In 2019, the number of credit card users in India was 52 million. In 2020, exactly a year later, that number shot up to a whopping 57.4 million. At the same time, if we have a look at the number of debit card users, that number had a significant drop. This is an unprecedented rise in the number of credit card users in India. It is primarily because people are slowly starting to get swooned over by the attractive benefits that a credit card comes with.
And one of the biggest advantages of owning a credit card as opposed to a debit card is its rewards system. Credit cards are designed in such a way that every time there is a purchase made using a credit card, the cardholder earns some rewards in the form of either cash or points, or air miles, Avail a much more attractive deal on the best credit cards in India.
Most of these rewards are centered around the companies a credit card is partnered with, like the Bajaj Finserv Platinum Plus First-Year SuperCard, which gives a 1+1 free movie ticket on BookMyShow twice a month. However, this is not to say that there are no rewards for making purchases elsewhere. Most credit cards provide reward points for every 100 INR you spend using the card.
With different types of credit cards, banks have also created a system where customers can opt for cards suitable to their requirements to maximize their rewards. Travel credit cards, for instance, have mostly air miles as rewards while fuel credit cards have accelerated rewards for fuel purchase.
Ways to earn credit card reward points
Are you confused about how to use all credit card reward points, Let us look at some of the ways in which different credit cards allow the holders to earn reward points?
- Welcome rewards: A significant amount of reward points are awarded once a customer signs up for a particular credit card. Most cards from reputed banks like SBI and ICICI Bank often give rewards as much as 20,000 points, which might amount to Rs. 6,000. This is often given by banks to encourage the users to spend more using the card.
- Regular rewards: These are rewards that are awarded for every fixed amount of money spent using the card. Some credit cards like the JetPrivilege HDFC Bank Diners Club Credit Card offer 8 points per Rs. 150 spent. Others offer a fixed 4 points or so for every Rs. 100 spent using the card. These regular rewards keep accumulating to finally form a large enough redeemable amount.
- Special rewards: A lot of banks give special rewards on just fuel purchases. Some others are dedicated to rewards only for air tickets.
- Annual rewards: If you spend a particular amount of money every year, banks often award an annual reward. Although, the amount is dependent on your yearly spending.
- Travel rewards: Most banks have dedicated travel credit cards that offer rewards every time you buy a flight ticket or rent a hotel. This can be really useful for people who are frequent travelers and frequent flyers.
Ways to use your credit card reward points?
There are some usual ways in which most credit card companies allow credit cardholders to redeem their accrued reward points. A very common way to redeem them is flight tickets. Most credit cards give rewards in the form of air miles, but that aside, you can also use your reward points to buy flight tickets (often from partnered airlines). You can also get movie tickets and access to golf clubs using the reward points. Most banks also allow customers to redeem reward points with vouchers from different shopping outlets and restaurants.