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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How-To GuidesStudent travel insurance on cards: what's covered before you fly
Many Indian credit cards — especially mid-tier and premium ones — bundle complimentary travel insurance: trip cancellation, lost baggage, flight delays, sometimes medical cover. For a student flying abroad, this sounds l
How-To GuidesBuilding credit history as an Indian student overseas
Here's something nobody tells you at the pre-departure briefing: your Indian credit history doesn't travel with you. The credit score you've built (or not built) in India means nothing to a lender in the US, UK, Canada,
How-To GuidesForex cards vs credit cards for students abroad: a decision framework
One of the first money decisions every Indian student makes before flying out is deceptively simple: forex card or credit card? You'll use one of them (usually both, in some split) for everything from coffee to cab fares
How-To GuidesPaying foreign university tuition with Indian credit cards: the real cost
If you're heading to a foreign university, one of the largest single payments of your life is probably coming up: tuition. Universities abroad typically quote fees in dollars, pounds, euros, or the local currency, and th
Credit HealthYear-end card portfolio review: using bonus season to upgrade or downgrade
Bonus season — with Diwali 2026 on Sunday, 8 November — is the one time of year when your card behaviour, your spending data, and your cash position are all visible at once. That makes it the ideal moment for the annual
Credit HealthThe lifestyle-inflation trap: why bonuses vanish and how cards help track it
Here is the paradox of the Diwali bonus: the people who most need it to build wealth are the ones whose lifestyles absorb it fastest. The bonus lands, spending rises to meet it — a nicer Diwali, a bigger gift budget, an
Credit HealthBonus-time insurance top-ups: paying premiums smartly on cards
Insurance premiums and Diwali bonuses arrive in the same season for a practical reason: many Indian families review their protection cover as the financial year-end approaches, and the bonus provides the lump sum that an
Credit HealthInvesting your bonus vs spending it: a cardholder's framework
Every Diwali bonus faces the same fork in the road: invest it or enjoy it. The internet yells "invest everything" from one side and "you earned it, live a little" from the other. Both are lazy. The right answer depends o
Credit HealthBonus, CIBIL and credit utilization: the year-end cleanup
Your Diwali bonus can do something no amount of careful monthly budgeting can: transform your credit profile in a single stroke. Credit bureaus in India — CIBIL being the best known — build your score from your reported
Credit HealthBuilding your emergency fund with bonus money (and where cards fit)
Ask a room of credit card holders what their emergency fund looks like and most will point at their card. "I have a Rs 3,00,000 limit — that is my emergency fund." It is not. A credit limit is the bank's money offered at
Credit HealthBonus-time big purchases: stacking cards, offers and portals
Diwali 2026 — Sunday, 8 November, with Dhanteras on Friday, 6 November — is India's biggest buying season, and your bonus often lands right in the middle of it. Big purchases are going to happen: appliances, jewellery, e
Credit HealthShould you preclose card EMIs with your bonus? The break-even math
Your bonus arrives just as three card EMIs are mid-tenure — the phone from the summer sale, the appliance from last Diwali, maybe a "no-cost EMI" or two. The temptation is obvious: take the bonus, kill the EMIs, be free.