Wishing for a cozy, quiet and calm vacation away from home this holiday? Hoping to be guilt free of all the shopping and expect to claim maximum discounts and cash back offers on your hotel and restaurant bills? Well all these can come true, thanks to the amazing offers offered by co-branded travel credit cards, which have been making customers happy since 10 years.
Although the lucrative deals the co-branded travel credit cards provide, it still has to become popular among the masses. There is still that section of the society who is extremely cautious about their spending habits and is not very fond of credit, especially plastic cash and other forms of debt like a personal loan etc. Such conservative income spenders weigh their pros and cons very carefully before signing up with such schemes. Although they offer loads of benefits like discounts and special offers due to their tie ups not only with domestic and international hotel chains, but also across Indian railways and travel portals, it is very important that you choose those cards that are suit your lifestyle requirements. This factor plays the most important part along with the rate of interest charged by these cards on rolling credits.
The reason why the decision of opting for a co branded travel credit card should be made after carefully scrutinizing your financial statement is because of the problem of a financial burden you might eventually face if you fail to be a disciplined spender. Although these cards serve you for the purpose of providing financial ease while you are travelling, you should limit the extent of their usage. Remember, it is a debt. Your financial health will be in jeopardy if you opt for a personal loan or any type of loan to repay the outstanding dues on your card. Therefore it is important that you use this card only when you are sure that you can repay the amount as soon as you can.
With the inflation ridden state, banks and credit card companies have not rolled back their offers spree and have continued to lure customers no matter what. For example, if a customer used to be benefitted with an offer on the purchase of Rs2.5 lakh and above now has to shell out Rs3.5 lakh do be entitled for the same offer. Another example, on initially signing up with your card, you, as a valued customer, were offered 5 free flight services and now you are being 3 free flight services.
Should you opt for a co-branded card?
If you think that buying a co-branded travel card will encourage your travel sprees, it is certainly not true. It takes a very long time for the points to be gathered on your travel card making the redemption of the same a highly patience filled drill.
The best solution for easing your score build up is to buy a card for the purposes that you frequently shop for. This will help you build your score on the cards. Sign up with a card that provides you the offer of cash backs on the purchase of groceries. Similarly, opt for those travel cards that have tie ups with an airline, hotel or an online travel agent and make the most of your spending opportunity.
Apart from all of the above, for you as a prudent customer, it is important that you read the offer documents carefully, before signing up with the card. Remember, at the end of the day it is a debt that has to be repaid. So spending much more than what can be given back can lead to a huge financial stress at the end which can increase the burden on your finances.