Standard Chartered Bank recently launched SC Smart, a new entry level credit card for Indian consumers. However, it’s not to be confused with the SC DigiSmart credit card which the bank launched few years ago.
Important to mention here that SC has card with same name in other countries like Singapore (LTF variant) / Malaysia with handsome multiple benefits like flat 6% cashback (going upto even 15% on some partners) on well known popular partners like KFC, McDonald’s, Burger King etc as well as lucrative joining benefits & no capping of earning regular RP’s.
Wonder why we Indians get a raw deal when it comes to benefits provided by Foreign banks.
Note that this is a hands-on experience article, if you’re looking for detailed review, check out Standard Chartered Smart Credit Card Review.
Application Process
- Mid Jan 2022- Applied on website (forgot about it, as few weeks passed)
- 03.02.2022- Received call for first hand verification
- 05.02.2022- Received verification call & to share documents (latest pay slip) via email
- 05.02.2022- Multiple verifications & VKYC done via VKYC link
- 07.02.2022- Received message that SMS banking has been activated
- 08.02.2022- Received Temporary ID in email & OTP via SMS to Register on SC Mobile app/ Netbanking
- 10.02.2022- Smart credit card delivered in simple envelope via Bluedart
- 11.02.2022- Applied for Ultimate credit card via INR 1 otp authentication on existing Smart credit card
- 15.02.2022- Ultimate credit card shown in SC Mobile app
- 17.02.2022- Received Bluedart AWB no. for tracking
- 18.02.2022- Visa Infinite Ultimate credit card alongwith PP delivered
So within 10 days I am holding 2 SC credit cards. Hope other banks also follow similar kind of approach to make it easier for existing customers.
The Card
Smart credit card looks cool in hand with dual tone multi reflective texture in sunlight / any kind of light. Plastic quality is decent too.
The credit limit offered is also pretty good, just shy of 4L, which is amazing for an entry level card.
Features & Benefits
- 2% cashback on all online spends (wallet spends included like any SC card) upto 1000 pm
- 1% cashback on all offline spends upto 500 pm
- Fuel spends n Cash withdrawal are excluded from earning cashback
- 3 months EMI@ 0.99% pm with NIL processing fee on spends above 2K
- Cashback can be redeemed via Reward 360 portal. First cashback is allowed upon accumulation of 1000 points n subsequent in multiples of 500 points thereafter
- Being a cashback card, there is no reward redemption fee at present
- No fuel surcharge waiver/ no reduced mark up fee/ no movie benefits/ no airport lounge access
If you’re here for the 2% cashback, then you may go as good as 50K INR spend a month to max out the monthly capping.
Benefit Calculator
If you spend 10K every month (1.2 lacs per year) online (or) simply wallet loading of any kind, you earn a cashback of 2.4K INR and annual fee too gets waived off.
Any more spends on this card will not entitle any milestone benefits to you. So above is the best proposition, if you already have other good cards in your wallet.
Upgrade to Ultimate
Once you hold any SC credit card, there is no cool off period like many other banks. If you wanna apply for any other card, SC just requires you to authenticate INR 1 via otp on existing SC card.
If you meet their internal criteria, 2nd card will be shown in your account within a week or so.
When I checked reg. the upgrade of the card to SC Ultimate, it was informed that minimum 4L is required on existing SC card, which used to be 3L previously. Nevertheless, I tried and luckily received it too.
Note that SC has now opened online applications as well for Ultimate on Visa Infinite platform as MasterCard is under ban now.
Bottomline
SC Smart credit card is a regular entry level card having low annual fee with no frills cashback on almost all spends. But there are other good cards in segment viz. Axis ACE, IDFC First, HDFC Millenia that offer better proposition than this card.
Only wish is, SC could have done wonders by launching with similar features of it’s Singaporean avatar in India.
Thanks Satish for this post.
Congrats on getting the Ultimate 🙂
Quick Q: Do you have both SC Smart Card and SC Ultimate? Or SC Smart account closed with SC Ultimate activated?
Thanks 🙂
Both ✌️
Yes, it is possible. I have both of these cards including one more SC Titanium (Fuel Card) 🙂
Did you get Ultimate LTF/FYF?
I haven’t heard anyone holding Ultimate LTF. AFAIK SC Ultimate is not even offered FYF.
If you are an UHNI with SC, then they may offer basis exceptions.
I have checked the same with SC Customer Care and as of now the LTF option is not available for this card. So, you have to make the Annual Fee during renewal.
Suggestion: You can just check with the customer care one or two months before renewal for the waiver. Based on spend amount, it might feasible.
Are benefits on ultimate card same as that of smart card or better than that with increased cashback or what?
Ultimate benefits are superior to Smart. Please read the SC Ultimate review on this website.
Thanks, Satish for all details.
Do you know how to get add-on cards for SC credit cards?
Apply for Supplementary cards (Addon name in SC) on SC website
Hey Satish,
How do I go about requesting the upgrade to Ultimate? Have a SC Priority card
Please read the review carefully n you will have the answer 🙂
“If you spend 10K every month (1.2 lacs per year) online (or) simply wallet loading of any kind, you earn a cashback of 2.4K INR ”
but max cashback for online spend is only 1000 pm right, which will be only 1.2K INR
2% cashback of 10000 pm is 200 pm. So in 12 months spends= 10K*12= 1.2L
Cashback = 200*12= 2.4K
Max cashback is 1K pm*12= 12K per year on spending 50K pm online.
Considering rentpay and wallet loading cashback is disabled on axis ace and Flipkart axis card this can be good card
Nice post Satish.
Any particular reason you went for this card instead of Axis Ace?
Thank you.
Axis ACE doesn’t give cashback for wallet loading. SC cards have no exclusions whatsoever from earning RPs.
Also SC Ultimate was not available for application due to MasterCard ban, otherwise would have applied Ultimate instead of this.
Ultimate is far superior card with regular benefits equivalent to HDFC Infinia/ Diners Black. I can say even better considering reward redemption options such as GV’s available (except Amazon, Flipkart) where 1 RP= 1 INR. You earn, RPs on wallet load, fuel n everything without any capping so far AFAIK.
For non Smartbuy spends Ultimate card is far better than Infinia/ Diners Black card.
I have HDFC Jetprivilege credit card, is their any possibility to migrate to better credit card of HDFC?
Any physical verification or only call verification? I applied this card as existing sb customer of scb last month , till now no response.
Only call verifications followed by VKYC for Smart credit card. For Ultimate cc nothing. Card visible in app in 3-4 working days post application.
Hi Satish, what was the credit limit on your SC smart credit card. I have 174,500 on my Manhattan ( holding for more than 5 years). Do you think I should try my luck for Ultimate?
Limit is few thousands short of 4L.
Basis sufficient history with SC (5 years), must try for Ultimate.
Luck favouring, you may get it.
All the best.
Hi Mukesh, did u try?
Yes, I did try. There was an Rs.1 transaction too but nothing happened after that.
How did you get such a high limit on such a basic card.
Do you have a prior relationship with SC? Or was it on card to card basis?
High Limit @ High ITR
No prior SC relationship.
My current limit 3 lacks. will i get sc ultimate card
Try your luck. You may just end up getting Ultimate Visa Infinite card.
Nice Post Satish..!
Have they sent two different statements for Smart and Ultimate or clubbed in one?
For me SC sent Manhattan separately and clubbed Smart and Ultimate with Visa infinite watermark.
For reward calculations, if it’s offline swipes, the CB is 1%. So, if no other higher cards are available, one can use this Smart card for offline for higher amount to max out.
(I know, I’ll soon be closing Manhattan and Smart cards 🙂 )
Thanks a lot.
By the time I received Ultimate card, statement of Smart credit card was already generated. Will come to know about this when next statement gets generated 10 days from now.
Smart credit card is only useful for online transactions if better rewarding cards are not available.
Certainly not meaningful if used offline, that’s why under benefit calculation I have omitted the same.
Satish,
After applying ultimate card bank checking in CiBIL again ?
No.
CIBIL is little overrated. If you have a long credit history like 8-10 years or so, it doesn’t affect much.
Hi Satish, I have a supervalue titanium card with 4lakh limit as LTF for sometime. Is there any possibility that an upgrade to SC ultimate will be LTF as well?
Considering top notch reward rate, LTF Ultimate is near impossible.
Can you list the redemption options for SC Ultimate? I hold a LTF DCB, and practically the only options are flights for full benefit, as hotels are cheaper elsewhere. If the redemption options are better I might shift regular spends to this and keep DCB for smartbuy
Am in same situation as you, that’s why opted for SC Ultimate. Mostly GVs like Bigbazaar, Shoppers Stop, Tanishq, Cleartrip, Mariott n many others are available.
GVs redemption options are ok, but these GVs go out n comeback from time to time. Catalogue redemption as always is not recommended.
Hi Siddharth.. I never saw any SC Card in your collection. Any specific reason? Just curious to know.
Which bank provide credit card based on other bank credit card in place of income proof.
Many banks provide credit card on C2C basis. Indusind, Yes Bank, BOB are few of them. If you want any particular banks credit card, just ask whether they accept C2C.
Sorry Mr. Satish , scb issuing card to card for only listed companies , I was applied 22nd February through their netbanking as I already having their savings account, rejected my application after 10 days with no response, just confirmed on website chat option. So don’t waste hard enquiry in cibil records.
Holding SC savings account, still card application got rejected. That’s sad. You should have got pre-approved Credit card offer in first place in approx. 6 months of opening it, as is the case with most private banks.
Anyway thanks for this info. Comments corrected.
Thanks for the post, Satish. I just applied for SC Smart and it got approved in 2 days (showed in app), then as you said, applied Ultimate and got it again in 2 days.
The getting the Ultimate with previous SC card is fairly easy now. Even people with below 1L limit are being issued SC Ultimate. There could be a glitch on part of SC
When did you apply for Smart and When for Ultimate?
I applied for SC ultimate with <2L limit and they rejected my request stating that I haven't met their internal requirements and I'm having relationship with SC for more than 12 years!
Sekar
Indeed sad to know this. Having a relationship of more than 12 years, they should have handled better. Please escalate this matter n I wish you get Ultimate card soon enough.
Hi Subhankar, what was your SC Smart credit limit?
PAYTM wallet loading charges is now 4.3% so can you suggest any other wallet loading with minimal charges using any CC?
Even I was able to apply for SC Ultimate using my existing SC Platinum Rewards card (5 years old. ~5L limit) and now it is approved. Hardly spent anything on SC Platinum rewards card in last 3 years but spends were good for 2 years before that.
I dont see Amazon pay voucher on the 360 website. has it been discontinued?
Amazon voucher wasn’t there ever as far as I know. Get croma one. You can do price match on same thing available at amazon
Hey Satish,
I have a query
Is it mandatory to have relationship with SCB to get the smart credit card?
I dont have any relationship with SCB and applied for smart credit card online but unfortunately it got stuck after filling details and am unable to proceed further. What can I do now
No prior relationship mandatory.
Even I applied without any prior relationship.
Try contacting SCB via call, email or social media.
Already hold sc card but limit below 4 lac have other card with limit 10 lac how to proceed for cc to cc basis ?
Hi Satish, the SC website gets stuck on the last section after you press submit when applying for smart cc, it’s just stuck saying processing. Has anybody else reported this?
yes! i tried applying several times, each time, after filling all the details, it get stuck on “processing”
Same thing happened with me as well, but I got call from the cc team and they processed my application.
Hello everyone, I would like to share my input for all members here, i have 4 card from standard chartered, 1. Platinum rewards, 2. Super value, 3. DigiSmart, 4, Smart, all are shared with single credit limit and getting single statement for all the cards. Applied platinum rewards through the agent many years ago, after 2 years got call from a unknown person, maybe agent and offered me super value card, shared document over whatsapp (i was stupid that time), and got card approved ltf, recently applied DigiSmart by authentication of platinum rewards card and got it on app next day, then applied Smart card by online application because smart card is not issued by authentication of other card, application rejected, called customer care and lady rejected my request to get smart card, she said plastic shortage is holding card approval and will notify when plastic stock is back, maybe she was lying for weird reasons, 2 days later called bank again and requested Smart card, lady said she could not apply my smart card because my 1st Platinum card is due to renewal in current month, and i should call them back to apply later, i told her close my platinum card immediately and issue me smart card, she put me on hold for 2 minutes and then she said she will issue Smart card by linking it with my DigiSmart card, i said okay go ahead, next day Smart card also appears in app, got delivered in 4 days, all card are primary card and all are working, also got my renewed Platinum rewards card today. So existing customers should give them little fight if they are not issuing smart card.
Online Insurance premium not eligible for 2% cashback, as confirmed by Standard Chartered Chat Consultant on 11.05.2022
Called SCB on 21st evening, got the platinum rewards card upgraded to smart credit card, saw new card details in net banking on 24th, received the smart credit card on 26th morning at Coimbatore (dispatched from Mumbai).
As I had used Supervalue Titanium, Manhatten, Yatra, Landmark rewards cards earlier (all 4 cards same time), getting a new card is so easy with SCB. Currently holding Digismart too.
If SCB introduces Amazon voucher for Ultimate card, will try that one too.
What is the per month definition here?
Is it calendar month or billing cycle month.
Referring to 1000 pm for online and 500 pm for offline.
It is calendar month, not the billing month. I already used and verified the SC Smart Card.
Sathish,
Do get cashback for rent payment? I don’t see them posted for rent payment in 360 rewards portal
This card does not give cashback for rental and insurance spends….so not a very good card as expected.
Sathish,
Can you please modify the article with latest updates please, so that users who are applying new are aware of this.
Dear Manikanta
As I have shifted all my spends to SC Ultimate, where I get RPs for all transactions, let me check with SC Smart card by making small transactions.
Will update shortly if I receive cashback or not.
Hey Manikanta,
I have gotten reward points on rent payments and insurance spends. FYI – I pay rent using the RedGiraffe ID on the Payzapp app.
@Satish, do let me know your experience as well.
regards,
Harshit
Thank you Sathish.
Really appreciate the hard yards you do, to help us all with latest updates. Appreciate it.
Thanks Manikanta for your kind words.
Thanks Harshit.
I too just verified. My bad, seems cashback reflects in 360 portal, the next day after the transaction is posted..when I reached customer care on transaction posted date, they confirmed as per my above statement. Apologies for the confusion. Now we are all sorted out.
Hi,
My smart card is approved yesterday. Can i apply for ultimate card now? My cibil is 750+ Or need to wait for some months to apply. Please guide.
If you have more than 4L credit limit (or very nearly there) you can apply for Ultimate immediately after you activate your Smart card without waiting.