ICICI Bank has announced a revision in the terms and conditions applicable to its credit card’s features as well as fees and charges. Effective November 15, 2024 onwards, these changes are largely focused on spend-based capping and can affect the potential overall value-back that the credit cardholders could previously avail.
The detailed changes are discussed below:
Category-wise Capping
The bank has applied capping on the rewards earnings on select category spends. The maximum spend values up to which you can earn rewards and surcharge waivers on these categories are as follows:
| Spending Category | For Entry level/ Mid-range Cards* | For Premium Cards* |
| Max. spend value of utility/ insurance spends for rewards | Rs. 40,000/month | Rs. 80,000/month |
| Max. spend value of grocery spends for rewards | Rs. 20,000/month | Rs. 40,000/month |
| Max. spend value of fuel spends for surcharge waivers | Rs. 50,000/month | Emeralde Mastercard Metal Credit Card: Rs. 1 lakh Others: Rs. 50,000/month |
*Click here to know the detailed ICICI Bank Credit Card list on which these revisions are going to be implemented.
Transaction Fee
ICICI bank credit cardholders will now be charged with a 1% transaction fee on the following spends:
- On education payments made via third party apps
- On utility spends worth more than Rs. 50,000 per month
- On fuel spends worth more than Rs. 10,000 per month
Exclusions
Rental payments, government transactions and education spends will no longer be considered for the calculation of the spending limits for the milestone benefits and annual fee waivers.
Revised Charges
The following ICICI bank credit card fees and chargers are going to be implemented, depending on your credit card usage:
| Fee Type | Revised Details |
| Fee on Supplementary Cards | Rs. 199 |
| Late Payment Charges | On outstanding balance of – Up to Rs. 100: Nil Rs. 101 to Rs. 500: Rs. 100 Rs. 501 to Rs. 1,000: Rs. 500 Rs. 1,001 to Rs. 5,000: Rs. 600 Rs. 5,001 to Rs. 10,000: Rs. 750 Rs. 10,001 to Rs. 25,000: Rs. 900 Rs. 25,001 to Rs. 50,000: Rs. 1,100 Above Rs. 50,000: Rs. 1,300 |
| Finance Charges | 3.75% p.m. | 45% p.a. |
Other Changes
- Lounge Access: Cardholders must spend at least Rs. 75,000 in the previous quarter to avail complimentary airport lounge access.
- Spa Service: Spa benefits via Dreamfolks membership have been discontinued.
- Annual Fee Waiver: Annual spend threshold revised to Rs. 10 lakh to avail annual fee waiver for ICICI Bank Emeralde, Emeralde Visa and Emeralde Private credit cardholders.
How will these changes impact ICICI Credit cardholders?
The above-mentioned revisions in ICICI bank credit card terms and conditions may not appear to have significant impact, however they would certainly limit the overall value-back that the cardholders can earn through their ICICI cards. Among these revisions, capping on rewards earnings would affect the cardholders the most as the earning potential on frequent high-value spends, like utility, groceries and insurance will now be capped. Similarly, the exclusion of government transactions, rent and education spends from calculation of milestone and annual fee waiver limit would make it more difficult to avail additional savings.
The 1% transaction fee on select spends comes in tandem with the recent trend of implementing fair usage policy by other major card providers, like HDFC bank, SBI Card and others. While expected, this fee, along with other adjustments to fees and charges, will raise the overall cost of card usage for customers. However, these changes also reflect an industry-wide shift towards encouraging responsible credit usage.
On the contrary, Emeralde, Emeralde Visa and Emeralde Private cardholders seem to be the only ones who have benefitted from these revisions. The spending condition required to avail the annual fee waiver for these cards has been reduced from Rs. 12 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh. Even the fuel surcharge waiver limit is higher than other cards, of Rs. 1 Lakh.