Recently, both people’s attitudes towards credit cards and the benefits offered by banks have changed. ICICI Bank has made some significant decisions regarding its credit card offerings.
The bank has reduced benefits on payments like insurance, utility bills, fuel surcharges, and grocery purchases.
Additionally, the spending limit to access airport lounges has doubled.
This marks the second time this year that ICICI Bank has changed its credit card rules, and the new policies will come into effect from November 15.
New Transaction Fee for School and College Payments
One notable change is the introduction of a 1% transaction fee for school and college fee payments made through third-party apps such as Cred, Paytm, and Mobikwik.
However, if fees are paid directly through the school’s website or a point-of-sale (POS) machine, no transaction fee will apply.
Another change is that to access airport lounges, cardholders now need to spend Rs 75,000 per quarter, up from the previous Rs 35,000.
This applies to most ICICI Bank credit cards, including co-branded ones.
Reduced Rewards and Fuel Surcharge Discounts
The bank has also lowered the rewards for utility and insurance payments.
Premium cardholders can earn rewards on up to Rs 80,000 of monthly spending, while other cardholders are limited to Rs 40,000.
If utility payments exceed Rs 50,000 in a month, a 1% transaction fee will be applied. Additionally, rewards for grocery
and departmental store purchases are capped at Rs 40,000 per month for premium cardholders and Rs 20,000 for others.
ICICI Bank has also introduced new limits for fuel surcharge discounts. Cardholders can now spend up to Rs 50,000 monthly on petrol
and diesel, with a Rs 1 lakh limit on the Emerald MasterCard Metal Credit Card. The annual fee waiver for the Emerald
and Emerald Private Metal Cards now requires spending Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 15 lakh.
Additionally, spa access for Dreamfox cardholders has been discontinued, although this benefit remains for other cards.
