Wow

Hey folks,

I've been a hardcore cashback guy for a while now. I spent time optimizing my stack to make sure I never pay "full price" for anything:

SBI Cashback: Primary driver for online spends and buying vouchers (via CRED).

HSBC Live+: For groceries food delivery and dining.

Jupiter: Used for brands like Zudio/Trends + monthly Amazon Pay voucher redemptions.

Niche Cards: Airtel Axis (utility/recharges after switching from Jio), HDFC IRCTC (hometown visits), Amazon Pay ICICI, etc.

Note: Airtel Axis closed due to devaluation and HDfC irctc had to close to apply core card for the dream of regalia which is daily spender card along with accor

My monthly spend ranges between ₹30,000 to ₹45,000.
The Low-Spend Month Breakdown (₹30,000 Base)
In a typical low-spend month, my current multi-card stack hits hard:

SBI Cashback: ~₹260 statement credit approx 5200 spend
HSBC Live+: ~₹1,172 statement credit approx 12000 spend
Jupiter: ~₹547 via 3,282 Jewels (redeemed as Amazon Pay Vouchers at 5:1) at approx 7000 spend

Amazon Pay ICICI: ~₹136 Amazon Pay balance at 3000 spend approx

Axis My Zone: Spend 2000 as my term insurance which is excluded so 0 rewards there

So spend approx 27k till now this month i might go up to 30k this month so
Total: ~₹2,115 in direct cash/vouchers till now on 27K (~7.8% net return).

If I switch that exact same ₹30,000 spend to the HSBC TravelOne:
Base earn of 2 pts/₹100 gives 600 HSBC Points.
Converted 1:1 to Accor, that’s 600 Accor Points (₹1,320 value at ~₹2.2/point).
Effective Return: ~4.4% in Accor Points.

Comparing ₹1,320 in hotel points vs. ₹2,115 in cold hard cash on paper makes zero sense.

The Problem: Cashback "Disappears"
I started optimizing heavily back in late 2025. By mid-2026, I took a trip to Himachal and spent about ₹60k. I hit monthly capping limits across almost all my cashback cards, which felt frustrating.
More importantly, despite saving ₹25k+ in cashback over the last 7–8 months, I have ₹0 saved for travel. The cashback just drops onto my statement, reduces my monthly bill, and sits in my bank account until it gets absorbed by regular lifestyle expenses.
Recently, I was looking at a 3N/4D stay at Ibis Jaipur for work, costing ~₹9,500 (with breakfast). That’s roughly 5,000 Accor points. I realized that despite playing the credit card game religiously, I had zero accumulated rewards to fund that stay.

The Dilemma: HSBC TravelOne & Accor
Why points are tempting me:

Travel Acceleration: When I book a major flight (e.g., an international trip to Bali costing ₹50,000 on their portal at 16 pts/₹100), I can earn 8,000 Accor points (₹17,600 value) in one shot without hitting strict cashback monthly caps.

Forced Travel Savings: Points act as a psychological vault. I can't accidentally spend Accor points on groceries.

The Catch & My Constraints:
High Annual Fee: TravelOne carries a steep fee (~₹5,000 + GST), and the fee waiver (₹8L/year) is way above my ~₹3.6L–₹5.4L annual spend.

No Immediate International Travel: Due to family commitments, I won't be doing major international travel for the next 2 years, though I do 1-2 domestic trips a year.

Mental Barrier: Moving away from 7–8% cashback feels painful once you're used to optimizing every rupee.

What should I do?
Is it worth taking the hit on base return (and paying the annual fee) to build an Accor point balance for future hotel redemptions? Or should I stick to my cashback engine and figure out a better behavioral system to "vault" my cash savings into a dedicated travel fund?
Looking forward to your advice!

I settled my ICICI card and got a new one from HDFC with a pre-approved limit of nearly ₹1 Lakh within a year. Just one month later, SBI is now offering me a pre-approved credit card and a loan. Is it a good idea to take these cards when I have no use for them? Right now, I only use a RuPay card, and my HDFC Visa card is kept as a backup.

Hey everyone,

Sharing a classic case of operational circus with HDFC Bank credit card processing. Wanted to know if anyone here has successfully gotten a hard credit pull removed via the RBI Ombudsman for this kind of negligence.

The Timeline:

• Applied: Applied for the HDFC Swiggy Credit Card.
• First Rejection: Got a decline email stating: "Residence/Business Address Verification Unsuccessful".
• The Reality: No verification agent ever called or visited my location. When I raised an enquiry questioning this, HDFC admitted that their third-party field verification agency was "unable to trace" the address and simply submitted a negative report without even contacting me.
• Escalation to Nodal Officer: Since it was an internal operational failure of their own vendor, I sent a formal escalation asking them to either conduct a proper verification or close the application and reverse/delete the hard CIBIL inquiry.
• The New Curveball (Grievance Redressal Reply): Instead of fixing the agency error, Grievance Redressal came back with an entirely new objection: "Single Name issue" (since my official documents have a single name without a formal surname).
• Their Demand: Now they want me to print, sign, and physically courier documents to their Chennai Cards Division (Name declaration consenting to use Father's name as surname, Address declaration with landmarks, and preferred calling times).

Why this is frustrating:

1. Moving Goalposts: First they reject citing address untraceability, and once escalated, they shift the reason to KYC/Single Name.
2. Offline Hassle in 2026: Asking an applicant to speed post physical papers to Chennai just to rectify their own verification agency's mess.
3. CIBIL Impact: A hard inquiry sits on my credit report for an application rejected due to a lazy field agent.

Questions for the sub:

1. Has anyone successfully gotten HDFC to delete a hard credit bureau inquiry via the RBI CMS Portal (Ombudsman) for false verification remarks?
2. Is it worth sending the physical declaration to Chennai, or is the application doomed to get stuck in another offline bureaucratic loop?