For a very long time ICICI Bank never had a compelling product in super premium credit card segment. While they have gemstone cards, they’re poor when it comes to rewards & benefits.
With Emeralde Credit Card the benefits part is sorted but rewards part still needed to get better. And to fix that, the bank has launched the all new Emeralde Private Credit Card which is lot better than the regular Emeralde Card. Here’s a detailed review of the regular Emeralde Credit Card,
Overview
Fees
Joining Fee: 12,000+GST
Annual Fee: 12,000+GST
Reward Type
Reward Points
Return
0.25 – 1%
Rating
Benefits
Domestic Airport Lounge Access, International Airport Lounge Access, BookMyShow Offer, Fuel Surcharge Waiver
Table Of Content
Eligibility
| Credit Score | 750+ |
| Upgrade of existing ICICI Bank credit card | Limit of at least Rs 6 Lakh |
| Income for Salaried | Rs 3 Lakh+ month or 30 Lakh Annually |
| ITR Return | Rs 18 Lakh or above |
Fees
The Emeralde credit card comes in two fee options for you to choose from: Monthly/Annually. Here is the fee structure:
| Joining/Annual Fee | Rs 12,000+GST ~Rs 14,160 |
| Annual Fee Waiver | Spend Rs. 15L in the card anniversary year |
| Monthly membership Fee | Rs. 1,000+GST |
| Monthly membership Fee Waiver | Spend Rs.1L in previous month |
| Welcome Benefit | None , Previously on Amex Variant |
Rewards
| Type of Spend | Rewards Point | Return Rate @1 per RP |
| Retail Spends | 4 RP/Rs 100 | 1% |
| Utilities & Insurance Spends | 1 RP/Rs 100 | 0.25% |
| Fuel & Government Spends | 0 RP | 0% |
This is the most disappointing part of this card – POOR reward Rate on regular spends. So high spenders >15L might need to switch to other cards.
Milestone
No Milestone Benefits.
Birthday Benefit
Tata Cliq voucher worth Rs.5,000. [Amex Variant only]
You get birthday benefit not only for the 1st year but also for the remaining period, as long as you hold the credit card.
Rewards Redemption
We get multiple categories for redeeming the reward points. The value of each reward point stays at 25 paise. Given the reward value, e-vouchers are the only good choice. Tanishq, Kalyan Jewellers, Jockey, Marriott and Croma are some of the good options in e-vouchers. We also have e-commerce GVs like Amazon, Flipkart, and Tata CliQ.
Golf Benefit
Complimentary rounds: 4/month (games & lessons)
One complimentary round/lesson of golf can be availed on every 50,000 INR or more spent on the card in the previous calendar month. All the complimentary rounds earned in a month will be eligible for redemption from 10th of next month and will be available for 2 months (60 days).
To avail yourself of the golf benefit and book a complimentary golf game, you must first register for your Emeralde Credit Card on the Golftripz website.
Other Key Benefits
- Fuel Surcharge Waiver: 1% waiver for transactions from Rs 400 to Rs 4000. Fuel surcharge waivers on fuel spends up to Rs 50,000 per month, surcharge waiver will not be applicable for spends beyond this limit.
- Travel Insurance: Get a refund of up to Rs 12000 for up to 2 transactions every year on a flight, hotel, or movie cancellations. The booking should be with Emeralde to avail of this offer.
Charges
| Type | Charges |
| Foreign Currency Transactions Markup | 2%+GST ~2.36% |
| Rent Pay Transactions Fee | 1%+GST ~1.18% |
| Education Payments Transactions Fee | 1% for third-party apps. No charge for direct payments to educational institutes. |
| Interest Rates | 3.4% monthly or 40.8% annually |
BookMyShow BOGO Offer
Buy one ticket and get up to Rs.750 off on the second ticket, up to four times every month through BookMyShow.
That’s technically 750*4=Rs.3000 value per month. This offers applies on Non-monie ticket as well.
Complimentary Airport Lounge Access
- Domestic Airport Lounge Access: Unlimited visits for both primary and add-on cards via Visa/Mastercard/Amex.
- International Airport Lounge Access: Unlimited visits for primary cards via Priority Pass.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Unlimited International and Domestic Lounge access
- Book My show BOGO Offer
- Travel Insurance
Cons
- Low rewards earning rate
- High Annual fee
Final Thoughts
ICICI Bank’s Emeralde Credit Card is decent but not so great or aspiring for the current demand. While, the reward rate is quite low the Emeralde does have pretty good benefits. You can get it for the unlimited airport lounge access, and BookMyShow offer. Yet, if you’re a very high spender and looking for better rewards, you should probably go for their newly launched Emeralde Private Credit Card that comes with an attractive welcome benefit and pretty good reward rate.
ICICI Emralde Credit Card
What is the validity of ICICI Reward Point.
The Reward points are valid for a period of 3 years from the date of accumulation.
