There has been enough written about advantages and benefits of Amazon pay ICICI Credit Card, but there is no concise information when it comes to Amazon Pay ICICI Credit Card Disadvantages. This post provides a perspective of the disadvantages.
List of Amazon Pay ICICI Credit Card Disadvantages
No reward points for purchase done with no cost EMI on Amazon.in
For items that you purchase from amazon.in with No Cost EMI option (EMI without any interest charges), you will not be given any Reward points (Accumulated in the form of Amazon Pay balance). Irrespective of you being a Amazon Prime member or not, you will not get the Reward points for No Cost EMI transactions on Amazon.
Speaking of rewards points and purchase you should take a look at our other post Best Cashback site. This will help you save up to 10% (Even more in some cases!!) on your online shopping.
No reward points for fuel purchase
No reward points are earned for Fuel purchase transactions with Amazon Pay ICICI Credit card. However, the 1% fuel surcharge levied is waived off (subject to daily transaction limits, refer to below point on this)
(However there is a tweak that you should be aware that would help you make few bucks as cashback on fuel transactions)
Reward points have an expiry date
At the end of each credit card billing cycle the reward points earned will be added to your Amazon Pay balance as a “Gift Card”. This Gift card will have a validity of 3 years from the date of issue. If not used within this 3 years time, it will expire. For an illustration refer to below snip which was taken from my Amazon Pay Transaction statement. It can be observed that Amazon Pay balance credited on 21st May 2021 expires after 3 years on 21st May 2024.
As per ICICI bank FAQ page for Amazon Pay card https://www.icicibank.com/Personal-Banking/faq/card/amazon-pay-faq.page, reward points never expire (see below screen shot). But that got documented incorrectly, as confirmed from actual Amazon Pay transaction statement directly.
Limit on fuel surcharge waiver
There is a daily transaction limit for Fuel surcharge waiver. Fuel surcharge is waived off only for transaction up to Rs 4000 per day.
Must be an Amazon Prime member to reap full benefits of card
To reap maximum cashback benefits for shopping done on Amazon (India) the card holder has to be Amazon Prime member. Amazon Prime members earn 5% of shopping value as reward points. The cash back comes down to 3% for non Prime members.
Arguably, one may say this is a extra benefit offered for Prime members and not a disadvantage. How you see is up to you, but fact remains same. You should pay for Amazon Prime membership to get that additional 2% cashback.
Not all purchase on Amazon gets high cashback
If you were an Amazon Prime member and counting upon getting a cool 5% cashback for purchasing Gift cards of your favourite brands (May be a Jewellery store gift card or an every day brand like Big Bazaar, Grofers etc.) forget about it. Gift card (Physical or Digital) purchase fetch only 2% reward points. This 2% is fixed for both Prime and non Prime members.
No add on cards can be requested
There is no provision to apply for Add on card (Add on card is a good option for spouse, family member). This is a standard feature available with most credit cards, but not available with Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit card.
High Mark-up fee for transactions in foreign currency
You would be charged 3.5% Mark-up fee (plus applicable taxes) for transaction done abroad, transaction at international sites (transaction in foreign currency). If you have a significant amount of spending done in foreign currency this card is not ideal for you. There are credit cards out there which charge less than 2% as Mark-up fee.
Psychological factors
Points listed above till now in this post are all objective (based on facts). There is a subjective (based on opinion) point too: subconsciously you get biased to stick with Amazon for all your purchases (afterall, your credit card fetches you higher reward points at Amazon), effectively blocking your mind from making a informed decision by looking for best possible rates at other E-commerce sites that offer the same product.
Amazon Pay ICICI Credit Card Advantages
I have listed out every conceivable disadvantage of Amazon Pay ICICI bank credit card in this post. To cover both sides of the coin I will also list out unique advantages of ICICI bank Amazon Pay card in this post.
Toll Free Customer Care Number
Every credit card has customer care number. These typically would be a number beginning with 1860 (local call charges applied irrespective of which ever mobile pack you have active). Amazon Pay ICICI Credit card comes with a toll-free Customer care number: 1800 102 0123.
Don’t trust me on this one? Well, just turn your Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card and look at the bottom left of the card. Let me share a click with you in case you don’t own this card.
Longer Credit Card Validity Period
Vast majority of credit cards in India come with a validity period of 3 years. This card comes with 4 years validity. That is a 1/3rd reduction in physical card replacement woes that you go through once in 3 years with other credit cards.
Unlimited High Cashback Reward Points
No upper limit on reward points (Amazon Pay cashback) that you can earn in a month (Okay, I agree this is not a unique feature. Many credit cards have this).
But take the case of an Amazon Prime customer who get 5% (3% for non Prime customers) cash back for purchase made at Amazon.in. He would end up making a trunk load of cash backs for high ticket size purchases. And the best part? This cash back is over and above any other offers that is being run by Amazon.in.
Unlimited 2% cash back for transactions at Amazon Pay merchant partners (sites and apps where you have Amazon Pay as payment option), unlimited 1% cash back for all other spends (except for fuel purchase, this is already noted as part of Amazon Pay ICICI credit card disadvantages).
No Cost EMI for Purchase Above Rs 3,000
A word of caution here. Be sure what you wish for. You will not receive credit card rewards (Amazon Pay cashback) if you opt to buy with EMI. With that said, for purchase transaction above Rs 3,000 this card entitles you for 6 month interest free EMI.
For an illustration, below purchase was for Rs 3,594. Opting for free EMI translated to Rs 599 for 6 months.
Note:
No cost EMI benefit is not available for purchase of Gift card, Gold coins.
Another minor catch to be aware of: Amazon Pay balance can’t be utilized when opting for EMI.
24 by 7 Round the Clock Access to Customer Care Team
Of course, every credit card provides you a 24×7 phone number, but you would be limited to IVR support during non-business hours (night time and holidays). With this card you have access to customer support team and can talk to a support personnel 24/7 at any time of day and on any day.
My personal experience is that the quality and level of support offered for ICICI bank Amazon card is clearly a notch better than say another card from ICICI bank itself.