One of the not-so-great ways to redeem HDFC Bank Credit Card Points is to redeem them for catalog vouchers, as this provides poor value, often about 50% lower compared to travel redemptions.
However, it helps those who do not travel and prefer to use the vouchers for shopping. Given that HDFC also offers “Amazon Pay” vouchers, it makes sense.
For such cardholders, HDFC Bank occasionally runs short-term offers to get much better value for the points, and one such offer is live at the moment. Here are the offer details:
Offer: Redeem points for vouchers at 1:0.70 INR for vouchers
Offer Period: 31st July to 2nd Aug 2024
Applicable only on HDFC Infinia & Diners Club Black Credit Cards.
Source
To redeem, login to smart-buy, choose the card variant under “Privileges”, login and then visit the rewards section, choose rewards catalog, then use the filter to choose the brand, as below.
We’ve previously seen the offer in 2021 (twice), 2022 (once) but not in 2023 if I remember it right and now it has come back again in 2024.
While it used to be a good option for some in the past, it’s no longer worth doing if you’re a traveller, because of the newly added ability to transfer points to Airmiles with bonus offers.
For example, we recently saw an Accor points transfer offer with 75% bonus that gave ~1.5 INR per point, so opting for vouchers is like letting go of half the value.
Hence, it’s more of a personal choice whether one wants to get 3.3% value back or more with travel, or just settle with 2.3% with this ongoing offer for instant redemptions.