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 GuidesPurchase protection on credit cards: what's covered, for how long, and how to claim
Your new phone was bought on your credit card. Three weeks later, a break-in at home takes it away. Did your card just pay for the loss — or did you pay the EMI on a phone you no longer own? For cardholders with purchase
News & DevaluationsWhat could change next: the cards most likely to be devalued in late 2026
Nine months of 2026 brought devaluations from HDFC, Axis, SBI, ICICI and Amex. The question now is what the last quarter holds. This isn't news — it's analysis. Every call below is a reasoned watch-list based on the patt
How-To GuidesWhy banks devalue credit cards: the economics behind the cuts
Every devaluation announcement reads like a betrayal. But behind the angry threads is an arithmetic that was always going to catch up. Understanding why banks cut — the actual economics, not the conspiracy theories — is
How-To GuidesHow to cope with a devaluation: the cardholder's playbook
Devaluations are announced with 30 days' notice and take effect whether you're ready or not. Axis gave zero notice on its April partner exit. The difference between cardholders who lost thousands in point value and those
Buying GuidesThe cards that SURVIVED 2026 untouched: value picks after the devaluations
2026 was a brutal year for Indian credit cards — lounge gates, partner exits, fee repricing, redemption caps. But not every card got worse. A handful of products made it through the year without a single material benefit
ComparisonsMilestone benefit cuts of 2026: the rewards that shrank
Milestones — the big bonus payouts for crossing annual or quarterly spend thresholds — were the crown jewels of India's premium cards. In 2026, banks systematically shrank them: deleted tiers, swapped flexible points for
ComparisonsLounge access cuts of 2026: which cards lost visits this year
Airport lounge access was the benefit that sold premium credit cards in India for a decade. In 2026, it became the benefit banks took away — or put behind a spending turnstile. Lounge footfall had exploded, costs per vis
News & DevaluationsICICI Bank card changes in 2026: the quiet cuts
ICICI Bank didn't make headlines the way Axis did in 2026. There was no overnight partner exit, no dramatic rollback. Instead, the bank executed a two-phase squeeze — January 15 and February 1 — that quietly repriced fee
News & DevaluationsSBI Card changes in 2026: devaluations and the fine print
SBI Card — India's largest credit card issuer — spent 2026 doing what it does best: grinding down the economics in the fine print while the headlines stayed shiny. The year's changes hit the popular CASHBACK card, the Ph
News & DevaluationsAxis Bank card changes in 2026: what got capped, cut, or repriced
No issuer reshaped its cards more aggressively in 2026 than Axis Bank. April brought the year's most talked-about devaluation — the overnight exit of three beloved TravelEdge transfer partners. August repriced foreign sp
News & DevaluationsHDFC card changes in 2026: every devaluation and rule change this year
HDFC Bank, India's largest private-sector credit card issuer, had a restless 2026. The year opened with a scare for Infinia holders, rolled into fee-waiver tightening on the flagship card, and landed mid-year with a swee
News & DevaluationsTravel card devaluations of 2026: the lounge and milestone cuts that hurt most
2026 was the year the lounge era ended and the milestone era got rewritten. Across issuers, the pattern was identical: benefits that were free became spend-gated, earn rates were trimmed at the edges, and transfer partne