Most of us opt for credit cards which benefit us in our day to day life, like cashback offers on fuel, shopping, travel etc. 40% of credit card users have cards with fuel cashbacks. This news is going to hurt us a lot.

From October 1, 2019, majorly all the banks in the country are going to discontinue the cashback credit cards at all the petrol pumps and fueling stations. This is going to come into effect after an advisory issued by Public Sector Fuel Retail companies.

All the OMCs (Oil Marketing Companies) have told the banks to terminate the cashback benefit on their credit cards whereas cashbacks and discounts for other digital payment methods like PayTM, Phone Pay etc. will still be in effect.

There are three state-run oil marketing companies in the country, namely, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. They offer cashback up to 0.75% per transaction value of the fuel purchased using debit/credit cards and electronic wallets. This cashback is reflected in the buyers’ bank account or wallet in three working days.

Government introduced this discount after the cash crunch of 2016 at the time of demonetization. The prime purpose was to encourage digital banking and payments. After three years of demonetization, the percentage of digital money transfers and payments has increased at a striking rate, however, the three oil marketing companies are still bearing the discount/cashback cost. 

It is a celebrated fact that paying your credit card bills timely is not only a good habit but it also helps you financially in future, by throwing a positive impact on your credit score. And a good credit score makes you a reliable individual to lend loans. On the other hand, late payments, lesser payments or minimum payments can also hamper your credit scores.

After a massive digitalization, people are mostly comfortable to pay their credit card bills through net banking or phone banking. Not because it saves time or is comfortable but because it secured and cost effective. Let us now know about the benefits of paying credit card bills through net banking.

- Net banking payments are out of any transaction fees or payment processing fees etc. You would have to pay these extra charges if you pay it through other modes like ATM etc.

- This method of paying your credit card bill is more secured and safe due to the encrypted security in the technology used to pay it online. The more people have started using this medium, the safer it has become to pay bills with net banking.

- It is hassle-free and easy to login and pay through net banking. It is just a matter of few seconds; therefore, it is time saving as well.

Net banking process varies from bank to bank though; the major method is almost same. Have a look at this process:

- Log on to the website of your credit card provider

- Select ‘Pay your Credit Card bill’ option

- Enter your credit card number, email id and the amount you need to pay (either minimum or full outstanding)

- On the payment modes page, select Net Banking and fill in the bank details/bank account details to pay

- After that, you will be redirected to the bank’s login page

- If the website of your preferred bank is beginning with ‘https://.’ It is considered as secure

- Enter you username and password on the login page

- Accept the payment details like the amount etc. and confirm it by entering the OTP sent to your registered mobile number

- On the successful transaction, you will be shown an e-receipt which is to kept safe for future requirement

This way, your credit card payment is done in a fraction of seconds. Yes, you should have a good internet connection for using net banking for making any payments.

When you apply for a credit card and it gets approved, that is surely a thing of joy in today’s time. But only getting a credit card doesn’t matter much, getting the best one according to your needs is important. So, what makes a credit card worth relying? Reward points, isn’t it? Every time you swipe your credit card, you get certain reward points which pay you back in one attractive deal or the other.

A lot of people consider the reward points a useless element in a credit card and that whatever additional features like extra miles or points cannot make any difference. Each reward point looks tiny at once but if you keep on paying the outstanding and all the bills on time, these reward points pile up to really reward you big, once you save a lot of them, and it is no myth.

May be, your credit card offering executive has promised you about the easiness of redeeming the reward points. But truly, it is not that easy. It is rather about how intelligently you redeem them. Be careful about the time and dates of your travel before you redeem your air miles. And if you redeem according to their conditions only, it can land you in so many layovers and abrupt timings of flights.

In case you dream about your next travel for free, just because you have sufficient air miles to sponsor that; you are mistaken. Chances are you may only get the flight tickets for those air miles, but other charges like the accommodation and the surcharge etc. are not included in it.

All your myths related to credit card rewards can be true or untrue but it wholly depends upon the kind of credit card you choose. You must check what features are going to benefit you and what kind of rewards suit to your requirements. Therefore, don’t just have a credit card for only the sake of it, but treat it has a very important financial asset which helps you at the time you most need it.