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.
6094 posts · Page 320 of 508 · View the full archive
How-To GuidesMerchant discount rate (MDR): what it is, and why your rewards exist
Every time you swipe a credit card, the merchant doesn't receive the full amount you paid. A slice is deducted before the money reaches them — the merchant discount rate, or MDR. That slice is the hidden engine of the en
How-To GuidesLate-payment fee tiers: how the slabs are structured and how to never pay one
Miss a credit-card due date and the punishment comes in three layers: a late-payment fee, interest on the outstanding from the purchase date, and a black mark on your credit report if the delay stretches past 30 days. Th
How-To GuidesOver-limit fees: how they work and how utilisation guards keep you under the line
Credit limits feel like hard walls until the day a transaction sails through above them — and then the over-limit fee arrives. Going over your limit is not just a billing event; it is a credit-health event too, because h
How-To GuidesGST on credit card fees and interest: how the 18% tax layer works on your bill
Open any credit-card statement that carries a fee and you'll find the fee listed twice: once as the fee, once as the GST on it. Since the GST rollout, financial services — including everything your card issuer charges yo
How-To GuidesCash advances: the withdrawal fee, and why the interest-free period dies on them
Your credit card can give you cash at an ATM. That sentence is technically true and financially catastrophic advice. A cash advance is the single most expensive thing you can do with a credit card — not because of one fe
How-To GuidesInternational spends: regular cards versus zero-forex-markup cards — the real cost comparison
Every international card transaction carries a hidden tax: the foreign-currency markup. Most Indian credit cards add a markup of a few per cent on top of the network's exchange rate; a newer breed of cards advertises "ze
How-To GuidesRent payments on a credit card: platform fees versus the rewards you earn
Paying rent with a credit card is a uniquely Indian optimisation game. Landlords don't take cards, so intermediary platforms — apps that accept your card and transfer the money to your landlord's bank account — stepped i
How-To GuidesEMI processing fees decoded: what the fee covers and when you pay it
"No-cost EMI" is one of the most seductive phrases in Indian retail — and one of the most misleading. Even when the interest is genuinely zero, converting a purchase into instalments often carries a processing fee. It is
How-To GuidesIRCTC and aggregator convenience fees: the real cost of booking travel on your card
A train ticket booked at the station counter costs the fare, the reservation charge, and any superfast surcharge. The identical ticket booked online costs all of that plus a convenience fee — and if you book through a tr
How-To GuidesFuel surcharge decoded: what it is and how waiver caps really work
Fill fuel worth two thousand rupees with a credit card and your statement may show a little extra — a line item called fuel surcharge. Pay with a card that advertises a "fuel surcharge waiver" and that line item is rever
Buying GuidesThe first-time homebuyer's card strategy: a payment-by-payment playbook
A first home purchase is not one payment — it is a sequence of seven or eight, spread over months, each with its own rails, fees, and rewards logic. Buyers who treat it as a single event either swipe everywhere and bleed
Buying GuidesHome insurance premiums on credit cards: the annual-premium reward play
Home insurance — covering the building's structure, and optionally the contents — is the quietest payment in the home-buying journey: one premium, once a year, easy to forget. It is also one of the cleanest rewards plays