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.
4529 posts · Page 85 of 378 · View the full archive
How-To GuidesCredit Card Travel Portals in India: How Portal Redemption Values Work
Bank travel portals — HDFC's SmartBuy travel section, Axis's Travel EDGE, the Amex travel desk, and their equivalents — sit between two worlds. They are easier than transferring points to airlines, and they usually pay b
How-To GuidesStatement Credit vs Vouchers vs Travel Portals: Which Redemption Gives You More
Every rewards card offers several ways to spend your points, and the value of a point swings wildly between them. The same 10,000 points might shave ₹2,500 off your bill, buy a ₹3,000 voucher, or fund ₹5,000 of flights.
How-To GuidesAirline and Hotel Transfer Partners: Moving Bank Points to Frequent-Flyer Miles
Transferring bank reward points to airline and hotel loyalty programmes is the single highest-value redemption available on Indian credit cards. It is also the most misunderstood. This guide explains how transfer partner
How-To GuidesReward Points Explained: How Earning, Pooling and Redemption Actually Work
Reward points are the quiet engine of most Indian credit cards. Every swipe adds a little to a pool that can one day become a flight, a hotel night, a voucher, or a smaller bill. Yet most cardholders treat points as conf
How-To GuidesKilling Zombie Subscriptions: The Card-Statement Sweep Method
Zombie subscriptions are the charges that survive their purpose: the streaming trial that converted, the app subscription on a phone you replaced, the annual plan that renewed while you were not looking. Individually sma
Buying GuidesStudent Software Deals: Stacking Education Pricing with Card Offers
Student pricing is the deepest legitimate discount in software — often 50% or more off, sometimes free. Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, Notion, Figma, GitHub Student Developer Pack: the education versions are the sa
How-To GuidesVPN and Security Software Subscriptions: Paying Smartly on Cards
VPN and security software — antivirus suites, password managers, VPN services — share an uncomfortable trait: they are sold with aggressive marketing, billed on auto-renewing terms, and priced very differently depending
How-To GuidesThe Freelancer's Card Playbook for Recurring Dollar Billing
Freelancers live in two currencies: they earn in dollars (or euros, or pounds) and spend in rupees — except for the slice of spending that is also in dollars. Software subscriptions, stock assets, AI tools, domain renewa
How-To GuidesApp Store and Play Store Purchases: Card Controls and Family Sharing
The App Store and Google Play Store are where small card charges multiply fastest: a ₹99 app here, a ₹449 in-app purchase there, a game your child bought "by accident", a subscription that renewed inside an app you forgo
News & DevaluationsGoogle Pay Flex Rewards Overhaul: Up to 3.2% Back From 16 October 2026
Google is overhauling the rewards programme on its Flex co-branded credit cards (Axis Bank and SBI Card) from 16 October 2026: Google One members earn up to 3.2% back in Stars, non-members up to 1.6%, plus category bonuses, a Rs 1,500 monthly cap, and welcome rewards up to Rs 2,500.
How-To GuidesAdobe, Canva and Design Tools: Annual vs Monthly Billing on Cards
Design software is where the annual-vs-monthly billing decision bites hardest. Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva Pro, Figma — these are not ₹200-a-month utilities; they are serious recurring commitments, often billed in dollar
How-To GuidesDomain and Hosting Renewals: Autopay or Manual on Your Card
A lapsed domain is one of the most expensive small mistakes on the internet. The renewal was ₹1,000 a year; recovering the domain afterwards can cost many times that, assuming it is recoverable at all. Hosting lapses are