In this article, I’d like to discuss why, according to me, the Amex Smart Earn (SE) Credit Card is a great first credit card in India in general. This is my first credit card “review” so please do provide feedback about this article.
Looks
If you appreciate an attractive credit card design, this card will not disappoint. The Amex Smart Earn card has a beautiful dark blue hue with a prominent Gladiator design that glares when the card is tilted. This card is very similar in terms of looks to the Blue Cash Everyday card issued by American Express in the United States. I would argue that this card is significantly more attractive than many Amex India cards.
Fees
The Smart Earn is Amex India’s most affordable and accessible credit card. The annual cost is ₹495 + GST, including the initial year (joining fees). This can, however, be waived:
- The joining fee will be waived if you spend ₹10,000 in the first 90 days.
- The annual fee is waived if you spent ₹40,000 or more in the previous year.
Referral
Amex has recently relaunched their referral platform, and by using my link, you can get your first year fees waived completely. Fees for the following year can be waived if the criteria outlined in the Fees section are met. When you sign up through this referral link, you will also receive 2000 MR points (which we will discuss about in the later parts of this article) worth ₹500.
Acceptance
Acceptance of American Express in India is a bit tricky. If you live in a Tier-1 or Tier-2 city, Amex should be accepted at many large retail chains such as Reliance, Nilgiris, PVR, Inox, and others. Amex is rarely accepted as a form of payment at smaller chains or in a large number of restaurants. However, I’ve discovered that many of these restaurants also accept payment through the EasyDiner or Dineout apps. You can pay your bill with these apps, but there is a convenience fee of ₹25. In general, I haven’t seen any promotional offers for Amex cards on these apps, whereas HDFC Bank and Axis Bank do offer great discounts when you use these apps.
Reward Point System
Amex points are well-known throughout the world for their versatility and value. You can earn 1 Membership Reward point for every ₹50 spent with the Smart Earn Card. However, there are many things you would miss if you simply swiped your card for the standard reward rate. I will write (or have already written) an article on how to maximise MR points. However, I will highlight a few key points below first specific to the Amex Smart Earn and then for Amex cards in general.
Accelerated Rewards system
Amex Smart Earn is the only card in Amex India’s lineup that offers accelerated rewards for a limited number of merchants. You may be wondering what accelerated rewards are. Let us illustrate this with an example.
Assume you spend ₹2500 per month on Amazon or Flipkart. You’d figure you’d get 2500/50 = 50MR points. However, the American Express accelerated rewards programme allows you to earn 10x points on two categories and 5x points on one category per calendar month. This is limited to the first ₹2,500 spent on a per category basis, so the most points you can earn with this system are 500MR points for each of the two 10x categories and 250MR points for the 5X category. The breakdown is provided below.
| Accelerated Reward Rate | Merchants | Spend Cap | Total accelerated points that can be earned per calendar month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10x | Flipkart, Amazon | ₹2500 | 500MR Points |
| 10x | Uber | ₹2500 | 500MR Points |
| 5x | Paytm Wallet, Swiggy, BookMyShow, PVR, Myntra, Jabong, Grofers, Big Bazaar and many more | ₹2500 | 250MR Points |
Please note these are current as of writing this article and can change anytime at Amex’s discretion. You can always check the Amex India site for up to date information.
It is important to note that these apply on a per-calendar-month basis (as with almost all of Amex’s reward system) and are not affected by your billing cycle.
Aside from the Smart Earn card’s special feature, you can earn extra reward points on all Amex cards by doing the following. Again, read my article on the best way to maximise Amex points earning, but here are the key takeaways.
- Amex runs a members only platform called reward-multiplier. Using your Amex Smart Earn to transact with the merchants mentioned on this portal gives you 2x points. That means you get 2 points for every ₹50 spent!
- You might see the rewards-multiplier platform not include a lot of the day to day use merchants. For that there’s Gyftr. Gyftr is a platform to purchase e-vouchers for several popular brands like Uber, Flipkart. You can also get great flat discounts on purchase of gift cards of several merchants, for example: you can get 15% off on PVR vouchers, 2% off on Swiggy Vouchers that you can load into your Swiggy money wallet. Using this platform you can again earn 2x points on all your gift card purchases.
Milestone benefits
Earn vouchers worth ₹500 for reaching spending milestones of
- ₹1.20 lakhs
- ₹1.80 lakhs
- ₹2.40 lakhs
However, if you’re spending 2.4L on your credit card per year then you might be better off with a different card.
Caveats
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If you intended to use your Amex Smart Earn to pay your rent, you are out of luck. None of the apps that presently enable credit card rent payments support American Express (perhaps because to their hefty MDR costs). If you hoped to reach a milestone by paying rent, this card will disappoint you.
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You do not receive points for fuel or utility payments, and if you do not purchase your fuel from HPCL petrol pumps, you will also be charged a 1% fuel surcharge. The oddest aspect is that I’ve filled up fuel at a couple HPCL gas stations, but their card machines did not even recognise Amex as a financial institution. Therefore, for fuel, this is not a recommended card.
Conclusion
The Amex Smart Earn Credit card is an excellent option for a first credit card. However, it will be difficult to obtain this card if you do not have a strong credit score and an annual income of at least 6 Lakhs. However, this is an excellent initial American Express card. If you’ve always wanted an Amex credit card without having to pay too much (with my referral, it’s free for the first year) to get started with the Amex ecosystem, their amazing customer care, and their rewards points system, then this is the card for you.
