257. Using Credit Cards Beneficially😊
In 2017 I had written 2 blogs on credit cards and what all can be done with them. For a ready-reckoner, here they are…
9 How to watch movies for free with your Credit Card
This blog is how to use them beneficially😊!! Every card is marketed with something or the other. It can be points, it can be free-card for life, it can offer you rewards, either cashback or some other free stuff. I have tried credit cards from almost all the banks in India and have discontinued most of them! However, I am still using these cards as they give me benefits that I enjoy😊!! 2 of them are free-for-life cards, i.e. I don’t have to pay annual charges for these cards. For 1, the annual charges are waived if I spend Rs 1.5 lakhs on them in the previous year. The last card, I have recently got and for which I have paid a joining fee too! I will explain later as to why I paid it😊!! I am yet to find out if the annual charges would be waived off, in case I cross a certain annual figure in spending.
In case you also want to enjoy these benefits, please feel free to go for them😊!
If you had read my earlier blogs, you would have noticed that I used SBI Elite card for movie tickets. Due to Covid, since all the theatres were closed, I did not renew the card since there was no use of the tickets. The Rs 5,000 fees also made it quite a daunting one to justify paying the fees if you are not getting anything for that😊!!
Sometime before, I thought of giving off all my cards and keeping just one credit card. And I also ventured in this direction for some time, giving off some of my cards. However, there were so many good offers that I simply couldn’t resist😊!!
I still use the RBL card as that gives me 2 Bookmyshow tickets every month. The tickets are worth Rs 250 each. Lately, the price of the tickets has been increased in Hyderabad. For recliner seats, the price now is around 350+, while the card gives only tickets worth Rs 250 per ticket. The balance Rs 100 plus the convenience charges are paid by me. However, if I time my purchase right, I can get the back seats by paying only the convenience charges (Rs 25 per ticket. Yes, the movie price for me is just Rs 25😊per ticket). Since the theatres have opened, I am using this card and see 1 movie each month in theatre using this card. There is a requirement of spending at least Rs 15,000 per month on this card to get the 2 movie tickets. Of course, I make sure that this card is used first to reach this figure😊! I also ensure that I spend more than Rs 1.5 lakhs on this card per year, so that my annual charges are zero for this card. In short, I use the card for my general expenses and I get 24 tickets per year @ Rs 25 per ticket, every year😊!
The second card that I use is the ICICI Amazon card. This is a lifetime-free card, without any minimum purchase requirement. Anything that I buy from Amazon, I get a 5% cashback. I pay the full amount upfront and charge it to this card. At the credit card bill-cycle time, these 5% of all the expenses incurred get added to my Amazon Pay account. So, from next time onwards, I use this cash from Amazon Pay to shop and then use the card when the account becomes zero😊!! From the time I am using this card, I have got Rs 14,681 as cashback. The figure is correct and is shown in my Amazon app as “Total Cashback Earned”😊!!
The third card is Flipkart Axis Bank card. As the name suggest, I use this card mostly in Flipkart. As in Amazon, this card also gives a cashback of 5% on all purchases from Flipkart😊! Additionally, if I use this card elsewhere, 1.5% cashback is provided. The cashback is provided after the monthly bill is generated. And the amount gets reduced from the next cycle billing amount. This is also a free-for-life card😊 with no minimum purchase requirement.
The fourth and final card, I got this month only. It is the PVR Kotak Gold Credit Card. This card gives 2 free tickets per month, worth Rs 400 each (I can now select the recliner seats in the theatre😊). Of course, this too has a requirement of spending at least Rs 15,000 per month to get the tickets. In case you spend Rs 10,000, you get only 1 ticket free. And for this card, there is also an additional fee of Rs 499 + GST. So, by spending about Rs 600 in a year, you get Rs 9,600 (400*2*12) worth of movie tickets😊!!
By looking at spending Rs 15,000 per month on credit cards, I am able to get 2 (4 if I spend Rs 30,000) movie tickets per month. The figure seems to be on a higher side to spend on. But if you sit and calculate your monthly expenses, this figure will not look so high. Almost 80-85% of my expenses are done on credit cards. And when I get rewarded for this, why not do so😊!! Please note that I use my cards only for necessary things! Right from milk to newspapers to grocery to vegetables to subscriptions to dth payments to electricity payments to multiple (we are a family of 5!) mobile payments – everything is paid by cards😊!! I wish my maid too starts accepting her salary by card😊!! For purchases that accept cards but add service or convenience charge, I use Google Pay, as UPI payments are free of charges😊!!
Sit down and jot down your monthly expenses. Once you arrive at your monthly expense, see what all expenses can be done by your card, without incurring any additional charges. In case you can convert most of them to card payments, then you too can take advantage of these cards and see free movies in theatres, by paying just a fraction of the ticket cost😊!! If I am enjoying some benefits, I want others also to enjoy the same. And if it free, more the merrier😊!! Like the dialogue from Amitabh Bachchan in Sholay – “Kya karoon (Mausi), mera tho dil hi kuch aisa hai”😊😊
Cheers till next time 😊!!
Comments
Post a Comment