Selfe Credit Card

Which two 5X categories should you pick, and how?

This is the question Selfe holders ask most. You choose two categories from Apparel, Dining, Grocery, Utility and Taxi, and those earn 10 Reward Points per ₹100. Everything else earns 2 points per ₹100. Equitas values a point at ₹0.35, so that is about 3.5% on your two categories and 0.7% on the rest.

Pick the two that repeat every month. Grocery and Utility is the most common pairing on Reddit, because both are steady, and on the RuPay variant you can pay both by UPI. Choose them yourself during the application. If you skip it, Equitas assigns defaults that may not match your spending.

Four threads complain about the app when people try to see or change their categories. Once your choice shows up, take a screenshot, then test with a small transaction and confirm it posts at 10 points per ₹100 before you move big bills over. Accelerated points follow the merchant's category code, so a shop coded outside your pick earns base points.

Where the 10% figure comes from

Reddit calls Selfe a hidden gem because of posts claiming 10% back. Those posts describe a top spend tier users call "Diamond", reached at around ₹1 lakh a month for three months in a row, plus redeeming points 1:1 for Amazon Pay vouchers. Some users time insurance premiums, school fees or gold purchases into one quarter to get there.

We could not confirm those tiers on the Equitas page we checked. At the ₹0.35 a point Equitas states, the best you can plan on is 3.5%. Treat 10% as a ceiling for very heavy spenders, not the rate you will get. There is also a monthly cap on accelerated points; our record shows two different figures, so check the MITC.

RuPay or Visa: decide before you apply

Selfe comes on both networks with the same fees and earn rates. Only the RuPay variant works on UPI, and RuPay is the default if you do not choose. Visa is the better pick if you spend abroad often and want wider acceptance. Equitas also lets you pick your billing date, but only one change is allowed per card.

The ₹1,000 fee and the waiver

Joining and annual fees are ₹1,000 + GST each. The annual fee is waived if you spend ₹2,40,000 in the preceding anniversary year, which is ₹20,000 a month.

A worked month at that level: ₹12,000 across groceries and utility bills earns 1,200 points, and ₹8,000 elsewhere earns 160. That is 1,360 points, about ₹476 a month, or roughly ₹5,700 a year at ₹0.35, with the fee waived, assuming the monthly 5X cap does not cut in. Spend half that and you still earn about ₹2,850 but pay ₹1,180 for the card.

Four threads describe telecallers selling Selfe as lifetime free when the documents said first year free. Get the fee terms in writing before you accept.

What else comes with Selfe

• One complimentary domestic lounge visit per calendar quarter.
• Two memberships from Amazon Prime, Jio Hotstar, SonyLIV, Zee5 and Discovery+, claimed within 90 days of issue.
• A 1% fuel surcharge waiver on ₹500 to ₹3,000 fills, up to ₹250 a cycle. Our record also mentions a ₹3,000 yearly cap that we could not confirm.

Monzy's verdict on Equitas Selfe

Selfe works for someone who spends ₹20,000 or more a month, has two clear repeating categories, and will claim the memberships. At that level it pays about 3.5% where it counts and costs nothing to keep.

Users spending under about ₹12,000 a month say a simpler cashback card does better. HSBC Live+ is the one they compare it with most for groceries and dining. Before routing big spends, check merchant codes with our MCC list for India.

Credit Card Information Compiled by: Abhijeet Kumar | Reviewed by: Anmol Ratan Sachdeva