Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card Launched- Checkout the Features and Benefits

Standard Chartered Bank has launched a new credit card in the entry-level segment- Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card. It is a cashback-based credit card and comes with an annual fee of Rs. 499 (plus taxes). The card earns 2% cashback on online spends, while a cashback of 1% is applicable on offline spends.

Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card Features and Benefits

Some of the key features of Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card are as under-

• Reward Rate: Cardholders earn 2% cashback on all online transactions and 1% cashback on all offline transactions (no cashback is earned on fuel purchases). A max capping of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 is applicable on the cashback earned on online and offline transactions respectively.
• Extended Interest-Free Period: Standard Chartered Smart credit cardholders get an extended interest-free credit period for the first 90 days of card issuance by just paying the minimum amount due (5% of the outstanding amount).
• Lower Interest Rate on EMIs: Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card offers an interest rate of just 0.99% with zero processing fee on converting the transactions made with the card into EMIs for a period of 3 months.

Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card Fees and Charges:

• Annual Fee: An annual membership fee of Rs. 499 per annum (plus GST) is applicable on Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card. The annual fee is waived off if a minimum of Rs. 1.2 lacs were spent in the preceding membership year.
• Interest Rate: An interest rate of 3.75% per month (or 45% annually) is applicable on the outstanding amount on the card post the payment due date.
• Cash Advance Fee: An additional cash advance fee equal to 3% of the advanced amount (subject to a minimum fee of Rs. 300) is applicable on cash withdrawals with the card from ATMs.
• Forex Mark-up: A foreign currency mark-up fee of 3.5% of the transaction amount is applicable on all foreign currency transactions made with Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card.
• Surcharges: A surcharge/convenience fee equal to 2.5% of the transaction amount or Rs. 25 (whichever is higher) on railway transactions and 1% of the transaction amount or Rs. 10 (whichever is higher) on fuel transactions is applicable on railway/fuel transactions made with Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card.

How to Avail Maximum Benefit on Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card

As mentioned above, Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card earns you a cashback of 2% on online transactions and a cashback of 1% on offline spends with a monthly max capping Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 respectively on each of the two categories. Therefore, the minimum monthly spends to earn maximum cashback can be calculated as per the following table-

	Reward Rate	Min Amount to Spend for Max Cashback	Cashback Earned
Online Transactions	2%	Rs. 50,000	Rs. 1,000
Offline Transactions	1%	Rs. 50,000	Rs. 500
Total Transaction	1.5%	Rs.1 lac	Rs. 1,500

As you can see in the table above, cardholders can earn a maximum of Rs. 1,500 as cashback with a reward rate of 1.5% on spending a minimum of Rs. 1 lac in a month- Rs. 50,000 online and Rs. 50,000 offline.

Bottom Line

Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card offers a max reward rate of 2% on online spends which is fair enough for an entry-level credit card. However, the key highlight of this card is the 90-day interest-free period that it offers to new card members, which also makes it an attractive option for those looking for a balance transfer credit card. Before you make your mind, it is worth checking out other entry-level shopping credit cards like HDFC MoneyBack+ Credit Card and SBI Card’s SimplyCLICK and SimplySAVE Credit Cards that come with the same membership fee and offer very similar benefits.