HDFC LIFE TIME FREE CREDIT CARD

“Today i just received pre-approved hdfc life time free credit card (Regalia) which i applied on 31st may”.
So its already LTF right?

it is LTF conditionally..
it will be free after 4*500 transaction for 3 state cycle..then it will be LTF..
any kind of transaction will do the work

How is this card useful for online shopping.. getting it LTF without conditions…

for me it was unconditional LTF, check with you RM

I must share my story here.

I had an HDFC card, I forgot the name of that now. The card was given Free for Life without any strings attached. It remained so for, I guess, 3 years+. Then HDFC called me and upgraded me to Regalia. Again I was told that Regalia too will remain free for life. In Mar’20 they charged Rs.2500 membership fee + taxes = Rs.2950. I thought I simply had to call them to get it waived off. But then it was alredy a lockdown period and they did not allow the IVR to pass the line to any live CC person. I sent them an email. There was no reply. After a month I sent another email, there was no reply. In June, I sent one more email, there was no reply.

I was not using the card since they charged the membership fees. And because of interest moratorium they did not levy any penalty on that in last two months. However, I got frustrated. So I went ahead and hot-listed the card. At that time the person on the call informed me that he can transfer the call to credit card department !! I asked him to do so. The moment he tried to transfer the call the call got disconnected. I again dialed CC, went through the complete IVR, reached to lost-card/hot-list card department, asked the guy to transfer the call, he did and it got disconnected. I continued trying it for about 1:30 Hrs for 17 times and then I was lucky to get to credit card department. I asked the CC to waive off the membership fees. He took the request gave me the request number and told me that it would take about 24 hrs to resolve the request and I would get an SMS.

You guessed it right. It was 48 hrs and there was no SMS. I called up again. This time I was lucky and it took only 14 attempts and about 1:15 Hrs to get connected to credit card department. I gave the request number and the CC told me that my request was rejected. He said since the request was rejected there was no need to send any SMS ! I asked the CC to cancel my card. But to my surprise he said that since there was an outstanding (membership fees) on the card statement the bank cannot close the card !!!! Basically, he wanted me to pay the fees. I had to plead to him that I just wanted to get rid of the card. After a lot of explanation he took another request to cancel the card. The timeline given to me is of 10 working days. Now, I am waiting the 10 working days to complete.

Even today no one can reach to a person on the customer care number. Anyone wants to start a new relationship with HDFC should try this first. HDFC has people who make the marketing calls to sell new cards but they dont have staff to handle customers’ requests or queries. Corona has infected the customer care but not marketing department.

I thought to share my story because we all get lured by “life time free”ness of the card. My experience may help you to take an informed decision.

But is regalia wrt online shopping and reward redemption into cc bill… Also its useful only if shopped through smartbuy?

My card is still not cancelled. HDFC is still putting me through all the ordeals that I described earlier. There is no communication from their side. I dont know what should I do now. It is clear case of customer harassment.

Ultimately, I paid the full amount of renewal fees + GST in order to close the card. I closed the card immediately.

I have raised a complaint with RBI’s Ombuds. For last one month the complaint status hasn’t moved at all.

Try this if have not already-

[email protected]