Kotak Fortune Gold Credit Card review

The Kotak Fortune Gold Card is a lifetime free Visa Gold card valid internationally. There is no fee to sign up for it. Nor is there any annual fee or renewal fee. This is a growing trend among credit card companies to issue cards at no cost to those who apply for them.

With the Kotak Fortune Gold Card you don't have to pay any fee for inquiring about your balance at any ATM, whether the ATM belongs to Kotak Bank or not. There is no fee for replacing a lost card or for getting duplicate statements from them. This is a relief! HDFC Bank for instance, charges Rs.125 for every duplicate statement.

To sign up for the Kotak Bank Credit Card instantly please click here

Eligibility for the Kotak Fortune Gold Card

This card is meant for business persons. You must be a resident of India, a business person, between 21 and 65 years of age and a resident of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi (including Gurgaon and Noida), Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai or Pune. Your gross annual income needs to be Rs.1.8 lakhs or higher.

The Kotak Fortune Gold Card offers a zero charge EMI option wherein you can make purchases and pay no interest and no fees for 3 months. Any purchase above Rs.5,000 can be converted into EMI.

Cash loans with the Kotak Fortune Gold Card

You have access to cash withdrawals at Kotak Bank ATMs and other Visa ATMs everywhere. Your cash limit is 50% of your credit limit with them. This means if you have a credit limit of Rs.30,000, your cash loan limit is Rs.15,000. This is available around the year and you can get interest free cash for upto 48 days. The numbers of days actually available will depend on the date on which you take the cash. This limit of 50% is more generous as compared to similar credit cards offered by other banks where the cash limit is usually lesser. The interest rate on cash withdrawals is 3.1% after the interest free period is over. There's a processing fee of Rs.199 for Cash Withdrawal/Call a Draft/Fund Transfer. The interest charged by Kotak Bank is for every day that you use the amount for. If you take a cash loan, use it for 3 days after the interest free period, you'll pay interest for three days. You can get cash and fund transfers at their branch and also request for a demand draft either on the phone or on the internet.

Fuel Surcharge Waiver

You get a 2.5 % fuel surcharge waiver on all petrol pumps across the country. This is a feature we have to come to expect from all credit cards. Yet there are some other cards which offer a waiver only at HPCL Petrol Pumps or only at BPCL petrol pumps.

Kotak Fortune Gold Card offers a fuel surcharge waiver at all petrol pumps.

If you book railway tickets online, you're probably aware that the railways also levy a 2.5% surcharge on all bookings made whether online or offline, when the bookings are via credit card. The Kotak Fortune Gold Card offers a waiver of this surcharge. This means if you send Rs.6,000 a year on railway tickets, you save Rs.150 which you may have otherwise had to pay as surcharge for using your credit card.

Other Benefits

From time to time Kotak Bank seems to offer discounts at retail outlets such as Pizza Hut, movie theatres like PVR Cinemas and travel deals with Cleartrip. There is currently no reward point program offered with this card.

To sign up for the Kotak Bank Credit Card instantly please click here

Balance Transfer Facility

You can transfer your outstanding balance on an existing credit card that you may have. There is a flat processing fee of Rs.199 for this. You can continue to avail of a free interest period on any retail purchases you make.

You can get an add on card from Kotak Bank with this credit card for any person above the age of 18. However there is a fee of Rs.199 for this. This is somewhat disappointing but then it's only a one time fee and the benefits ensure that the card pays for itself quickly. All benefits and features except cash withdrawals and demand draft requests are available on the add on card also.

Other costs for this credit card

There are some costs associated with the Kotak Fortune Gold Card that you should be aware of. If you pay the minimum amount due to them, after the last date, there's a late payment fee of Rs.350. If your cheque issued to them bounces you pay Rs.300 as a fee. If you cross the credit limit, there's a fee of Rs.500. When you use this credit card for foreign transactions whether on the internet or when travelling abroad, there's a foreign currency mark up fee of 3.5%. All of these charges are more or less comparable to those charged by ICICI, HDFC and similar companies. In fact the late payment fee of Rs.350 flat seems more fair compared to other companies which charge on the basis of the 'minimum amount due' with a higher cap on the charges at Rs.500 or so. You can avoid these charges by a disciplined use of this credit card. We do not recommend that you use credit cards as a source of long term credit because interest rates are always relatively higher on cash withdrawals made with credit cards. Use a credit card to get benefits such as surcharge waivers, free movie tickets, discounts on shopping and other benefits. Pay off the entire amount due at the end of the month and get the most out of it.