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.
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Buying GuidesFD-backed cards and account-based limit enhancement: how collateral raises your ceiling
There is a peculiar Indian workaround for the hardest problem in credit: how do you get a credit card when no bank will give you one? You lend the bank money first. A fixed deposit-backed — secured — credit card flips th
Buying GuidesPremium banking bundles: when the bundled card is worth the relationship
Open a premium savings account at any large Indian bank and you will be offered a bundle: the account itself, a credit card with the fee waived, a debit card with higher limits, a locker at a discount, maybe insurance or
Buying GuidesZero-balance and student account combos: building your first credit relationship
Every credit history starts somewhere, and for most young Indians it starts with an account that costs nothing to open and nothing to maintain: the zero-balance savings account, often opened as a student account on a col
Buying GuidesWealth and private banking tiers: the credit cards that come with relationship value
Every large Indian bank runs a tiered relationship programme — wealth, privilege, private, priority, or whatever the current branding calls it. Above the ordinary savings account sits a ladder of tiers, each promising a
Buying GuidesPre-approved card offers from your own bank: how to read them honestly
"Pre-approved" is one of the most effective words in Indian retail banking. It arrives by SMS, email, app banner, and the occasional phone call: a credit card with your name practically on it, no income documents needed,
Buying GuidesSalary account cards: how your employer bank shapes your first credit card
For most salaried Indians, the first credit card does not come from a comparison website or a late-night research session. It comes from the bank where the salary lands. A relationship manager calls, or a banner appears
Buying GuidesTop-up and super-top-up health plans: the credit card strategy
Top-up and super-top-up health plans are the quiet workhorses of Indian health insurance: affordable covers that add a large sum insured on top of a deductible, sitting above your base policy or employer cover. Their pre
Buying GuidesGrace periods and lapses: using cards to never miss a premium
Every insurance policy has a due date, and almost every policy has a grace period after it — a window in which a late premium can still be paid and the policy stays in force. Miss the grace period and the policy lapses,
Buying GuidesBusiness insurance premiums on corporate cards: the playbook
Companies pay insurance premiums too — group health cover for employees, professional liability, office and asset policies, directors' cover — and these premiums are often large, annual, and entirely predictable. Paying
Buying GuidesClaim payouts and card refunds: how reversals interact with rewards
Pay a premium by card, then cancel the policy in the free-look period, downgrade mid-term, or correct a double payment — and money flows back to your card. What happens to the rewards you earned on the original payment?
Buying GuidesEMI on insurance premiums: when it helps and when it hurts
A large annual premium landing in a tight month raises an obvious question: should you convert it to EMI? Insurers, issuers, and payment gateways all offer ways to split a premium into instalments — but they are not the
Buying GuidesBig annual premiums and milestone benefits: timing that works
A large annual insurance premium is a rare thing in personal finance: a five- or six-figure payment you know about a year in advance, with a fixed date and no way to shrink it. For credit card strategy, that predictabili