Product Review: Deutsche Bank Gold Credit Card

The one thing that stands out about Deutsche Bank is a customer focused approach across all their products. I rate them at the top on Customer Service. Their Contact Centre is best in class with executives who have good communication skills and know what they are talking about, and hence managing your Credit Card relationship is a pleasure. I would recommend this card primarily for the ease of Banking with them.

The positive aspects of this card are as follows

(1) Outstanding Phone Banking and Internet Banking Platform with well trained staff making information access very easy. If you compare this to some poor quality contact centre’s such as Barclays & ICICI, you will understand what I am talking about and the difference it makes to the Customers life
(2) Awesome festive offers, they have gives Rs.10,000 Cash back on Rs.1,00,000 of spend in the festive months of Oct to Dec for the first 100 customers or so and the lucky draw of a Maruti Swift as well. Their regular round the year offers are nothing to write home about, but these festive offers definitely make take the card worthwhile
(3) The charges and interest rates are better than the others in the market and my personal view is that this is the bank which is least likely to take the customers for a ride with unfair charges being levied to customers
(4) Their Operational processes are sound, the statements reach you on time and payments get credited on time. They have launched payments through Quick Pay and NEFT Payments for Credit Cards which enables you to make Payments through different banks on the Internet
(5) They do not have a massive Outbound Calling Team for stupid offers such as Loans and the Customer is left in peace to use his Card. This is a major irritant in banks such as Citibank, Barclays and ICICI where you will get at least 3 calls a week if you have not registered for the “Do Not Call Registry”

The negative aspects of this card are as follows

(1) The Card Plastic Is not unique and is not designed very well at all. They let you change images on the Credit Card at a small fee, however none of them are unique like the Times Barclaycard which you would like to show off to your friends
(2) Regular offers are not as good as the festive offers that are offered on this card

All in all, I recommend this card, however their Card Issuing Policy is very tight and for the past year they have been issuing cards only to a select group of customers. Feel lucky, if they have actually issued you a card.

Feel free to write to me at Ask.Pranav@Gmail.Com for any clarifications that you may have and I will try to respond to you as soon as possible.

Product Review: Timescard Barclaycard Credit Card

This Credit Card was launched in early 2008 as an Entertainment Card. This Credit Card tends to stand out as there are not many entertainment cards in the market right now.

This card has been launched as a partnership between Barclaycard and Times of Money. The first thing you notice about this card is the Credit Card Plastic, which is very neatly designed. It is one of the best card designed in the industry today (my opinion!)

The strengths of this Credit Card are listed below.

(1) Good Offers especially the movie ticket offer at select multiplexes. This single offer of movie ticket discounts is the single largest USP of the Timescard Barclaycard
(2) Other category discounts are good but the movie / multiplex discounts is the best. You can save up Rs.1000 / month if you watch 1 movie / week
(3) Free for Life Card
(4) Rewards program at No Additional Cost
(5) Multiple Payment Options for Barclaycard, hence paying your Credit Card Bill is easy irrespective of the Bank in which you hold an account

The flipside is as follows

(1) Poor Quality Customer Service both at the Contact Centre where complaint resolution and turn around times are not managed well
(2) Barclaycard has got several serious customer complaints on www.mouthshut.com and other such forums
(3) No Internet Banking Platform, so you will need to call the Barclaycard Customer Service Helpline for any details you require (which is not a very pleasant experience)
(4) Offers are concentrated in Mumbai and Delhi and the options for other cities are limited

Amongst the cards I hold, this gives me the maximum value on the movie offer as I watch at least 1 movie a week at Bandra East Cinemax. So I land up saving Rs.1000 per month at the very least. I do not care about the pain they put me through at Customer Service as no other card gives me such a save. If you feel the same way then go for it.

For other useful Personal Banking tips do go to www.simplybank.blogspot.com or you can mail me at Ask.Pranav@Gmail.Com and I will try to respond to your queries at the earliest.

Product Review: Jet Airways Citibank Platinum Credit Card

The Jet Airways Citibank Platinum Credit Card is one of the better Travel Credit cards in the country.
Things You Must Know
1. The Jet Airways Citibank Platinum Credit Card has an annual fee of Rs.3000 and is targeted to a specific profile of customers who should ideally satisfy the following criteria
a. Spend at least Rs.20,000 on the Credit Card
b. Like to travel by Jet Airway and would usually want to travel at least once a year on a ticket redeemed through air-miles
c. Are Ok with not having Reward Points as all the Reward Points get auto converted to JP Miles
2. If you like cashback, redemptions against fuel vouchers etc. and other flexible options for rewards, then please stay away from the Jet Airways Citibank Platinum Credit Card
Differentiating Features
The following are the great features about the Jet Airways Citibank Platinum Credit Card
1. For every Rs.100 spent on this card you get 4 JP Miles. Each worth approx 40 paise* when you go to redeem them. This is the highest ratio in the Credit Card Industry today
2. You get an Upgrade voucher for every 8000 miles you accumulate, which entitles you to Business Class travel on next domestic trip. You also get Upgrade Vouchers on renewal. The strategy is to accumulate Upgrade Vouchers and use them for the next international trips and Business Class on Jet Airways International Flights is a once in a lifetime experience
3. Now that master Card has withdrawn the lounge access program, this is the only card which entitles you to lounge access on domestic airports
4. For ant transaction using this card on http://www.jetairways.com/ you get 8 JP Miles for every Rs.100 spent which is a great deal in helping in accumulate more miles
5. Both Citibank and Jet Airways have great Internet & Phone Platforms and my experience with them has been good.
However after Citibank slapped Charges on several innocent customer’s way back in 2004 for Insurance & Account Maintenance, no matter how hard they may try to behave differently today, I always scan my statement for erroneous charges that may have been levied. This ghost should and will haunt them for a very long time.
*One way journey to Chennai is approx 10000 JP Miles. A one way Chennai ticket will cost me Rs.4000 so the value of each JP Mile is 40 paise