ICICI Bank, in collaboration with Times Internet, has launched a new co-brand credit card, the ICICI Times Black credit card. In the run-up to the launch of this card, it was marketed as the most exclusive credit card and targeted towards UHNI. So, does this live up to the hype? Read to find out.
ICICI Times Black credit card
Features
Fees:
- Annual fee of 20k+taxes
- Waived on annual spends of 25lks
Rewards and Benefits:
Welcome/Joining Benefits
- 10k EaseMyTrip voucher
- 10k OneVasco Visa voucher – gives visa at doorstep and at-home biometric
- 1k Interflora GV and 3k Toni & Guy GV
- Zomato Gold annual membership
Renewal Benefits
- 10k EaseMyTrip voucher
- Zomato Gold annual membership
- GVs from premium brands (not mentioned which ones)
Reward Points
- 2 reward points for every 100 spent (2% reward rate)
- 2.5 reward points for every 100 spent outside India (2.5% reward rate)
- 6 reward points for every 100 spent on Flights and Hotels (6% reward rate) (From Technofino)
- Exclusions – fuel and rent payments.
- Max 5k monthly reward points on spending related to Insurance, Utilities, Education, and Government payments.
- Value of 1RP = 1 INR for redemption (products and vouchers through ICICI Netbanking)
- Cashback valued at 40p
Milestone Benefits:
- 10k Klook voucher on spending 2lks
- 2 airport transfers (via car) or 1 airport transfer via helicopter (only in Bangalore) worth 10k on annual spends of 5lks
- 10k Tat Cliq Luxury voucher on spending 10lks
- One-night complimentary stay at Ayatana Resort (Ooty or Coorg) worth 20k on spending 20lks
- Annual fee waiver on spending 25lks
Other benefits:
- Unlimited domestic & international lounge access is available for primary and add-on cardholders.
- More offers and discounts are available, full details on the timesblack.com
Thoughts on the ICICI Times Black credit card
Below are my thoughts on the ICICI Times Black credit card
Positives of the ICICI Times Black Credit Card:
Some benefits are indeed unique
The ICICI Times Black credit card offers some unique benefits that are not offered anywhere else, such as doorstep visa service and helicopter transfer. However, as always there are terms and conditions attached to these, more on that later. Nonetheless, the doorstep visa and helicopter ride are the flagship offerings from the ICICI Times Black credit card and are unique indeed.
Decent reward rate and milestone benefits – hopefully airmiles transfer partners will be added
The base reward rate of the ICICI Times Black credit card is 2%. This increases to 2.5% on international spending and 6% on airline and hotel spending. Not bad in my view. However, more clarity is needed for the reward rate on hotels and airlines, will it apply to OTA bookings as well?
Further, the milestone benefits are well spread out from 2lk annual spending to 10lk annual spending, which is a good thing.
Unlimited lounge access for primary and add-on cardholders
The ICICI Times Black credit card offers unlimited lounge access to primary and add-on card holders at domestic and international airports. This is truly a sign of a premium credit card. No asterisks just plain simple offers.
Fewer exclusion categories
The ICICI Times Black credit card has very few exclusion categories as of now. You won’t get reward points for fuel and rental payments. In all other categories, you get reward points. However, you will earn a max of 5000 reward points per month on spending towards insurance, utilities, education and government spending. That translates to 2.5lk monthly spends towards these categories, decent enough in my view.
Negatives of the ICICI Times Black Credit Card:
The doorstep visa service benefit is only available for the first year!
The doorstep visa service, which is highlighted as the USP of the ICICI Times Black credit card is available only in the first year. This service is not available from the second year onwards. In the FAQs section, under the renewal benefits doorstep visa service is not mentioned.
Further, the detailed T&Cs document (available here), mentions that additional family members will be charged at applicable rates. Does this mean that the service is only applicable to the primary cardholder? If that’s the case, then this offer is a non-starter.
Unique benefits but available only in a few cities
Airport transfer in a helicopter is another USP of the ICICI Times Black credit card. However, it’s only available in Bangalore. Can’t blame the bank for this, but for cardholders outside Bangalore, this is hardly any use.
Further, the 2 airport transfers by luxury sedan appear overpriced. The T&Cs (available here) set the price for airport transfer at 5k per trip in a Innova Hycross. However, the same trip on Avis’ website is available for ~3k depending on the city you are in.
Reward rate while decent is not great
The ICICI Times Black credit card offers a 2% base reward rate and spends linked milestone benefits. While the 2% base reward rate is decent, when one looks at the total reward rate based on spending and adjusts the fee paid, the return seems very mediocre. Below is the table that highlights the reward rate post-fee on different milestones.
The ICICI Times Black credit card is supposed to be an ultra-premium exclusive credit card. However, it seems that ICICI Bank is offering this card to nearly every eligible cardholder with a shared limit on existing ICICI cards. Thus, there seems to be no exclusivity with the card as such. Reminds me of the dialogue from the movie The Incredibles, “When everyone is a Super, no one is”.
Conclusion
ICICI Bank and the Times Internet created quite a hype about the ICICI Times Black credit card, however, the credit card didn’t deliver to the hype. The benefits while unique are either overpriced (airport transfers) or come with heavy T&Cs (visa at doorstep), thus reducing the utility of this credit card. One would be better off sticking to old favourites such as HDFC Infinia, HDFC Diners Black, Amex Platinum or the Axis Atlas for better reward rates and features.
Please share your thoughts on the ICICI Times Black Credit Card in the comments section below. Would love to read them.
The article was published/last updated on 22nd Dec 2024. Image courtesy: ICICI Bank and Times Internet
Disclaimer
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