HDFC Bank Imposes 1% Fee On Rent Payments Made Via Credit Cards On CRED, Paytm & Other Platforms

The largest private sector lender in India, HDFC Bank, announced new charges for rent payments made on various platforms using its credit cards. The bank has imposed a 1% fee (up to Rs 3,000 per transaction) on rent payments made by credit card holders via several platforms such as CRED, Paytm, Cheq, MobiKwik, Freecharge, and others.
The announcement came to notice after customers received an email by HDFC Bank on 26th June.

"W.e.f. 1st August 2024, 1% fee on transaction amount will be levied on rental transactions done on any applicable merchant for the month. Fee capped at Rs 3000 per transaction," mentioned HDFC Bank on its website.

"HDFC Bank will apply a fee of 1% on the total transaction amount beginning with the second rental transaction of the calendar month. Also, different merchants levy a fee which can be referred on the payment page of the particular merchant," mentioned the lender on its website.

Rent payments made with an HDFC Bank Credit Card come with perks including an interest-free credit period of up to 45 days, the option to establish a credit history for future low-interest loan approvals, and the option to download rent receipts in order to claim HRA on your income tax. A number of companies currently allow customers to pay their rent using their HDFC Bank credit cards. These businesses include Free Charge, Housing, MagicBricks, NestAway, NoBrokers, PayMatrix, PayTM, PhonePe, and others.

With effect from 1st January 2023, rent payments and government-related transactions are no longer earning Reward Points on HDFC Bank Credit Cards.

For customers who utilise the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to make payments on their Tata Neu Infinity and Tata Neu Plus credit cards, HDFC Bank will alter the reward structure from August 1, 2024. For holders of the Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank Credit Card, eligible UPI transactions made with a Tata Neu UPI ID will start to result in 1.5% NeuCoins as cashback on August 1, 2024. For those using other UPI IDs, such as Paytm, PhonePe, and Cred, eligible transactions will lead to 0.50% NeuCoins.

However, the Tata Neu Plus HDFC Bank Credit Card will earn 1% NeuCoins when using a Tata Neu UPI ID to make eligible UPI transactions, and the cardholders will receive 0.25% NeuCoins while using other eligible UPI IDs. The aggregate quantity of NeuCoins brought in from all UPI payments will be capped at 500 NeuCoins per month. You can earn an additional 0.75% in NeuCoins for eligible UPI payments by using your Tata Neu UPI ID. According to HDFC Bank, additional NeuCoins on Tata Neu UPI payments will be sent directly to your Tata Neu Account as of August 1, 2024.