HDFC Regalia Credit Card vs HDFC Regalia First Credit Card: Which one to pick?

HDFC Regalia Credit Card is one of the most popular mid-range credit cards in India. The card comes with a membership fee of Rs. 2,500 per annum (plus GST) and offers a max reward rate of up to 1.33% on normal spends. The card also comes packed with a number of additional benefits like complimentary domestic and international airport lounge access, 24×7 concierge service, insurance benefits and many more.

The Regalia First Credit Card is a toned-down version of the HDFC Regalia Credit Card. HDFC Regalia First Credit Card comes with a membership fee of Rs. 1,000 per annum (plus GST), and offers a max reward rate of up to 0.8% on normal spends. Though the Regalia First Card also offers some additional benefits, the original Regalia being a more premium offering has the upper hand.

In this post, we will be giving a point-wise comparison between these two mid-range credit cards by HDFC. Before comparing the cards, it is a good idea to first go through some of the key features of both cards.

HDFC Bank Regalia Credit Card

As mentioned earlier, the Regalia Credit Card by HDFC is one of the most popular offerings in the mid-range segment in the Indian credit card market space. The card comes with a membership fee of Rs. 2,500 and apart from offering the Reward Points benefits, also offers many additional benefits as well. Some of the key features of HDFC Bank Regalia Credit Card are-

• You get 2,500 bonus Reward Points as a welcome benefit on joining the card membership and every year the membership is renewed.
• The card earns you 4 Reward Points per Rs. 150 spent on normal purchases.
• You are entitled to a milestone benefit of 10,000 bonus Reward Points on spending a minimum of Rs. 5 lacs in an anniversary year and additional 5,000 bonus Reward Points on spending a minimum of Rs. 8 lacs in a year.
• The Reward Points earned on HDFC Regalia Credit Card are redeemable for AirMiles, booking flights/hotels, purchasing products and vouchers, or can also be adjusted against the card’s statement balance. The rate of redemption of Reward Points on various spends categories is as per the table below (a redemption fee of Rs. 99 is applicable on every redemption request)-

• You also get 12 complimentary domestic airport lounge access (under the Visa/MasterCard lounge access program) and 6 complimentary international airport lounge access (with Priority Pass membership) per annum with HDFC Regalia Credit Card.
• You are entitled to complimentary membership of the Dineout Passport program on the expenditure of a minimum of Rs. 75,000 in a calendar quarter. With Dineout Passport, you get benefits like a minimum 25% discount at over 2,000 premium restaurants, 1+1 buffet at 200+ partner restaurants, etc. Click here for more information on the Dineout Passport program on HDFC Regalia Credit Card.
• The mark-up fee applicable on foreign currency transactions made with HDFC Regalia Credit Card (2% of the transaction amount) is lower than the forex mark-up fee appliable on most other credit cards (usually 3.5% of the transaction amount).

• You also get a complimentary comprehensive insurance cover including an air accident cover (applicable only in case of loss of life) worth Rs. 1 crore, an emergency overseas hospitalization cover worth Rs. 15 lacs and a lost card liability cover worth Rs. 9 lacs.
• You also get a complimentary 24×7 concierge service for assistance regarding flight/hotel bookings, table reservations at restaurants, gift deliveries, and many other services with HDFC Regalia Credit Card.
• The annual renewal fee of the card is waived off on a minimum expenditure of Rs. 3 lacs with the card in the preceding year.
• To be eligible for the HDFC Regalia Credit Card, the applicants must satisfy the following age and income-based criteria-

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HDFC Regalia First Credit Card

HDFC Regalia First Credit Card is just a dumbed-down version of the original Regalia Credit Card. The Regalia First Card comes with a membership fee of Rs. 1,000 per annum. While the rate of earning Reward Points is the same for both Regalia and Regalia First Credit Cards (4 Reward Points per Rs. 150 spent), the rate of redemption is different for the two cards. Add-on benefits that come bundled with the Regalia First Credit Card are also fewer than those of Regalia Credit Card. Some of the salient features of HDFC Regalia First Credit Card are as under-

• You get 1,000 bonus Reward Points as a welcome benefit on joining the card membership and every year the card membership is renewed (subject to realization of the joining/renewal fee. No bonus Reward Points are earned if the joining/renewal fee is waived off).
• Just as HDFC Regalia Credit Card, HDFC Regalia First Credit Card also earns 4 Reward Points per Rs. 150 spent on normal purchases, however, the Reward Point redemption rate is different for the Regalia First Credit Card (see table below for details)-

• You earn 5,000 bonus Reward Points on a minimum expenditure of Rs. 3 lacs in a year and additional 2,500 bonus Reward Points on crossing the annual spend threshold of Rs. 6 lacs.
• You get 8 complimentary domestic airport lounge access (with Visa/MasterCard lounge access program) and 3 complimentary international airport lounge access (with Priority Pass membership) every year with HDFC Regalia First Credit Card.
• You are entitled to dining benefits at partner restaurants under the bank’s Good Food Trial dining program.
• You also get a complimentary insurance cover including an air accident cover (applicable in case of death in an air accident) worth Rs. 50 lacs, emergency overseas hospitalization cover worth Rs. 10 lacs and a credit liability cover worth Rs. 5 lacs.
• The annual membership fee of HDFC Regalia First Credit Card is waived off on a minimum expenditure of Rs. 1 lac in the preceding year.

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Quick Comparision

The following chart gives a quick comparison between HDFC Regalia and HDFC Regalia First Credit Card-

Conclusion

HDFC Bank Regalia Credit Card comes with a higher annual membership fee than HDFC Bank Regalia First Credit Card (Rs. 2,500 per annum for Regalia Credit Card compared with Rs. 1,000 per annum for Regalia First Credit Card) and also offers many additional benefits and privileges that one doesn’t get with the Regalia First Credit Card- for example, Regalia Credit Card charges a lower mark-up fee (2% of the transaction amount) on foreign currency transactions, offers more number of complimentary domestic and international airport lounge access, Dineout Passport membership, etc. Another aspect where HDFC Regalia Credit Card wins over the Regalia First Card is the redemption rate of Reward Points is higher in the case of Regalia Credit Card.

The annual membership fee of Rs. 2,500 for the Regalia Credit Card is waived off on an annual expenditure of a minimum of Rs. 3 lacs, while the annual fee waiver condition for Regalia First Credit Card is the minimum annual expenditure of Rs. 1 lac. This means, f you spend at least Rs. 3 lacs in a year, HDFC Regalia Credit Card will provide you with a better Reward Points redemption rate along with many additional benefits without charging you any membership fee. Therefore, you should carefully evaluate your credit card spends, and if you think you will be spending more than Rs. 3 lacs annually, HDFC Regalia Credit Card should be your first choice, provided you qualify the eligibility criteria.

Also Check: ICICI Rubyx Credit Card Vs HDFC Regalia Credit Card