We have many ‘all-rounder’ credit cards that give us great rewards on everyday spends. But, most of these are not useful for fuel expenses. Some cards exclude fuel transactions for rewards while others have a surcharge. Fuel expenses are now a big chunk of our monthly expenses thanks to the ever increasing prices. Fortunately, we have some fuel credit cards that give us good savings on fuel expenses. Fuel credit cards are co-branded with one of the partners like IOCL/HPCL. So, the key thing to check for any of the fuel cards is to ensure there is a nearby petrol pump where we can use the card. In this post, we review the BPCL SBI credit card. This card provides a 4.25% value back on our fuel spends.
Fees and Charges
Unlike other issuers, SBI Card always charges a joining fee for credit cards. But, this is offset by the welcome gift. The annual fee waiver is relatively less at Rs 50000 spends for the rewards it provides.
| Joining/Renewal Fee | Rs 499 plus GST |
| Welcome Gift | 2000 Reward Points (Rs 500 Value) |
| Annual Fee Waiver | On spends of Rs 50000 in a card membership year |
Features and Benefits
The BPCL SBI credit card has a 4.25% reward rate for BPCL fuel spends. Other than this, it also gives good rewards for Dining, Departmental Stores, Grocery & Movies category spends as well. This makes it easy to achieve the required spends for an annual fee waiver.
Regular Rewards
| TYPE OF SPEND | REWARD POINTS | RETURN RATE @25 PER RP |
|---|---|---|
| BPCL Fuel, Lubricants & Bharat Gas Spends | 13 RP / Rs 100 *Maximum 1300 RP per billing cycle * Max transaction value for rewards – Rs 4000 * 1% fuel surcharge waiver |
3.25% |
| Dining, Departmental Stores, Grocery & Movies | 5 RP / Rs 100
*Maximum 5000 RP per month |
1.25% |
| Other spends (Except Non-BPCL Fuel and Wallets) | 1 reward point per Rs 100 | 0.25% |
The caps on the accelerated rewards for fuel are there to curb misuse with commercial spending. The monthly fuel transaction value to hit the max cap of accelerated fuel rewards would be Rs 10000. This should be more than enough for most people.
We can also spend on other categories like Dining/Grocery to reach the annual fee waiver. The 1.25% value back on these is decent enough for a fuel card.
Rewards Redemption
Each reward point is worth 25p. We can redeem the reward points for either fuel or from the reward catalog.
Fuel makes more sense as it is instant redemption at the listed outlets.
- PoS redemption is supported at outlets listed here.
- E-Voucher redemption is supported at outlets listed here.
Final Thoughts
Fuel credit cards are generally not a good fit as they offer good rewards only for fuel transactions. Plus in most cases, the reward rates are not good with lesser caps. BPCL SBI Credit Card addresses these limitations to a large extent. Consider this card if:
- Monthly spends on fuel spends are around Rs 4500. This will also waive off the annual fee.
- You are able to spend the required amounts for a fee waiver, spend milestones on the other credit cards you hold
- Last but obvious one – There is a BPCL outlet nearby to use this card 🙂
If your monthly spends on fuel are around Rs 10000, check out the higher variant of this card – BPCL SBI Credit Card OCTANE. If you are looking out for a fuel credit card, do check out this post on the best fuel credit cards in India.
