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See what you would gain — or lose — a year by moving to a different card.
Everything worth knowing before you choose. All of it is on this page — open only what you need.
Switching pays when the new card returns more after its fee than your current card does — and the gap has to be large enough to be worth a fresh application.
The calculator compares both cards on the same basket: rewards earned with every cap and exclusion applied, minus the annual fee, with the waiver counted only if your spending would reach it.
Three cases where switching usually wins:
Check approval odds first with the eligibility checker, and price the alternative properly with the card value calculator.
Before closing anything, three checks decide whether a switch is worth making.
Your reward balance. Points usually do not survive account closure, and many programmes cancel unredeemed balances immediately. Redeem or transfer before you close, not after.
Your credit history. Closing your oldest card shortens your average account age and removes its limit from your total available credit, which raises your utilisation ratio. Both can lower your score. Keeping an old free card open costs nothing and avoids the problem.
Timing against the annual fee. A renewal fee already charged is rarely refunded. Switching just after a renewal usually means paying for a year you will not use.
Most switches start here rather than with a better card: a fee has been charged and it no longer feels earned. Work it in rupees, not in feelings. Take what the card returned over the last twelve months — rewards actually credited, not the headline rate — and subtract the fee. If the answer is negative and your spending has not changed, the card is costing you money to hold.
Then check whether the fee is avoidable before you move. Most Indian cards reverse the annual fee at a spend threshold, so the question is often "do I spend enough" rather than "is this card good". And if the fee cannot be waived at your spending, a lifetime-free card removes the arithmetic entirely — there is nothing to earn back.
Closing a card shortens your credit history and raises utilisation on the limits that remain, and both cost you points. Most issuers will move you to a free variant of the same card if you ask, which keeps the account, its age and its limit while removing the fee. Ask for the downgrade first; close only if there is no free variant and the card earns nothing.