Are credit card spending milestones worth chasing? A reality check

At the start of May, selected Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank Credit Card holders got the “NeuCard International Spends Milestone Offer”. As per the offer, cardholders who spend Rs. 75,000 internationally during the offer period will earn a bonus of 2,500 NeuCoins. Such offers are known as spend-based offers. In this article, we will discuss what these spend-based offers, their benefits, and whether you should participate in them.

What are spend-based offers?

A spend-based offer requires a cardholder to spend a specified amount during a specified period. On fulfilling the offer conditions, the cardholder is rewarded. The reward may be in the form of reward points, gift vouchers, or something else as specified in the offer terms.

For example, HDFC Bank and Tata Neu ran the ‘NeuCard International Spends Milestone Offer’, a spend-based offer, for Neu Infinity cardholders. As per the offer terms, the Tata Neu Infinity HDFC Bank Credit Card holders were required to spend Rs. 75,000 internationally between 1st May and 31st May 2025. On fulfilling the offer conditions, the Neu Card holder will get a bonus of 2,500 NeuCoins. The offer provides an additional 3.3% reward rate for eligible cardholders who participate and fulfil the offer conditions.

Customers who fulfil the spend-based offer criteria receive the reward a couple of months later. For example, the ‘NeuCard International Spends Milestone Offer’ runs from 1st May to 31st May 2025. Customers who fulfil the spend-based offer conditions will get the 2,500 NeuCoins reward on or after 15th September 2025.

Types of spend-based offers

Banks like HDFC Bank usually send spend-based offers to cardholders regularly. Some cardholders may get these spend-based offers every month, for a few months at a stretch. On the other hand, some cardholders may get these offers randomly for some months. The offer usually starts on the 1st of the month and ends on the last date of the month. These are monthly spend-based offers.

However, there is no specific pattern/track that a cardholder will get a spend-based offer every month. Sending such offers, the interval at which they are sent, the selection of eligible customers, etc. is always at the discretion of the bank.

American Express usually sends a festive spend-based offer during the Diwali period. The offer timeline is usually a couple of months. Separately, during this period, American Express usually comes up with instant discount offers on individual online and offline merchants.

During such times, the cardholder can club multiple offers and multiply their benefits. Some of these benefits can include:

1. Instant discount (if any) on specified merchants (for example – Amazon),
2. Base reward points on the credit card,
3. Accelerated reward points/milestone rewards, if any (for example, some cards provide accelerated reward points on some categories like travel),
4. Spend-based offer rewards,
5. Loyalty points or cashback or any other benefit from the merchant, if any (for example – Amazon Pay cashback from Amazon) etc.

So, spend-based offers can include monthly spend-based offers, spend-based offers that run for a couple of months, a festive annual spend-based offer, etc.

Participation in spend-based offers

Banks run spend-based offers from time to time. As a cardholder, if you wish to participate and benefit from the bonus reward, you must check certain things.

Eligibility: Check whether you are eligible for the offer. Not all cardholders are eligible for all offers by default. The bank may send the offer to selected customers. A cardholder is eligible only if they have received communication directly from the bank through email, SMS, WhatsApp, push notification, net banking, etc.

Customised offers: The bank may send customised offers to customers. For example, the amount to be spent and the rewards may be different for cardholders. For example, one cardholder may be required to spend Rs. 1 lakh and get a reward of Rs. 2,000 Amazon Gift Voucher. Similarly, another cardholder may be required to spend Rs. 2 lakhs and get a reward of Rs. 5,000 Taj Gift Voucher. So, check the exact offer details that the bank has sent you.

Spend criteria: Check the offer details like which spends will be counted and which ones will be excluded. While most offers include spends across multiple categories, some may be limited to a specific category only. For example, the ‘NeuCard International Spends Milestone Offer’ is limited to only international spends. The offer details further mention that only offline spends made at point-of-sale (POS) devices outside India will be considered for the offer.

Similarly, American Express sometimes comes up with spend-based offers exclusively for the Reward Multiplier platform. For example, during Republic Day, American Express ran a spend-based offer from 24th to 28th January 2025. During the offer, eligible cardholders enjoyed 25 Membership Reward (MR) Points for every Rs. 100 spent across leading brands listed on the Reward Multiplier platform.

Prior registration: In the case of some offers, cardholders are required to register their participation in the offer. For example, American Express requires credit cardholders to register for some spend-based offers. All spends towards the offer are counted only after registration.

How do spend-based offers help?

Spend-based offers require cardholders to spend a specified amount, usually ranging from Rs. 25,000 to a few lakhs. The amount must be spent within a specified period, usually 30 days to a couple of months.

When a cardholder spends a higher amount (offer amount) within a short period (offer period), it can help in a few ways. The first and foremost benefit is the bonus reward in the form of reward points or gift voucher(s) that you get when you fulfil the offer conditions. The other benefits include the following.

Achieving milestones: Many cards have monthly, quarterly, and yearly milestones. For example, American Express cards like Membership Rewards Credit Card and Gold Charge Card have monthly milestones, and the Platinum Travel Credit Card has annual milestones. Similarly, the HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Metal Credit Card has a quarterly milestone.

When you participate in the spend-based offer, some of the above milestones will be achieved, or the spends will contribute towards achieving the milestones.

Unlocking complimentary lounge access: These days, most banks have linked the airport lounge access criteria to spend for most credit cards. So, when you participate in the spend-based offer, it will contribute towards unlocking the complimentary airport lounge access.

Achieving spends towards waiver of annual fee: Many credit cards waive the annual fee if a specified amount is spent in the previous year. The spends done during the spend-based offer will contribute towards spends required for the waiver of the annual fee.

Should you participate in a spend-based offer?

So far, we have discussed what is a spend-based offer, its types, its benefits, etc. The important question is whether you should participate in a spend-based offer. Before we answer that question, it is important to note that participation in any spend-based offer is always voluntary. The answer to whether to participate depends on how much the offer conditions require you to spend and how much you anyways plan to spend in that particular month.

You must be clear on one thing: you will not go out of the way to make unnecessary or unwanted extra spends just to meet the spend-based offer conditions. If you anyways plan to spend the amount required to fulfil the offer conditions, you may participate in the spend-based offer. If the amount of spending needed to fulfil the offer conditions is way more than what you were anyways planning to spend, you may not participate in the offer.

If the amount required to fulfil the offer conditions is slightly higher than what you were anyways planning to spend, you may still consider participating in the offer. In such a scenario, you may prepone some of your next month’s regular spends to fulfil the offer conditions.

During the festive season, most people get their Diwali bonus from their employer. They may have already planned to spend that amount and maybe some additional amount on buying a consumer durable, home appliance, vehicle, or enjoying a family vacation. Also, during the festive season, there are discounts/freebie offers from merchants, instant discounts from banks, etc. If the pre-planned spends can help you fulfil the annual spend-based festive offer conditions, you may participate and benefit from the bonus rewards and other merchant/bank offers.

Gopal Gidwani is a freelance personal finance content writer with 15+ years of experience. He can be reached at LinkedIn.