9cards posts
Guides, explainers
and the fine print.
Writing from us, not from the community: how Indian card fees, caps, reward currencies and benefit gates actually behave once you read the terms rather than the landing page.
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Everything we’ve published.
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The 2026 cashback devaluations on SBI, Swiggy HDFC and Airtel Axis
Three cards we rank were cut inside three weeks of April 2026, and each cut works differently. SBI capped the total, HDFC set a minimum ticket size, and Axis stopped publishing a cap at all and tied it to your ordinary spending instead. Read against the issuers' own notices.
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Google Pay Flex SBI Card: what “up to ₹18,000 a year” actually requires
SBI Card and Google Pay launched a co-branded card on 29 July 2026 with a ₹499 fee and a headline of up to 18,000 Stars a year. Reaching that ceiling takes roughly ₹11.25 lakh of spend at the top rate. The arithmetic, and what still needs checking against the issuer's own terms.
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Domestic lounge access in 2026: the card replaces the Priority Pass, and spend replaces the perk
From 28 August 2026 six Axis Bank cards stop admitting you to Indian domestic lounges on a Priority Pass. Meanwhile ICICI Bank gates access on ₹75,000 a quarter and HDFC Regalia Gold on ₹60,000. Two different changes, one outcome at the desk.
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The 2026 exclusion list: the spends that stopped earning, and stopped counting
Axis Bank, SBI Card and ICICI Bank have each expanded what earns no reward points, and Axis has added a second step — excluded spends no longer count toward the thresholds that unlock benefits. The categories and merchant codes, from the issuers' own notices.
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Paying in rupees abroad in 2026: what dynamic currency conversion now costs
Axis Bank and ICICI Bank have both repriced dynamic currency conversion in 2026, and on most cards the rupee option is now the expensive one. Here are the published rates, the arithmetic, and the one sentence to say at the terminal.
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Axis Bank's 28 August 2026 card revision, read card by card
Nine Axis Bank revision notices share one effective date and five changes. Here is what each notice actually says about DCC markup, the new ₹1,300 late-payment slab, payment allocation, gift-card and toll exclusions, and Priority Pass at domestic lounges.
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RuPay credit card on UPI: how it works, limits and rewards
A RuPay credit card can pay many merchant UPI QR codes, but it cannot replace a bank account for every UPI transfer. Learn what works, what fails and what to check before paying.
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Credit card fuel surcharge waiver: how it works and what it misses
A fuel surcharge waiver can reverse an eligible card surcharge, but GST, transaction bands, caps and merchant coding can leave a cost behind. Learn how to calculate the real saving.
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Credit card refund after bill generation: should you still pay?
A settled refund can reduce the amount due, but a pending merchant promise cannot. Learn how to read the statement, avoid late charges and recover a credit balance.
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Merchant category codes (MCC): why credit card rewards get excluded
Card rewards usually follow the merchant category code sent with a transaction, not the item in your basket. Learn who sets the MCC, why similar purchases can code differently and how to investigate missing rewards.
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RBI credit card directions 2025: what changed for cardholders
RBI's November 2025 directions reorganised and carried forward India's card rules; they did not create every protection from scratch. Here is what changed structurally, which cardholder rights remain current and how to use them.
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Weekly credit reporting from July 2026: timelines and ₹100-a-day compensation
RBI moved credit-information reporting from monthly to fortnightly and then to fixed weekly reference dates from July 2026. Faster files do not promise instant scores, while delayed correction complaints have a separate 30-day compensation clock.
