The CardBuzz blog
Card-by-card write-ups from our team, features, fees, lounge access and who each card actually suits. For the numbers after every cap and exclusion, head to the card pages.
5309 posts · Page 194 of 443 · View the full archive
Deals & OffersTracking referral payouts: making sure every bonus lands
Referral bonuses fail silently. Unlike a missing cashback on a purchase — which you notice on your statement — a missing referral bonus is the absence of something you were only half-expecting, on a timeline you never wr
Deals & OffersReferral scams and fake links: how to spot fraud before you click
Referral programmes are built on links, codes, and trust — which makes them near-perfect camouflage for fraud. A scammer's fake "referral link" looks exactly like a real one: a bank logo, a promise of bonus points, a for
Deals & OffersTax treatment of referral earnings in India: what you should know
Nobody thinks about tax when a referral bonus lands. It arrives as points or a small cashback credit, it feels like a perk rather than income, and the amounts per referral are usually modest. But the general principle in
Deals & OffersReferral bonus vs welcome bonus: the maths that matters
Two bonuses chase every new card application in India: the welcome bonus the bank offers the applicant, and the referral bonus it offers the person who brought them. They look similar on a marketing page — both are acqui
Deals & OffersStacking referral bonuses across banks: the honest playbook
There is a particular kind of Indian cardholder who treats bank referral programmes like a second income: a link for every card they hold, a code for every account, and a mental spreadsheet of which friend owes which app
Deals & OffersCard invite codes and referral links: the mechanics that decide whether you get paid
Every referral programme boils down to one technical question: can the bank prove this application came from you? The answer lives in two mechanisms — invite codes and referral links — and the difference between them, pl
Deals & OffersBank referral bonuses decoded: how refer-and-earn actually pays out
Somewhere in every bank's marketing there is a "refer and earn" page promising rewards for bringing friends aboard. Most cardholders have seen one, few have ever received a payout, and almost nobody understands why a ref
Credit HealthEnquiry and personal sections: the credit report parts people skip
Every credit report has a headline section — the score and the account summary — that gets all the attention, and two supporting sections that almost nobody reads: the enquiries section and the personal-information secti
Credit HealthSettled vs closed vs written-off: decoding account status codes
The account status field is the most misread column on an Indian credit report. Borrowers see "settled" and think it means the loan is done and dusted. They see "closed" and assume all closures are equal. They see "writt
Credit HealthHow new accounts and closed accounts appear on your credit report
Accounts are born and die on your credit report on their own timetable — not yours. A credit card you were approved for last week may not appear for a month or two. A loan you closed last year still sits on the file, his
Credit HealthCredit report monitoring cadence and free pulls: a practical schedule
Everyone agrees you should "monitor your credit report regularly." Almost nobody does, because "regularly" is not a schedule — it is a vague intention that loses to everything else in life. The borrowers who actually cat
Credit HealthCo-applicant and guarantor entries on credit reports: what they mean
Open a credit report and every account carries an ownership tag: individual, joint, co-applicant, guarantor, or authorised user. Most borrowers understand "individual" — it is their account. The other tags are where conf