What do you do if you want to upgrade your credit card from the one you’re using now? You ask your bank. If the bank refuses, you start hunting for one elsewhere; website to website, going through different card catalogues. Now, AU Small Finance Bank has a solution to help you in your efforts to upgrade.
In January, the bank launched a platform, called SwipeUp, that allows you to enter the details of your current credit card. Once you do that, it throws up a card from its own bouquet, which it feels is better than the one you’re using now. In credit card parlance, this is called a card-to-card application.
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the SwipeUp platform.
How does SwipeUp work?
The SwipeUp platform allows you to compare your existing credit card and ‘upgrade’ to one of AU Small Finance Bank’s credit cards. For instance, if you have an existing HDFC Bank credit card or an SBI Credit Card and you want an upgrade, SwipeUp helps you to find a match.
The bank recently launched three new credit cards, AU Xcite, AU Xcite Ace and AU Xcite Ultra, which it claims are better alternatives.
Visit the SwipeUp page on AU Small Finance Bank’s website. Enter your Permanent Account Number (PAN) and your mobile number registered with your existing issuer. Then, enter the first six digits of your existing credit card. Your card’s first 6 digits represent the bank’s identification number (BIN) for the card. The first six digits are a common number for all cards of a particular variant. “With these six digits, we will identify which card variant you have and offer the upgraded card from our AU Xcite credit cards,” Mayank Markanday, Head of Credit Cards Business unit, AU Small Finance Bank, told Moneycontrol.
Once you enter your details, you are then given a choice to subscribe to a card that AU Small Finance says is better than the one you are using. The comparison happens instantly.
“AU Small Finance Bank is demonstrating its technological savviness in the credit card segment by allowing you to compare your existing credit card with their offerings on the SwipeUp platform,” says Sumanta Mandal, Founder, TechnoFino, a digital platform related to credit cards and banking products in India.
Any person holding a credit card of other banks is eligible to apply for a credit card on the SwipeUp platform. The fee to use the SwipeUp platform is Nil.
Also read | Review: AU Small Finance Bank allows you to design your own credit card, but at a cost
What’s on offer?
The bank has launched three new credit card variants, AU Xcite, AU Xcite Ace and AU Xcite Ultra. Through the SwipeUp platform, you get to ‘upgrade’ to one of these cards.
AU Xcite and AU Xcite Ultra credit cards will allow you to earn rewards according to your spending pattern. The reward system here works just like a normal credit card rewards catalogue, where you get to earn rewards while spending on dining, movie, shopping and entertainment. The AU Xcite Ace credit card offers cashback on monthly spends (see graphic).
These credit cards are lifetime free credit cards.
What works
Typically, it’s a bit tough to upgrade from your own credit card to a higher card within the same bank. For instance, if you have a Regalia Credit Card from HDFC Bank. and want an upgrade to a Diners Club Black Credit Card, it won’t be easy to make that shift. It’s common knowledge that banks often offer you an upgraded spending limit, but rarely do the benefits get an upgrade, even if they have a higher-version credit card. Any such upgrade within a bank requires a fresh application, where they will assess your profile all over again.
“The banks usually don't upgrade features, rewards, memberships, etc. to existing users. So, this is a unique offering from the AU Small Finance Bank,” says Parijat Garg, a digital lending consultant.
“Using the SwipeUp platform a credit card user can upgrade the credit limit, cashback, and reward points with a quick end-to-end digital process so that the card can match your current lifestyle,” says Markanday.
“The reward rate up to 3.75 percent on an AU Xcite credit card is attractive in this card segment,” says Shailesh Patel, an independent credit card analyst. Also, two domestic airport lounge access offers in a quarter (eight annually) on AU Xcite Ace and AU Xcite Ultra is good, given the fact that these cards don’t come with annual fees.
Also read | How to get the best out of your credit card’s reward points
What doesn’t work
AU Small Finance Bank has limited offerings compared to other banks in the credit card segment. Therefore, Garg, points out, “this new platform offers good lead generation for the bank.” In other words, it gets the bank a good database, using technology, about its rival card firms.
Due to the limited variety of new cards offered by AU Small Finance Bank through SwipeUp, this might also not suit you if you have been using a high-end premium card.
On AU Xcite Ace, the maximum cashback is Rs 750 per statement cycle. “Having a cap for the maximum cashback is one of the drawbacks on this card,” says Patel. There are cashback cards from other banks without such a cap, he adds.
The SwipeUp platform allows you to enter only one credit card detail to compare and apply. “We have a functionality of only one credit card at a time for a user, although we are working towards where a customer can try with multiple cards too,” says Markanday. If you are using multiple cards, then make sure you choose to enter the details of the card on which you wish to get an upgrade.
Should you apply?
AU Small Finance Bank is targeting existing card holders of other banks. It claims to offer a better proposition on behavioural spends.
However, limiting a person to explore SwipeUp with just a single credit card is a big negative. Those who have multiple cards, and genuinely wish to get an upgrade, would ideally prefer to compare all their existing cards with what SwipeUp can offer.
This writer explored SwipeUp with his own credit card to see what it can offer, without actually going through the final process of submitting the application. That’s when the barrage of calls started, nudging him to finish his application. When he tried to block a number, the bank called from another number. After blocking the second number, calls started coming from the third number. And so on, till he contacted the company personally. That’s another problem.
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