SBI Pulse Credit Card

​State Bank of India came up with its specialized offering, SBI Pulse Credit Card, designed for such individuals who make their health and wellness a priority. Apart from enabling simple and easy financial transactions, this card also comes with a wide variety of features that aim at promoting a healthier lifestyle.

This analysis goes in depth to analyze all aspects of the SBI Pulse Credit Card, like its unique features, benefits, and fee structure, and compares the SBI Pulse Credit Card with the SBI Prime Credit Card.​

What is SBI Pulse Credit Card?

In the age of modernity, the demands of a healthy living are high. Therefore, the State Bank of India came up with the SBI Pulse Credit Card, which is a product that offers both convenience backed with credit and health benefits in one go.

This card is rather specially made to satisfy health enthusiasts and it comes with a variety of privileges for health enthusiasts. Apart from complimentary gym memberships and reward on health expenses then, the SBI Pulse Credit Card is your all-round financial option for those who value health!​

Features and Benefits of SBI Pulse Credit Card

Welcome Benefits

Cardholders get a set of welcome benefits upon paying the joining fee and making at least one retail transaction. Besides, they have also included a complimentary Noise ColorFit Pulse Smart Watch (worth ₹4,999), that assists in tracking fitness activities as well as health parameters.

Aside from that, cardholders get a one year complimentary FITPASS PRO membership that offers an access to over 4,000 gyms and fitness studios across the country.

The flexibility involved with this membership is unparalleled, as users are offered the chance to select from various types of fitness activities, as well as the place of the activity itself. In addition, the card provides an annual Netmeds First membership that presents exclusive discounts and priority services on medical and pharmaceutical shopping, thereby elevating the overall experience in health and wellness.​

Reward Structure

SBI Pulse Credit Card has a structured reward system, which suits cardholder’s expenses habitners, specially in the health and wellness category. The second category is a reward points scheme, and cardholders get 10 Reward Points for every ₹100 spent on dining, movies, pharmacy, and chemist Expenditures, effectively a 2.5% return rate for every ₹100 spent.

As far as other eligible spends are concerned, they earn you 2 Reward Points per ₹100 spent (2 Reward Point = 0.5% return rate).

Keep in mind that some transactions, for example, fuel purchases, wallet reloads as well as some transactions in some categories will not be qualified to earn reward points. Awarded by its health focus and lifestyle components, this reward structure rewards less appropriately in categories which may help to align with the cardholders’ desire to have a healthier lifestyle and correspondingly reduces the number of expenditures in categories that don’t support this.​

Travel Privileges

SBI Pulse Credit Card is beneficial for frequent travellers. The card offers cardholders eight complimentary visits to domestic airport lounges each year, but not to exceed two visits per quarter. This is to the benefit of one’s travel, as it offers comfortable space to relax before one takes flights.

Moreover, the card comes with a complimentary Priority Pass Membership for its first two years, allowing it to enter international lounges and create a more pleasant travel experience. This access further typifies the card as a platform of bespoken to provide premium services to its users beyond their health needs but also taken their itineraries in comfort into consideration.​

Milestone Benefits

The Pulse Credit Card also provides milestone benefits for further rewarding loyal cardholder. The customer cardholders who achieve an annual spend of ₹4 lakh are eligible for a Netmeds e-voucher worth ₹1,500.

It offers additional value and motivating these to use the card which is used for your major spending. This feature is consistent with the main theme of the card, which encourages the proper use of health and wellness, because the e voucher can be used on medical and pharmaceutical purchases.​

Insurance Coverage

As it understands the value of security, SBI Pulse Credit Card offers you comprehensive insurance coverages. Air accident liability cover of ₹50 lakh (complimentary) is provided to card holders, which takes care of availing peace of mind when travelling by air.

Furthermore, the card gives fraud liability cover of up to ₹1 lakh, giving the card extra security features and protecting the users from unauthorized transactions. This further underlines the card’s undertaking to secure its users in different situations, and provide them with peace of mind to focus on their well being.​

Fuel Surcharge Waiver

If you use your personal vehicles very frequently, then there is 1% waiver on fuel surcharge for transaction between ₹500 to ₹4,000, for SBI Pulse Credit Card. It offers some savings from fuel expenses, but capped at the most up to a maximum waiver of ₹250 per statement cycle.

The card mainly encompasses health and wellness as its focus, however, this feature contributes to it in completing its overall value proposition by addressing the day to day needs of the card users.​

Fees and Charges

The SBI Pulse Credit Card has a joining fee of ₹1,499 along applicable taxes and an annual renewal fee of the same amount. But, card holder is given some discount on renewal fee if the card holder has spent ₹2 Lakh every year.

The fee structure of this card allows for active users to utilize the card to reap the benefits of the card without any additional cost, making it a good choice for the people who are in the spending categories this card has.

While it is true that the card’s benefits, including the free smartwatch and fitness memberships, provide immense amount of value for the annual fees, for many people who actively use them, the value can outweigh the annual fees.​

SBI Pulse Credit Card – Late Payment Charges

Comparative Analysis: 

On a comparison of the SBI Pulse Credit Card with the SBI Prime Credit Card, the offerings differ and can best be used to suit different customers. The SBI Prime Credit Card, with a higher annual fee of ₹2,999 plus taxes, offers a broader range of lifestyle privileges.

The ones that offer higher reward points you get with groceries, dining and purchases at a departmental store make it suitable for those who spend a lot in these categories. The Prime card also rewards card members with complimentary domestic and international lounge access, and membership to multiple travel and wellness programs that would appeal to regular travelers or those seeking a luxurious experience.

On the other hand, the health and wellness benefits of SBI Pulse Credit Card make it attractive to people who consider health and wellness critical. And so, individual preferences, spending habits, and lifestyle priorities should guide the choice between the two cards. The Pulse card holds a lot of value for health enthusiasts who love earning perks and rewards for every health-centric purchase. 

SBI Pulse Credit Card

The SBI Pulse credit card is about fitness, a card that caters to the health and fitness lovers with some plethora of goodies that would keep you striving to be in good health. The cardholders also enjoy a complimentary Noise ColorFit Pulse Smart Watch and a one year FITPASS PRO membership offering access to more than 4,000 gyms and fitness studios across the country upon the paying of the joining cost of the card and upon making at least one retail transaction.

An additional perk is of a Netmeds First membership where you can fetch incredible discounts on medical purchases. The earning structure of the card provides Reward Points to spending at more than the average number of 10 Reward Points earned per ₹100 spent at dining, cinema, pharmacy and chemist stores. However, 2 Reward Points are earned per ₹100 spent for other spends.

The benefits are eight complimentary domestic lounge visits per year (with a quota of two per quarter) and a complimentary Priority Pass Membership for the first two years. Membership to the card comes with a ₹1,499 joining and an annual fee that is waived if one spends ₹2 lakh in an year.

Still, certain users have observed that the threshold it takes to spend a milestone is fairly high and the reward point redemption value may not be so great in comparison to other cards. ​

SBI Prime Credit Card

SBI Prime is a premium credit card suite of SBI which caters the needs of a wider lifestyle. Card holders can get an e gift voucher up to ₹3000 from select brands upon payment of the joining fee. . The Accelerated Rewards on this card is 10 Reward Points for every ₹100 spent on dining, groceries, departmental store and movies.

Fuel is the only spend which does not earn 2 Reward Points per ?100 spent; all other retail spends earn 2 Reward Points per ?100 spent. There is a wide range of travel benefits, including four free international lounge visits and eight domestic lounge visits per annum.

Apart from these benefits, there are milestone benefits too, like a Pizza Hut e-voucher for ₹1,000 on reaching ₹50,000 spends in a calendar quarter and an e-gift voucher of ₹7,000 from Yatra.com or Pantaloons for reaching annual spends of ₹5 lakh.

The card has a high join and annual fee of ₹2,999, the renewal fee of which is waived off if you have spent ₹3 lakh annually. The card provides a whole range of benefits, but a higher annual fee, along with certain spending thresholds that purchasers need to meet to get some of its best rewards, are points worth bearing in mind for those considering applying. ​Groww+2SBI Card+2SBI Card+2BankBazaar+2SBI Card+2SBI Card+2

SBI Pulse Credit Card Decision Factors

It is up to the person which card they want and spending pattern according to himself. If health and wellness benefits are a top priority, then reward points and memberships that boost your fitness lifestyle are benefits that you will enjoy with the SBI Pulse Credit Card.

However, SBI Prime Credit Card is better for those who want a premium offering on all categories of spends with several benefits and discounts that are available on lifestyle and travel. Given that, you need to evaluate which card you’ll find more fitting to your personal and financial goals, taking into account annual fees, reward structures, travel perks and other benefits that each card offers.

Finally, the spending thresholds needed to unlock particular rewards and waive fee also need to be evaluated to determine whether or not these thresholds are attainable within your spending habits.

Conclusion

​While evaluating SBI Pulse Credit Card VS SBI Prime Credit Card, it seems that each of them suits different lifestyle and expenditure habits. Furthermore, to pamper the health and wellness enthusiasts the SBI Pulse Credit Card is packed with benefits including Noise ColorFit Pulse Smartwatch on complimentary basis, FITPASS PRO membership and Netmeds First membership.

The features of the card speak for its cause of fostering a healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, the card gives accelerated reward points on spending done for dining, movies, and pharmacy spends, offering the perfect fit for individuals who spend a lot on health and entertainment.

The annual fee of the card stands at Rs 1,499 but getting a waiver of the fee is a possibility if annual spends are hitting Rs 2 lakh – which makes the card accessible for those able to hit the spending threshold.​

On the flip side, the SBI Prime Credit Card is suited for those looking for a host of lifestyle and travel benefits. To become a Parfaito cardholder, a person needs to pay a joining fee, which, after clearing, entitles the cardholder with an e-gift voucher worth ₹3,000 from various option brands such Aditya Birla Fashion, Bata/Hush Puppies, Pantaloons, Shoppers Stop and Yatra.

It gives accelerated reward points on expenses made on dining, groceries, departmental store and movie expenditure making it suitable for all kinds of expenditures. Some travel perks include complimentary domestic and international lounge access that improves the travel experience of the frequent flyers.

But this comes at an annual fee of Rs 2,999, though, which can be waived off on spending Rs 3 lakh annually. Therefore, this card is most appropriate for users who can leverage the rewards and benefits in order to cover the charges made with the card.​

Finally, it is hard to choose between SBI Pulse Credit Card and the SBI Prime Credit Card and it depends completely on the user’s lifestyle preferences and spends. The SBI Pulse Credit Card will be of great use to those who are extremely serious about health and wellness, and their spending falls under the card’s reward categories.

On the contrary, people looking out for a complete array of lifestyle and travel benefits, coupled with a higher spending potential, might find that SBI Prime credit card suits them better. Prospective card holders will duly navigate to the most suitable card for them with careful considerations of their personal spending patterns and ability to meet the corresponding spending thresholds in the bid to enjoy fee waivers.