How-To Guides
Practical guides to EMIs, reward redemptions, lounge access, fee waivers and getting more from your cards.
2040 posts · Page 107 of 170
How-To GuidesGrocery MCCs: supermarkets vs kirana stores
Grocery is most Indian households' largest card-spend category, and it's where MCC differences quietly create the biggest rewards gaps. The same monthly grocery budget can earn meaningfully different rewards depending on
How-To GuidesFuel MCCs: why petrol-pump rewards behave differently
Fuel is the oddest category in the Indian credit-card rewards landscape. It has its own MCCs, its own surcharge mechanics, its own waiver logic, and its own reward exclusions — a parallel system sitting inside your card'
How-To GuidesWallet loads, rent and utilities: the MCC traps to know about
Three of the most common Indian household payments — loading a mobile wallet, paying rent, and paying utility bills — sit in MCC territory that behaves very differently from ordinary retail spending. They are the classic
How-To GuidesHow to find a merchant's MCC before you pay
Knowing that MCCs decide your rewards is only half the battle. The other half is finding out a merchant's MCC before you commit a large payment — because the code is set by the merchant's acquirer, it isn't printed on th
How-To GuidesMCC exclusions: the transactions that silently earn zero rewards
There is a special kind of disappointment reserved for the cardholder who routes a large payment through the "right" card, waits for the rewards to land, and gets nothing. No error, no explanation — the transaction poste
How-To GuidesWhat merchant category codes are — and why they decide your rewards
Every time you swipe, tap, or pay online with your credit card, a quiet piece of information travels along with the money: a four-digit number called the merchant category code, or MCC. It tells your bank what kind of bu
How-To GuidesThe annual card-renewal calendar: a month-by-month checklist
Credit cards don't demand much attention most of the year — until a renewal fee lands, a card expires mid-trip, or an autopay fails silently. A lightweight annual calendar, checked once a month, prevents all three. Here'
How-To GuidesRefund issued to an expired card: how the money reaches you
You return a purchase, the merchant processes the refund — and then you realize the card it was charged to has expired. The money isn't lost, but the route it takes to reach you depends on where your account stands. Here
How-To GuidesCard validity periods in India: why some cards last 5 years and others longer
Flip through your wallet and you'll notice the expiry dates vary: one card runs five years, another eight, a third only three. Card validity periods aren't random — they reflect issuer policy, card-network rules, and the
How-To GuidesRenew or upgrade? Deciding when the renewal-fee notice arrives
The renewal-fee notice is the one moment each year when inertia meets arithmetic. Most cardholders either auto-pay the fee without thinking or threaten to close in irritation. There's a better third option to evaluate fi
How-To GuidesRenewal and retention offers: how to ask for them
Banks would rather keep a paying customer than acquire a new one, and renewal time is when that preference becomes money on the table. Retention offers — fee waivers, bonus points, statement credits — exist at nearly eve
How-To GuidesTokenized cards and expiry: what changes when the card is renewed
RBI's card-on-file tokenization rules changed how Indian merchants store your card details: instead of your real 16-digit number, they hold a token issued by the card network. That raises an obvious question at renewal t