HDFC Bank has renewed its list of 10x partners and kept the Jet Diners Black card out of their recent devaluation. In their attempt to keep the HDFC Bank Diners Club card holder happy, they added the international spend program in September 2017, where one could get HDFC Diners 10X points for International Spend through December 31, 2018. The international spend promotion was not renewed after the end of December 2018, which had me look for other ways to get 10X points on International spends with HDFC Bank.  But now we have a new HDFC Bank 5X Reward Points promotion going on.

We recently saw American Express offering Marriott Vouchers to their customers. Citibank is offering a waiver on the forex charges for customers. Kotak Credit Card offers 5% cashback on forex transactions.

HDFC Bank 5X Reward Points for International Spends in February 2019

Much on the lines of the  HDFC Bank 5X Rewards points Fivetastic promotion, now, there is another set of promotions valid on all HDFC Bank Credit Cards for International Spends. It is valid on all personal HDFC Bank Credit Cards which issue Reward Points and not those which issue JPMiles or other currencies.

The new HDFC Bank International Spends promotion is valid between February 1 and February 28, 2019. Through February 2019, HDFC Bank is offering its card members the opportunity to earn bonus Reward Points. HDFC Bank is offering 5X rewards on International Spends, only on POS spends, between this period, with a maximum cap of 10,000 points per cardmember.

The bonus points earned here are over and above any spends made on other promotions such as the regular 10X promotion. The points come in within 90 days after the spend is done, and you need to pay in a foreign currency to be able to get your points.

Value of the International Spends Promotion

• HDFC Bank Diners Rewardz: You earn 3 Reward Points/ INR 150 spent, which value at INR 0.90. With this promotion, you get another 12 Reward Points/INR 150 spent, so you get a total value of INR 4.5/INR 150 spent, which makes it 3% cashback in total.
• HDFC Bank Diners Premium / Club Miles: You earn 4 Reward Points/ INR 150 spent, which value at INR 2. With this promotion, you would get another 16 Reward Points/INR 150 spent, so you get a total value of INR 10/INR 150 spent, which makes it a 6.66% cashback in total.
• HDFC Bank Diners Black: You earn 5 Reward Points/ INR 150 spent, which value at INR 5. With this promotion, you would get another 20 Reward Points/INR 150 spent, so you get a total value of INR 25/INR 150 spent, which makes it a 16.66% cashback in total.

Of course, HDFC Bank has a lot many more credit cards as well, which have this feature and you will have to compute the value of your RoI as well.

Again, these are promotions for points earning cards and not valid for miles earning cards such as those with JetPrivilege. You need to make transactions over INR 150 to be eligible for the points in the first place.

Revisiting HDFC Global Value: 1% Cashback

HDFC Bank has also added the Diners Club Cards to their Global Value program. You pay INR 199 towards your welcome or renewal benefit from this promotion. In return, you get 500 Reward Points on activation by doing the first international transaction. Subsequently, you get 1% cashback up to INR 1000 per billing cycle. If you spend more than INR 150,000 per annum, you get an additional INR 2000 Yatra Voucher. You need to call HDFC Bank to enrol in this program, and you get it activated within five working days.

Why does this make sense? Well, you pay 2% markup fees +GST on your cards and with this, you get back much more (1% cashback, 5X points and more).

Bottomline

I’m glad that HDFC Bank continues to keep its customers happy. So, if you are on an international trip, here is the place to direct some of your spends on. What are your thoughts on the promotion?