Major Credit Card Rule Changes Kicking Off In July 2025: Check Details Of Banks Credit Cards And The Latest Rules

Banks make changes to their credit card rewards program regularly to ensure that they can be offered on a sustainable basis in the long term. Accordingly, several credit card issuers like SBI, HDFC Bank and American Express have announced changes to their credit card rewards program that take effect from July 2025. Continue reading to get a comprehensive understanding of each of the categories the credit card issuers have implemented these changes.

SBI Card has announced a series of important changes for its credit cardholders which will take effect from July 2025. Starting July 15, the Minimum Amount Due (MAD) calculation will be: 100% of GST + 100% of EMI amount + 100% of Fees/Charges + 100% of finance charges + Overlimit Amount (if any) + 2% of remaining balance outstanding.

 

With effect from July 15, 2025, the Order of Payment Settlement will be: Payment received against the cardholder's outstanding will be adjusted against 100% of GST, 100% of EMI amount, 100% of Fees/Charges, 100% of Finance charges, Balance transfer, Retail Spends and Cash Advance, in that order.

 

SBI Card will discontinue complimentary air accident insurance. The current SBI Card ELITE, SBI Card MILES ELITE and SBI Card MILES PRIME air accident coverage of Rs 1 crore will be discontinued. Similarly, SBI Card PRIME and SBI Card PULSE will no longer offer the Rs 50 lakh coverage. 

HDFC Bank has revised several credit card charges that take effect from July 1, 2025. A 1% fee will be applied to those who spend more than Rs 10,000 per month on platforms like Dream11, Rummy Culture, Junglee Games or MPL. The charge will be applicable on the entire online gaming spend for the month and will be capped at Rs 4,999 per month. No reward points will be earned on online gaming transactions.

A 1% fee would be imposed on users who use their credit card to load third-party wallets with more than Rs 10,000 per month on sites like PayTM, Mobikwik, Freecharge or Ola Money. The fee has a monthly ceiling of Rs 4,999 and would be applied to the total wallet loading expenses for the month.

Consumer cards will incur a 1% fee if the monthly utility expenditure exceeds Rs 50,000. Business cards will incur a 1% fee if monthly utility expenditure exceeds Rs 75,000. The fee has a monthly ceiling of Rs 4,999 and would be applied to all utility expenses for the month.

For HDFC Bank card users, the maximum charge per transaction for rent, fuel and education categories is now Rs 4,999. 

There will also be a cap on reward points for insurance transactions. For HDFC Infinia and Infinia Metal cards the monthly cap is Rs 10,000. Cardholders of Diners Black and Biz Black Metal have a monthly cap of Rs 5,000. The capping amount per month for the rest of the cards is Rs 2,000.

 

American Express will stop awarding membership rewards points for fuel purchases made using the Gold Charge Card from June 12, 2025. Among the new modifications are the elimination of membership reward points for purchases of petrol, CNG and diesel. Earlier, consumers received one membership for every fifty rupees spent on fuel like diesel, gasoline and CNG.