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.
5450 posts · Page 215 of 455 · View the full archive
Buying GuidesCard-linked offers on shopping apps: how activate-and-pay works
There is a second rewards mechanism running quietly alongside issuer shopping portals, and it works in reverse. Instead of clicking through a portal to the merchant, you activate an offer on your card first, then shop wh
How-To GuidesTracking missing portal rewards: the claim process that actually works
The portal bonus is supposed to post a few weeks after your purchase. Sometimes it does not. The order shipped, the card was charged, the card's own points posted — but the portal bonus never arrived. This is the most fr
How-To GuidesWhy portal purchases sometimes code as a different merchant category
You click through your issuer's portal to a travel site, book a flight, and expect your card's generous travel-category earn rate. Weeks later, the points post at the plain base rate — the transaction coded as something
How-To GuidesStacking rewards on issuer portals: portal bonus plus card rewards
Stacking is the art of earning more than one reward on a single purchase. On issuer shopping portals, the natural stack has two layers: the portal bonus for clicking through, plus your card's own base rewards for paying.
How-To GuidesPortal or direct? A decision rule for routing online spends
Every online purchase now comes with a small fork in the road: click through your issuer's shopping portal and pick up a bonus, or go straight to the merchant and check out directly. Most people decide on gut feel — port
Buying GuidesHow issuer shopping portals earn you extra rewards on the same purchase
Most credit card users in India know the basics of earning rewards: swipe the card, earn points on the spend, redeem later. What far fewer people use is the issuer's shopping portal — a separate online doorway, usually s
How-To GuidesThe Cardholder Paperwork Reset: Getting Statements and Documents in Order
Nobody frames their credit card statements. Nobody should — but everybody should be able to find them. Statements, fee schedules, closure confirmations, dispute references, and reward programme terms form the paper trail
How-To Guides2027 Spend Goals by Category: Match Every Rupee to the Right Card
Most cardholders set financial goals in rupees — "save more," "spend less" — and then route every purchase through whichever card is on top of the stack. The result is predictable: rewards leak away in small, invisible d
How-To GuidesWhy Your 2027 Card Portfolio Needs an Emergency Buffer Card
Every well-designed system has a component whose entire job is to do nothing — until the day it does everything. In engineering it is the backup generator. In personal finance, it is the emergency buffer card: a credit c
Credit HealthCredit Utilisation Planning for 2027: Spend Smarter, Score Higher
Of all the levers that move a credit score, utilisation is the strangest: it rewards you for having credit you do not use, punishes you for using the credit you were granted, and resets its memory every month as if nothi
How-To GuidesThe January Autopay Audit: Reviewing Every Card Mandate Before 2027
Autopay is the financial equivalent of a self-driving car: wonderful when it works, and you only discover the failure modes at the worst possible moment. Over the years, your cards accumulate mandates the way browsers ac
How-To GuidesSweep Your Expiring Rewards Before the New Year: A Points Rescue Plan
Somewhere in your wallet right now, points are dying. Reward programmes attach expiry clocks to their currencies — some points last three years, some last one, some expire at the end of the calendar year regardless of wh