32 articles published
When budgeting and EMI juggling stop working, here's the honest difference between debt settlement, restructuring and consolidation in India — and how to find real help, not a scam.
CIBIL score is a 3-digit number from TransUnion CIBIL that tells lenders how you've handled credit. Here's what it means, where it comes from, and what builds it.
Five genuinely free ways to check your CIBIL score today — cibil.com, Paisabazaar, BankBazaar, CRED and KreditBee — plus the upsell each one tries on you.
Salary up ₹10,000, savings flat? Here's how to track expenses in India, kill UPI autopilot for a month, and stop lifestyle inflation before it eats the raise.
No overnight fix exists, but here's what actually moves your CIBIL score fast: the 90-day playbook, the myths wasting your time, and a realistic timeline.
A soft pull never touches your CIBIL score. A hard pull costs 5-10 points and stays for 24 months. Here's how to tell them apart before you apply.
HDFC Bank is retiring the original Swiggy HDFC Bank Credit Card and migrating every holder to Swiggy Ornge or Swiggy BLCK. Here is the fee math, the cashback rate cut hiding inside the default option, and exactly what you need to redo before your old card stops working.
EMI, maintenance and rent costing more than your flat is realistically appreciating? Run the sell-and-clear-debt math, the 12.5% LTCG tax hit, and the interest-free family loan alternative here.
Not six months of income. Three to six times your essential expenses, in a liquid fund. The real number, and how to build it while repaying EMIs.
RBL Bank and Shoppers Stop launched three co-branded cards on 21 August 2026. Fees, reward rates, and whether the fee actually pays for itself.
Raise your CIBIL from 600 to 750 with a real plan — the 90-day fixes, the 12-month rebuild, and the mistakes that quietly cost you points.
Thinking of closing a credit card before your home loan application? Don't. Here's the CIBIL math on why it backfires, and the one case where closing is right.
The CIBIL score range runs from 300 to 900, but the bands don't work the way you think. Here's what 600, 650, 700 and 750 actually get you — and where the gains stop.
The minimum CIBIL score for a credit card isn't 750. It's a filter setting, not a law. Here's the real per-issuer threshold, band by band, and what to do below each one.
No CIBIL score and no card? Here's how to break the loop — 3 FD-backed cards that approve new-to-credit applicants, and the 12-month plan to go unsecured.
American Express is cutting the Platinum Travel Card again from 10 September 2026. The ₹1.9L milestone goes to zero, the ₹7L milestone loses 22,500 MR points for a ₹20,000 Taj voucher, and lounge access needs ₹1L quarterly spend from 1 October.
A credit card for NRIs in India starts with an NRO or NRE account – there is no way around it. Here are the three issuers with a working NRI path, the deposit maths behind your credit limit, and why Amex India will not issue to you.
SBI Card and Google Pay launched the Google Pay Flex SBI Card on 29 July 2026. ₹499 + GST fee waived at ₹1 lakh spend, Stars worth up to 1.6% back. We ran the maths on the ₹18,000 rewards claim.
Credit cards for senior citizens in India explained: which banks accept pension as income, the real age caps at SBI, ICICI and IDFC FIRST, and three cards that get approved after 60 with the maths run on a ₹30,000 pension and a ₹2 lakh FD.
Every credit card application leaves a mark. Here's how to check credit card eligibility online first including free CIBIL check, issuer checkers, and the three numbers that actually decide it.
At 18 you can legally hold a credit card in India. The two real routes are an FD-backed card in your name or an add-on on your parent's. Only one shows up on your CIBIL.
Compared the 5 best FD-backed credit cards in India — IDFC FIRST WOW, Kotak 811, ICICI Coral, SBI Unnati, SBM ZET. Real fees, limits and lock-in math.
Axis Bank revises MyZone Credit Card terms from 28 August 2026 and 1 November 2026 as part of a portfolio-wide overhaul. The DCC markup goes from 1.5% to 3.5%, tolls and FASTag stop earning EDGE Reward Points, and the Buy One Get One District movie offer now needs ₹25,000 of spend in the preceding three months. Here is what each change costs you in rupees.
₹50,000 clears every mainstream card floor. HDFC Millennia, Amex SmartEarn and Amazon Pay ICICI — with the honest maths on caps, fees and lounge access.
At ₹30,000 the reward maths finally works. SBI Cashback, Axis ACE and Amazon Pay ICICI compared — plus why HDFC Millennia has to wait for ₹35,000.
₹20,000 a month is where unsecured cards become realistic. SimplyCLICK, Amazon Pay ICICI and the secured fallback, with the maths behind each.
At ₹15,000 a month, most cards are out of reach. Here are the FD-backed cards that approve at any income, the maths, and the 12-month path out.
Axis Bank revises Magnus for Burgundy terms from 28 August 2026, with identical changes on the standard Magnus. DCC markup rises to 2%, gift cards stop counting towards the ₹30 lakh fee waiver, tolls and FASTag stop earning EDGE Rewards, and Priority Pass no longer works at Indian domestic lounges. Here is the rupee cost of each change.
Axis Bank is revising eight credit cards from 28 August 2026. Here is what actually changes, the DCC-vs-forex confusion cleared up, and who should care.
Wrong entry on your CIBIL report? Here's how to dispute it free online, the RBI-set 30-day deadline, and the ₹100/day you're owed if they miss it.
Here are the three credit cards that fit ₹25,000 on paper and in practice, the maths behind each, and the two other popular cards worth skipping until your next appraisal.
2025 and 2026 have been the years of quiet devaluation in credit cards. This is the running list. What actually changed, when, what it costs you in rupees, and — the part that matters — what to do about it.
