ICICI Bank credit cards are not exactly known for offering great benefits/rewards. It has cards for all segments but lacks the rewards/benefits offered by the competition. But, the co-branded Amazon Pay credit card has been a big success. It is an excellent card for Amazon India purchases. Here is my hands-on review of the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card.
Applying for the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card
ICICI Bank and Amazon have one of the easiest and quickest application processes. For customers with an existing ICICI Bank credit card, the application process is simple. Enter the existing credit card number and authenticate the same. Amazon and ICICI check eligibility on the fly to approve and generate the Amazon Pay credit card in under a minute.
As I had an existing Coral credit card, I followed the above process. Post eligibility check, it generated a digital Amazon Pay card in less than a minute. The card details can be viewed on ICICI iMobile/Net Banking as well. So, we can use the card for online purchases right away. The physical card reached my residential address in less than a week.
Fees and Charges
Amazon Pay ICICI Bank card is LTF (Lifetime Free). So there is no joining fees, annual fees or any other hidden charges. This and the rewards it offers is what makes this an excellent entry-level card for all kinds of spending. This is a plus point as the competition Axis Flipkart credit card has a joining/annual fee of Rs 500.
| Joining/Annual Fee | NIL (Lifetime Free) |
| Welcome Benefit | Rs 750 Amazon Gift Card for Prime members Rs 600 Amazon Gift Card for non-Prime application |
Rewards
The reward rate is between 1% to 5% based on Prime membership status and purchase category. So if you shop for Rs 20000 every month from Amazon India as a Prime member, you get Rs 1000 as Amazon Pay Rewards! Each reward point is equal to Rs 1 for this card.
There is no maximum cap for the rewards earned on Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card.
| SPEND CATEGORY | REWARDS |
|---|---|
| Amazon India Shopping | 5% for Prime members 3% for non-Prime members |
| Bill Payments, Travel and Add Money to Amazon Pay Wallet | 2% |
| Payment via APay ICICI credit card using Amazon Pay gateway | 2% (1% for Airtel, Dish, VideoconD2H) |
| All other spends including offline PoS | 1% |
Fuel Surcharge Waiver
The card offers a 1% fuel surcharge waiver on fuel spending. There is no minimum transaction limit or maximum surcharge cap on this.
Rewards Redemption
There is no upper cap on rewards. The rewards are added to the Amazon account as a gift card at the end of the billing cycle. Amazon also sends out an email confirmation with the amount on the addition of the gift card.
While automatic redemption without any minimum amount requirement is good, there should have been an option for cash back or a statement credit. This is what the competition Flipkart Axis Bank credit card offers.
Drawbacks of the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card
While the rewards are good for this card, there are a few drawbacks that we need to consider.
- Prime membership (currently Rs 1499) is required to get the 5% reward benefits on this card. Without it, we get 3% rewards for Amazon India purchases.
- No statement credit for rewards redemption – Entry-level credit cards should have this option. A gift voucher is good but statement credit ensures I do not need to repurchase from Amazon. The competition Flipkart Axis Bank credit card offers this.
- Gold and EMI transactions do not get any rewards.
- There is no lounge access on this card. Again, this is something that the competition Flipkart Axis Bank credit card offers.
Is the Amazon Pay ICICI credit card good?
My answer to that question will be Yes. With unlimited 5% rewards for Amazon purchases automatically added to the Amazon account at the end of every month, it can add up to significant savings over a year. Add to that the zero joining and annual fees and it is an easy decision. Only a few cards like HDFC Infinia / DCB provide better rewards for Amazon India. But while not everyone can get a DCB/Infinia, the Amazon Pay ICICI credit card is relatively easier to get.
For other categories of spending like offline purchases or bill payments, Axis Ace credit card is a better alternative if one can get it.
