Hdfc has two top of the line credit card listed under super premium category.
Many people are offered upgrade to either as part of their relationship with Hdfc bank and most are clueless to which one is better. Here comes the short review with similarities and differences.
I won’t rate theses cards as both have different advantages. Decide it yourself by judging on the basis of requirements you have… all differences highlighted in bold if you are short on time to read the whole post.
We’ll compare point by point about both Hdfc Infinia Credit Card and Hdfc Diners Club Black credit card:
Annual Fees: Hdfc DCB is for Rs.10,000 annual fees(first year free) which can be waived on spending Rs.5 lacs in previous year while Hdfc bank Infinia card is also Rs.10,000 annual fees(first year free) waived on Rs.8 lacs spent in previous year. Here if you unable to reach spend threshold in either of card then 10k annual fee is charged however with Infinia you get 10k reward points but nothing on Dinersclub Black card. So effective annual fee on infinia is just Rs.1800 but waiver criteria is lower on DCB.
Limit n eligibility: On income eligibility, HDFC expects Rs.1.75 lac monthly income for diners black card while for infinia it demands upwards of 3lac+ per month. For upgrade from any lower variant of card specially Regalia Credit Card. DCB by default is upgraded if you have breached limit of Rs.5-lacs+ while infinia is upgraded for Rs.8-lac+ limit, this can also be more or less also based on relationship one holds with bank. And Hdfc Infinia got a unique limit feature called NPSL(no preset spending limit) where customer can on phone call for a large temporary limit for any big purchase. Hdfc Infinia is advantage if you are a big spender with occasional splurge on luxuries but easier to upgrade on Diners club Black.
Acceptability: Hdfc Infinia is issued either as Visa Infinite variant or Mastercard World variant, either have worldwide acceptability. However Diner Club Black although the oldest charge card issuer has very limited acceptability in many countires. It’s acceptability depends mostly on franchise and agreement Diners Club network builds world wide. In India fortunately it partners with Rupay(Govt of India backing) so widely accepted at all the pos/terminals where rupay is taken. Similarly for China partner is “china union pay”, for USA/Canada/Europe it works on Discover cards platform, for Japan based on JCB. Many countries are missing and even in countries where it is accepted, its not as widely accpepted as visa/mastercard. So if you are an frequent international traveler then Hdfc Infinia is card to go for.
Rewards Points: 5 rewards points for every Rs.150 spent is same for both the cards which comes to around 3.33% value back. Rewards are redeemed in almost similar way manged by HDFC in both cases. For the smartbuy offer is same for both the cards under 10x offer limit is better on Infinia where one can get 15k reward points per month but only 7500 with diners club black. However accelarated reward partners differs for both the cards. DCB gives 10x rewards points on partners like Swiggy (applicable on food), CRED store and travel, Cure.fit, Seiko, Birkenstock while Hdfc Infinia gives 2x points on dining(stand alone restaurant), Air vistara & hdfc infinia website. Here again Infinia is better with double smartbuy limit where on can buy different brands gift card, shop with amazon, flipkart etc.
International Lounge Access: Diners Club Black n HDFC Infinia both offer unlimited lounge access. Diners club got its own built program which can be accessed via credit card itself while with Hdfc Infinia priority pass is issued separately. Priority pass got 1000+ lounge while diners club got 700+ lounge. Both priority pass & diners club is for both primary card and addon card members. Here Hdfc Infinia got wider lounge range thanks to priority pass however Diners club advantage is a single card for both spending and lounge access so one less card to carry.
Domestic Lounge Access: Diners Club Black offers unlimited visit via again its own lounge platform. Hdfc infinia offers 4 visit per quarter[though most user report it unlimited] via visa/mastercard lounge partnership through main credit card. The separate priority-pass may be chargeable for domestic use by Hdfc. So here Diners Club Black is better for Domestic lounge access.
Golf Program: HDFC Diners Club Black offers 6 complimentary visit per quarter vs unlimited complimentary of HDFC Infinia card. Both can be booked via Hdfc Concierge at 022-42320226 or Toll free:1800 118 887 (India).
Club Marriot membership is a paid membership offered on HDFC Infinia Card which basically gives you 15-30% on dining n hotel room rates of mariott hotels around India n Asia Pacific.
- Air AccidentCover of INR 2 Crore in Diners Club Black vs INR 3 crore in HDFC Infinia Card.
- Emergency Medical Expenses Cover of up to INR 50 Lakh is same in both cards.
- Card Liability cover of 9 lacs INR is again same in both cards
In nutshell if you are offered both then opt for HDFC Infinia anyday as even if you are not able to reach 8lac spend target with mere 1800 effective annual fees you can easily benefit many times over what you pay. Diners use to be better in past when both card had same smartbuy points limit and diners had many great 10x partner too. But after many downgrade HDFC made sure that Infinia remains the leader as it is a top of line card from largest credit card issuer of India.