BOB Eterna Credit Card Review: Is It Worth?

The BOB Eterna credit card is one of the flagship credit cards of BOB Financial. As a special offer, the BOB Eterna credit card is being offered free for life for a limited time. A lifetime free credit that offers up to 4.75% reward rate, unlimited lounge access across ~90 lounges and relatively easy eligibility must be a no-brainer to apply, right? Well, the devil lies in the details. Thus, here is a detailed review of the BOB Eterna credit card that will help you decide whether you should apply or not.

BOB Eterna Credit Card

Apply BoB Eterna Now!

Fees and Eligibility:

• As a limited-time offer, the BOB Eterna credit card is being offered LTF
• Otherwise, a joining fee and annual fee of INR2,499 + GST are applicable.
• The joining fee is waived on spending INR25,000 in the first 60 days, and the annual fee is waived on spending INR250,000 in a year.

Rewards and Benefits:

• Joining Benefit:
  • 6 months FitPass Pro membership
  • Get 10000 reward points, worth INR 2500 on spending 50k within 60 days. (If you’re going for the LTF variant, it’s best to confirm this offer beforehand.)
• Recurring Benefits:
  • Buy One Get One on movie ticket booked on the District app (up to 250) every month.
  • 20,000 bonus reward points on spending 500,000 in a year. (equivalent to INR 5000 or 1% of spends)
• Reward Points:
  • 3 reward points for every 100 spent. 1 reward point = 0.25p. 75% reward rate.
  • Accelerated Reward Points:
    • 15 reward points (5x) on every 100 spent on Online/Dining/Travel and international spends. 75% reward rate
  • 1% fuel surcharge waiver
• Unlimited Lounge Access: (Both for primary and add-on cardholders)

Thoughts on the BOB Eterna Credit Card

Positives of the BOB Eterna credit card

Up to 3.75% reward rate with caveats

BOB Eterna credit card offers 5x reward points, i.e. 15 reward points for every 100 spent online/dining/travel and international. This translates into a whopping 3.75% reward rate. Please note that 5x reward points are capped at 5,000 points per month, i.e., a monthly spend of INR 33,300.

However, there is a long list of MCCs where you don’t get any reward points and thus no 5x points too.

The above list, while it lists the most common MCCs where most cards don’t give any reward points, like rent, wallet, government spending, education, etc. Strangely, BOB has even excluded MCCs belonging to supermarkets, convenience stores, retail stores and fast-food restaurants. As a result, you won’t get any reward points on spending at your local Kirana stores, D-mart, or even on Zepto. Thus, likely that you won’t get reward points even on Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit, etc.

20,000 reward points on spending 5 lakh in a year

The BOB Eterna credit card offers 20k reward points (worth INR 5000) in an anniversary year. This translates into a reward rate of 1%. The good thing here is that all spending on the card will be considered for the milestone. Thus, even on spending on MCCs that won’t fetch you any base reward points, you get 1% reward rate provided you spend 5 lakh in a year on this card.

2% forex charges

The 2% forex charges are among the lowest, as most other cards generally charge 3.5%. However, don’t forget that you get a 3.75% reward rate on international spends. Net, you get ~1.4% reward rate on international spends. Not bad for a lifetime free credit card. Thus, BOB Eterna generally features as one of the best credit cards for forex spending.

Apply BoB Eterna Now!

Unlimited lounge access

The BOB Eterna credit card offers unlimited lounge access, provided you spend 40k in the preceding calendar quarter. The USP of the BOB Eterna credit card is that even the add-on cardholders get unlimited lounge access as long as they have spent 40k in the preceding calendar quarter.

Further, another interesting thing with the BOB Eterna credit card is that it gives access to arrival lounges at the Mumbai/Delhi and Bangalore airports. A unique but very useful benefit for business travel. Don’t think many credit cards provide access to arrival lounges at the airport.

Apply BoB Eterna Now!

Rupay variant -club with recurring JCB offer for 25% off on foreign spends

The BOB Eterna credit card is also available in the RuPay variant. For the BOB Eterna, the international partner is JCB. Rupay, in partnership with JCB, generally runs a 25% cashback offer every year. The offer generally runs from October to December. Thus, one can use this credit card to get 25% cashback of up to 1500 off through the JCB offer and a cool 3.75% reward rate thanks to 5x reward points on international spending.

Negatives of the BOB Eterna Credit Card

Huge exclusion list – even grocery spends won’t give you reward points

As mentioned earlier, the BOB Eterna credit card has a long list of exclusions for reward points. In fact, even the grocery and fast-food spending is excluded. Thus, very difficult to earn reward points given the long list of excluded MCCs.

Low reward rate on offline spends

BOB Eterna credit card offers only a 0.75% reward rate on offline spends. The same is true for UPI spends, as they will be classified as offline spends. Thus, a low reward rate of 0.75% combined with excluded MCCs, for most of the UPI spends, one won’t get any reward points.

How to maximise reward rate on BOB Eterna credit card

To maximise the reward rate, you need to spend on the 5x categories to get the max out of this card. You can potentially earn a 4.75% reward rate from the BOB Eterna credit card, provided you spend 5 lakh in an anniversary year on only online spends. 3.75% from accelerated rewards on online spends and 1% milestone of 5lk.

Another way to look is to assume the worst-case scenario; all spendings are done on UPI /offline, where the reward rate is at best 0.75%. However, if you can reach the 5 lakh annual spend milestone, your reward rate will still be between 1-1.75%. Not too bad.

Do remember that 5 lakhs annual spends the annual fee will be waived and we have not taken into account the BOGO offer on the District app and free lounge access on all primary and add-on credit cards.

Apply BoB Eterna Now!

Conclusion

The BOB Eterna is a solid credit card with a very compelling proposition. Given that the card is available as LTF for a limited period currently, one should definitely get it. If you are planning a foreign trip in the coming days, then BOB Eterna is a must-have as it gives a 3.75% reward rate with a 25% cashback offer thanks to JCB. I suggest that you get the Rupay variant as you can double this credit card as your Rupay on UPI credit card, helping you reach the 5 lakh annual milestone and also benefit from the 25% cashback offer that is currently running.

The article was first published/last updated on 22-11-2025.
Image courtesy:  freddie marriage on Unsplash