3 lifetime free credit cards that you must own

A credit card is a payment card issued by banks (or financial institutions) to their customers to enable them to pay a merchant for goods and services based on their promise to the issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the other agreed charges.

If you can use a credit card responsibly, there’s really no reason not to. I am an advocate of using credit card due to scores of benefits that they offer. They provide free airport/railways lounge access, protection against fraud and accident, interest free credit for 20-50 days, which in-turn mobilizes your credit rating (improves significantly if repaid timely). It also helps to tap a number of brand offers, free movie tickets, cashbacks, purchase based reward program and many more. Banks may or may not charge some fees against such cards.

Based on my research and experience, I can suggest three life-time free credit cards that one should have -

1. ICICI-Amazon co-branded card: This is an invite only card by Amazon. One can check their amazon account for eligibility. This is a must have card which comes at zero annual cost.

Highlights - 

·       Lifetime free card.

·       Amazon Prime members gets Rs 750 (Non-Prime users gets Rs 500) in their Amazon wallet for signing up for the card. Axis Bank- flipkart also has a co-branded card but has annual commitment. 

·       5% cashback for amazon prime users and 3% fir non-prime users, over-and-above any other promotional offer in place. 

·       2% cashback on Amazon partners & 1% cashback elsewhere, on every Rs 100 spent. This is better than #HDFC's premium cards like #Regalia and #RegaliaFirst, Axis bank's privilege, Citi bank’s premium cards and many more.

·       Automatic transfer of accrued loyalty points to your Amazon Pay wallet every month. This is the paramount feature because other banks offer limited options to burn loyalty points on their dedicated portal. #HDFC charges Rs 99+ IGST every time you want to use your loyalty points. Validity of these points is an added disadvantage. To the contrary, #AmazonPay balance can be used for plethora of services offered by Amazon.in.

·       ICICI Bank is a big brand which runs cashback programs on many other e commerce portals. Hence, owning this *black (plastic) money* is no harm. 

2. Yes Bank Prosperity Edge/Prima - Another underdog with some great features. This is a lifetime free card when referred by a friend. If you qualify their eligibility criteria, it is another must have card.

Highlights - 

·       Offered on MasterCard with 8/12 free airport lounge access on domestic airport. Being on #MasterCard and not #Visa has an added advantage

·       Offers loyalty point on digital wallet recharges also which is not the case with many cards 

·       5% cashback on petrol pumps (promotional)

·       Offers on bookmyshow.com

·       Loyalty points that never expire

3. HSBC Visa platinum credit card – This is a lifetime free card with no significant benefit. But HSBC Bank offers several cashback deals with renowned sites like Goibibo, Amazon.in, and Shoppers Stop, which will definitely earn you a lot of cashback that you will not regret owning this.

Highlights - 

·       1+1 movie ticket on Bookmyshow.com 

· Weekly discount offers on Goibibo.com & MakeMyTrip.com. Such discounts are being offered by other banks as well. Trust, HSBC card offers the best one.

·       Never expiring loyalty points.

You may keep any number of card. But it is good to have one primary card so that you can leverage loyalty points.

I will keep writing more about cards. Feel free to post your questions here!