Contactless cards grew rapidly in popularity around 2019, and today most newly issued cards support contactless payments. However, many cardholders still underuse this convenient feature.
I appreciate contactless payments because they make small transactions quicker and easier—no PIN entry is required for many low-value purchases at restaurants, fuel stations, cinemas, and more.
HDFC partnered with VISA to encourage more customers to use contactless payments. The promotion includes the following:
Offer Details
- Offer: 2X rewards on contactless transactions
- Maximum cap: 2,000 reward points
- Eligible spend: Contactless transactions only
- Offer period: Until 30 September 2019
- Fulfilment: Rewards credited within 90 days after the promotion ends
- Source: HDFC Bank promotional page
The promotion also applies to debit cards, although the reward cap for those cards is comparatively low.
Bottom line
This offer is particularly valuable for HDFC Visa credit cardholders. Depending on your card, the effective savings from doubled rewards can be meaningful—for example, roughly 2.6% for Regalia and about 6.6% for Infinia on the types of spends that earn rewards.
If you have been wondering whether to choose Visa or Mastercard, this promotion is a point in favor of Visa for the duration of the offer. Keep in mind that the promotion is limited to Visa cards and does not apply to Diners cards.
Contactless-enabled terminals are more common than some merchants realize. From my experience, around half of card machines I encounter support contactless payments, though many shopkeepers may not advertise the feature or know how to prompt customers to use it.
Will you take advantage of this contactless card offer? Share your thoughts in the comments below.