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.
5420 posts · Page 209 of 452 · View the full archive
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.
Credit HealthBonus vs credit card debt: the payoff order that saves the most interest
Your bonus has landed — or will, with Diwali 2026 on Sunday, 8 November — and you carry balances on more than one card. Which one do you pay first? The answer is not "the one with the biggest bill" and not "a little off
Credit HealthGot your Diwali bonus? A cardholder's priority ladder for deploying it
Diwali is approaching — Diwali 2026 falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026, with Dhanteras on Friday, 6 November — and for millions of salaried Indians, the festive season arrives hand in hand with the annual bonus. That bonus
Buying GuidesDhanteras gold mistakes that cost cardholders every year
Dhanteras 2026 falls on Friday, 6 November 2026, and every year the same mistakes repeat at jewellers across India — same counter, same festival rush, same expensive lessons. This guide collects the costliest ones specif
Buying GuidesGold buying reward math: points, cashback and milestone benefits
Rewards are the reason most people consider putting a Dhanteras gold purchase on a credit card — and also the reason many overpay. The maths of rewards on a large, single-category purchase like gold is unforgiving: small
Buying GuidesBank offers on Dhanteras gold: how to verify before you swipe
Every Dhanteras, banks and card issuers announce festive offers — instant discounts, cashback, reward multipliers, no-cost EMI plans — and gold purchases feature prominently in the marketing. Some of these offers are gen
Buying GuidesSovereign gold bonds are gone: card-friendly gold alternatives for 2026
For years, Sovereign Gold Bonds were the smart money's answer to gold in India: gold-linked returns, no making charges, no storage worry, and interest on top. But the government has not announced any new SGB tranches sin