HDFC Bank Regalia Gold Credit Card Review: Features, Rewards and Benefits

A new credit card from HDFC Bank and not the rumored super-premium Infinia Reserve. HDFC Bank launched Regalia in 2011. 12 years later, we have a new Regalia variant – Regalia Gold. In many ways, this is the successor for the Regalia with better rewards and features. Here is a review of the HDFC Bank Regalia Gold credit card.

Eligibility

• Salaried: Rs 1 Lakh net monthly income
• Self-Employed: Rs 12 Lakhs per annum

As always, you can apply with C2C applications to get around these salary requirements. HDFC Bank also relaxes these criteria by quite a bit if one already has a savings account with them.

You can also upgrade to Regalia Gold based on the limit of your existing HDFC Bank credit card. If your existing HDFC Bank credit card has a credit limit of more than Rs 3 lakhs, you can request an upgrade to Regalia. The salary requirements are fully relaxed in this case.

Fees and Charges

We need to spend Rs 1 Lakh within 90 days of getting the card to be eligible for the welcome benefits.

There are two things to note here. Now, we are getting a gift voucher against the welcome fee unlike reward points. This is much better. Secondly, there does not seem to be any renewal benefit on the card.

Rewards

• Retail Spends: 4 RP per Rs 150 ~1.3% return
• Accelerated Spends: 20 RP per Rs 150 ~6.7% return
• Accelerated spends partners are Marks & Spencer, Myntra, Reliance Digital and Nykaa. The cap is 5000 RP per calendar month for the bonus points in this category.
• Grocery Spends: Same reward rate as retail spends with a cap of 2000 RP per calendar month
• Insurance Spends: Same reward rate as retail spends with a cap of 2000 RP per day

The accelerated spends at 20 RP per Rs 150 are a new addition over the Regalia. It is like getting the 10X Diners partners back but at a 5X reward rate. 🙂

As with other credit cards in the market, there are categories where HDFC Bank Regalia Gold does not get any rewards. These are:

x   Easy EMI

x   Wallets

x   Rent, Property Management, Packers and Movers etc.

x   Government Transactions

Milestone Benefits

This is where the Regalia Gold is much better than the Regalia. It gets better milestone benefits for the same spend that we would have otherwise done on Regalia.

• 1500 GV on Rs 1.5 Lakhs spend in a calendar quarter. The options are Marriott, Myntra, Marks and Spencer or Reliance Digital.
• Rs 5000 flight voucher on Rs 5 Lakhs spend in an anniversary year
• Rs 5000 flight voucher on Rs 7.5 Lakhs spend in an anniversary year

SmartBuy Rewards

The normal/milestone rewards on Regalia Gold might seem less for a card in this segment. This is where SmartBuy is useful. For shopping on the merchants through SmartBuy, we get accelerated rewards which increase the overall reward rate. The SmartBuy cap for Regalia Gold is 4000 reward points per calendar month and 2000 RP per day.

Complimentary Airport Lounge Access

• Airport lounges within India: 12 complimentary visits per calendar year within India (both at domestic and international terminals). This can be availed by swiping the credit card at the lounge. The eligible list of lounges is available at this link.
• Airport lounges outside India: 6 complimentary visits per calendar year. For Visa/Mastercard variants, the access is with Priority Pass.

Other Benefits

• Foreign Currency Markup: 2%
• Fuel Surcharge Waiver: 1% for transactions between Rs 400 and Rs 5000

Rewards Redemption

HDFC Regalia Gold credit card provides multiple options for redeeming the reward points. The rewards can be redeemed on the Smartbuy redemption portal.

HDFC provides the option of redeeming products from its catalog, booking flights/hotels, gift vouchers, or even cash. What differs is the value offered for your rewards for these redemption options. If booking a flight or hotel, each reward point has a value of 50p.However, if we go for products, gift vouchers, or cash the value of each reward point drops to 20p. So, if you travel the best option is to book flights on Smartbuy using reward points or transfer them to one of the Airmiles partners.

Final Thoughts

The benefits offered by the Regalia Gold put the card above Regalia and Diners Club Privilege in HDFC Bank’s credit card line up. So, the order of upgrade to Infinia would now become Regalia –> Regalia Gold –> Infinia. Considering Regalia has been heavily devalued, the Regalia Gold restores some of its ‘shine’.

Regalia Gold is best used for travel redemptions. If you are not into travel and are looking for better cashback redemption cards, then the Cashback, Millennia or Ace credit cards are better choices.

Frequently Asked Questions