Hdfc diners club credit card review năm 2024

HDFC Diners Black credit card is one of the most popular credit cards after Axis Magnus and HDFC Infinia. An interesting thing about this credit card is that there are scenarios where it is better than even HDFC Infinia. Below is a detailed review of the HDFC Diners Black.

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Fees

• Joining/Annual fee of 10,000 + taxes. Waived off on spending 5 lakhs.

Reward and Benefits

• Base Reward Rate:3.3% reward rate (5 reward points on 150 spent. Value of 1RP=INR 1). No reward points for fuel, wallet load and EMI (EasyEMI and SmartEMI) spends. From January 2023 onwards, no reward points on rent payments too.
• Accelerated Reward Rate: 2x-10x RPs on HDFC SmartBuy, i.e. 6.6%-33.3% reward rate. However, SmartBuy reward points accrual has monthly and daily caps, which may limit the reward rate.
• 2x RPs on weekend dining. 2x reward points on dining on weekends. Not applicable to Swiggy/Zomato spending. There is a cap of 1000 reward points per day.
• Milestones:
  • Monthly milestone: 2×500 i.e INR1000 vouchers from Tata Cliq, Ola etc on monthly spends of 80k or more.
  • Annual milestone: Annual membership of Amazon Prime, MMT Black, Club Marriott, Forbes and Times Prime.
• Lounge Access: Unlimited domestic and international lounge access for primary and add-on cardholders.

Eligibility criteria of HDFC Diners Black

HDFC Diners Black is relatively easier to get. While the bank’s website says, you need a 1.75lk monthly salary; most people who have this card have much lower monthly salaries. However, if you have an HDFC Bank credit card with a credit limit of 5lk+, especially Regalia, you can simply write to customer care for the upgrade.

Positives of HDFC Diners Black

3.3% reward rate

The base reward rate of 3.3% is among the best in the industry. Only HDFC Infinia and StanC Ultimate have this kind of reward rate.

Unlimited lounge access

This credit card offers unlimited lounge access both at domestic and international airports. Unlimited lounge access is available to all add-on cardholders too. Further, the icing on the cake is you don’t need a separate Priority Pass card for lounge access. Your credit card is enough.

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Smartbuy benefits

Similar to HDFC Infinia, the HDFC Diners Black credit card also gives 2-10x accelerated reward points on purchases made on the SmartBuy portal. Hotel booking gives a 33.3% reward rate, while flight booking thru the portal gives a 16.5% reward rate.

Gift vouchers bought on SmartBuy give a ~10% reward rate (3x reward points). These brand vouchers in turn can be used for many daily purchases. You can buy gift vouchers from Amazon, Flipkart, Croma, Vijay Sales, Tata Cliq, Reliance Smart, BigBasket, Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato, Ola and many more. (Full list here). Even train ticket booking on IRCTC will give a nearly 10% reward rate.

Milestone benefits

The milestone benefits of HDFC Diners Black are pretty straightforward. Spend 80k in a calendar month and you will get vouchers worth 1000 every month. Thus, theoretically, if you spend 80k every month for 12 months you will get vouchers worth 12,000. Moreover, your annual fee will be waived as annual spending will be more than 5lk.

Similarly, on annual spends of 8lk, you get memberships from Amazon Prime, MMT Black, Club Marriott, Forbes and Times Prime. From these, Amazon Prime, MMT Black and Forbes are genuinely useful. 😉

2x on weekend dining

HDFC Diners Black offers 2x reward points on all dining spends every weekend. There is a cap of 1000 reward points per day. The downside is, this does not apply to Swiggy/Zomato.

Only 2% forex markup

HDFC Diners Black has a low forex markup of 2%. While you may argue, there are credit and debit cards that offer 0% forex markup. However, considering that HDFC Diners Black has a reward rate of 3.3% even adjusting for a 2.36% (2% +GST) forex markup, you get nearly a 1% reward rate on foreign spending. That’s not all, if you enrol for HDFC’s Global Value Program you can get a ~1.95% reward rate. The 1% is in form of cashback as a feature of the Global Value Program.

Negatives of HDFC Diners Black

Smartbuy program has a lower multiplier than Infinia

The accelerated reward points on the Smartbuy portal for HDFC Diners Black are lower than that one gets on HDFC Infinia. Further, Infinia has higher monthly caps.

Redemption limitation and continuous devaluations

Ever since the HDFC Bank has come out card issuance ban, there have been continuous devaluations for Diners and Infinia. The most recent one puts a cap on monthly redemptions starting Jan-2023. Now only 75k points can be redeemed for flights and hotel bookings in a calendar month. This combined with the requirement to pay 30% amount in cash, caps monthly booking at 1.07lk. Moreover, they also started charging convenience fees for flight tickets.

Further, rent and government payments will no longer accrue reward points. In addition, for rent payments 1% fee will be applicable from the second transaction onwards.

That’s not all. There is a capping on grocery transactions too. Reward points are capped at 2000 per month. i.e. ~67000 spends per month.

Acceptance remains an issue

While Dinersclub’s acceptance has improved dramatically over the last few years, it remains a sore point. Especially when you travel outside of the 4 metros.

Compare with Axis Magnus and HDFC Infinia

Nowadays every card needs to be compared to Axis Magnus (Apply Now) 😁. So here is the dynamic excel calculator that compares HDFC Diners Black with Axis Magnus and HDFC Infinia.

As with HDFC Infinia, HDFC Diners Black scores over Axis Magnus at nearly every spend level if one looks at the monetary value of reward points. However, for airmiles conversion Axis Magnus(Apply Now) beats Diners Black by a mile.

Moreover, in monetary value terms, there are scenarios where HDFC Diners Black even beats HDFC Infinia 😮. However, given that Infinia has higher accelerated RPs and higher monthly caps on Smartbuy; when used smartly Infinia’s reward rate will be higher than Diners Black. Further, for airmiles conversion, Infinia scores over Diners Black

Conclusion

HDFC Diners Black is very good that offers a 3.3% reward rate, accelerated reward points on SmartBuy, unlimited lounge access, and ~2% reward rate on forex spends. If you are someone who doesn’t want to get into airmiles and hotel loyalty then you should seriously consider HDFC Diners Black.

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I have Diners Black credit card and despite the fact that I also have a Axis Magnus(Apply Now) card, I am not closing my Diners yet.

Photo by thomas heintz on Unsplash

Disclaimer

In the interest of full disclosure, Credit Cardz may earn a referral bonus for anyone that’s approved through some of the links in this post. However, opinions and views expressed here are of the author's alone and not those of the bank, credit card issuer, or anyone else and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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Hi, I am an avid credit card user who loves minting reward points on credit cards. I try to put every possible expense on credit card to earn maximum reward points and want realize my dream to travel the world using just rewards points.

What is HDFC Diners Club Black?

HDFC Diners Club Black is a super premium credit card offering the best in all categories to its users, be it exclusive rewards, lifestyle, travel, shopping or any other benefits. The card is at par with HDFC’s Infinia credit card in features and benefits but has comparatively relaxed eligibility criteria.

What is the reward rate on HDFC Diners Club Privilege credit card?

With the quarterly milestone and SmartBuy, the reward rate would be between 2% to 4% on spends which is good! Another reason to get this card will be the potential to upgrade to Diners Club Black or Infinia in the future. What is the validity of the reward points on the HDFC Bank Diners Club Privilege credit card?

Which HDFC Bank credit card is best?

The Diners Club Black Card is one of the most high-end HDFC Bank Credit Cards as the annual fee of this card is quite high and offers exclusive privileges across various categories. Following are the details of the features and benefits that come along with this credit card –

Is Diners Club Black a good credit card?

Almost all super-premium credit cards provide exclusive concierge services to cardholders. Diners Club Black also fares well in this respect. Apart from these benefits, there are a number of other benefits that make this card worth considering. Some of these benefits are mentioned below:

Is HDFC Diners Club Card worth it?

Should you get HDFC Diners Club Black Credit Card? With a high reward rate of 3.33% and 1:1 redemption ratio for air miles and flight/hotel bookings via SmartBuy, HDFC Diners Club Black could be a good option for high-spenders and frequent travellers.

Does HDFC Diners Club Card has lounge access?

2 Complimentary Airport lounge access every calendar quarter worldwide for primary and add-on card members. Complimentary lounge access is applicable upon spends of Rs. 15,000 in previous calendar quarter.

What is the limit of HDFC Diners Club Black credit card?

1.5 Lakhs within the first 90 days of card issuance or on first year fee realization on your card. The above complimentary annual memberships can also be availed on achieving annual spend limit of Rs. 8 Lakhs at the time of card anniversary.

Is HDFC Diners Club Card accepted everywhere?

With acceptance in more than 185 countries and territories, millions of merchant locations and access to over 800,000 cash access locations and ATMs, Diners Club is uniquely qualified to serve its cardmembers all over the world.