BOBCARD PRIME Review 2026: Lifetime Free at 0.5%, the Best Base Rate per Rupee & FAQs
BOBCARD PRIME is lifetime free and earns 2 Reward Points per ₹100 — 0.5% at the published ₹0.25 rate. Twice the rate of the ₹500 EASY card, for nothing. Caps, the ₹100 minimum and FAQs.
BOBCARD PRIME is lifetime free and earns 2 Reward Points per ₹100 — 0.5%.
That is twice the rate of BOBCARD EASY, which costs ₹500 a year. On the published material PRIME is the best-value card in BOBCARD's mainstream range by a clear margin.
BOBCARD PRIME Quick Overview
| **Card type** | Lifetime-free reward points card |
|---|---|
| **Best for** | Anyone wanting a free card with a real base rate |
| **Joining / renewal fee** | Nil, same on renewal |
| **Network** | Visa, RuPay |
| **Base reward rate** | **0.5%** |
| **Reward currency** | BOBCARD Reward Points, valued at ₹0.25 each |
| **Welcome benefit** | 500 Reward Points on spends of ₹5,000 within 60 days of card issuance |
| **Lounge access** | None published |
| **Forex markup** | 3.5% |
Reward Structure: How You Earn
BOBCARD publishes what a Reward Point is worth, which not every Indian issuer does: 1 Reward Point = ₹0.25 redeemed as statement cashback. Every percentage below uses that rate.
But there is a second, worse channel. BOBCARD's rewards terms separately state 'Reward Redemption value using Pay with Rewards 1RP = 15 Paisa'. Redeem through Pay with Rewards instead of as cashback and you get ₹0.15 a point — 40% less. Both rates are published; the card pages advertise only the better one.
2 Reward Points per ₹100 on eligible spends — 0.5%.
Reward Points are earned only on transactions of ₹100 or more. BOBCARD's terms are explicit: 'transactions below Rs. 100 will not earn any Reward Points'. That is a per-transaction floor, not a monthly one — a run of small purchases earns nothing at all.
| Spend | Effective rate |
|---|---|
| Everything else | 0.5% |
| Fuel, rent, wallet loads, government, gaming | **0%** |
No accelerated band is published for this card, which is the trade-off. EASY, SELECT and the professional-body cards pay 5X on departmental stores, movies, dining and online; PRIME pays a flat 0.5% on everything.
Whether that is a good trade depends on where you spend. The 5X cards cap their accelerated band at 1,000 Reward Points a cycle — ₹250 — so above about ₹5,000 a month of qualifying spend they fall back to 0.25%, which is half PRIME's flat rate.
Fuel earns nothing on any BOBCARD except HPCL Energie. BOBCARD's Annexure 1 excludes fuel, ATM cash withdrawals and quasi-cash from both core and accelerated points.
Credit-card-on-UPI transactions earn the core rate only — never the accelerated one. And utility MCC 4900 is excluded from accelerated points even on cards whose accelerated list includes utilities under MCC 4812 and 4899.
Category Restrictions: Where You Won't Earn
- Where you earn nothing: Earns nothing at all: fuel on every BOBCARD except HPCL Energie; cash withdrawals at ATM; and quasi-cash transactions. BOBCARD names these three in Annexure 1 of its rewards terms as ineligible for BOTH core and accelerated Reward Points. Transactions below ₹100 earn nothing either (₹150 on HPCL Energie).
- Point expiry: Reward Points are valid for 24 months from the date they are earned on most BOBCARD products. Points on BOBCARD ETERNA do not expire.
Fees and Charges
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Joining fee | Nil |
| Renewal fee | Nil |
| Finance charges | 3.75% per month (45% per annum) on all credit cards. Micro Enterprise cards are charged 1.5% per month (18% per annum). |
| Interest-free period | 20 to 50 days, and only where there is no previous outstanding. A purchase made early in the cycle gets the longer period; one made near the statement date gets the shorter. Not available at all if the previous month's balance was not cleared in full or if cash has been withdrawn at an ATM. |
| Minimum amount due | 100% of all fees, charges, finance charges, GST and EMI amounts, PLUS 2% of retail spends and cash advances — or ₹200, whichever is higher. Revised w.e.f. 1 October 2025. Where the total amount due exceeds the credit limit and the over-limit amount is greater than the computed MAD, the MAD becomes the whole over-limit amount. Any unpaid MAD from previous statements is added to the current one. |
| Cash advance fee | 2.5% of the amount withdrawn or ₹500, whichever is higher. |
| Cash advance interest | 3.75% per month (45% per annum), charged from the date of withdrawal with no interest-free period. |
| Forex markup | Varies by card: 2% on Eterna, Tiara, Varunah Premium, ICAI, ICSI and CMA One; 2.5% on Varunah Plus; 3% on Yoddha, The Sentinel, Rakshamah and Vikram; 3.5% on every other BOBCARD. Also applies to transactions in Indian rupees at an international location or at merchants registered overseas. |
| Late payment | Graduated by statement balance: nil below ₹100; ₹100 for ₹100–₹500; ₹400 for ₹501–₹1,000; ₹750 for ₹1,001–₹10,000; ₹950 for ₹10,001–₹25,000; ₹1,100 for ₹25,001–₹50,000; ₹1,300 above ₹50,000. |
| Overlimit | 2.5% of the amount over and above the sanctioned credit limit, or ₹600, whichever is higher. Charged only where the cardholder has given explicit consent to the over-limit facility. |
| Payment return | 2% of the payment amount subject to a minimum of ₹500 for a returned cheque. The same 2%/₹500 applies to an auto-debit or standing-instruction bounce, but only ONCE per statement cycle per card and only where the failure was due to insufficient balance. |
| Rent payment | 1% of the transaction amount on all rent payments (MCC 6513), with no minimum threshold. Non-reversible. |
| Wallet load | 1% of the transaction amount on all wallet loading transactions (MCC 6539, 6540, 6541, 6542), with no minimum threshold. Wallet loading is not permitted at all on the Micro Enterprise card. Non-reversible. |
| Utility payments | 1% of the transaction amount, capped at ₹3,000 per transaction, on utility payments (MCC 4900) of ₹50,000 or more. Non-reversible. |
| Education payments | 1% of the transaction amount, capped at ₹5,000 per transaction, on online education fee payments made through third-party apps — Cheq, CRED, Ease My Deal, MobiKwik, NoBroker, Paytm, PhonePe and SuperPe — w.e.f. 1 April 2026. Non-reversible. |
| Fuel transactions | 1% of the transaction amount on fuel transactions (MCC 5172, 5541, 5542, 5983) of ₹10,000 or more. NOT applicable to HPCL Energie BOBCARD. Non-reversible. |
| Card replacement | ₹100 per replacement card. |
| Add-on card | Nil. BOBCARD charges no joining or annual fee on add-on cards. |
| Reward redemption | No per-redemption handling fee is published. Minimum redemption is Reward Points worth ₹1,000, and redemption must be initiated through the BOBCARD Portal or mobile app. |
| EMI processing | Charged per the SmartEMI scheme selected. Purchases above ₹2,500 may be converted. |
| GST | 18% on all fees, interest and other charges. |
Is the BOBCARD PRIME Worth It?
Free, 0.5% flat, no thresholds to chase. For a card with no fee that is a straightforwardly good outcome, and it beats every paid card in BOBCARD's entry tier on general spending.
The 5X cards beat it only within their capped band. Fill ₹5,000 a month of departmental store, dining or online spend and EASY returns ₹250 against PRIME's ₹25 on the same money — but EASY then costs ₹500 and pays 0.25% on everything else.
The honest comparison: hold PRIME for general spending and a 5X card only if your spending concentrates hard in its categories.
Redeem as statement cashback, not Pay with Rewards.
Points earned in a statement cycle become redeemable only after the statement is generated, w.e.f. 1 October 2025. Minimum redemption is Reward Points worth ₹1,000.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What does BOBCARD PRIME cost? Nothing. BOBCARD's page states 'Zero Joining & Annual Fees'.
What is the PRIME earn rate? 2 Reward Points per ₹100 — 0.5% at the published ₹0.25 cashback rate.
Does PRIME have a 5X band? No accelerated band is published on the uploaded page. It earns a flat 0.5%.
PRIME or EASY? PRIME for general spending — it earns twice as much and costs nothing. EASY only wins inside its 5X categories, and that band caps at ₹250 a month.
Do transactions below ₹100 earn? No. BOBCARD's terms exclude them, and the floor is per transaction.
Cards Mentioned in This Article
