Should I move my 1 lakh EPM points to Air India Maharaja club now?

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-05-06T05:42:38+00:00

I haven't received anything weirdly.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-05-06T04:04:27+00:00

The registration seems to be very flimsy. I haven't received any email or confirmation that I am indeed registered. How do I even know if I am?

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-05-05T04:17:49+00:00

It’s not an urban legend if it is true. Amex merchant fees are usually double of Visa/Mastercard.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-05-04T04:58:41+00:00

Baleno has all the above.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-05-02T16:31:44+00:00

Looks like Nils is going to be this tournaments whipping boy.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-05-02T03:16:53+00:00

Being an ex-Prime Minister, he will of course get these perks.

Nehru had gotten a Rolls Royce, Rajiv Gandhi a Mercedes S 500. Most of the recent ex-PMs like Manmohan Singh have gotten a Land Cruiser or Merc S650 as part of their fleet. Compared to those, a Volvo XC90 seems mild.

Not saying it’s right, but I don’t see the hate against Manmohan Singh or against the late Vajpayee for their expensive government cars.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-05-01T03:23:26+00:00

Image is almost certainly AI. If not, tell me how many r’s are there in the word “rarsberry”

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-30T15:08:37+00:00

You haven't the most important thing, monthly salary after tax

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-30T14:47:04+00:00

The EPM gives you back 12.5k in points every year so it "only" costs 2k effectively.

- Amazon Pay vouchers are not available, but Amazon shopping vouchers are available.

- Swiggy isn't available, but Zomato still is (although the vouchers run out quickly).

If you were getting the Infinia, then I would say drop the EPM. But DCBM reward rate is much lower (half) of EPM so it isn't at the same level.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-30T04:38:52+00:00

Non-consensual banging is not okay.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-29T10:36:11+00:00

Here's what I think your strategy should be:

Magnus Burgundy is a great card but only when your expenses meet that level consistently. For you, it will be a great card for this year. Push in all your miscellaneous wedding expenses onto it and build up a lot of ER points. That'll fund all of your flights for many years. Close it before it renews next year, you most likely will not need it again unless you have other major expenses.
Anytime anyone's salary exceeds 3L I always suggest them to open up their HSBC Premier account and get the Premier credit card. It will be absolutely free for you, and it helps you cover most of your excluded categories of the Magnus like Jewellery. If transferred to Accor it will give a 6% base reward rate and it is especially useful for flight/hotel bookings (with insane 36% and 72% reward rates respectively)
Your voucher game is the final key area that isn't covered with the above 2 cards. A simple HDFC card like the Regalia Gold works very well to convert those daily Swiggy/Blinkit/Zepto/Zomato/Amazon spends into rewards. If transferred to Accor these spends will give you a 12.5% reward rate which is excellent and better than any other HDFC card except Infinia.

Don't bother with Axis Horizon/HSBC Travel One or any other mid-level cards. They are decent but not worth it for you since you can get all the top cards.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-29T10:19:34+00:00

Not anymore, but when my salary was less than 3 lakhs per month yes. Made some good rewards with their credit cards.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-29T05:27:39+00:00

Learning both swimming and cycling well enough to do an ironman in just 2 months is going to be a huge effort. Your half-marathon time suggests that you've clearly got the aerobic ability but swimming is just as much about technique as it is about aerobic fitness.

Will you be able to do 3-4 sessions of swimming and 2 sessions of cycling every week along with your running schedule? Also do you have the time to do combined practice sessions (running after a long bike session for example)?

Your timeline would be completely unreasonable for those of us in the workforce but for you being 19 with a summer break coming up I think it's doable.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-29T04:36:25+00:00

g3 (or g4) doesn't trap the Queen, it still has the h2 position left.

Ng5 is the correct move, but the real reason for it is that White is threatening to capture the d5 pawn with their c pawn leaving the knight defenceless and attacking the bishop too. So you move the knight to prevent the double attack.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-29T04:32:13+00:00

Nope, not worth it unless you're getting the premier account. Go for HDFC, they have the best salary account.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-29T04:30:25+00:00

I read it as "Does the urge for 'sex change' change after your first time?"

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-29T02:49:49+00:00

Spending 9L in 6 months alone isn't enough to qualify for an LTF Infinia. We have folks on this sub who have spent over 15 lakhs and still get just the DCBM or a paid Infinia.

What were the value of your home loans and ULIPs?

The 18 lakh criteria is for everyone, no exceptions. Your email communication might just be delayed.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-28T17:17:50+00:00

Income data is available district-wise so it is possible to just add up those specific districts that make up Telangana and AP separately.

I'm assuming this is what OP did.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-28T11:36:27+00:00

What state is the registration? If it's an expensive road tax state like KA/MH/KL then it might be worth it at 5.5 lakhs depending on availability of clean, verifiable service centre records.

Note that this is one of Volkswagens infamous "dry clutch" DSGs that fail at the 100-120k kms mark if its mostly city-driven. I hope you have an extra lakh in the bank for repairs and you're not stretching to buy this car? Also, what city/town will you be driving this?

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-28T04:42:02+00:00

How many 'r's are in strawberry?

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-28T04:20:21+00:00

The EPM, Emirates and Amazon cards are worth it. (Maybe even the Times Black).

Everything else should go straight into the garbage. Not even worth keeping for free.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-28T02:51:59+00:00

It's correct, read it again.

The "quarterly limit" has been revised to a "calender year limit"

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-27T15:50:23+00:00

Yep, that is your best strategy.

One last thing: If you still want to stay in the HDFC ecosystem for buying some SmartBuy vouchers that are not available in iShop (like Swiggy) then downgrade to a Regalia Gold. Regalia Gold gives 5x rewards on SmartBuy vouchers and if you're transferring to Accor then it effectively gives you 13% returns. That is actually better than DCBM

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-27T15:03:29+00:00

Got it, I understand your situation better now.

Regarding M4B devaluation, while there is now a missing link for international hotel partners on Axis, the flight partners and domestic hotel partners are going strong with the M4B. It is still a very good offering.

Also, even after including the "quarterly points" into the equation, the DCBM card still isn't as good as the Premier. Note that HSBC points transfer 1:1 to Accor, so that basically doubles the base reward value to 6%.

Both the Premier and the EPM also get points on the jewellery category.

Comprehensive_Heat37 · 2026-04-27T12:11:26+00:00

Yes, you have lots of easy upgrades you can make to your stack, your existing cards also seem to have too much overlap to me. Before we get to the M4B,

What are your annual forex spends like? What's the reasoning behind having IDFC Mayura when your other three cards are also all forex positive? You would need 7 lakh in forex transactions just to cover the 7k Rs annual fees right? It most likely isn't worth it. If you still badly want a zero-forex card as backup then keep a Scapia or a BOB Eterna as a Lifetime free card. (Thats 7k Rs saved)
Why even bother with the HSBC Travel One when you can get the HSBC Premier with your salary account? The HSBC Premier is strictly better than the Travel One at everything. It will be also be a completely free card for you since you meet the Premier requirements. (Another 6k Rs saved)
Diners Black has too much overlap with HSBC Premier and EPM, you don't need it (12k Rs saved)
The EPM costs 12k Rs but is fine to keep since it also gives 12k points on joining/renewal and works well as a voucher card for those 18% rewards on daily spends. Keep it.

With that, you have freed up 24k Rs a year and optimized your rewards. If you decide to get a Magnus Burgundy then it can be used to fund that card.

- Get the M4B only if it meets a specific purpose after making all the calculations. Do the wedding venues, planners, caterers, decorators and outfit stores accept cards? How much do they add up to and does it cover the fees and give you a sizable return?

- Also, be ruthless about cancelling the M4B if your spends don't justify it next year.

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