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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GuidesSBI's 10% GIF 2026 Offer: What Amazon Has Confirmed So Far
Every Great Indian Festival has one bank partner that matters most, and for 2026 it is SBI. Amazon has publicly confirmed a 10% instant discount on eligible SBI cards for the sale that opens to all customers tomorrow, Oc
GuidesGIF 2026 Eve: Your Cardholder's Playbook for Launch Day
Amazon's Great Indian Festival 2026 opens to all customers tomorrow, October 8, 2026. Prime members were widely reported to get a 24-hour early access window starting today, October 7. Tonight is the last night you get t
GuidesTreat Every Card Like an Investment: The Credit Card ROI Framework
You've now got nine tools: real rates, effective rates, break-even points, spend audits, comparisons, opportunity cost, devaluation math, transfer math, and the cashback-vs-points verdict. This final guide assembles them
GuidesCashback vs Points: A Mathematical Comparison for Indians
Cashback vs points is the oldest debate in Indian credit cards, and most of it is fought with slogans. "Cash is king" versus "points unlock luxury travel." Slogans don't pay bills — numbers do. This guide compares the tw
GuidesTransfer vs Statement Credit: The Math That Decides
You have 50,000 reward points. Two doors: convert them to statement credit at the issuer's fixed rate, or transfer them to an airline or hotel partner. One door is almost always worth more — sometimes twice as much. The
GuidesDevaluation Math: How Much Your Points Just Lost
Devaluation is the quietest tax in credit cards. No announcement on your statement, no fee charged — your points are simply worth less than they were yesterday. When it happens, cardholders ask the wrong question ("shoul
GuidesThe Hidden Cost of "Free" Cards: Opportunity Cost, Calculated
A lifetime-free card costs you ₹0 a year. It can still be the most expensive card in your wallet. The price isn't a fee — it's the rewards you *didn't* earn by choosing it over a better card. Economists call this opportu
GuidesTwo Cards, One Winner: A Mathematical Comparison Framework
"Which card is better?" has no universal answer — but it has a rigorous method. Run both cards through the same spend profile, compute net rewards for each, and the winner is the higher number. No opinions, no loyalty, n
GuidesAudit Your Spending: The 3-Month Card Spend Review Method
Every rewards calculation starts with the same input: your spend, broken down by category. Most cardholders guess this number and get it badly wrong — studies of self-reported spending routinely show 30–40% errors, and t
GuidesPaid Card vs Free Card: The Break-Even Math, Explained
Should you pay ₹999 a year for a card when a free one exists? The answer is arithmetic, not instinct. A paid card wins only when its extra rewards exceed its fee — and there is a precise spend level, the break-even point
GuidesThe Effective Rewards Rate: Subtracting Fees, Caps and Exclusions
A card can show a sparkling real rewards rate and still lose you money. The missing subtraction is everything the card takes back: the annual fee, the rewards you never got because of caps, and the spend categories that
GuidesYour Real Rewards Rate: A Step-by-Step Calculation Guide
Your card's marketing says 5% rewards. Your statement tells a different story. The number that matters — the only one — is your real rewards rate: the actual rupee value you got back, divided by the actual rupees you spe