RBI Issues Circular On Levying Unfair Interest Charges On Customers

Petrol-diesel prices are increasing every year. With higher fuel prices, cost of operating cars also becomes expensive. In such a case, can we save ourselves from this rising cost? Should you opt for public vehicles or use your car less? If you also have such questions then this report is for you. In this report we will tell you about fuel credit cards. Fuel credit card means those branded credit cards that are issued by banks in partnership with oil companies. Customers receive various benefits with these cards, such as fuel surcharge waivers, cashback, reward points, and co-branded benefits. There are several fuel credit cards available, including the BPCL SBI Credit Card, IndianOil HDFC Credit Card, ICICI Bank HPCL Coral Credit Card, and IndianOil Axis Bank Credit Card, through which you can avail these advantages.

Fuel credit cards help in saving money on fuel purchases. In addition to that, they also offer benefits on non-fuel spending such as grocery, clothing etc. These benefits include advantages like discounts on online shopping, train ticket booking, movie ticket booking, mobile recharge, bill payment at supermarkets or departmental stores, and discounts on billing at partner restaurants.

Apart from that, these types of credit cards come with standard features such as revolving credit, interest-free periods, EMI facilities, and zero lost card liability.

However, looking beyond the benefits, these cards come with a condition of joining and renewal fees. For fuel credit cards, the joining fees generally range from zero to 1,500 rupees. The cards with higher joining fees often offer more benefits. These benefits may include complimentary lounge visits, gift vouchers, and more. The renewal fee is the same for all, but if you have spent between 50,000 to 2 lakh rupees in the previous year, you may not have to pay this fee. The interest rate applied to fuel credit cards ranges between 3.25% to 3.40% per month, but this may vary for some cards.

Some cards offer welcome gifts, free vouchers, and other rewards points in lieu of joining fees. Some cards also provide benefits such as 50 liters of free fuel every year.

One important thing to note is that since fuel credit cards are co-branded cards, they provide the most benefits when you purchase fuel specifically from the partnered fuel company. In other words, you will be a loyal customer of that particular fuel company. For example, if you have the BPCL SBI Credit Card, you would need to refuel at Bharat Petroleum outlets, and if you have the IndianOil HDFC Credit Card, you would benefit more from purchasing petrol at Indian Oil outlets.