What is Fuel Surcharge on Credit Card and how to get it waived off ?

With the wide acceptance of credit cards at almost all merchants, A lot of people today carry very less cash in their pockets. This provides convenience to you as there is no need not worry about carrying adequate cash for payments. What you may not know is that for providing you with this ease the merchants bear a cost for every transaction which is payable to the bank. This cost is different for every bank and the type of merchant.

Fuel Surcharge
Fuel is a necessary commodity and million of people pay for fuel everyday using their credit card. Now, there is an extra charge to be paid to banks for the use of credit cards to pay, but fuel companies never would want to bear this additional cost for credit/debit card transactions because fuel is a necessity and people will anyways buy fuel no matter what the payment mode is. So they ask their customer to pay the cost attached with making the payment through credit/debit card. which is called Fuel Surcharge and generally its around 2.5% and varies with respect to the relationship between point of sale terminal vendors and the bank of customer.

How to get Fuel Surcharge waived off ?
Opt for a fuel based credit card. Banks have found this as a very good space to target a special class of people who get their vehicles fueled frequently and hence most of the banks have launched credit and debit cards with special benefits."Fuel surcharge waiver" and additional benefits on filling fuel using these credit cards is being used as one of the major features. Bank tie-up with fuel companies to design special credit and debit cards with fuel benefits at specific fuel pumps. While other banks offer waiver on all fuel outlets.

Following are some of the fuel credit cards you can apply for and save on your fuel spends:

1. Standard Chartered Super Value Titanium:

• 5% cashback on fuel, telecom bills & utility bill payments & 1 reward point per Rs. 100 spent elsewhere.
• 1,000 bonus points on 5 or more transactions in the first 60 days.
• Redeem reward points 360° rewards catalogue by Standard Chartered Bank.
• Joining fee – Rs. 499 & Annual fee – Rs. 750 Year 2 onwards.

2. ICICI Bank HPCL Coral:

• Get 2.5% cashback & 2.5% surcharge waiver & 5 PAYBACK points per Rs. 100 spent at HPCL Pumps.
• 2 points per Rs. 100 spent elsewhere.
• Redeem points at PAYBACK, India's largest multi-brand loyalty program.
• 2 Free movie tickets per month at www.bookmyshow.com.
• Minimum 15% discount on dining through the Culinary Treats program.
• Joining fee – Rs. 199 & Annual fee – Rs. 199 Year 2 onwards.

3. IndianOil Citibank Platinum Card:

• 4 Turbo points per Rs. 150 spent at Indian Oil outlets & other featured partners & 2 points per Rs. 150 spent on grocery & supermarkets.
• 1 point per Rs. 150 spent elsewhere.
• Redeem points instantly for cashback or shopping, fuel , entertainment, travel & more.
• Redemption rate of 1 Turbo Point equivalent to Re. 1 of free fuel at IOC outlets
• 2.5% fuel surcharge waiver at Indian Oil outlets.
• Up to 20% discount on dining.
• Annual fee – Rs. 1,000. (Waived if annual spends cross Rs. 30,000).

There are many more banks and cards which provide a lot of savings on fuel spends and choosing the best one is really important, Rupeepower also helps you comparing cards from different banks.