Credit card EMI vs personal loan — which is cheaper?
Kalyani Kulkarni
Asked 1 Mar 2026
I need to finance a purchase of ₹40,000. Should I convert the transaction to credit card EMI or take a personal loan? Which is actually cheaper after all charges?
3 Answers
For the fee waiver condition: most banks count only retail purchases, not EMI, wallet loads, or fuel (in some cases). Read the TnC PDF linked at the bottom of the fee-waiver email — it's usually 2-3 paragraphs of fine print that change everything.
I've been a customer for 6 years. The biggest upside is the customer service. The biggest downside is the slow mobile app. If you do most banking on the app, test the app at a branch before applying — it's surprisingly old.
Yes the rewards sound amazing in marketing, but the redemption catalogue is full of products at inflated MRP. The statement credit redemption is almost always the best value. Skip the merchandise, skip the flight bookings, take the cash.
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