AmpliFi Fi-Federal Credit Card: Multi-brand Benefits

The AmpliFi Fi-Federal Credit Card comes with advantageous features around card activation, rewards, travel, milestone benefits, movies and dining, as listed follows:

Joining Benefits

For a joining fee of Rs. 2,000, the AmpliFi Fi-Federal Credit Card comes with the following card activation benefits worth Rs. 4,250:

• Zomato vouchers worth Rs. 1,000
• Uber vouchers worth Rs. 500
• Myntra vouchers worth Rs. 1,000
• SonyLiv 1 year subscription worth Rs. 999
• Croma voucher worth Rs. 750

In comparison to other similar cards in this league such as SBI Card Prime and HDFC Regalia Gold, the AmpliFi Card offers the best joining benefits. Not only does it exceed the worth by offering a value back more than double the fee charged (additional Rs. 2,250) , but also excels in offering the benefit type. You get vouchers from everyday lifestyle categories – Zomato, Uber, Myntra, SonyLiv and Croma, that are practical for everyday usage and can be well utilized. This adds more to why this card is a good fit for those who wish to avail accelerated rewards on associated partner merchants.

Additionally, unlike most credit cards that impose minimum spend based conditions for availing the joining bonus (related to spend value and period of first transaction), here the benefits can be availed unconditionally. For instance, Diners Club Privilege Credit Card offers the complimentary Swiggy One and Times Prime membership on spending Rs. 75,000 within the first 90 days of card issuance.

Reward Benefits

The AmpliFi Credit Card offers you decent return on your spends via Fi-coins as follows:

• 100 Fi-coins for every Rs. 100 spent on the preferred brands* on spending Rs. 15,000 or more in a statement cycle
• 20 Fi-coins for every Rs. 100 spent, including spends on fuel, rent, utilities and insurance*

*Swiggy, BigBasket, Myntra, Vistara, Ola, Lifestyle, Zepto, Urban Company, Flipkart, Domino’s, Uber, Amazon,Zomato, DMart, Croma, BookMyShow, Apollo Pharmacy, Decathlon, Yatra, Shoppers Stop, Cleartrip.

The rewards program on AmpliFi Fi-Federal Credit Card is impressive for four reasons-

1) It caters to 20+ everyday brands that offer benefits across multiple categories. Generally, rewards credit cards limit their accelerated earnings to one or two categories or a set of 5-7 brands. However, with this card, shoppers can easily maximize the benefits by putting their everyday spends on this card.

2) It provides 3% returns across its accelerated spend category, which is better than the accelerated earnings on rewards credit cards like SBI Card PRIME (2.5%) and Axis SELECT (2%).

3) It does not exclude rent payment and fuel transactions from the rewards program. Since rent and fuel make up a significant portion of one’s monthly expenses, users can get good value-back from this card.

4) There is no monthly cap on the earning and redemption of reward points and no redemption fee charged. Also, Fi-coins can be redeemed across cash, air miles, product catalog, gift cards and hotel points and come with an expiry period of two years.

A 3% value back on the accelerated brands is a huge win for the card, in comparison to not just other semi-premium cards like HDFC Regalia and Axis Bank Select, but also across other cashback and rewards credit cards in the market like Cashback SBI, HDFC Millennia, etc. Even while some cards offer a higher rate, they lag behind due to monthly capping that is not applicable on the AmpliFi Card. Reward redemption is also quite easy as it can be done via Fi’s mobile app.

However, there are certain terms and conditions that consumers must consider before opting for this card. In order to be eligible for the 3% value-back, you would need to spend Rs. 15,000 or more every month. Spend below Rs. 15,000 will earn rewards at the base rate of 0.6%, even if you shop with the associated brands. Though a 0.6% base rate is not bad, if it is applicable even on the bonus categories/brands, it is quite a loss for the user.

Milestone Benefits

Besides joining benefits, the card also comes with milestone benefits worth Rs. 6,999, that you earn as follows:

• Benefits worth Rs. 2,999 on spending Rs. 2.5 Lakh or more in a year via annual fee waiver of Rs. 2,000 and free Jio Cinema subscription worth Rs. 999
• Benefits worth Rs. 4,000 on spending Rs. 4 Lakh or more in a year via Priority check-in  and Baggage assistance, twice offering a total worth of Rs. 2000; and a MakeMyTrip Gift card worth Rs. 2000

Travel Benefits

In addition to rewards, the AmpliFi Fi-Federal Credit Card comes with the following travel benefits:

• 0% forex markup fee on international transactions
• 1 lounge access visit per calendar quarter, subject to spending Rs. 10,000 in a quarter
• Convert Fi-coins to airmiles for 100 Fi-coins = Rs. 3

While the card wins against its competitors for offering the lowest forex markup fee of 0%, it somehow falls behind in offering frequent lounge access. Travel benefits on some similar credit cards are as follows:

The AmpliFi Fi-Federal Credit Card charges zero forex mark-up fee but the free airport lounge access is spend-based. However, in comparison to other similar cards like HDFC Regalia, the spend based condition is lower as you are required to spend Rs. 10,000 in comparison to Rs. 1 Lakh required to avail lounge access on cards like Regalia. Thereby, the card can be a good fit for those who already have a basic travel credit card with good lounge access and no concessional forex fee, but want accelerated rewards and a low forex markup fee.

Other Lifestyle Benefits

Dining: With this card you get 20% off up to Rs. 1,200 on a minimum bill of Rs. 2500. This is valid once per card per month.

Movie: Via BookMyShow, you can avail Buy One Get One offer. You can avail 1 free ticket in a single transaction up to Rs. 300, per month.

For lifestyle benefits, the card already has an edge for covering popular brands. However, with the above listed benefits, the valueback increases in certain sections, as in Dining. Discount via Eazy Diner and accelerated rewards on Zomato & Swiggy, make it a good option for people who frequently order-in via these platforms. Similarly, the card already offers accelerated rewards on BookMyShow and with the ‘Buy One Get One’ offer, you can save additional Rs. 3,600 in a year on movies.

Below mentioned is an example on how much you can save with the AmpliFi Fi-Federal Credit Card on annual spends of Rs. 5 Lakh.

In addition to the above, card benefits around BookMyShow, EazyDiner and frequent online offers (currently as on Swiggy), add to the total savings on this card. Via the B1G1 offer on BookMyShow, you save up to Rs. 300 per month and Rs. 3,600 per year. Similarly, with the EazyDiner offer of up to 20% savings on dining, you save up to Rs. 1,200 per month and Rs. 14,400 per year.

You can consider getting this card, if:

• You are looking for benefits on multiple categories
• You majorly spend around the 21 partnered brands
• You can afford paying an annual fee of Rs. 2,000
• You can meet the annual fee waiver and milestone benefits conditions
• You are comfortable with limited lounge access offered on the card
• You already own a travel credit card, but want 0% forex annual fee benefit

You can consider other options if:

• You want frequent lounge access without any spend based condition
• Your monthly spends are not specific to the partnered brands
• You want accelerated rewards not limited to selected brands
• You want a comparatively low annual fee credit card