Infinia Query on HDFC Infinia vs HDFC Diners Black Metal Reward

[Indrajeet100]

Everyone is chasing Infinia, I just wondered how better it is from Diners Black Metal. Here is my working. Please correct if wrong-
1. Less than Rs.8lacs annual spend, it doesn't need much calculation as Diners Metal will attract annual fees without any reward whereas Infinia effectively only GST is paid as one gets 12500 points on renewal fees.
2. 8lacs spend with Diners meeting milestone in 2 quarters and 20k per month on vouchers- Diners 62k (24k on 3x vouchers+18k on remaining spend+20k milestone vs Infinia 58k( 40k on 5x vouchers+ 18k on remaining spend)
3. If spend on 5x vouchers is 30k per month, it is equal 66666 points

So basic equation is if meeting Diners milestone in atleast 2 quarters and 5x vouchers spend is less than 30k per month, Diners gives better return than Infinia. Difference get more in favor of Diners if milestones are met in more quarters or Infinia 5x voucher spend gets lower.
So in many conditions Diners Metal can be more rewarding than Infinia.
Yes of course there is major issue of acceptability of Diners so will need to have atleast one major card alongwith Diners.
Feedback if I have got any numbers wrong here.

 

[Kabir_1112]

If you could not do quarterly milestone or have decent Gyftr shopping then Infinia would be good.

I have recently started buying vouchers using Gyftry after reading it here. Mostly for zomato, Uber, Zepto.. Approximately for 10-12k monthly.

 

[ashwinikumar900]

I am confused as I'm having DCB Metal and I am very close to spending 10 lakh in 6 months. And if it happens should I try for Infinia or keep using DCB? Overall I'm happy using my Dcb card and have never faced any issue with it.

For the past 3–4 months, my RM has been persistently suggesting that I upgrade to the HDFC Infinia Card, emphasising my eligibility. However, since a significant portion of my spending occurs outside the SmartBuy platform, I find the 10K milestone benefits of my current card more advantageous. Additionally, I recently acquired the ICICI Times Black card, which has effectively replaced SmartBuy with iShop for my needs.

For business-related expenses, I rely on the HDFC BIZ BLACK card. With these three cards—HDFC BIZ BLACK, ICICI Times Black, and HDFC DCB METAL—I feel adequately covered for now. I recommend evaluating your spending patterns and preferences carefully before deciding on an upgrade.

 

[vadixit]

I have recently started buying vouchers using Gyftry after reading it here. Mostly for zomato, Uber, Zepto.. Approximately for 10-12k monthly.

By rough calculation I made, each quarterly milestone would be compensated with 12.5K monthly vouchers. So if I could do 2 quarterly milestone in DCBM, I need 12.5 X 2 = 25K monthly vouchers to compensate it.
There are other features on Infinia as well like monthly capping, Tanishq, I guess some dining features, etc and hence above calculation needs to be tweeked based on your need.

 

[hender]

For the past 3–4 months, my RM has been persistently suggesting that I upgrade to the HDFC Infinia Card, emphasising my eligibility. However, since a significant portion of my spending occurs outside the SmartBuy platform, I find the 10K milestone benefits of my current card more advantageous. Additionally, I recently acquired the ICICI Times Black card, which has effectively replaced SmartBuy with iShop for my needs.

For business-related expenses, I rely on the HDFC BIZ BLACK card. With these three cards—HDFC BIZ BLACK, ICICI Times Black, and HDFC DCB METAL—I feel adequately covered for now. I recommend evaluating your spending patterns and preferences carefully before deciding on an upgrade.

Appreciate the approach, and mindset 👍✅.

 

[DarthBrooks]

I have never faced any issue to be honest. I'm using it even for purchase in stores, online and never faced any issue. Recently I was traveling overseas and it worked at 9 out of 10 places.

That's good to hear, my colleagues have the card and although I have seen 100% success offline, I do find some websites that don't work with Diners, but I guess Gyftr can help in most of the cases with that.

 

[Slayer]

For business-related expenses, I rely on the HDFC BIZ BLACK card. With these three cards—HDFC BIZ BLACK, ICICI Times Black, and HDFC DCB METAL—I feel adequately covered for now. I recommend evaluating your spending patterns and preferences carefully before deciding on an upgrade.

You got TB after you paid 24k for TB

 

[dexter_greycells]

OP, you said it right. For some people (I am not saying majority or minority), Diners Black is better than Infinia. For others, it is the other way around.

One often-overlooked Diners Black benefit that you forgot is the 2X RPs on weekend dining. This helps at restaurants or even small hotels that don't accept Swiggy Dineout, EazyDiner, District (Zomato). If you have monthly 5k / annually 60k weekend dining spends, you are talking an extra 2k RPs on Diners Black v/s Infinia.

Acceptability of Diners has been blown out of proportion - a bit like saying Bumrah is a bad bowler because his no-ball against the centurion Fakhar Zaman in the 2013 Champions Trophy final cost us the trophy.

 

[ashwinikumar900]

Yes

OP, you said it right. For some people (I am not saying majority or minority), Diners Black is better than Infinia. For others, it is the other way around.

One often-overlooked Diners Black benefit that you forgot is the 2X RPs on weekend dining. This helps at restaurants or even small hotels that don't accept Swiggy Dineout, EazyDiner, District (Zomato). If you have monthly 5k / annually 60k weekend dining spends, you are talking an extra 2k RPs on Diners Black v/s Infinia.

Acceptability of Diners has been blown out of proportion - a bit like saying Bumrah is a bad bowler because his no-ball against the centurion Fakhar Zaman in the 2013 Champions Trophy final cost us the trophy.

Thanks, I didn’t knew about weekend benefits. And Yes I do remember that NO BALL, horrific, we were ecstatic as soon as he was bold but equally depressed at NO BALL. 🤨. By the way, BUMRAH had the serious issue of delivering NO BALLS. And yes acceptability is the issue, but 95% of times, no issues. Razorpay is the major online channel

OP, you said it right. For some people (I am not saying majority or minority), Diners Black is better than Infinia. For others, it is the other way around.

One often-overlooked Diners Black benefit that you forgot is the 2X RPs on weekend dining. This helps at restaurants or even small hotels that don't accept Swiggy Dineout, EazyDiner, District (Zomato). If you have monthly 5k / annually 60k weekend dining spends, you are talking an extra 2k RPs on Diners Black v/s Infinia.

Acceptability of Diners has been blown out of proportion - a bit like saying Bumrah is a bad bowler because his no-ball against the centurion Fakhar Zaman in the 2013 Champions Trophy final cost us the trophy.

Thanks, I didn’t knew about weekend benefits. And Yes I do remember that NO BALL, horrific, we were ecstatic as soon as he was bold but equally depressed at NO BALL. 🤨. By the way, BUMRAH had the serious issue of delivering NO BALLS. And yes acceptability is the issue, but 95% of times, no issues. Razorpay is the major online channel who doesn’t accepts.

 

[Indrajeet100]

After ICICI started ishop, suddenly need to upgrade from DCB to Infinia became less appealing as I got EPM last year. I can manage 4lacs milestone by normal spend plus advance tax payment for atleast 2 quarters. Earlier used tax payments to get milestone on Amex Travel but no rewards in payment of Amex bills it is less appealing. DCB 10k milestone is great way to recover cost of paying tax through credit card and earn some returns on this spend indirectly.

 

[Kushagra_]

With the recent domestic lounge priority pass rule change for Infinia, is it a good card compared to Dcb Metal?

There has been no change in priority pass for domestic lounge
Nothing changes

 

[jaisabharwal]

Can I m eligible for rewards points if use hdfc dcb metal card on tata neu insurance payment??

 

[doctoramar]

For the past 3–4 months, my RM has been persistently suggesting that I upgrade to the HDFC Infinia Card, emphasising my eligibility. However, since a significant portion of my spending occurs outside the SmartBuy platform, I find the 10K milestone benefits of my current card more advantageous. Additionally, I recently acquired the ICICI Times Black card, which has effectively replaced SmartBuy with iShop for my needs.

For business-related expenses, I rely on the HDFC BIZ BLACK card. With these three cards—HDFC BIZ BLACK, ICICI Times Black, and HDFC DCB METAL—I feel adequately covered for now. I recommend evaluating your spending patterns and preferences carefully before deciding on an upgrade.

Hi! Any advantage of having both biz black and dcb metal?
Have Biz black and regalia hold.Planning to upgrade from regalia gold to Dcb or infinia.Infinia is a stretch , Dcb achievable so wanted to know.

 

[aniketkr.sharma]

Hi! Any advantage of having both biz black and dcb metal?
Have Biz black and regalia hold.Planning to upgrade from regalia gold to Dcb or infinia.Infinia is a stretch , Dcb achievable so wanted to know.

Tax payment only

 

[ashwinikumar900]

Hi! Any advantage of having both biz black and dcb metal?
Have Biz black and regalia hold.Planning to upgrade from regalia gold to Dcb or infinia.Infinia is a stretch , Dcb achievable so wanted to know.

First of all I have business too, so for those transactions I use BIZ BLACK. Other than those Tax, Insurance Renewals, bills through payzapp (there are some exclusions though) etc. And one more thing since BIZ BLACK gives you milestones (without any specific time frame, you just need to spend 5L) too so the net base return becomes 4.4%.
I assume you already know the benefits of DCB METAL, so need to explain that. If u have any further questions feel free to ask.

 

[doctoramar]

First of all I have business too, so for those transactions I use BIZ BLACK. Other than those Tax, Insurance Renewals, bills through payzapp (there are some exclusions though) etc. And one more thing since BIZ BLACK gives you milestones (without any specific time frame, you just need to spend 5L) too so the net base return becomes 4.4%.
I assume you already know the benefits of DCB METAL, so need to explain that. If u have any further questions feel free to ask.

Thank you for the detailed reply.
Am already using my biz black for my tax, business payments.

Using Atlas for flights, regular day to day spends and school fees.

ITR is 30 lakhs.So eligible for Dcb metal.

Wish to upgrade my regalia gold to Infinia , can put 9 lakh spends in 6 months on regalia but have only 5 lakh credit limit.

So, in two minds either take a chance spend 9 lakhs and ask for both credit limit increase and upgrade to infinia or upgrading to Dcb and wait till my credit limit increases!

 

[ashwinikumar900]

Wait and go for Infinia, in my opinion, since u already have BIZ BLACK. What’s your current card limit, I heard that they increase the upgrade to infinia limit criteria from 8L to higher amount (I guess 10 or 12L).

 

[doctoramar]

Wait and go for Infinia, in my opinion, since u already have BIZ BLACK. What’s your current card limit, I heard that they increase the upgrade to infinia limit criteria from 8L to higher amount (I guess 10 or 12L).

Credit limit is 5 lakhs.Thats the problem!Will wait for a credit limit increase and try then.