The White card from Kotak Bank is quite a unique offering. It comes with a gorgeous minimalistic white design that gives the card a premium look. We also get premium brand gift vouchers as rewards that make it attractive for HNI customers. It is quite different from the normal cashback and travel-focused credit cards. Here is a review of the Kotak White credit card with its rewards, and benefits.
Fees and Charges
| Joining Fee | Rs 3000 (LTF for Kotak Privy League Optima and Insignia Customers) |
| Welcome Benefit | Rs 1500 White Pass on Rs 30000 spends in first 60 days |
| Annual Fee | Rs 3000 (LTF for Kotak Privy League Optima and Insignia Customers) |
| Annual Fee Waiver | Rs 5 Lakhs spend in an anniversary year |
Optima and Insignia are Kotak Bank’s premium banking programs under Privy League. The AMB required for these is upwards of Rs 10 Lakhs.
Rewards
The Kotak White card does not have reward points for individual transactions. It uses a milestone benefit system where we earn a ‘White Pass’ on crossing spend thresholds.
| SPEND MILESTONE | WHITE PASS VALUE | TOTAL WHITE PASS VALUE |
VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rs 2 Lakhs | Rs 2000 | Rs 2000 | 1% |
| Rs 4 Lakhs | Rs 4000 | Rs 6000 | 1.5% |
| Rs 6 Lakhs | Rs 6000 | Rs 12000 | 2% |
| Rs 9 Lakhs | Rs 7000 | Rs 19000 | 2.1% |
| Rs 12 Lakhs | Rs 8000 | Rs 27000 | 2.25% |
- The ‘sweet spot’ for maximum reward rate is Rs 6 Lakhs spend.
- We get 2% rewards in the form of a ‘White Pass’ plus the annual fee waiver.
What is White Pass?
White Pass is Kotak’s term for gift vouchers redemption. While Kotak states that these are only for premium brands, we do have some regular ones including Amazon Pay as well. We can also use the White Pass for flight and hotel redemptions. Below is the full list of available redemption options for gift vouchers.
Complimentary Airport Lounge Access
- Airport Lounges in India: 2 complimentary visits/quarter to Dream Folks lounges in India via Visa card. The list of eligible airport lounges for Kotak White cards is available here.
- International Airport Lounges(outside India): 4 complimentary visits/year with Priority Pass
Key Benefits
- Fuel Surcharge Waiver: 1% for transactions between Rs 500 and Rs 3000. The maximum waiver is capped at Rs 3500/calendar year.
- Railway Surcharge Waiver: Applicable for IRCTC bookings. The maximum waiver is Rs 500 per calendar year. We get 1.8% for online IRCTC bookings and 2.5% for offline bookings at railway counters.
Final Thoughts
White with Privy League makes it two LTF credit cards that are available for Kotak’s Privy League banking customers. But, both credit cards take different approaches to rewards. The White credit card is a milestone rewards card. So, we can make any kind of transaction to hit the milestone spends for getting the White Pass. This is helpful as we can do govt. payments, insurance transactions, etc. which have lesser/capped rewards on other credit cards.
Considering the rewards, I would consider the Rs 6 Lakhs mark as the ideal spend for the White card. We get a total reward rate of 2% with an annual fee waiver.
When compared to the competition, the Kotak White card is not beneficial. In the premium segment, we have SC Ultimate which has a flat 3.3% reward on any transaction. SC Ultimate also has many good options for gift voucher redemptions. So, I would value the SC Ultimate much higher than the Kotak White card for any spending.
