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.
4240 posts · Page 56 of 354 · View the full archive
How-To GuidesInside your contactless card: the antenna, the chip and NFC power
A contactless card has no battery, yet it talks to terminals in milliseconds. The secret is a copper antenna loop and a dual-interface chip powered by the terminal itself.
How-To GuidesVertical vs horizontal credit cards: does orientation change anything
Some cards stand portrait, most lie landscape. Vertical credit cards are a design choice with roots in how we actually pay today — here is what changes and what does not.
How-To GuidesWhat metal credit cards in India are actually made of
Metal credit cards feel premium for a reason: stainless steel cores, tungsten inserts and precision milling. Here is what is inside one and what the metal actually changes.
How-To GuidesThe Annual Autopay Review: A 30-Minute Checklist
Autopay setups decay. Cards get replaced, fees change, subscriptions creep in, mandates expire, and billers migrate systems. The annual autopay review is a single 30-minute session that restores the whole stack to workin
How-To GuidesSchool Fees and Society Maintenance on Autopay: Handling Large Recurring Bills
School fees and housing-society maintenance are among the largest recurring household bills — often ₹10,000–₹50,000 per quarter or month — and the most awkward to automate. They sit at the intersection of convenience fee
Credit HealthMissed Autopay and Your Credit Score: How a Bounced Mandate Reports
A bounced autopay mandate is not just a missed bill — depending on what the mandate was for, it can become a permanent entry on your credit report. The damage depends on the type of obligation, and the reporting rules ar
How-To GuidesEarning Rewards on Autopay: Matching Bills to Your Cards' Strengths
Autopay is usually discussed as a convenience and safety tool. It is also a rewards engine: every recurring bill routed through the right card earns points on spend that happens regardless. The optimisation is a one-time
ComparisonsStanding Instructions vs UPI Autopay: Choosing the Right Rail
Card standing instructions and UPI Autopay both automate recurring payments, but they run on different rails with different strengths. Picking the right one per bill affects rewards, reliability, control, and what happen
How-To GuidesThe Quarterly Subscription Audit: Cancelling What Autopay Keeps Alive
The average urban household carries a surprising number of recurring subscriptions — OTT platforms, music, cloud storage, news, fitness apps, software, memberships — many of them on autopay, several of them forgotten. Th
How-To GuidesWhy Autopay Mandates Fail: Bounces, Expiry, and How to Bulletproof Them
Autopay fails silently. There is no alarm when a mandate bounces — just a missed payment discovered weeks later, sometimes via a late fee or a credit-score dip. Mandates fail for a small set of predictable reasons, and e
How-To GuidesRouting Utility Bills to the Right Card: Electricity, Gas, and Broadband
Utility bills are the perfect rewards substrate: unavoidable, recurring, and substantial in aggregate. A household's electricity, piped gas, water, and broadband can total ₹4,000–₹8,000 a month — ₹50,000–₹1,00,000 a year
How-To GuidesCredit Card Bill Autopay: A Setup That Actually Prevents Missed Payments
The most important autopay mandate you will ever set up is the one that pays your credit card bill. A single missed card payment can cost a late fee, penalty interest, and a CIBIL scar that lingers for years. Yet most pe