HDFC just sent an email to all Infinia cardholders, announcing that you need to maintain a minimum annual spend of Rs. 18 lakhs to continue holding the card!
I think it will be the other way around. Other cards will also tighten the noose. The future of premium cards will move towards a world where most users are restricted to 1 or 2 premium cards and then they start curtailing the benefits. Thats how the text book loyalty rewards work. My 2 cents.
There are better cards, Infinia has a 10L spend waiver for fees, there are no milestones on it unlike DCBM or other cards, so there is not any reason to spend more on this.
You can still use it for SmartBuy spends, but base reward isn't anything mind-blowing, it is just decent.
Infinia is not for the ultra-rich, if anything, it is just for upper-middle class, or the lower-high class.
The Ultra - rich aren't using Infinia, they care about being able to swipe their card anywhere & have a limit which easily lets them put spends of someone's yearly salary in one single transaction.
Something like the Amex Platinum Charge & Centurion can offer.
I thought ultra rich starts with 15 lakh per year or more. But if I think about it more then it's nowhere around ultra rich.
My senior (after 14 years of service in govt job) earns 22-24 lakh per annum including all perks.
So clearly not that ultra rich stuff.
But 18 Lakh spends a year on infinia, seems a lot.
Infinia remains available without conditions till March 2027. So perhaps there will be moves by other banks to capture Infinia customers during the next one year. Let’s see which banks make a big move.
This segment of card is something every other bank has touched and burnt their hands. Nobody is gonna try and capture this market. Banks would be interested only in the high spenders and if people had high spends, they'd continue to use infinia.
it basically takes away the liberty to spend where returns are max . i have a dcb and epm but still i dont route all my spends to epm , as i want to keep the dcb active as well . this 18L thing forces people to spend all only on Infinia which people dont want to .
That's exactly what HDFC is trying to do. Make such people move all their spends to infinia. If course, there's also the risk that some people move all their spends to another card. It's a well calculated move.
No use after apay devaluation.
Can't even book flight through ishop after payment cleartrip says failed and after 3 days getting refund of the amount.huh
It's still worth it man. Just amazon pay and swiggy is gone.. Saving good in dining out and food ordering with zomato. Amazon shopping vouchers still there. Offline shopping at mall, almost all big stores have vouchers on ishop now.
The only reason why I would prefer an Infinia over DCBM(current card) is because of its acceptability outside India. DC isn’t great outside as compared to VISA or MC
This is a good move by HDFC. They are giving 1 year notice so cardholders have enough time to adjust or find alternative. If you hold Infinia through eligibility criteria then spending 18 lacs should not be a big challenge. Instead of HDFC devaluing the card further it may make sense to get rid of people who only spend on gyftr/smartbuy up to the accelerated limits. Those segments are money loosing channels for the bank and the only way they can keep the product afloat is if regular spends are also done by card holders beyond Smartbuy.
Usually I see two primary types of people holding Infinia (the types can overlap):
People who usually have a lot of TRV with HDFC, and got the card by default
People who are active card hustlers, hack their way to get the card and use the benefits to the max
HDFC seems to be cleaning up shop, and properly prioritizing type 1 customers. I fall into neither bracket; I got it LTF just before COVID with a minuscule TRV, don't use the card all that much (at least not point-efficient). Honestly doesn't matter if this goes; I get max 5% benefit out of it given my spending pattern.
Despite the hit, I believe this is a great move. There has been way too much misinformation about the card, and RMs are using it as a carrot to do all sorts of unethical things. This is a good first step; if HDFC actually honors this criteria consistently, ie consistently give the card to people who meet it AND consistently don't give it to people who don't, it'll remove much of the negative impression people have of its processes.
The carrot thing is what the card was designed for , it was designed as a bargaining chip for HDFC to increase relationship value
But I guess the bank didn't just look at the relationship value but the actual PPOP
There are two ways to boost the same
, put a large sum of money where the banks male less money and method 2 is put a relatively smaller sum of money in the likes of ULIPS etc where banks make a higher margin
it was designed as a bargaining chip for HDFC to increase relationship value
I get that. My focus was on the unethical parts. It's perfectly fine if an RM says "give us 50L and we'll give you this card for free", and then gives the card when that's done. It's definitely not fine when RM says something, then once you do it, moves goalposts and asks for more / uses some random excuse like "higher-ups refused" to dodge out of delivering promises. The latter is what a lot of people in this sub complain about - Infinia being "invite-only" and not providing proper acceptance criteria until recently, while providing it LTF to random people like me who are far away from the target audience just gave prospects signal that "anything is possible", making them more susceptible to traps.
Consider the case a few days ago where an Axis RM was literally using poster as a pawn to fulfill his targets; made dubious investments without even asking.
How can they apply this criteria to everyone without sending the mail.
Maybe if we reduce our spends from April’26 to Dec’26, we may get this next year.
I would’ve spent more than 10L in this period and probably that’s why didn’t get this email yet.
My RM tried to sell infinia to me. Sir please increase your limit of existing DCB to 10 lakhs, then for a year or two spend at least 15 lakhs a year then I will try my best to get you Infinia. Told him to f*** off
This has only been sent to infinia customers who has less spends in the last 1 year, couple of my friends received it, I and a few other friends didn’t receive as our spends exceeds 18L.
M4b has fee wavier for spend over 30 lakhs. You have to pay 35 thousand renewal fees every year if you don't spend over that. It's more premium and demands more spends.
18 lakhs to 30 lakhs is quite a significant jump in annual spends. Not sure if low-spending Infinia holders will view M4B as an alternative because of this announcement.
Customer Care told that today only the 18 Lakh notice haz been sent to them, and since that is more than 10L spend based waiver, bank is likely to increase the spend based waiver criteria to somewhere way more than 18L.
The one I got talks about a Transition Window, but definitely not giving a "free" ride till April 2027. What it basically says is this: Raise RLV to ₹30 lakhs by April 30, 2026 or we will downgrade you. Meeting spend criteria is not feasible for me so RLV is all I can consider. What it also implies is that you can raise the RLV in two steps:
Between now and April 30,2026 : RLV of 30 lakhs
May 1, 2026 to Apr 30, 2027: Add another ₹20 lakhs.
if you don't raise RLV to ₹50 lakhs by April 2027, you will lose Infinia. Mine is LTF infinia.
QUESTION: Does HDFC count all accounts in an Imperia Family Group to see if the RLV requirement of ₹50L is met for Infinia?
HDFC already rolled back the devaluation of the accelerated earnings rate. That was likely in anticipation of a this (more mature) approach to fixing the card’s profitability for the bank.
Do you really, really think they won’t go through with this? Doesn’t sound like a bluff to me. 🤔
Me too, you're not alone, but I've only spent 7Lakhs in 7-8 months in this card anniversary year. But I have confirmed from customer care, this rule is applicable to all the customers so a mail can be dropped later if you've not received it yet. Same goes for me.
HDFC is going to loose so many customers and TBH it's about time that HDFC 's tyranny comes to an end.
There are other private banks who treat their customers way better but HDFC has been on the top way too long and has gotten too arrogant.
I don’t understand how can they not included Demat holdings as a part of the RLV. It’s pointless having Demat holdings worth over 1.4 crore with HDFC now & they’re showing my RLV as only 90k in the email.
For me, HDFC has mentioned that i need to spend the balance amount within the next 2 months.
RM has asked for the mail and asked for the Timeline till monday.
I told him that if i see any risk i will switch my banking to some other bank. Been an Infinia user for the past 6-7 yrs.
This change is because stupid folks have been trying to get a card that is not meant for their spend levels then crying over it. I've never had a problem with the card because I got it when I knew I would be anyway spending said amount annually and have a annual RLV that easily covers for owning this card.
I also blame greedy RMs who oversell this but you really got to be daft to do a FD to get a card for benefits when you know your spend levels is never going to be anywhere near multiples of lakhs. Don't blame the card if you can't afford to use it.
Between HDFC and ICICI, ICICI is definitely the greedier bank and has done multiple devaluations already on EPM/iShop so beware of making EPM your "Infinia replacement".
Only low-spenders have received the email so far. But it’s very likely that the criteria will apply to everyone. We expect that HDFC will publish the new criteria publicly soon.
I understand many will be disappointed by this move. But hdfc doesn’t seem to want smart spenders who buy vouchers mostly till certain limit and then spend on other cards as per their requirements.
From hdfc point of view, it makes sense as they want Infinia holder to spend mostly on this card and not to do selective spends.
They want it to be exclusive to high end customers of bank only. Many may not spend 18 lakhs but to continue having Infinia, they can maintain RLV. This will bring more business to HDFC.
From customer point of view, if genuine spends are there for 18 lakhs, it should not be an issue. If sends are not in that range for this card and can’t maintain RLV, then better to switch to other super premium cards. It’s still 1 year for these changes. Banks keep launching new cards.
But thing is there is hardly any bank who don’t devalue their cards after launch.
That’s where INFINIA rocked as HDFC kept most features entact.
I will keep INFINIA as I already have RLV more than requirement with this bank. But I can’t blindly spend 18 lakhs on this card as I need to shift spends on other cards as per requirement.
Seems this is targeted at current low spenders and non Imperia holders. None of the folks having Imperia accounts has received this, irrespective of their annual spends on the Infinia
I upgraded from a LTF DCB to a FYF Infinia about 3 years ago. During these three years, I have farmed so many reward points that it’s definitely been worth it for me.
Maybe you’re scenario is different and perhaps an upgrade wouldn’t have made sense.
How is the community planning to spend 1.5L/month to retain infinia? I am looking at my recurring expenses and most of high value transactions like SIPs, loan payment, etc are directly from bank account. I have already setup smart pay for recurring bill payments but that won't make the cut.
It's wrong if you miss one year then you should get this email !! It should be miss for 2 consequitive year then strip off !! One year anyone can have a less spend year ..very unfair and wrong ..
Wanted to understand how come you are waived off for this year where you spend is 5.65 lakhs? Mine is 8.64 lakh but still being asked to spent 3 lakhs in next 2 months.
I am supposed to go to onsite for 8 months from April 🤣.. I'll come back around dec !! So For fucking keeping this Infenia I'll have to spend 6 lakh per month jan-march 🤣.. who makes these rules are they always high !!
Would they reinstate infenia back after downgrading , If I spend 18 lakhs year after I get downgrade !! I tell you what will happen they will downgrade your gifted multiplier or remove gyfter benefits !! This is the downgrade they talk about ..
I had let this email slide, and the buggers got back with a reminder that u gotta spend ur arse off! And i am like enough, no point in forcing this lifestyle inflation onto oneself. So yeah, most likely they’ll take it aways and give a downgrade.
Kinda glad I rejected this card… don’t like living off vouchers… and to be honest they want to gate-keep such a mediocre card… they can… it’s better off if people realize how much undervalued they are as customers…
Yes. Hdfc has taken a bold step by augmenting it's cards and products rather than bringing new mashroom products....one after another and lost in the busy street. This is a right approach I think. Rather than getting outdated keep the card alive and make it an antique one that will attract more and more people towards not only the best product but also create a class.
I think very soon they will remove many cobranded cards or augment them. In this process regalia gold , millennia will also be there.
I think that It is better to be within our capacity in actual rather than just bypassing the same.
The criteria mentions having an average monthly balance of 50 lac across Savings, Current etc...how does money in current account come into play here? I am part of a family grouped with our business account which makes the criteria. Anyone have any idea if that could be considered?
Has anyone with Infinia credit card received a call from HDFC or their RM regarding a downgrade of their credit card due to not meeting the spend based criteria or maintaining the required relationship value (RLV)?
If yes, which card was it downgraded to and what is the annual fee for that card?
229
u/Aromatic_Stranger574 Maximizer Feb 25 '26
Pointless to spend after 10l on this card, better to use atlas or t1