HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card Review

The best feature of HSBC Visa Platinum credit card is that no joining or annual fee is charged from the cardholder. Instead, the cardholder gets spend-based benefits on the card. There are very few lifetime free credit cards in India and HSBC Visa Platinum, probably, is the best among all.

After making a single transaction of a minimum of INR500 within 30 days of card issuance, new cardholders will be eligible for the following introductory benefits:

1. Amazon voucher worth Rs. 250 on completing online credit card application and video KYC
2. 10% cashback up to Rs. 2,000 on making 5 or more transactions totalling Rs. 10,000 or more, within the first 60 days from the date of card issuance
3. 3 complimentary airport lounge access at domestic and international lounges or 3 meal-vouchers for airport restaurants in India

HSBC Platinum Credit Cardholders will earn 2 reward points for every purchase of Rs. 150. 

5x rewards on subsequent purchases made after you spend Rs. 4 lakh or above on your credit card in a calendar year. You can earn a maximum of 15,000 Reward Points in the remaining part of the calendar year.

These points can be used for a variety of items, including clothing, home appliances, cosmetics, gift cards, airline miles, and charitable donations.

You can also redeem your points for a variety of items such as jewellery, luxury shoes, clothes, home electronics, electrical devices, cosmetics, and much more.

HSBC Simply Indulge dining program offers minimum 15% discount on dining at more than 1000 restaurants in India. However, most of these restaurants are located in top tier cities.

Simply Indulge program is better than other dining programs as many food chains and not-so expensive restaurants are also featured in the list which is not the case in most other programs where only top restaurants and five-starred hotels are included.

Like most other credit cards, HSBC Visa Platinum provides fuel surcharge waiver at all petrol pumps across India on transactions between Rs. 400 and Rs. 4,000 up to a maximum of Rs. 250 per month.

The positive aspect of this card is that the waiver is offered at all petrol pumps whereas most cards offer waivers at either Indian Oil or HPCL petrol pumps.

HSBC provides offers on this card from time to time. You can get discounts on Big Basket, Amazon Pantry, MakeMyTrip and various other online portals.

Suggested read: Top 25 Credit Cards in India

Let’s have a comparative analysis of HSBC Visa Platinum with other similar credit cards:

As per the comparative analysis, HSBC turns out to be better than many lifetime free credit cards. However, if you are an Amazon loyalist, you can consider getting an Amazon Pay ICICI credit card as it comes with better and more extensive benefits on multiple categories.

*Assuming 10% discount on dining spends
Savings of Rs. 2400 assumed on domestic flight tickets and hotel bookings made via Cleartrip on Friday.

HSBC Visa Platinum is a basic credit card so you should not expect much from this card.

There are no dedicated movie benefits on the card at present. It used to be a primary benefit earlier when you could get one free ticket on booking one ticket through BookMyShow on Saturdays once every month.

There are not much rewards or cashbacks on offer apart from Welcome Benefits.

The Air Mile conversion program is good but is nowhere in comparison with top airline credit cards.

HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card is suitable for those who are new to credit cards and are willing to start with a basic, entry-level credit card. It is also a viable option for those who want to own a lifetime free credit card as it comes with no joining fee and/or annual fee. For starters, the card provides a Rs. 2,250 sign-up bonus, quite a decent number among other free cards. The sign-up bonus is Rs. 250 Amazon voucher and up to Rs. 2,000 cashback. Under its introductory benefits, users can also enjoy 3 complimentary airport lounge access at domestic & international lounges or 3 AirDine (meal) vouchers. In terms of rewards, the HSBC Visa Platinum card gives 2 reward points on every Rs.150 spent, which is not satisfactory when compared to other cards. However, you can benefit from exclusive promotions including a 15% dining discount on more than 1000 restaurants and buy 1 get 1 movie ticket on Saturdays from BookMyShow.

The promotions and benefits are not satisfactory, but considering that it is a lifetime free credit card, still, it is a viable option

This credit card is best for beginners who don’t have a credit card at present. Even if you have credit cards, you can opt for this card as well as there is no annual fee. You can avail all benefits on this card without paying any fee. An additional spending limit at no extra cost would mean that your credit utilization will decrease considerably eventually leading to an increase in your credit score.

Please Note: HSBC Bank is not a Paisabazaar partner. Offers would be from partner Banks/NBFCs only.