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 GuidesWhat Are Your Reward Points Actually Worth? A Valuation Guide
"5X reward points!" sounds exciting until you ask the only question that matters: what's a point actually worth in rupees? The answer varies wildly — from ₹0.25 to ₹2 or more — and it depends less on how you earn points
How-To GuidesIs a High Annual Fee Ever Worth It? Do the Math First
₹12,500 a year for a credit card sounds absurd — until it isn't. Every year, thousands of Indians happily renew cards with five-figure fees, and every year, thousands more pay them for cards that lose them money. The dif
How-To GuidesWhich Credit Card Should You Get First? A Beginner's Guide
Your first credit card sets the tone for your entire credit life. Pick well and you build a clean repayment record that makes every future application easier. Pick badly and you pay a fee for a card you barely use, or ju
Credit HealthYour Monthly Credit Report Checklist: What Actually Matters
Monitoring your credit score is not about watching the number go up every month — it will wobble, and that is normal. It is about catching the things that should not be there: errors, fraud, and behaviour drift. Here is
Credit HealthWhich Credit Cards Accept Your CIBIL Score: Band by Band
Issuers almost never publish minimum CIBIL scores for their cards — approval also weighs income, employment, and existing relationships. So the band-by-band map below is general guidance based on how these products are p
Credit HealthThe 90-Day Credit Score Repair Plan: Week by Week
No one can promise you a specific score increase in 90 days — anyone who does is selling something. What 90 days of disciplined action *can* do is stop the bleeding, clean up errors, and put every scoring factor moving i
Credit HealthWhere to Check Your CIBIL Score Free: Source by Source
You can check your credit score for free, legally, as often as you like — checking your own score is a soft inquiry and never affects it. But not all "free score" sources show the same bureau, the same data, or the same
Credit Health5 More CIBIL Myths Indians Still Believe in 2026
Credit-score folklore in India is remarkably durable. Beyond the well-worn myths (checking your score hurts it — it doesn't), here are five more misconceptions that still cost people real money in 2026, debunked with how
Credit HealthYour First 12 Months of Credit: A Month-by-Month Score Plan
No credit history means no CIBIL score — bureaus generate a score only once there is enough reported data, typically after about 6 months of account activity. The goal of your first year is simple: create a clean, boring
Credit HealthCIBIL Score Bands 300 to 900: What Each Range Unlocks
CIBIL scores run from 300 to 900. The number is a summary of your credit history — higher means lower predicted risk of default. But what does each band actually mean when you apply for a credit card? Here is how lenders
Credit HealthHard Inquiries on CIBIL: Rate Shopping Without Tanking Your Score
Every time you formally apply for a credit card or loan, the lender pulls your full credit report. That pull is recorded as a hard inquiry (sometimes called a hard enquiry). Hard inquiries are the smallest slice of your
Credit HealthCredit Utilization Explained: Per-Card vs Overall Ratios
Credit utilisation — the share of your available credit limit that you are using — is the second-largest driver of your CIBIL score, widely cited at around 30% of the score. It is also the most misunderstood. Most people