Upgrading from Regalia Gold to DCB Metal - Acceptance for Offline POS in India? (Seeking Suggestions)

[s4techco]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently considering upgrading my HDFC Bank Regalia Gold credit card to the Diners Club Black (DCB) Metal variant. Before I proceed, I'd really appreciate some insights and suggestions from those who use or have experience with the DCB Metal, particularly regarding its acceptance in India.

My primary concern revolves around the card's network acceptance. While I'm aware of the SmartBuy portal benefits, my spending habits are such that I'll be utilizing very little in SmartBuy, vouchers, or other online-specific redemptions. My major spending is predominantly through offline POS (Point of Sale) transactions – basically, swiping at physical stores.

Therefore, my main question is:

Will the Diners Club network credit card be widely accepted on normal swiping machines (POS terminals) across various merchants in India?

Thanks in advance for your valuable suggestions!

 

[ashwinikumar900]

I upgraded to DCB last month. I have used it in offline POS terminals though sparingly . Acceptance is alright. But some sites like Linked In , IIBF do not accept Diners cards. Linkedin is owned by Microsoft. It is a big miss. I am still learning about the acceptability of this Network .

Add Google too in the list.

 

[s4techco]

I upgraded to DCB last month. I have used it in offline POS terminals though sparingly . Acceptance is alright. But some sites like Linked In , IIBF do not accept Diners cards. Linkedin is owned by Microsoft. It is a big miss. I am still learning about the acceptability of this Network .

I understand that government spending is generally not eligible for reward points on the DCB Metal credit card. Does this mean I will not get reward points for government transactions under MCC 9399?

 

[Aniket Sharma]

I understand that government spending is generally not eligible for reward points on the DCB Metal credit card. Does this mean I will not get reward points for government transactions under MCC 9399?
View attachment 100711

Yes, no rewards, i spend on electricity on govt website directly & didn't got rewards.

 

[pranjal1984]

I understand that government spending is generally not eligible for reward points on the DCB Metal credit card. Does this mean I will not get reward points for government transactions under MCC 9399?
View attachment 100711

Govt transactions will not yield rewards only spends will be considered.

 

[nikhilv0303]

Govt transactions will not yield rewards only spends will be considered.

It'll still be counted for quarterly milestones right?

 

[pranjal1984]

Ye

It'll still be counted for quarterly milestones right?

Yes it is counted.

 

[abhiaj_geek]

It'll still be counted for quarterly milestones right?

Afaik, every spend (maybe except emis), including rent, govt txns, tax, utilties etc are counted for quarterly milestones.

 

[ashwinikumar900]

Afaik, every spend (maybe except emis), including rent, govt txns, tax, utilties etc are counted for quarterly milestones.

Even Wallet loads, that’s what make this card a strong contender of Infinia.

 

[DrHits]

Using it since a year, have spent more than 10L, got bonus reward points twice, only once it got rejected in old machine, rest all times it worked with easy.
this is good for domestic spends, it wasn’t helpfully for me in 🇲🇾 Malaysia with the acceptance there!
Honest opinion, go for it!

 

[y2k]

Thanks for sharing your experience, especially about offline acceptance & online issues. That's very helpful insight!

You've hit on my dilemma regarding Infinia. Unfortunately, I don't currently have a high enough credit limit to directly qualify for Infinia. The suggestion I received was to first upgrade to the DCB Metal, with the expectation that a higher limit might eventually be offered, paving the way for an Infinia Metal upgrade down the line.

I'm wondering, from your experience, does the card variant itself (e.g., holding a DCB Metal vs. a Regalia Gold) play a significant role in credit limit enhancements, or is it almost entirely based on one's spend pattern and repayment history? I've always believed it's all abt spend pattern.

In my experience card variant helps with starting limit but is not the sole deciding factor even for starting limit as long as you qualify for a certain variant. Post that it is solely dependent on spending and repayment pattern. Probably that is why the upgrade criteria is around CL and spending (along with income as two out of these three) and not on existing card variant.

 

[abhiaj_geek]

In my experience card variant helps with starting limit but is not the sole deciding factor even for starting limit as long as you qualify for a certain variant. Post that it is solely dependent on spending and repayment pattern. Probably that is why the upgrade criteria is around CL and spending (along with income as two out of these three) and not on existing card variant.

This is true.

For example dcb has a minimum limit of 5L I think. Many people in my circle with no credit score got dcb ltf back in 2022 with 5L limit.

 

[y2k]

This is true.

For example dcb has a minimum limit of 5L I think. Many people in my circle with no credit score got dcb ltf back in 2022 with 5L limit.

Good to see somebody here agrees to that. I am seeing in most threads how people are going with the flow of variants and premium tags even if their use case doesn't fit in naturally for a certain card variant.

I think this entire notion that variants matter is not natural user psychology but a result of banks creating a pyramid of cards where the top most card is very beneficial - in the sense it fits in most use cases in a generic fashion and then they make the lesser useful cards look like so called stepping stone as if this is some school where you need to clear class 5 before going to class 6. And most people will follow that ideology and hype it with tags like premium and super premium instead of thinking them as useful, less useful, most useful etc for their use case which is the natural user psychology.

I will give my example, I stated with HDFC Times Platinum, I think 60K limit about 10 years ago. No enquiry no new CC until 2023. Didn't care to change my use case basis what the bank is offering. They want to reward me more on X brand yet if I like Y brand I ain't gonna dance to their tune. I will spend they way I want and where I want, the only thing that is in sync with bank is timely repayment. The CL grew to 12L+ and I didn't realise it can be leveraged for what maybe a more useful card and not a more premium card. That too because now they have discontinued my card variant that I got to know casually. Turns out based on CL and relationship with them I am eligible for Infinia if I can meet the spend criteria - to which I get close but not exactly cross it.

I don't care about premium as much as I care about useful and so does the bank. For them people who pay them more - either in fees or in spend are more useful not because they hold a certain variant. So be yourself and don't fall for the variant or premium tag, focus on the spend and repayment.

No such thing as premium, only useful.

 

[Irontech]

I have been using Diners Black for the last 7 years without any problem in India, have never failed any offline transaction and only Razorpay is the online hinderance but all small and big ecommerce have mostly worked fine.

 

[y2k]

I have been using Diners Black for the last 7 years without any problem in India, have never failed any offline transaction and only Razorpay is the online hinderance but all small and big ecommerce have mostly worked fine.

Can you confirm please for Google, Linkedin and Microsoft? I read that these companies also don't accept it. Is that true in youe experience any other such big tech providers that don't accept it?