Standard Chartered Credit Card updates: January 2020

Standard Chartered has announced a couple of updates on their credit cards this month. Firstly they are replacing their Landmark Rewards Credit Card with DigiSmart Credit Card. Secondly they have added and amended some clauses in Credit Card Terms & Condition. Let’s look into each of these in detail.

• Discontinuation of Landmark Rewards Credit Card
• Update in Terms & Conditions

Discontinuation of Landmark Rewards Credit Card

The partnership of Standard Chartered Bank is coming to an end with Landmark on 29 February 2020. Hence Standard Chartered is replacing Landmark Rewards Credit Card with DigiSmart Credit Card. You can still use your Landmark Rewards Credit Card till expiry, however it will not earn any reward points after 29 February 2020. Accumulated reward points can be redeemed till 28 February 2021. Below communication is sent by Standard Chartered to their Landmark Rewards Credit Card holders.

Standard Chartered has launched DigiSmart Credit Card recently in September 2019 and it provides instant discounts and cashbacks on online spends on Myntra, Yatra, Ola, Zomato, Grofers and Inox. The good thing is, Standard Chartered is waiving off monthly fee of Rs. 49 for 12 months for those who opt for this card.

Even though DigiSmart Credit Card provides attractive discounts and cashbacks, note that this card has no Reward Point Program. Hence you won’t get any reward points on using it on non-partnered merchants. I would suggest you to negotiate for other credit cards like Standard Chartered Manhattan or Standard Chartered Ultimate which provide better reward rates.

Update in Terms & Conditions

Standard Chartered has changed the Terms & Conditions governing usage of their credit cards effective 1 March 2020 as below:

Clause No Existing Clause Revised Clause

1. Clause 2.5 Inclusion of new clause What happens if the account is inactive? In case the credit card has not been used for more than 12 continuous billing cycles, we may choose to cancel or suspend your right to use the credit card by notifying you. We may at our discretion, and without limitation, also consider various aspects like co-brand partner related requirements, your cross - products holding etc. before considering your credit card for cancellation or suspension.

2.Clause 11 How to terminate 11.1 At any time we may choose to: • Cancel or suspend your right to use the credit card or end the account for a credit card. • Refuse to authorise transaction for which you want to use the credit card and we need not give you any prior notice or reason for doing so. However, we notify you of any action we take. 11.2 At any time, you may end the account for a credit card by notifying us in writing. How to terminate At any time, we may choose to: • Cancel or suspend your right to use the credit card or end the account for a credit card. • Refuse to authorize any transaction for which you want to use the credit card; For the purpose of illustration, we may choose to cancel, suspend or refuse to authorise transactions if the credit card is misused or a prohibited transaction like overseas forex trading, trading in crypto currency etc. are carried out. These are in addition to termination and suspension rights available to us under the Client Terms. We need not give you any prior notice or reason for doing so. However, we will notify you of any action we take. At any time, you may end the account for a credit card by notifying us in writing. If your credit card is inactive In case the credit card has not been used for the last 12 billing cycles we may choose to cancel or suspend your right to use the credit card. The above is in addition to termination and suspension rights available to us under the Customer Terms. If you misuse the credit card With a view to ensure that the credit card is being used as per the regulatory guidelines, these terms and conditions and our applicable policies, we shall have the right to run periodic checks on the credit card usage to identify whether there is excessive utilisation of credit limit beyond the sanctioned limit in one statement cycle, unusual or excessive utilisation at select merchants, possible collusion with merchant and/or usage towards non-personal/business related requirements, over-use/ misuse of features/offers/ other benefits amongst others. Based on the usage patterns, if any of these is suspected by the us, we may take restrictive action on the credit card. Such action can be with immediate effect and may include but not be limited to withdrawal of features/benefits as well as complete termination of the credit card. If we take any such action, the onus will be on you to provide satisfactory proof of bona fide usage to reinstate the credit card and attached features/benefits as may be deemed fit by us. Our decision in this regard shall be final and binding on you.”

Source

Below are the two highlights of this update:

• Standard Chartered may cancel or suspend the credit card if it’s not been used for more than 12 months. However they will notify you if they are going to take this step.
• Excessive usage of credit card at select merchants or usage towards non-personal/business related requirements may lead to withdrawal of benefits or termination of credit cards.

It seems Standard Chartered is sitting on a pile of dormant credit cards and they want to clear the clutter. I believe instead of taking measures like this, they should work on improving the reward structure on their credit cards. Holders of their super premium credit card, Standard Chartered Ultimate, have been complaining for a long time about unavailability of suitable reward redemption options. Their customer support is just average and takes a lot of time to understand and resolve the issue. Standard Chartered should work on these aspects to improve the usage of their credit cards.

What do you think of these updates on Standard Chartered Credit Card? Let me know in comments below.