card you liked - you checked the eligibility criteria and if you could meet it then apply. No FYF, LTF fundas. In fact except Magnus Burgundy I never asked for a free card (yes I was naive). I had DCB free for some years only because I met their annual spend criteria. After DCB, got hold of INFINIA in few years and then came Magnus followed by Magnus Burgundy [both came thanks to Axis burgundy account]. And I had to say Axis spoiled me, I had made lakhs of points of Ultimate, DCB, Infinia before but this was madness. The rewards were too good, but as someone who comes from a financial background I knew it would be mess sooner or later.

Now let me come back to the main topic, why the need for Emeralde Private when you already have INFINIA, Magnus Burgundy & Yes Marquee (recently acquired)?
One word answer - Exclusivity. At my age and with the years of experience in the credit card domain, plain points or benefits don't excite me as much as the exclusivity factor. I still remember the envious looks that I used to get 2-3 years back when I would pull out of my DCB or Infinia. In fact, till few months back most of my friends in the same financial bracket as me couldn't get INFINIA. But now that's kind of gone, while Infinia is still relatively exclusive - off late lot of people have started getting upgraded to INFINIA quite easily, which also makes me believe that an INFINIA devaluation is not far. And more importantly the card loses its exclusivity/snob factor. Less I talk about Magnus the better.

What cards I would have loved to get from an Exclusivity point of view:

1. Axis Private [Well quite someway to go for this]
2. Amex Platinum [All my friends used to swear by this card few years back, now everyone swears because of it. Customer service has gone down big time. Almost anyone who can pay the fees has this card can get it. Personally, I feel Amex has ruined it for most of their old customers. Most of my friends who held this card for many years, cancelled this last year or early this year. So this was ruled out completely]
3. Amex Centurion [Well with no. 2 not happening, this will never happen considering its offered only to select few Amex Platinum customers with high spends]
4. Axis Reserve [Was willing to overlook the reward transfer rate but then Axis hit the final nail in the coffin with the removal of transfers]
5. ICICI Emeralde Private [Seemed most sensible of the lot with benefits outweighing the fees and the fact that very very very few people have it, this would take care of the exclusivity factor]

I had to recently visit ICICI branch for some work with my home loan & was casually chatting with the branch manager about how far behind ICICI was in the credit cards game and he told me about this Emeralde Private Card and asked if I would be interested. Obviously, I said yes but he fore-warned me that in spite of the relationship there are absolute no guarantee that I might get the card and the process might take a month or more as they need to take 4 approvals including 1 from their Credit Card India head. [More on the application process later in another post].

So yesterday finally after almost 1.5 months, I got the card approved and I can see it on IMobile. The physical card should arrive in a day or two. While it was a long wait, it was definitely worth it because ICICI almost doubled my INFINIA credit limit and has offered a limit of 30L on the card. Another thing that makes the card worth it was the difficulty in getting it. Will become my daily driver card along with INFINIA from next month onwards.

Hi,
Congrats on your new Emeralde Metal card.
How much have been your total annual spend in the past, on all ICICI cards put together.

Just an observation. May be its based on moblie device we use.
I was looking at the mobile screen shot of your Emeralde card. Was wondering how come its written ‘Increase Limit’ near Rs 30 lacs. Normally I have seen ‘Manage Limit’ written at this place. Also the font of your name and position of name on the card is slightly different compared to other Emeralde Card. Seems like ICICi is making some improvements.

Which handset are you using.
Also, with due respect, can I request to reshare an updated screenshot of the Emeralde card (blackening the key information).

 

[cardio_guy]

Hi,
Congrats on your new Emeralde Metal card.
How much have been your total annual spend in the past, on all ICICI cards put together.

Just an observation. May be its based on moblie device we use.
I was looking at the mobile screen shot of your Emeralde card. Was wondering how come its written ‘Increase Limit’ near Rs 30 lacs. Normally I have seen ‘Manage Limit’ written at this place. Also the font of your name and position of name on the card is slightly different compared to other Emeralde Card. Seems like ICICi is making some improvements.

Which handset are you using.
Also, with due respect, can I request to reshare an updated screenshot of the Emeralde card (blackening the key information).

Also, There is an option to "Upgrade Now". After Emeralde Private, what else can you upgrade to! It is the highest card.
Please can you click there and see what upgrade options you are seeing. Just curious to know what sales is ICICI pushing.