My review is for Payback.in site points and the linked ICICI bank charges. Not sure it’s happening for other banks, but the above combination, in my experience and knowledge, is an ultimate loot.
I was using Payback for quite sometime and used to acquire points using site referral, ICICI bank points scheme and by using the Payback membership card(or registered mobile number) at partner stores. Earlier I thought its a nice scheme but looking into details, I don’t think it’s worthy.
The loot is in it’s points redemption. Every product you by from Payback catalog(payback.in) a heavy fee you have pay of Rs.100 plus service charge(approx INR 113). So let’s say you got 1000 points, which is worth of 250 INR, the service charge charged to ICICI account is worth another 500 points. So considering most products in their catalog is crap, and quoted at MRP, you pay a huge amount as a fee for its redemption. Definitely not worth. Last month, I redeemed 500 points for Rs.100 worth JPMiles since my points were approaching expiry(payback points expire after a 12 month’s period. So a lot of points will just vanish before reaching any level to purchase any worthy product). So I ended up paying a fee of Rs.113 for this redemption and no where in their site or during check-out they visibly mentioned about the fee program. So it’s more like a hidden charge which helps Payback and ICICI to cherish their profits.
Similarly, if you use the points on external partner sites for redemption, again a fee, but it’s less at about INR 25 plus serv charges. But the options are less for partner sites, and I see a lot of reviews on lost points and issues with cancelled/returned products and claiming back points. So if you are looking for cashback or point collection on your regular e-shopping, better look at other programs such HDFC, CITI bank programs which are definetely worth trying and also other cashback sites such as gopaisa(https://goo.gl/9Rw923)
For ICICI bank page for fee related info: https://icicibank.com/Personal-Banking/cards/Consumer-Cards/Credit-Card/credit-card-reward.page