HDFC MoneyBack+ Review 2026: 2.5% Partner Rate, 0.25% Base, Caps & FAQs
HDFC MoneyBack+ charges ₹500 and earns 10 CashPoints per ₹150 at partners — 2.5% — on a 0.25% base. Grocery capped at 1,000 points a month. Fees, caps and FAQs.
MoneyBack+ is an entry cashback card at ₹500 with a 0.25% base rate and 2.5% at five partner merchants. The gap between those two numbers is the whole story: this card is worth holding only if your spending concentrates where the 2.5% applies.
HDFC Bank MoneyBack+ Credit Card Quick Overview
| **Card type** | Entry-level cashback card |
|---|---|
| **Best for** | Amazon, Flipkart and BigBasket shoppers on a small fee budget |
| **Joining / renewal fee** | ₹500 + GST, same on renewal — renewal waived at ₹50,000 of annual spend |
| **Network** | Visa, Mastercard |
| **Base reward rate** | **0.25%** |
| **Top reward rate** | **2.5%** — Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Reliance Smart SuperStore and BigBasket |
| **Reward currency** | CashPoints, valued at ₹0.25 each |
| **Welcome benefit** | 500 Reward Points on payment of the joining membership fee |
| **Lounge access** | None published |
| **Forex markup** | 3.5% |
Reward Structure: How You Earn
MoneyBack+ earns CashPoints valued at ₹0.25 — note this is not the ₹1 CashPoint of Millennia, despite the same currency name.
2.5% at Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Reliance Smart SuperStore and BigBasket. 0.25% on everything else.
This card was not affected by HDFC's 15 May 2026 rate change. The cashback co-brands and CashPoints cards were named on the unchanged list; only the Reward Point cards moved from ₹150 to ₹200 earning blocks.
| Spend | Effective rate |
|---|---|
| Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Reliance Smart SuperStore and BigBasket | **2.5%** |
| Everything else | 0.25% |
| Fuel, rent, wallet loads, government, gaming | **0%** |
The caps that actually bind
Headline rates mean little until you know where they stop. These are the limits on this card:
| Cap | Limit |
|---|---|
| Cashback Redeem | 3,000 points per calendar month |
| Grocery | 1,000 points per calendar month |
A 0.25% base rate is poor, and it is the rate that applies to most of what most people buy. Grocery is separately capped at 1,000 CashPoints a calendar month, and cashback redemption is capped at 3,000 CashPoints a cycle.
Milestone Benefits
| Spend | Benefit | Value |
|---|---|---|
| ₹50,000 a quarter | ₹500 gift voucher | ₹500 |
Category Restrictions: Where You Won't Earn
- Where you earn nothing: Earns nothing at all: fuel; EasyEMI and e-wallet loading; rent, property management, maintenance and packers-and-movers; government transactions; education paid through third-party apps such as CRED, Cheq or MobiKwik (paying a college or school directly still earns); and online skill-based gaming. Points are also REVERSED if a retail transaction is later converted to SmartEMI.
- Point expiry: Reward Points are valid for 24 months from accrual and lapse thereafter — HDFC states 'Unredeemed Reward Points will expire/lapse after 2 years of accumulation'.
- Redemption fee: ₹99 per redemption.
- Cashback Redeem cap: 3,000 CashPoints per calendar month on statement-credit redemption. A redemption cap, not an earning cap.
- Grocery cap: 1,000 CashPoints per calendar month on grocery, w.e.f. 1 January 2023. HDFC places MoneyBack+ and Freedom in this tighter tier; the premium cards get 2,000.
Fees and Charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Joining fee | ₹500 + GST |
| Renewal fee | ₹500 + GST |
| Finance charges | Up to 3.75% per month (45% per annum). The rate applied depends on the card variant and the cardholder's profile. |
| Interest-free period | Up to 50 days, and only if the previous month's balance was cleared in full. No interest-free period applies once a balance is revolved or a cash advance taken. |
| Minimum amount due | 5% of the total outstanding, or the sum of 100% of EMI, fees, charges, interest and any overlimit amount plus 1% of the principal — whichever is higher. Subject to a minimum of ₹200. |
| Cash advance fee | 2.5% of the amount withdrawn, subject to a minimum of ₹500. |
| Cash advance interest | Up to 3.75% per month, charged from the date of withdrawal until repayment in full. |
| Forex markup | 3.5% on the INR-converted amount for most variants; premium variants carry 2%. |
| Dynamic currency conversion | 1.75% markup on transactions made in Indian rupees at an international merchant or an overseas-registered merchant, with effect from 15 May 2026. |
| Late payment | Nil up to ₹100; ₹100 for ₹101–₹500; ₹500 for ₹501–₹1,000; ₹600 for ₹1,001–₹5,000; ₹800 for ₹5,001–₹10,000; ₹1,100 for ₹10,001–₹25,000; ₹1,300 for ₹25,001–₹50,000; ₹1,300 above ₹50,000. |
| Overlimit | 2.5% of the overlimit amount, subject to a minimum of ₹550. |
| Payment return | 2% of the payment amount, subject to a minimum of ₹450. |
| Rent payment | 1% of the transaction amount on rent payments made through third-party merchants, levied FROM THE SECOND rental transaction of the calendar month — so the first rent payment each month is free of it. Rent and property-management transactions also earn no Reward Points at all, w.e.f. 1 January 2023. |
| Wallet load | 1% on wallet-loading spends exceeding ₹10,000 in a calendar month, excluding PayZapp, with effect from 1 October 2025. The fee applies to the total wallet-loading spend for the month, capped at ₹4,999. |
| Utility payments | 1% on utility spends exceeding ₹50,000 in a calendar month for consumer cards (₹75,000 for business cards), with effect from 1 October 2025. The fee applies to the total utility spend for the month, capped at ₹4,999. |
| Education payments | 1% on education transactions made through third-party applications such as CRED, NoBroker or Cheq, capped at ₹4,999 per transaction. Education paid DIRECTLY through a college or school website, or at its POS machine, attracts no fee. |
| Fuel transactions | 1% on fuel transactions exceeding ₹15,000 for consumer cards (₹30,000 for business cards), with effect from 1 October 2025. The fee applies to the total transacted amount, capped at ₹4,999 per transaction. |
| Online skill-based gaming | 1% on online skill-based gaming spends exceeding ₹10,000 in a calendar month, with effect from 1 October 2025, applied to the month's total and capped at ₹4,999. |
| Card replacement | ₹100 plus taxes. |
| Add-on card | Nil. |
| Reward redemption | ₹99 plus taxes on redemption through the rewards catalogue. |
| EMI processing | ₹199 plus taxes on retail EMI conversion. |
| GST | 18% on all fees, interest and charges. |
Is the HDFC Bank MoneyBack+ Credit Card Worth It?
At ₹500 with a ₹50,000 reversal, the fee is easy to clear and the card is hard to lose money on.
But the 0.25% base is genuinely weak. Spend ₹30,000 a month outside the partner list and you earn ₹75. Millennia at twice the fee earns four times that base rate and covers ten merchants rather than five.
The arithmetic favours Millennia above roughly ₹15,000 of monthly spend. MoneyBack+ makes sense if your card use is small and concentrated at Amazon, Flipkart or BigBasket, or if ₹500 is a hard ceiling on what you will pay.
Fair Usage caps earning at 15,000 CashPoints per statement cycle.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the MoneyBack+ reward rate? 2.5% at Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, Reliance Smart SuperStore and BigBasket; 0.25% on everything else.
Is a MoneyBack+ CashPoint worth ₹1? No — ₹0.25. Despite sharing the CashPoints name with Millennia, the redemption value is a quarter.
Is grocery capped? Yes, at 1,000 CashPoints a calendar month.
MoneyBack+ or Millennia? Millennia above about ₹15,000 a month of spending — four times the base rate and a wider partner list for ₹500 more. MoneyBack+ suits small, concentrated spending.
What does it not earn on? Fuel, rent, wallet loads, government payments, third-party education apps and online gaming earn nothing, and points are reversed if a purchase is converted to SmartEMI.
Cards Mentioned in This Article
