ICICI Coral Credit Card vs SBI SimplySave Credit Card

ICICI Coral Credit Card is one of the most popular entry-level credit cards offered by ICICI Bank. The card is known for its exciting benefits in travel, dining, and movies and a good reward rate. The Coral card comes with an annual fee of Rs. 500. On the other hand, the SBI Simply Save Credit Card is also a popular card by the SBI Card offering a great reward rate, especially for dining transactions and other benefits such as milestone benefits, fuel surcharge waiver and much more. The SBI Simply Save also comes with a similar annual fee of Rs. 499.

Both the cards are great options for entry-level cardholders as they provide great benefits with a small annual fee. Moreover, both the cards appear to be similar in their benefits but both of them excel each other in some ways. Let’s understand more about both the cards, their differences, and which one is the best pick for you.

ICICI Coral Credit Card

The ICICI Coral Credit Card as mentioned is one of the most popular entry-level credit cards which everyone must have in their pocket for once and is offered in three variants: Visa, Mastercard, and AmEx. The card offers great benefits and a good reward rate, all at an annual fee of just Rs. 500. Also, the card offers great benefits for travellers as it offers complimentary access to the airport as well as railway lounges all over India. Apart from that, it also offers benefits such as dining benefits, milestone benefits, entertainment benefits, and much more. Following are the detailed features of the ICICI Coral Credit Card:

• The card offers great travel benefits, where you can enjoy a complimentary visit to railway lounges every quarter. Also, you can earn a domestic airport lounge access every quarter on spending Rs. 5000 in the last quarter.
• On spending above Rs. 2 Lakhs, the card offers 2,000 Reward Points and 1,000 reward points every time you spend Rs. 1 Lakh with the Coral Card.
• The Maximum capping on bonus reward points that you can earn in one year is 10,000 Reward points.
• For every transaction of Rs. 100 you will get 2 reward points and 1 reward point for utility and insurance spending.
• Reward Points can be redeemed against cash or gift.
• With ICICI Bank’s Culinary Treat program, you can enjoy more than a 15% discount on dining bills at over 2,500 premium restaurants including, TGI Fridays, Café Coffee Day, Pizza Hut, Mainland China, Vaango, and many more.
• The card also offers a 25% discount or Rs. 100 off (whichever is lower) when you buy at least two movie tickets with BookMyShow and INOX.
• The Annual fee for the ICICI Coral credit card can be waived off upon spending above Rs. 1.5 Lakhs in the previous year.
• You can also avail 1% fuel surcharge waiver across all HPCL petrol stations in India for every transaction up to Rs. 4,000.
• For every transaction of Rs. 100 you will get 2 reward points and 1 reward point for utility and insurance spending.
• Reward Points can be redeemed against cash or gift.

Check here: ICICI Coral Credit Card Review

SBI SimplySave Credit Card

The SBI Simply Save Credit Card is also an entry-level credit card issued by the SBI Card at an annual fee of Rs. 499. The card offers great reward points for every transaction you do with the card. As a welcome gift the card offers 2,000 reward points worth Rs. 500. Apart from this, it also provides milestone benefits where you can get the annual fee waived off. It also offers a fuel surcharge waiver and is best known for its reward rate for dining, movies, departmental stores, and grocery spending. Following are the features of the SBI Simply Save Credit Card:

• The card offers 2,000 Bonus Reward Points worth Rs. 500 as a welcome benefit upon spending Rs. 2,000 within 60 days of card activation.
• The Annual fee for the SBI Simply Save Credit Card can be waived off upon spending Rs. 1 lakh or more in the previous year.
• For every transaction, the card offers 1 reward point and offers 10X reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on dining, movies, departmental stores, and grocery bills.
• The reward points earned can be redeemed against several items like shopping, vouchers, and much more. You can also use your reward points against the card’s statement balance.
• Get a 1% fuel surcharge waiver at all fuel stations across India for every transaction between Rs. 500 and Rs. 3,000. You can avail of a maximum waiver of Rs. 100 every month.

Quick Comparison

Till now we understood in detail both the cards and their features. Let us now have a quick comparison between the two cards for better understanding:

Basis	ICICI Coral Credit Card	SBI Simply Save Credit Card
Reward Rate	2 Reward Points for every Rs. 100 spent (except fuel). 1 Reward Point for every Rs. 100 Spent on utilities and insurance.	1 Reward Point for every Rs. 100 spent. 10X Reward Point for every Rs. 100 Spent on dining, movies, departmental stores, and grocery spending.
Reward Redemption	1 Reward point = Rs 0.25 Redeem earned points against cash or gift.	1 Reward Point = Rs. 0.25 Redeem earned points against shopping, purchasing gift vouchers, etc, and against the card’s statement balance.
Welcome Benefits	NA	2,000 Bonus Reward Points worth Rs. 500 on spending Rs. 2,000 within 60 days of card activation.
Milestone Benefits	2,000 Reward points on spending Rs 2 lakhs, and 1,000 bonus Reward Points every time you achieve a spend of Rs. 1 Lakh within a year after that. (Bonus Points capped at 10,000 Points per year).	NA
Spend Based Annual fee waiver.	The annual renewal fee is waived off on a Spending minimum of Rs. 1.5 lakh in the preceding membership year.	The annual renewal fee is waived off on a Spending minimum of Rs. 1 lakh in the preceding membership year.
Fuel Surcharge waiver	1% across all HPCL petrol stations in India for transactions up to Rs 4,000.	1% fuel surcharge waived off for transactions between Rs. 500 and Rs. 3,000. Capped at Rs. 100 per statement cycle.
Lounge access	1 complimentary access to railway lounges in India every quarter. 1 complimentary airport lounge access every quarter on spending Rs. 5000 in the previous quarter.	NA
Dining Benefits	Get a discount of 15% or more on dining at over 2,500 premium restaurants, including TGI Fridays, Café Coffee Day, Pizza Hut, Mainland China, Vaango, and others with ICICI Bank’s Culinary Treats Program.	NA
Entertainment Benefits	25% discount or Rs. 100 off (whichever is lower) on buying a minimum of 2 movie tickets on BookMyShow and INOX.	NA
Joining Fee	Rs. 500 (Plus Applicable taxes)	Rs. 499 (Plus Applicable taxes)
Renewal Fee	Rs. 500 (Plus Applicable taxes)	Rs. 499 (Plus Applicable taxes)
Eligibility	The age of the applicant must be 23 years or more. The net income as per the ITR must be above Rs. 5 lacs	The age of the applicant must be 18 years or more. The net income as per the ITR must be above Rs. 2.4 lacs

Bottom Line

Now you must have got an idea about both the cards, what they offer, features, and their charges. Though both the cards come at the same annual pricing, we can see huge differences between the two. The SBI Simply Save Credit Card is a great card as it offers a great reward rate as it offers 10x reward points on certain categories. The card also offers 2,000 Bonus Reward Points as a welcome spend-based benefit. However, the ICICI Coral Credit Card offers much more benefits than the Simply Save credit card, as with the Coral card we get to see many benefits like complimentary lounge access, dining benefits, and entertainment benefits. Moreover, it also offers reward points as milestone benefits. Therefore, the Simply Save card will be a great choice if you are only looking for a good reward rate. But still, the Coral card is a good choice as it offers you many other benefits.

Also check: ICICI Coral vs ICICI Platinum Chip Credit Card