Please suggest a Mid-tier/premium credit card
Hi Everyone! I'm looking for a mid-tier or premium credit card for our day to day spends. Usually me and my wife route our spends through a primary credit card and use other credit cards only in case of specific discounts or exhaustion of credit limit. I have been using credit cards sparingly since 10 years and more regularly since 5 years. I have never actually optimized for credit cards and recently realized that it could have been much more rewarding if used properly esp. over the past 2-3 years. I am now looking to get a better card for decent rewards. I am more inclined towards getting a single card which can power my day to day as well as travel spends, but I'm open to a combination of 2-3 cards if that would be a better fit for me. Me, my wife & 2 young daughters love to travel and even though it is difficult to take out time regularly from our schedules, we do try to take 2-3 trips a year including an international trip. Also our travel spends have increased in the past 2-3 years as now we have to book 3-4 tickets for each flight and also book a larger room or suite for hotel stays.
Current Cibil: 794
Age: 39
Monthly Income and Employment status: 3.5 LPM; Salaried + Professional Consultancy Income (Doctor)
Monthly Expenses & Spending Patterns: Average monthly spends of 1-1.5 lakhs per month; Months with travel bookings see higher spends than usual and other months might see lower spends.
Top 5 Monthly spend categories and Top 5 Annual spend categories:
Travel - approx. 40-50% of Credit card spends.
E-commerce - Amazon, Zomato, Blinkit, Swiggy
Electronics
Lifestyle & Gifting - Myntra, Nykaa, Casio, Titan, Hamley's, Firstcry/Babyhug
Miscellaneous - Phone recharges for us & parents, Subscriptions
Preferences for Credit Card Features: Ease of use with simple redemption process, Travel Benefits, Lounge access, Less exclusion criteria
Reward Preference (Cashback or Reward Points): Reward Points
Lounge Access Required: Yes, Both Domestic & International (12 + 8 should suffice for both of us)
Other Special Needs: Add on card option would be good if it provides lounge access for my wife and reward points accrue on that too, though my wife doesn't spend much on online shopping by herself (Lucky me😜)
Current Credit Cards:
Axis Horizon - Upgraded from Axis Privilege 2 months back - CL 2.05 Lakhs
ICICI Sapphiro Dual Mastercard + Amex Version - CL 5 Lakhs
SBI Elite - Wife's Credit Card - CL 2.5 Lakhs
I'm open to getting a premium card with high annual fees too if that is suitably rewarding for my spend patterns. There are 2 more things that I would like to mention. We have just opened an Axis Burgundy account for my wife and upgraded my Axis account to Burgundy status this month and have got Axis Burgundy debit cards which provide lounge access too. Also we live in a Tier-III city and our city is not mentioned in the HSBC list of serviceable cities.