Gas is a every day expense for everybody, and having a bank card that provides cashback or rewards on gas purchases could be fairly helpful. For individuals who spend a major quantity on gas, it could actually result in substantial financial savings just by utilizing the best bank card. Let’s discover a number of the finest gas bank cards in India for 2024 that rewards gas purchases & one thing fascinating for many who’re new to this.
The Challenge with Gas Playing cards
In case you’re on the lookout for conventional gas playing cards, I can record at-least 10 of them, one thing like beneath:
However the concern is that there are 3 main points with most of those “gas” marketed bank cards which is able to damage your time and vitality while you take them. They’re:
- It’s possible you’ll not get anticipated rewards/cashback on gas spends as a result of typically Service provider Class Code (MCC) aren’t correctly up to date with the service provider.
- Even should you discover the best gas stations that offers accelerated rewards (let’s say 4%), you’ll discover meagre max caps each month.
- Even should you’ve cracked the code for above two issues, the final trick utilized by the banks is that you simply’ll get peanuts while you spend elsewhere aside from gas (like 0.25%). Now, you shouldn’t neglect that non-fuel spends are important to achieve the required spend goal to get the annual charge waiver. So general reward fee goes for a toss.
These points have been repeatedly seen in each gas bank card ever launched within the nation for over a decade. Sadly that’s how the enterprise of gas bank cards work and it might by no means change.
To not neglect that, managing a separate card for gas alone is one other time & pockets consuming factor. So that you shouldn’t be falling for that ideally.
As an alternative, hold the technique easy by selecting playing cards that both offers common rewards on gas spends or via milestone spends.
And if that’s not ample, there may be yet another factor you would want to know. Let’s start with the record of playing cards earlier than getting there:
AmEx Gold Cost Card
- Reward Fee: ~5%
- Finest for: Spends of 6,000 INR / month
- Learn evaluate & apply: Amex Gold Cost
Notice that Amex has 0% gas surcharge with HPCL Petrol Stations. The candy spot is to make use of Amex Gold Cost for 1,000 INR*6 instances a month to earn common rewards+month-to-month bonus whereas having fun with 0% surcharge at HPCL.
AmEx Platinum Cost Card
- Reward Fee: ~1.25%
- Finest for: Spends of any quantity
- Learn evaluate & apply: Amex Plat Cost
Whereas nobody ought to get Amex Platinum Cost only for gas spends, it doesn’t harm utilizing it while you already personal one.
Whereas there aren’t any cap per se, you’re nonetheless restricted to the honest utilization coverage with HPCL to get pleasure from 0% surcharge.
AmEx MRCC
- Reward Fee: ~5%
- Finest for: Spends of 20,000 INR / month
- Learn evaluate & apply: Amex MRCC
Whereas Amex Membership Rewards Credit score Card doesn’t get you common factors on gas spends, the month-to-month bonus is ample to offer you a good-looking return on gas spends.
Milestone Credit score Playing cards
If above playing cards doesn’t give you the results you want for no matter motive, there are different methods to decide on a card for gas spends and that’s while you’ll must discover: milestone bank cards.
You’ll want to choose the bank cards that offers fairly good reward fee on reaching spend milestones. This would come with playing cards like IDFC Vistara, SBI Vistara Prime, SBI Aurum, Amex Journey Card, Amex Reserve.
As of now, Axis Financial institution has excluded gas spends for milestone rewards as properly (at-least on paper), and different banks may comply with anytime.
HP Pay App
In case you’re not pleased with the returns on above playing cards, we lastly have a golden methodology that might show you how to save over 10% on gas spends, via HP Pay.
HP Pay is a loyalty app by HPCL which can be utilized to pay for gas at HPCL retailers. There are two methods to go about it:
- HP Pay Voucher: You shall purchase HP Pay gas vouchers on-line (like from Amex) and add these vouchers to HP Pay app and pay for gas.
- ICICI FasTag: You’ll want to purchase Amazon Pay vouchers, add to amazon pay steadiness and use it to recharge ICICI Fastag account. Now whereas paying for the gas, you may select ICICI Fastag and pay to your gas.
The Fastag route is bit difficult however price it. In reality some POS at HPCL/IOCL can take Fastag gas funds instantly with out HP Pay however from my expertise it’s uncommon to search out, so HP Pay comes helpful.
So each of those HPPay strategies are fairly profitable as one can save properly over ~10% on gas spends, for instance, you should buy Amazon Pay Vouchers from HDFC Gyftr portal utilizing HDFC Tremendous Premium playing cards like HDFC Infinia to earn 5X rewards and use them for gas as talked about above.
However bear in mind, chances are you’ll run into points any-day with this. Not too long ago, ICICI financial institution disabled gas spends on Fastag for some customers and one must name and request to allow it once more.
The Fastag route is bit dangerous as a result of in the future they may take away the performance and also you is perhaps left with few hundreds in your Fastag Account. So take calculated dangers accordingly.
Ultimate Ideas
Selecting one of the best bank card for gas spends could be difficult at instances, however I hope the data above helps you make an knowledgeable determination.
Finally, it comes down to private choice, particularly since gas bills for most individuals don’t even cross ₹1 lakh a yr. So, it won’t be price stressing an excessive amount of over a comparatively small spend.
Personally, I used to depend on Amex Cost playing cards for gas, however these days, I’ve switched to HP Pay with ICICI Fastag, which has been working easily for me. I hope it stays for someday, however you by no means know.
Make hay whereas the solar shines!
Which one is your favorite methodology to save lots of on gas spends? Be happy to share your ideas within the feedback beneath.