The minimum eligibility for a credit card is different in different issuers, just like the credit cards themselves differ based on rewards, benefits, perks, fees, etc. Some are listed as best travel cards and some as best for shopping, then some are best lifetime-free credit cards and others have high fee and high-end perks. Selecting from all those can be confusing.
However, you can go through your expenses and the type of benefits best credit card lifetime free you would most likely need and decide accordingly. Each credit card also comes with a list of advantages and disadvantages, which can further limit your choice and enable you to make the best possible use of your credit card.
Credit Card Types: Benefits and Drawbacks
Most credit card categories include travel, cashback, reward, student, business, fuel, and more. However, each of them has their specific pros and cons, listed below.
Cashback Credit Cards
These cards give you a small percentage of the money you spend back to you. So, every time you buy something with the card, you get a portion of your payment back.
Benefits:
- The cashback you receive is simple, making it easy for you to understand your savings.
- You save money up-front on purchases, usually appearing on your card statement.
- These cards are perfect for daily use, since you can earn cashback on daily items such as groceries, web shopping, or even electricity bills.
Drawback:
- Some cards limit cashback that you can earn in a month.
- The cashback percentage might be lower for certain types of spending or some categories.
- Some credit cards come with an annual fee. Make sure the cashback you earn is worth the annual fees levied, or you might end up paying more than the worth of the cards for less benefits.
Travel Credit Cards
If you travel frequently, whether for work or holidays, these cards are tailored to offer benefits to make your journeys better. Some benefits include earning air miles or discounts on flights and hotel stays.
- Benefits:
- You can earn air miles or points with every spend. They can be used to get free or cheaper flight tickets or upgrade your seat, making your travel more affordable.
- You can get complimentary access to airport lounges, domestic and international. It allows you to relax in comfort before your flights.
- Some travel cards offer free travel insurance, which can cover things like lost baggage, flight delays, or medical emergencies. You can also get special discounts on hotel bookings or car rentals.
- Drawbacks:
- These cards often come with an annual fee, and it can be pretty costly. You must think accordingly whether you will use the travel perks enough to make it worth paying.
- Figuring out how to get the best value from your miles or points can sometimes feel like cracking a code since different airlines and hotels have different rules.
- If you don’t travel very often, you might find it hard to get enough value from the travel-specific perks to make the card worth it.
Rewards Credit Cards
These cards let you earn reward points on nearly all types of purchases. You can collect these points and exchange them for a wide variety of items or services such as discounts, gift vouchers, merchandise, or even air miles.
- Benefits:
- The flexibility of these cards lies in how you use your rewards. You may use them for shopping vouchers, or a new gadget, or maybe put them towards a trip. Often, you can even use them to reduce your credit card bill.
- Keep an eye out for bonus points! Cards often give you extra for spending on certain categories they promote, or during special offers, helping your points stack up faster.
- Since you can earn points on many different kinds of spending, they can be good for your overall purchasing patterns.
- Drawbacks:
- The actual cash value of your points can vary a lot depending on what you swap them for.
- Your accumulated reward points have an expiry date, so you need to be mindful of using them before you lose them.
- Many rewards cards, the ones with great earning rates and attractive redemption options, may have an annual fee. If it’s a no-annual-fee credit card, it might come with a slightly moderate rewards program.
Fuel Credit Cards
If you spend a significant amount of money on petrol or diesel for your car or bike, these cards are designed to help you save on fuel expenses.
- Benefits:
- You can get direct savings at the pump, either as instant cashback or as reward points you can use for free fuel or discounts. You can also benefit from fuel surcharge waivers.
- Some cards are co-branded with specific fuel companies (like IndianOil, HPCL, BPCL), offering you even more benefits when you fill up at their stations.
- Drawbacks:
- The benefits are heavily focused on fuel spending, so the rewards you get on other types of purchases might be low or zero.
- You usually only get the top benefits if you use the card at petrol pumps of a specific partner brand, which may not always be convenient.
- There will be limits on how much fuel surcharge waiver you can get, or how many points you can earn on fuel each month.
While it feels like there are endless choices, sometimes the best card is one that gives you a little bit of everything you need without the fuss. Like the One Credit Card, which comes with no joining or annual fee. It means you save money from the beginning and every year thereafter, which is a clear win.
A really important part of using any credit card well is how easily you can manage it. With the OneCard app, all your card controls are on your phone, which is super handy. Whether you are checking your payment history or trying to set a spending limit, the app is designed to help you build healthy spending habits.
Further, the One Credit Card, with its 5X reward points on your top two spending categories each month, allows you to make purchases without worrying about EMI conversions. Plus, the minimum eligibility for a credit card is also achievable through healthy credit management, making you eligible for future credits and loans
