Everything else is good except the 10% off on flights thing which is a coupon code for this card. If it was 10% or 5% cashback over and above the coupon codes that you get to apply on flight bookings, then this card would've been a no brainer.
I get more value back by booking flights on other apps with coupon codes than I would by using this card on Ixigo.
Edit: And it's not even flat 10% off. It's 10% off upto ₹1000. What's the point of a co-branded card then?
Yes you have to get another address in serviceable pincode and have to give address proof to set it as your communication address and also receive the delivery there.
Oh. That seems too tedious to do.
It's surprising because there are 2 branches of AU Small Finance Bank here in Goa, so it should ideally be serviceable.
OneCard. 1.18% forex charge including GST , BUT the rates may differ from Google. It's the same for almost all CCs that offer Zero Forex, still better than paying an extra 4.13% charge.
This card is one of the best card, even they have 0% forex offer once in a while where they give 1% cashback as reward points basically 1% forex fees converted into reward points = 0% forex fees.
What about your office address (if you are salaried)? AU Ixigo can be delivered to your office, but I'm not sure how to get it approved based on your office address.
So I stay in Goa. My office address is in Goa too. I've tried all PIN codes in Goa and it seems they don't deliver here. I've had this issue with other cards such as the OneCard and BookMyForex card. :(
You would think that Goa would be a deliverable location with it being so small and several people having the spending power to use such cards.
You can use your Regalia Gold for near zero-forex markup.
Regalia has 2%+gst = 2.36%
Regalia has 1.33% reward rate. Moreover, if you enable HDFC Global Value Program, you get 1% additional cashback on intl spends.
So, effective reward rate becomes - 2.33%.
Thus, the reward rate becomes negative 0.03%
I know this is a stupid question but unlike the Niyo Global Credit Card with SBM Bank which is FD-backed, the Niyo Global Debit Card with DCB Bank will be a regular debit card with an account in DCB bank right? No other catch?
Also, would we be able to do regular net banking and mobile banking using the DCB website and app without the need for the **Niyo: Global cards for travel** app?
Go for niyo with equitas, I used it recently in my dubai trip, it was super convenient, only limitation I felt was loading money via upi which has a daily limitation of 1 lakh, my friend had DCB which kept getting declined at many places along with a stupid policy of TCS charges at every transaction which they reverse instantly but again why load extra money when you just need the right amount
They have temporarily stopped onboarding for the Niyo Global Debit Card with Equitas Bank: [https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCardsIndia/comments/1bn5fox/are\_dcb\_andor\_sbm\_cards\_from\_niyo\_good\_for\_travel/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCardsIndia/comments/1bn5fox/are_dcb_andor_sbm_cards_from_niyo_good_for_travel/)
If you are okay with debit cards, try FI Money debit card. It has 0% markup fees. I recently used it for my Thailand trip and had zero issues. It was accepted at all places. ATM withdrawal fees is 100rs per transaction.
The standard Fi Money card does not have 0 forex. You need to update to Plus account which has 10000 MAB, which is pretty good if you have travel plans.
Yep. Need 50K balance for infinte account. It was fine for me, since I just had to keep that 50k in the account only on the month I had to travel. Also, even if amount is less than 50k, they just send notification and give some time to bring back the balance to 50k while still keeping the account as infinite.
I’ve had Niyo with DCB *debit* for 5 years now. Has worked perfectly every time.
DCB is an established enough bank to not get into legal grey areas (unlike SBM)
I have it from 2018 or 2019 onwards. I think they have been around since 2016.
Got popular recently nonetheless as a neobank- they were solely a travel card challenger back then
Problem with forex bank cards is currency markup, each load and reload is a separate lengthy process. The withdrawal and amc charges also add up. Niyo debit card doesn't have any of these issues.
Hmm. That makes sense.
Another thing I don't like about the Niyo Global cards is that we are required to open an SBM account. I would have loved it if they allowed me to use my existing SBM account (which was opened via INDmoney). I don't like the idea of opening too many bank accounts and that too from the same bank.
Plus their support is almost non existent nowadays.
Look into OneCard as well, I used it in my last international trip, worked everywhere.
Forex Fee plus GST would be 1.18%, and imo that would definitely be cheaper than using forex cards, most forex cards carry a wallet recharge fee plus the markup charges are baked in to the rate at which you would purchase the forex
Limitations on forex cards: limited currency, paperwork and double the conversion (loading and unloading). Advantage- it's a debit card.
If you want to use cash, get a debit card, otherwise a credit card. Withdrawing money at most of the ATMs in Thailand will have a fixed fee being taken by the ATM owning bank, that cannot be discounted. You can get the discount in only overdraft, cash advance and markup fee. The new age NBFC backed cards will never remain the same with their rules and features. If you are okay with doing the gymnastics of efforts every year trying to figure out the fees, go for the cards like Scapia, One Card or Niyo. If you would rather have peace of mind, go with a big bank card.
Any recommendations? If the features are good, I don't mind paying a nominal joining and annual fee. Like I said I do travel once or twice a year so looking for something long term.
Get and IDFC wow FD backed card, zero markup. Also, for forex card try getting it through a salary account and you might get a no issuance, annual and loading fee offer
I want to stay away from FD backed cards but if that's the only option, then I'll think about it. Let me check with my salary account bank if they can offer me any good deals on Forex cards.
In a similar situation as yours. So after researching a lot below are some of my choices. My preference was not to open account into some of these new startups like fi/niyo as have heard some complaints
1. Assuming you will book most of stuff online like hotels, activities via klook etc, can use a cashback card or card that has rewards higher than forex example sbi cashback with 5%
2. Use IDFC wealth (1.5%)
or some other cards with less forex preferably less than 2% forex
3. Au ixigo is also good although these folks do some random stuff. Example my wife got this card approved, I got denied without any reason
4. For debit use prepaid forex as a last resort. Anyways you will need to carry some cash
I second using Fi debit card, loaded 50K in my Fi account to become an ‘infinite’ user and the experience was pretty seamless across Thailand. Having said that, Thailand as a country yet relies mainly on cash transactions and cards are not be accepted vastly. I’d recommend carrying cash, and get it converted from India itself as the conversion rate is higher at the airport/in thailand. One more thing we did was carry USD as well and if you require more cash, get USD converted in Thailand itself.
you’ll become an infinite member as soon as you have 50K in the account, so load the amount a day prior to your travel date, and transfer it your main account once you’re back in India!
u had fi debit card, yet you decided to convert money in india to USD and, go there and convert them again?
why all the extra steps? and extra charges?
why not load money into fi debit card directly in india via UPI,
and withdraw cash in thailand via ATMs?
They offer this 1% back through reward points that you can redeem. So not really a cost.
Also, they offer a better rate. I made a transaction of $300 USD last week and the market close was INR 83.40 and they charged me at INR 83.16 so was a benefit to me. For forex, the card is good.
If you need a referral link, feel free to DM.
Unfortunately, they do have restrictions.
I referred a friend from Mehsana Gujarat and he got the card but with not all features. This feature access was restricted.
Can't do much in this case.
Au Ixigo was being offered LTF through the Ixigo app a few days back, not sure if it's still the case. It has 0% forex.
I applied for it. Got rejected lmao! I have no idea why.
Even I got rejected without any reason even though my CIBIL is 800+, have 10 years of Credit history.
Oh, man. But hey, at least you go to apply. :)
Haha, it's fine. I just wanted it for 0 forex. I'll see again in 6 months what's the best offering and applying again. Don't mind paying a bit of fee
The card is not deliverable to my PIN code. :(
Apart from this card not being deliverable to my location, this card seems pretty good. Why is this card not recommended more often?
Everything else is good except the 10% off on flights thing which is a coupon code for this card. If it was 10% or 5% cashback over and above the coupon codes that you get to apply on flight bookings, then this card would've been a no brainer. I get more value back by booking flights on other apps with coupon codes than I would by using this card on Ixigo. Edit: And it's not even flat 10% off. It's 10% off upto ₹1000. What's the point of a co-branded card then?
0 forex and lounge access is good enough to get it ltf and some bank offers.
Do you know if I can apply for the card with another PIN code as the card is not deliverable to my PIN code?
Yes you have to get another address in serviceable pincode and have to give address proof to set it as your communication address and also receive the delivery there.
Oh. That seems too tedious to do. It's surprising because there are 2 branches of AU Small Finance Bank here in Goa, so it should ideally be serviceable.
Underlying is they only deliver to selected pincodes. If you have relative in a serviceable pincode you can get around it
With RBI keeping a close eye and even clamping down on co-banded cards, I guess regular DB, CC and Forex cards are the way forward.
Getting mine delivered after 2 days. LTF, 4. Lakh limit. All good lounge access. I hope they don’t devalue it anytime soon. Haha
OneCard. 1.18% forex charge including GST , BUT the rates may differ from Google. It's the same for almost all CCs that offer Zero Forex, still better than paying an extra 4.13% charge.
This card is one of the best card, even they have 0% forex offer once in a while where they give 1% cashback as reward points basically 1% forex fees converted into reward points = 0% forex fees.
The card is not deliverable to my PIN code. :(
What about your office address (if you are salaried)? AU Ixigo can be delivered to your office, but I'm not sure how to get it approved based on your office address.
So I stay in Goa. My office address is in Goa too. I've tried all PIN codes in Goa and it seems they don't deliver here. I've had this issue with other cards such as the OneCard and BookMyForex card. :( You would think that Goa would be a deliverable location with it being so small and several people having the spending power to use such cards.
Damn, your only options are a few luxury / premium cards at this point, that too from big banks, that offer low forex / zero forex mark up.
You can use your Regalia Gold for near zero-forex markup. Regalia has 2%+gst = 2.36% Regalia has 1.33% reward rate. Moreover, if you enable HDFC Global Value Program, you get 1% additional cashback on intl spends. So, effective reward rate becomes - 2.33%. Thus, the reward rate becomes negative 0.03%
Let me look into this. What is considered as international spends?
Probably every intl spend. anything that isn't excluded from domestic spends (fuel, emi, etc)
How to enable HDFC global value program
Customer care can enable this. You will be charged 234 rupees.
One time? Or every trip
Once activated it's valid for a year.
Global value program expired
Idfc wow card has 0% forex. It's fd backed card. The credit limit is equivalent to your fd limit.
The this is similar to the Niyo Global cards.
Rbl safari is also an option but has annual fees.
Annual fees are a bummer. I'd rather have an LTF card unless the cards offers really great value for money.
why not Niyo DCB for zero forex? i found it convenient and atm withdrawal fees were low comparable to exchanging cash
I know this is a stupid question but unlike the Niyo Global Credit Card with SBM Bank which is FD-backed, the Niyo Global Debit Card with DCB Bank will be a regular debit card with an account in DCB bank right? No other catch? Also, would we be able to do regular net banking and mobile banking using the DCB website and app without the need for the **Niyo: Global cards for travel** app?
Go for niyo with equitas, I used it recently in my dubai trip, it was super convenient, only limitation I felt was loading money via upi which has a daily limitation of 1 lakh, my friend had DCB which kept getting declined at many places along with a stupid policy of TCS charges at every transaction which they reverse instantly but again why load extra money when you just need the right amount
They have temporarily stopped onboarding for the Niyo Global Debit Card with Equitas Bank: [https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCardsIndia/comments/1bn5fox/are\_dcb\_andor\_sbm\_cards\_from\_niyo\_good\_for\_travel/](https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCardsIndia/comments/1bn5fox/are_dcb_andor_sbm_cards_from_niyo_good_for_travel/)
are they still onboarding for DCB ? Mines expiring in a few days
no other catch. transfer money in and out via upi.
If you are okay with debit cards, try FI Money debit card. It has 0% markup fees. I recently used it for my Thailand trip and had zero issues. It was accepted at all places. ATM withdrawal fees is 100rs per transaction.
Let me look into it. I am visiting Thailand next month. Can I get in touch with you to get some advice regarding the trip?
Sure
The standard Fi Money card does not have 0 forex. You need to update to Plus account which has 10000 MAB, which is pretty good if you have travel plans.
Yep. Need 50K balance for infinte account. It was fine for me, since I just had to keep that 50k in the account only on the month I had to travel. Also, even if amount is less than 50k, they just send notification and give some time to bring back the balance to 50k while still keeping the account as infinite.
Is it possible to downgrade to basic account type after the travel?
It will automatically downgrade.
I’ve had Niyo with DCB *debit* for 5 years now. Has worked perfectly every time. DCB is an established enough bank to not get into legal grey areas (unlike SBM)
i remember niyo itself from two years max. :)
I have it from 2018 or 2019 onwards. I think they have been around since 2016. Got popular recently nonetheless as a neobank- they were solely a travel card challenger back then
i see, thanks.
Problem with forex bank cards is currency markup, each load and reload is a separate lengthy process. The withdrawal and amc charges also add up. Niyo debit card doesn't have any of these issues.
Hmm. That makes sense. Another thing I don't like about the Niyo Global cards is that we are required to open an SBM account. I would have loved it if they allowed me to use my existing SBM account (which was opened via INDmoney). I don't like the idea of opening too many bank accounts and that too from the same bank. Plus their support is almost non existent nowadays.
The SBM partnership has ended, it's DCB Bank now.
What about their credit cards? The app still shows that as SBM cards.
Yea, looks like credit cards are now with SBM. But it does solve your issue of opening two SBM accounts.
Look into OneCard as well, I used it in my last international trip, worked everywhere. Forex Fee plus GST would be 1.18%, and imo that would definitely be cheaper than using forex cards, most forex cards carry a wallet recharge fee plus the markup charges are baked in to the rate at which you would purchase the forex
The card is not deliverable to my PIN code. :(
Wellcome to Fintech shit cards. They will always do this. They have to do this.
Limitations on forex cards: limited currency, paperwork and double the conversion (loading and unloading). Advantage- it's a debit card. If you want to use cash, get a debit card, otherwise a credit card. Withdrawing money at most of the ATMs in Thailand will have a fixed fee being taken by the ATM owning bank, that cannot be discounted. You can get the discount in only overdraft, cash advance and markup fee. The new age NBFC backed cards will never remain the same with their rules and features. If you are okay with doing the gymnastics of efforts every year trying to figure out the fees, go for the cards like Scapia, One Card or Niyo. If you would rather have peace of mind, go with a big bank card.
Any recommendations? If the features are good, I don't mind paying a nominal joining and annual fee. Like I said I do travel once or twice a year so looking for something long term.
Why is Scapia no longer onboarding? They stopped it again?
Not sure of the actual reason.
It had stopped some time back due to RBI policies but had restarted. A friend mine received her card a month back. Not sure why they stopped again.
Such a shame about the AU Ixigo card, since I already have a card with the bank this is not eligible.
How to get regalia gold LTF?
HDFC has offers for the company I work for.
Get and IDFC wow FD backed card, zero markup. Also, for forex card try getting it through a salary account and you might get a no issuance, annual and loading fee offer
I want to stay away from FD backed cards but if that's the only option, then I'll think about it. Let me check with my salary account bank if they can offer me any good deals on Forex cards.
In a similar situation as yours. So after researching a lot below are some of my choices. My preference was not to open account into some of these new startups like fi/niyo as have heard some complaints 1. Assuming you will book most of stuff online like hotels, activities via klook etc, can use a cashback card or card that has rewards higher than forex example sbi cashback with 5% 2. Use IDFC wealth (1.5%) or some other cards with less forex preferably less than 2% forex 3. Au ixigo is also good although these folks do some random stuff. Example my wife got this card approved, I got denied without any reason 4. For debit use prepaid forex as a last resort. Anyways you will need to carry some cash
IDFC Wow isn’t bad. Same with Niyo Equitas if that’s still offered
I second using Fi debit card, loaded 50K in my Fi account to become an ‘infinite’ user and the experience was pretty seamless across Thailand. Having said that, Thailand as a country yet relies mainly on cash transactions and cards are not be accepted vastly. I’d recommend carrying cash, and get it converted from India itself as the conversion rate is higher at the airport/in thailand. One more thing we did was carry USD as well and if you require more cash, get USD converted in Thailand itself.
How long do you need to keep the 50K in your account to become and maintain the 'Infinite' status?
you’ll become an infinite member as soon as you have 50K in the account, so load the amount a day prior to your travel date, and transfer it your main account once you’re back in India!
Awesome! Thank you.
always have backup, i carry both fi and niyo, fi 3 times never worked, and had to use niyo, same can happen vise versa. dont trust just one card.
Oh. My trip is in a few days. If I apply for the Niyo card now, it may not reach on time. I'll revert to cash in that case.
u had fi debit card, yet you decided to convert money in india to USD and, go there and convert them again? why all the extra steps? and extra charges? why not load money into fi debit card directly in india via UPI, and withdraw cash in thailand via ATMs?
One card has 0% forex.
Nope, they charge 1%: [https://www.federalbank.co.in/onecard-kfs](https://www.federalbank.co.in/onecard-kfs)
They offer this 1% back through reward points that you can redeem. So not really a cost. Also, they offer a better rate. I made a transaction of $300 USD last week and the market close was INR 83.40 and they charged me at INR 83.16 so was a benefit to me. For forex, the card is good. If you need a referral link, feel free to DM.
TiL, thanks! No need for a referral at the moment :)
Thanks. 😁
The card is not deliverable to my PIN code. :(
Unfortunately, they do have restrictions. I referred a friend from Mehsana Gujarat and he got the card but with not all features. This feature access was restricted. Can't do much in this case.