Everyone wants credit card as it offers many exciting features which are not available in any other payment option such as cash, cheque, debit card, etc. and thus helping in saving money.

But do you know that there are free things that come along with credit card? If not, then continue reading.

Free Money

Let’s start with objective of credit card i.e. FREE MONEY. The most important benefit or we can say the objective of the credit card is to offer FREE MONEY to the user every month for spending on almost anything. Free money is a magnet which attracts users. How much money is offered by the card companies varies with each card and depends on the income, risk profile, CIBIL score, and other important factors.

FREE Credit Card

There are some cards which carry ZERO annual and joining fee. So basically what you get is a card for free. Although there are conditions associated to avoid these two fees, such as minimum spend either annually or in the first few days of card issuance, but there are cards with no such requirement.

Free Grace Period

In addition to free money, user also gets a free grace period to make the repayment. This is the duration typically 21 days in which user has to pay the money used in a month. So for e.g. if your monthly billing cycle ends on 20th of each month, then your grace period to make bill payment would be around 10th of the next month. This is quite enough time to repay the money, as there is no interest charged during this period. But in order to get a good CIBIL score, you should not wait for grace period and instead pay the bills fully and before the due date.

Free Insurance Cover

Card companies partner with insurance companies and offer users FREE INSURANCE COVER. Typically types of insurance offered are health, travel, personal accident, life, lost baggage, etc. So any unfortunate event happening, cost would be borne by the insurance companies. But remember that insurance offers on credit card comes with various terms and conditions and user has to follow regular claim process in order to receive the claim amount. So basically twin benefits are offered – free coverage with no premium to be paid.

Free Airport Lounge Access

This especially is mainly offered to premium card customers. Lounge access gives travelers a peaceful place on the airport to sleep and relax, away from the crowded places at the airport. In fact, some cards also allow users to bring guest users in the lounge. Although this feature may not interest regular card users but for a frequent traveler, this is highly valuable as they are offered luxury lounge access.

Check out travel cards for Indians going on an international trip.

Free Air Miles

Credit cards also offer free travel points (or air miles) to the frequent flyers and spends made on the card. These accumulated points can later be used for buying flight tickets for free.

No Fee on Certain Services or Free Vouchers

There are cards available in the market which carry ZERO base fare charge on flight booking. Or offer free shopping or food vouchers. These vouchers are offered by SBI SimplyCLICK card, Axis Bank Neo, FBB SBI STYLEUP and others.

Free Movie Tickets

This is especially for the movie lovers. Cards such as KOTAK PVR Gold offers 2 free movie tickets every month at PVR movie theatres.

But always remember, the word FREE is GIMMICKY tactic to entice users either in credit card/shopping etc. Because ultimately credit card is one of the biggest money making income source for the card companies.

Unless someone has no monetary benefits, why would anyone offer money for FREE in today’s world, right?
And this money is recovered in the form of charges associated with each card such as:

• Interest on late payment or non-payment of full balance
• ATM cash withdrawal
• Joining and annual fee
• Over limit penalty
• Balance inquiry
• Mobile alerts
• Cheque bounce and many others

Important point to note before selecting the right credit card is to read the terms and conditions associated with all the free features mentioned above.