Are you looking for a credit card without an annual fee? Would like to know the best zero annual fee credit cards in the market today? Well, you have arrived at the right place.
While many luxury credit cards come with an annual fee, there is a wide range of cards that provide a vast array of benefits without charging any fee.
If you're are a sensible spender and would like to have a credit card with basic yet comprehensive benefits, you can opt for a No annual fee credit card. It will cut down your annual card maintenance cards while providing regular benefits of a credit card.
Listed below are the best credit cards without annual fee offered by top banks in India.
| Credit Card Variant | Annual Fee | Benefits covered |
|---|---|---|
| HSBC Visa Platinum Card | NIL | Dining, shopping, fuel |
| IndusInd Bank Platinum Card | NIL | Travel, golf, entertainment, fuel |
| SBI Card Unnati | NIL (For 1st four years) | Basic |
| YES Prosperity Edge | NIL (Limited-time offer) | Online and international spends |
| Axis Insta Easy Credit Card | NIL | Basic. Card issued against fixed deposit |
| Kotak Fortune Gold Credit Card | NIL | High cash limit, fuel, movie tickets |
| IndusInd Bank Platinum Aura Edge Credit Card | NIL | Travel, entertainment, dining |
| YES Prosperity Reward Plus Card | NIL | Online shopping, international usage |
| ICICI Bank Platinum Chip Credit Card | NIL | Dining, fuel, rewards |
| YES First Preferred | NIL | Travel, entertainment, shopping, dining |
| Axis MY Zone Easy Credit Card | NIL | Travel, entertainment, dining, and rewards |
| YES Premia Credit Card | NIL | Travel, entertainment, shopping, dining |
Key Highlights: Offers benefits across various lifestyle categories such as dining, shopping, etc.
Joining Fee: NIL
Renewal Fee: NIL
Introductory offers:
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption options: ?Reward points can be redeemed for a wide range of products listed in the rewards catalog.
Suitable for: People who use their credit card for regular spends including dining, shopping, and all other daily expenses.
Eligibility to apply for the HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card
| Age | 18 to 65 years |
| Employment status | Salaried |
| Annual salary | Rs.4 lakh |
| Current city of residence | Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, New Delhi, Mumbai, Noida, or Pune. |
Key Highlights: A premium credit card that provides benefits across various categories including travel, lifestyle, entertainment, etc. Pay the joining fee and enjoy the benefits offered by the card lifetime for free.
Joining Fee: NIL(Only when you applied through BankBazaar.com). For others, it is Rs.3,000.
Renewal Fee: NIL
Joining Bonus: Gift voucher fromglobal brands including EazyDiner,MakeMyTrip,Vouchagram, ALDO, Urban Ladder, Jet Airways, Satya Paul andseveral others.
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption options: Redeem reward points for hotel stay vouchers, cash credit, air miles, and products fromIndus Moments.
Suitable for: Individuals looking for the premium lifestyle privileges in a single card with less maintenance.
Key Highlights: Issued against a fixed deposit amount of minimum Rs.25,000, the card is much suitable for people without a credit history.
Joining fee: NIL
Renewal fee: NIL. For 1st four years
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption option: Redeem reward points against a wide variety of gifts from the rewards catalog.
Suitable for: First time credit card applicants without a credit history.
Key Highlights: Apply for YES Bank credit card now and enjoy the benefits offered by the card free for lifetime.
The card provides accelerated rewards on online and international transactions along with other travel and entertainment benefits.
Joining Fee: NIL (Limited-time offer)
Renewal Fee: NIL (Limited-time offer)
Joining Bonus: Earn 1,500 reward points as a welcome gift on spending Rs.7,500 within the first 30 days of the card issuance.
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption options: Redeem reward points to book flights, hotels, and movie tickets (1 RP = Rs.0.25), for JPMiles (4RP = 1 JPMile) or for exclusive products from rewards catalog.
Suitable for: Individuals who shop online, especially on international websites or locations. Travel, golf, and other benefits come as complimentary.
Eligibility to apply for the YES Prosperity Edge Credit Card
| Age | 21 to 60 years |
| Employment status | Salaried or Self Employed |
| Income (salaried) | Rs.60,000 per month |
| Income (self-employed) | Minimum income tax return of Rs.7.20 lakh |
Key Highlights: Issued against a fixed deposit amount of minimum Rs.20,000 and maximum Rs.25 lakh, the card is much suitable for people without a credit history.
Joining Fee: NIL
Renewal Fee: NIL
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption options: Redeem reward points for more than 500 products listed in the rewards catalog.
Suitable for:First time credit card applicants without a credit history.
Eligibility :
Key Highlights: Exclusively offered for businessmen, the card offers basic credit card benefits on fuel, ticket booking, etc.
Joining Fee: NIL
Renewal Fee: NIL
Features and benefits:
Suitable for: People looking for a basic credit card.
Eligibility to apply for the Kotak Fortune Gold Card
| Age | 21 to 65 years |
| Employment status | Self Employed |
| Income | Minimum income Rs.3 lakh |
Key Highlights: A?premium credit card that provides best-in-class privileges in dining, travel, lifestyle and many more categories.
Joining Fee: NIL(Only when applied through BankBazaar.com). For others, it is Rs.5,000.
Renewal Fee: NIL
Joining Bonus: Gift vouchersfromglobal brands including EazyDiner,MakeMyTrip,Aldo, Armani, Titan,Yatra,UnitedColorsof Benettonandseveral others
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption options: Redeem reward points for hotel stay vouchers, cash credit, air miles, and products fromIndusMoments.
Suitable for: Individuals looking for premium lifestyle privileges in travel, shopping, dining, etc.
Key Highlights: Earn while you spend through the accelerated rewards offered by the card. Online and international spends would be given special benefit.
Joining Fee: NIL (Limited-time offer)
Renewal Fee: NIL (Limited-time offer)
Joining Bonus: Earn 1,250 reward points as a welcome gift on spending Rs.5,000 within the first 30 days of the card issuance.
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption options: Redeem reward points for JPMiles (4RP = 1 JPMile) or exclusive products from rewards catalogue.
Suitable for: Individuals who shop online, especially on international websites or locations.
Eligibility to apply for the YES Prosperity Reward Plus Credit Card
| Age | 21 to 60 years |
| Employment status | Salaried or Self Employed |
| Income (salaried) | Rs.25,000 per month |
| Income (self-employed) | Minimum income tax return of Rs.5 lakh |
| Others | This card is also available against a fixed deposit with YES Bank |
Check Eligibility & Apply Onliney
Key Highlights: Basic credit card that provides benefits related to dining, fuel, and rewards.
Joining Fee: NIL
Renewal Fee: NIL
Features and benefits:
Suitable for: People who use their credit card less frequently.
Key Highlights: Travel, entertainment, insurance cover, shopping, dining - The card saves money on all these category spends. Apply now and enjoy the benefits free from life time.
Joining Fee: NIL (Limited-time offer)
Renewal Fee: NIL (Limited-time offer)
Joining Bonus: Earn 15,000 reward points as a welcome gift upon completing the 1st transaction within the first 30 days of the card issuance.
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption options: Reward points can be redeemed against flight, hotel, and movie ticket bookings (1 RP = Rs.0.25) or JPMiles (4RP = 1 JPMile) or an exclusive list of products.
Suitable for: Individuals looking for the best of lifestyle privileges on their credit cards.
Eligibility to apply for the YES First Preferred Credit Card
| Age | 21 to 60 years |
| Employment status | Salaried or Self Employed |
| Income (salaried) | Rs.2 lakh per month |
| Income (self-employed) | Minimum income tax return of Rs.24 lakh |
| Others | Fixed deposit of at least Rs.3 lakh with YES Bank |
Key Highlights: With zero annual fee, the card provides benefits across various categories including travel, entertainment, dining, and rewards.
Joining Fee: NIL
Renewal Fee: NIL
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption options: Redeem reward points for more than 500 products listed in the rewards catalogue.
Suitable for : Weekend freaks who spend on dining and movies frequently.
Key Highlights: Travel, entertainment, insurance cover, shopping, dining - The card saves money on all these category spends. Apply now and enjoy the benefits free from life time.
Joining Fee: NIL (Limited time offer)
Renewal Fee: NIL (Limited time offer)
Features and benefits:
Rewards redemption options: Reward points can be redeemed against flight, hotel, and movie ticket bookings (1 RP = Rs.0.25) or JPMiles (4RP = 1 JPMile) or an exclusive list of products.
Suitable for: Exclusively offered for YES Premia Banking customers.
Eligibility to apply for the YES Premia Credit Card
| Age | 21 to 60 years |
| Employment status | Salaried or Self Employed |
| Income (salaried) | Rs.1.20 lakh per month |
| Income (self-employed) | Minimum income tax return of Rs.15 lakh |
To apply for no annual fee credit cards online, you can visit the respective bank website or you can apply through BankBazaar, which is an authorised partner of top banks in India.
Steps to apply through BankBazaar website
On successfully submitting the application and the necessary documents, you would receive an 'Application ID'. Use this ID to track your application status by clicking' Track Application '.
Credit card users can make most of their cards this weekend by purchasing smartphones and other electronic devices on e-commerce sites like Amazon and Flipkart. Under the new programme, ‘Week End Offers’ launched by the e-tailers credit cardholders of specific banks can avail some interesting offers.
While Flipkart is offering some interesting trading points and flat Rs.750 discount for HDFC credit card and debit card users, ICICI credit cardholders can avail 5% off on EMI transactions. SBI Cards, on the other hand, is providing an instant discount of 5% on the purchase of select smartphones.
Axis Bank credit card users will get complimentary one-year screen protection plan on the purchase of select mobile devices on Amazon India. The offer is valid for direct purchases as well as no cost EMI purchases made using Axis credit cards.
Some of the smartphones on offer include Vivo V7+, RealMe 1, Honor 7X, Motorola Moto E5 Plus, Moto G6, Huawei Nova 3i, Samsung Galaxy J8, etc.
5 September 2018
In case of loss, theft or damage to a credit or debit card, the cardholder can undertake the following steps:
• The primary action to be taken in case of a lost credit/debit card is to notify the issuer of the card through phone banking or by visiting the nearest branch of the bank.
•They must be informed about the circumstances under which the card was misplaced and you could be required to cooperate with a verification process to confirm your identity. The issuer would immediately block your card to prevent any fraudulent transactions which might occur using your card.
•To confirm any action taken by the bank, a follow-up mail could be sent to the issuer that includes the details regarding the loss i.e. your name, account number, date and time of the loss, and the loss was reported.
•One could also keep track of any activity or transaction that took place after the card was lost. The details of these transactions could also be included in the mail to avoid any untoward billing to your account.
•The cardholder is also entitled to a monetary compensation based on their insurance plan, if any.
• It is suggested that an FIR can be filed at your nearest police station regarding the loss.
2 August 2018
Most credit cards charge an annual fee. Annual fees are one of the most common credit card fees charged in India. Depending on the type of card you apply for, credit card providers charge an annual fee. Also known as “Renewal Fee”, this fee is charged every year. As many did not like the idea of paying a high annual fee for owning a credit card, credit card providers came up with cards with no annual fees.
Applying for a zero annual fee credit card helps cardholders across the country to reduce their overall costs of owning a credit card. Currently, there are many credit cards in the market with no annual fees like Central Bank of India Titanium Credit Card, Vijaya Bank Platinum Credit Card, IndusInd Bank Pinnacle Credit Card, HSBC Bank Platinum Credit Card, HSBC Advance Visa Platinum Card, The PNB Global Classic Credit Card, Canara Bank Global Gold Card, Dhanlaxmi Bank Gold Credit Card, Indian Bank VISA Business Credit Card, and LIC Corporation Bank Platinum EMV Credit Card.
If you are planning on applying for a credit card with no annual fee, compare various cards available in the market before you choose one. You can visit neutral financial advisory website like BankBazaar to compare various credit cards with no annual fees.
27 July 2018
Crisil is one of the leading global analytical companies in the world. Recently, Crisil released a report according to which the unsecured loans in India is growing faster at a rate of four times that of overall growth in bank credit over the last three years. Between the financial year 2015 to 2018, unsecured credit which includes personal, small and medium enterprise (SME), and credit card loans recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27%.
By the end of March, the total outstanding unsecured loans stood at close to Rs.5 lakh crore which constituted 26% of all retail loans which is an increase of 21% at the end of financial 2015.
17 July 2018
SBI Cards, the second largest credit card issuer after HDFC, offers different types of credit cards to suit the needs of self-employed, salaried employees, students and corporates. One interesting type of credit cards offered by SBI Cards include the no-annual fee credit card.
SBI Cards is currently offering one credit card with no annual fee – SBI Unnati Card. The credit card is free for first four years, which would otherwise cost Rs.499 per year. The card, however, is a secured credit card. Applicants need to have a fixed deposit of minimum Rs.25,000 with SBI to avail the card.
Features and benefits of SBI no-annual-fee credit card include one reward point on every Rs.100 spent on the card, Rs.500 cashback on spends of Rs.50,000 or more in a year, 1% fuel surcharge waiver for a minimum transaction value of Rs.500 and more.
SBI Unnati credit card is accepted worldwide and can also be used at over one million Visa or MasterCard ATMs across the globe. Other advanced features available on the no annual fee credit card include balance transfer on EMI, FlexiPay facility, EasyMoney and add-on cards for applicant’s family members.
Another way to make an SBI credit card as a no annual fee credit card is to avail an SBI credit card that offers annual fee reversal on reaching the set milestone. For instance, if your spends in the current year equal Rs.50,000, the annual fee for the next year will be waived. The spend limit varies from one card to another. If you’re able to achieve the same, you can enjoy the benefits of a no annual fee credit card while using a regular card.
28 May 2018
Most of the credit card users are aware of credit card annual fee. However, the annual fee is not applicable to all the cards. Some cards come with no annual fee feature while some other cards offer annual fee waiver provided the cardholder achieves the set milestones. Let’s see some facts about credit card annual fee.
Annual fee and joining fee: As the names suggest, these are the fees that an individual needs to pay to maintain the credit card and to start using it, respectively. When an applicant procures a credit card, the bank charges a joining fee along with the annual fee that may vary from nil to Rs.30,000. These charges depend on the kind of the card that the cardholder is opting for. The cardholder can get an annual fee waiver from the second year onwards provided they spend a certain amount on their credit card.
The annual fee varies from one credit card to another. The fee will be communicated to the cardholder at the time of card issuance.
Credit card annual fee is different from credit card joining fee. While the joining fee is an one-time fee, annual fee shall be paid every year if the cardholder renews his/her membership
Annual fee is also called renewal fee
Credit card annual fee is typically charged in the 12th month billing cycle of a credit card
GST and other taxes are not applicable on annual fee
No annual fee credit cards and lifetime free credit cards do not attract any annual fee
The annual fee for the subsequent years will be waived on a few credit cards if the set conditions or milestones are met
16 April 2018
The total number of credit and debit cards in use in India have increased by 0.7 million and 9.58 million respectively as of December 2017. Card usage became more popular after the process of demonetisation. While there was a sharp spike in the number of cards that were operational in the initial stages of the demonetisation process, this dropped off later on.
While credit card usage increased by 6.6% year-on-year, debit card usage declined by 30% for the same period. Even so, it was noticeable that the total number of transactions using debit cards, at 290.35 million, was over double the number of transactions performed using credit cards, at 123.7 million. In yet another twist, it was noted that the sum total of the amounts transacted using debit cards, at Rs.40,461 crore, was less than the sum total for credit cards at, Rs.41,850 crore for December 2017.
Yet another trend that was noticed was that people tended to transact for a higher amount using credit cards than debit cards. The increase in transaction value was 26% while debit card transaction values declined slightly in the year between December 2016 and December 2017.
22 February 2018
With attractive offers and enticing benefits credit card companies often lure us to have more than one credit card. After using them for a while, the offer on the card expires discouraging us to stop using the card. This might happen with a couple of cards as we tend to ignore them with time. Industry experts recommend closing all such unused cards to have a clean credit history. Well, before closing credit cards you may have to make sure a few things are taken care. Eager to know what they are, read further to find those titbits.
• Make sure to clear all your outstanding bills on the card. Just because you want to close the card, it doesn’t mean you left the dues uncleared. Taking a chance on the same will result in poor credit score and will affect your future loan eligibilities or approvals.
• Similarly, if you have any loans on the card, try to close them or wait till the tenure is completed. If you apply for closing the credit card without closing the loan, it will be pre-closed by the bank and you will charged with a penalty.
• Redeem all the reward points on the card if they are eligible for redemption. Once you apply for card closure, it becomes difficult to get back the points.
• Contact the bank’s customer care to know the process of closing the credit card. Typically, for most of the banks, you need to fill and submit a credit card closure form either online or directly to the branch office. Besides providing all the details including credit card number, card holder name, reason for closure and the like, you need to mention the bank account number which was linked for auto credit card payments, so that it will be de-linked once the card is deactivated.
• Once you submit the application for your credit card closure, make sure you receive an acknowledgement of the same as well as confirmation once the card is closed.
• Upon receiving the card closure confirmation from the bank, cut your credit card both horizontally and vertically in to multiple pieces before discarding it.
Closing unused credit cards not only makes your life easy but also save your money which otherwise would have wasted on paying annual fee, maintenance fee and other charges associated with credit cards.
8 February 2018
Every State Bank of India account holder with a balance of Rs.20,000 to Rs.25,000 can now avail credit cards with zero annual fee from the bank. Their credit history will not be considered for these cards. The card is called ‘Unnati’ and will be offered for 4 years to promote digital payments.
3 April 2017
PayTM has removed the 2% charge that it had introduced earlier on the amount added in the wallet using credit cards. The charge was introduced by the e-wallet company after it suspected users of exploiting discounts. The CEO of the company said that many bank staff and merchants were found misusing PayTM’s 0% bank fee offer. PayTm said that this 2% charge became inconvenient for many users who were not misusing their e-wallets. To prevent misuse, the company has decided to build other features.
27 March 2017
