If Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown have made you a habit of buying your essentials online only, there are special credit cards that can come in handy. Some banks are issuing credit cards in partnership with popular e-commerce companies to attract more consumers, especially in the post-pandemic contactless world. Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card and Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card are two such cards. These credit cards offer rewards in the form of cashback, discounts and reward points on your online purchases. E-commerce websites also offer additional offers to such cardholders on their select purchases. These are in addition to the existing discounts, cashback and reward points.
While your affinity towards a chosen e-commerce platform may be an important criterion in deciding which credit card to choose, there are other parameters to consider. Here’s a rundown on some of them.
enrollment fee
A registered Amazon Pay user, despite not being an existing ICICI Bank customer, can easily apply for an ICICI Bank co-branded credit card completely online using the Video KYC facility. They can do so through the Bank’s website or mobile application or Amazon.in website or mobile app.
However, for the Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card, you must have a current or savings account with Axis Bank in addition to being a registered Flipkart user. In addition, the Axis Bank credit card also includes a joining fee of ₹500, while the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card is free.
The Amazon Pay ICICI Bank card is a free lifetime credit card with no joining or annual fee whereas the Flipkart Axis Bank credit card charges an annual fee of ₹500 after the first year. However, this is waived if the annual spend on the card exceeds ₹2 lakh.
On overdue amounts, while ICICI Bank charges an interest of 42-45.6 per cent depending on the customer profile, Axis Bank charges 49.36 per cent per annum for overdue amounts on retail purchases and cash transactions. See table for comparison of other charges.
benefits offered
The Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card comes with several welcome benefits such as free vouchers, discounts and cashback on the first card transaction on Flipkart, Myntra, etc. and 15 months free membership to Gaana. There is no such benefit on enrollment in case of ICICI Bank Credit Card.
On ICICI Bank cards, customers earn 3 percent reward points on card spends on Amazon (5 percent for Amazon Prime users). In addition, you can earn 2 percent reward points on Amazon.in for digital categories such as bill payments, recharges, travel and movie bookings, and payments to other Amazon Pay merchants such as Swiggy, Bookmyshow, and Yatra. The card gives you 1 percent Reward Points for spending at any merchant location in the country where Visa cards are accepted.
In addition, the bank mostly provides benefits in the form of reward points. Each reward point is equal to Re 1 and the reward earned is directly credited to the Amazon Pay monthly balance after the billing cycle.
Axis Bank offers the card cashback which is directly credited to the credit card statement in the next billing cycle. The bank offers 5 percent cashback on spends on Flipkart, Myntra and 2GUD. The bank offers 4 percent cashback on spending at other preferred merchants like Swiggy, PVR and Uber. On all other categories of merchant spend, the bank offers 1.5 percent cashback.
The ICICI Bank credit card offers 2 percent reward points when you add money to your Amazon Pay wallet, while the Axis Bank card does not offer cashback for wallet loading transactions.
fuel surcharge waiver
Banks also offer other benefits to their existing customers like discounts on dining at select restaurants. In addition, the Axis Bank Credit Card gives its customers four free lounge access at select domestic airports every calendar year.
Both the banks do not offer reward points and cashback on fuel, EMI transactions (including purchases later converted to EMI) and gold purchases. However, banks offer a rebate on fuel surcharge – 1 per cent for transactions up to a maximum of ₹500 per month in the range of ₹400-4,000 in case of Axis Bank credit cards. In the case of ICICI Bank credit cards, only existing bank customers get a 1 percent discount on fuel surcharge payment when using the bank’s Amazon Pay co-branded credit card.
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