With the end of the collaboration between Intermiles and ICICI bank, the Visa-powered Intermiles card from ICICI has now been discontinued. So, my search for a travel-centric credit card began once more.
This time, my needs were simple. The card should provide reasonable returns in the form of points or cashback, provide lounge access, and have a low forex markup charge. Having a low joining and annual charge was a good feature on top. During the search, it became clear that most of the cards have been devalued and lounge access has become a rarity for the cards that are not in the Premium or Super Premium range.
Since I was not willing to spend a lot on the charges, the search continued, until I found the Scapia card.
This card has zero joining fees and zero annual charges, issued by Federal Bank. It is available on the Visa platform. Along with it being an LTF (lifetime free) card, the USP is that it has ZERO FOREX MARKUP charge. So, when making payments in a foreign currency, we do not incur any markup. You pay the conversion amount, that’s all.
Rewards are in the form of Scapia coins. For every transaction that is not on travel, we get 10% Scapia coins and for travel-related transactions, it is 20%. Forex payments do not provide any points though. And the points accumulated can be redeemed only on their app which is completely travel and hotel booking centric. The app has options of flight and hotel booking and the rates are quite competitive.
A thing to note is that this card offers unlimited lounge access but with a condition. The condition is that there must be spends of at least ₹5000 in the previous month. Considering that this card can be used like a regular card and the options it provides are not atrocious, spending at least ₹5000 in a month and gaining the option of unlimited lounge access across India is quite nice.
The application process for the card is a simple and straightforward one. You download the app on your phone, fill in the details, accept the terms and conditions after reading them carefully, take a selfie, and done. Your virtual card becomes ready for use immediately and can be used for online payments. The physical card arrives a few days later in a funky box. There is a booklet with the most important terms and conditions (MITC), some stickers, and the card itself. Neat packaging I must say.
In the app, they have a gamified target spend roster known as Scapia Heist where based on the amount and number of spends you get badges and they lead up to more points. It’s a nice touch in the app. Various deals in Dining, Travel, Fashion, Health and Wellness, etc. are applicable to the card and accessible through the app.
A group of customers who would enjoy having this card is the bloggers and other content creators who may be active on international platforms such as WordPress where the payment is in USD. For people like these, this card would save quite a bit of money and might serve as quite an attractive proposition as well.
Overall, I feel this card is a good card to have especially if you travel quite a bit and are looking for a zero forex markup card, without breaking into the premium and super premium segment. Give this card a shot, it would be worth the effort.
Cheers!!
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