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.
4559 posts · Page 87 of 380 · View the full archive
How-To GuidesRedemption Mistakes That Quietly Destroy the Value of Your Reward Points
Most reward points do not lose value in dramatic devaluations — they bleed out through small, avoidable mistakes. This guide collects the ten most common ways Indian cardholders destroy point value, with the fix for each
How-To GuidesGift Card and Voucher Redemptions: Doing the Value Math Before You Click
Redeeming points for brand vouchers feels like free shopping — and it can be decent value. But voucher redemptions have their own maths: denomination traps, expiry dates, and per-point rates that vary wildly by brand. Th
How-To GuidesCombining Points Across Cards: Pooling, Family Accounts and Transfers
A single card rarely earns enough points for a meaningful redemption. The real power move is combining — pooling points across your own cards, across family members, or moving them where they count. This guide explains w
How-To GuidesCashback Cards Explained: How Cashback Is Calculated and Credited
Cashback cards are the no-nonsense corner of the rewards world: no points to value, no transfer partners to learn, just money back. But "money back" hides real mechanics — how cashback is calculated, when it is credited,
How-To GuidesRedemption Caps, Expiry Dates and Blackout Rules You Should Know
Reward points come with guardrails that can quietly erase their value: caps on how much you can earn or transfer, expiry dates on the points themselves, and blackout rules on the awards you want. This guide maps the five
How-To GuidesReward Point Valuation: A Simple Framework to Price Every Point You Earn
"How much is a reward point worth?" is the most important question in credit-card rewards, and most answers you see online are wrong — or rather, right only for the person who wrote them. A point's value depends on your
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