OneCard is lifetime-free but this metallic credit card has little sheen
Metallic credit cards are a novelty where plastic abounds. So far though, banks and credit card companies have come up with very few metallic ones. But these are exclusively premium cards laden with prohibitively expensive annual fees. So, when fintech startup FPL Technologies launched a lifetime-free (LTF) metal credit card, OneCard, in 2020, it grabbed eyeballs.
“Metal credit cards have a feel-good factor. For long, OneCard’s USP (unique selling point) was that it’s an entry level card in metal form, a first of its kind," said Kashif Ansari, assistant professor at Jindal School of banking and finance, O P Jindal Global University .
Three years on, the noise has died down because its reward rate and discount offers, the most attractive features of a credit card, pale in comparison to other cashback cards in the market.
OneCard earns one reward point (RP) on every ₹50 spent. The value of 1 RP on redemption is ₹0.10. As part of the card’s accelerated reward programme, the cardholder will earn 5X rewards on top two spend categories in a month. This is applicable when the cardholder spends on at least three different categories in a month, so the app picks the two highest spend categories and awards accelerated points on those. For instance, if you paid ₹5,000, ₹8,000 and ₹6,000 towards groceries, fuel and online shopping, respectively, in a month, you will qualify for 5X rewards on fuel and online shopping. However, if you pay for groceries and fuel alone the next month, you will not be eligible for accelerated rewards since you did not pay for a third category…
The base reward rate on OneCard is abysmally low at 0.2%. In comparison, entry level cards such as SBI cashback card and ICICI Amazon Pay card offer 1-5% base
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