The Scapia Federal credit card is a co-brand credit card offered by the Federal Bank. This credit card targets young travellers and comes with zero foreign exchange fees, zero annual charges, and unlimited lounge access as its USP.
Another USP of the Scapia Federal credit card is that it offers a RuPay variant credit card in addition to the existing Visa variant. Thus, you get only one statement for all your credit card spending.
However, does the Scapia Federal credit card suit your needs, and should you apply for it? Read to find out.
Scapia Federal Credit Card
Features of the Scapia Federal Credit Card
Fees
- No joining and no annual fees. Truly a lifetime free credit card
Reward and Benefits
Reward Points
- 1 Scapia coin = 20paise
- 2 Scapia coins for every 20 spent, i.e. 10 coins for every 100 spent. 1 Scapia coin = 20p. Thus, a 2% reward rate.
- 4 Scapia coins for every 20 spent on travel on the Scapia app. Overall, a 4% reward rate on travel spends through the Scapia app.
- No rewards on rent, EMI, forex transactions, education spends, gift cards, crypto/digital assets, fuel and wallet load.
- Utility, telecom and cable spend are capped at 20k per statement.
- Insurance payments are eligible for the standard 2% reward rate.
- Rupay variant β same reward rate, but no reward points for spends below INR 500.
Lounge Access
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- Unlimited lounge access provided you spend at least 10000 in the previous billing cycle on the VISA variant or 15000 on the Rupay variant.
- Currently, the Scapia credit card offers lounge access to 34 lounges in 24 cities across the country.
- A list of participating lounges can be accessed here.
Thoughts on the Scapia Federal credit card
Positives of the Scapia Federal credit card
0% forex credit card
The Scapia Federal credit card is truly a 0% forex credit card. There are no charges or taxes on using this credit card for forex transactions. The only thing you pay is the conversion rate of the day, which is set by Visa. Since I have personally used the Scapia Federal credit card for multiple foreign trips in the past, thus can speak with confidence. Probably, the only downside is that you donβt earn any reward points for forex spends.
A solid 2% reward rate
The Scapia Federal credit card offers a solid 2% reward rate on eligible spending. Even on offline spends, you get 2% reward rate for nearly every swipe. Further, you get a 2% reward rate on utility/ telecom payments for up to INR 20k in a statement and 2% reward rate on all insurance payments.
4% reward rate on travel booking through the Scapia app
The Scapia Federal credit card offers 4% reward rate on travel bookings through the Scapia app. This covers all travel bookings, be it flights, hotels, trains or buses. The Scapia coins earned can only be used for travel bookings within the app.
To be honest, the 4% reward rate on travel bookings is not great, but the rates on Scapia apps are comparable to other popular travel websites. Thus, you can redeem your Scapia coins to lower the travel costs.
2% reward rate on insurance payments
The Scapia Federal credit card offers 2% reward rate on insurance premium payments. Not many LTF credit cards nowadays offer reward points on insurance premium payments. This can probably be your go-to card for insurance payments in case you have exhausted your quota on the PhonePe SBI credit cards.
Negatives of the Scapia Federal credit card
Unlimited lounge access only after spending 10k per month
The Scapia Federal credit card offers unlimited lounge access only after spending 10k per month on the VISA variant or 15K per month on the Rupay variant. The way this works is that one needs to meet the spend target in a statement cycle. Then the unlimited lounge access will be enabled within 3-5 working days post the billing date. Please note that lounge access is only available on the variant where you have met the spending target. The lounge access is not interchangeable among the variants.
While having a spend target to get lounge access is a good idea, doing the same every month seems a bit tough. Maybe the Scapia Federal credit card guys should put in a quarterly spend limit of say 40k instead of 10k per month and allow unlimited lounge access for the next 3 months. So on and so forth. Probably, that will be more customer-friendly.
Rupay variant β Reward points only on spends above 500
The Scapia Federal credit card offers a Rupay variant for the same Visa variant. Thus, you can have both the Visa variant and the Rupay variant of the same Scapia Federal credit card. This is a great feature to have as you get one single bill.
However, one big drawback of the Rupay variant is that you donβt get reward points on spends under 500. Personally, for me, this is a big downer. As most of my UPI spends are generally under 500.
Redemptions are limited to travel
The Scapia Federal credit card targets young travellers, and the whole app also indicates that the credit card is for travellers. Thus, quite logical from the companyβs perspective that Scapia coins redemption is limited to travel options only, be it flights, hotels, trains or buses.
However, from a card userβs perspective, this is quite restrictive. There could be times when the cardholder wants to encash rewards points into a statement credit to save money. Maybe the company can explore this. A lower redemption ratio for statement credit also works, but the cardholder at least has an option.
My personal experience with the Scapia Federal credit card
My personal experience with the Scapia Federal credit card has been quite good. I use this card solely for its zero-forex proposition, and it has delivered on that. I have used the Scapia Federal credit card for multiple foreign travels, including Mauritius and Vietnam, in the past few years and for several online purchases. As mentioned earlier, the only thing you pay for is the Visa-determined conversion rate for that day and nothing else.
Should you apply for this credit card?
Yes. The Scapia Federal credit card offers zero foreign exchange charges and a decent 2% base reward rate on most spends. Considering that you are getting these from a lifetime free credit card, why shouldnβt you apply?
However, do note that the Scapia Federal credit card is more of a cashback card in terms of rewards. Thus, comparing it against other cashback credit cards, it pales in comparison to some extent. Simply because most other cashback cards have one or a few categories where they give high reward rates, such as SBI Cashback, PhonePe SBI credit card, HSBC Rupay Cashback credit card, HDFC Swiggy credit card, One Card, etc. Even the Amex MRCC and Amex Gold credit cards offer bonus reward points on spending INR 20k a month, which jacks up the reward rate substantially.
You can use the Scapia Federal credit card for offline purchases for 2% reward rate and for forex spends. For other online spends, you can optimise HSBC Rupay Cashback, PhonePe SBI credit card, etc. Thus, the Scapia Federal credit card cannot be your primary cashback credit card, but it deserves a space in your wallet.
The article was published/last updated on 16th August 2025. Image courtesy: https://www.scapia.cards/
Disclaimer
In the interest of full disclosure, Credit Cardz may earn a referral bonus for anyone thatβs approved through some of the links in this post. However, opinions and views expressed here are of the author's alone and not those of the bank, credit card issuer, or anyone else and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
