If you have arrived too early at the airport or if your flight has been delayed, the airport lounge is a good place to enjoy a meal and relax while waiting for the flight. In such a scenario, what if you had a lifetime free credit card with unlimited complimentary airport lounge access? Suppose you want to have a meal at your favourite restaurant/outlet at the airport, not the lounge. What if this credit card rewarded you for enjoying a meal at your favourite restaurant/outlet at the airport? Yes, all this and a lot more is possible with the Federal Scapia Co-branded Credit Card. In this article, we will do a Federal Scapia Co-branded Credit Card review, understand its features and benefits, and evaluate whether you should take it.
Federal Bank Scapia Credit Card
- Welcome Benefit:
No Welcome Benefits
- Renewal Benefits:
No Renewal Benefits
- Usps:
Zero Forex Mark-up, Unlimited Domestic Lounge Access
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Overview Table
| Feature | Details |
| Card type | Rewards card |
| Reward range | Up to 20% rewards on every Rs. 20 spent |
| Joining fee | Lifetime free |
| Welcome bonus | NA |
| Renewal fee | Lifetime free |
| Renewal benefit | NA |
| Best for | Earning accelerated reward points on travel spends and redeeming them for a good value on travel spends |
| USP | Lifetime free credit card, good accelerated reward rate, complimentary airport lounge access, rewards for meals, shopping, spas at airports, zero forex mark-up, dual network (Visa and RuPay) benefits, etc. |
Image: High-quality image
Fees & Benefits
The Scapia Credit Card is a lifetime free credit card. Hence, there is no joining or annual renewal fee. The card doesn’t have any joining benefits or any annual renewal benefits.
Rewards Structure
The cardholder will earn 10% rewards on eligible transactions of Rs. 20 and above.
The following transactions will not earn any rewards:
- Transactions whose value is less than Rs. 20
- ATM cash withdrawal
- Loading e-wallets
- EMIs
- Fuel transactions
- Rent payments
- Forex transactions
- Education-related payments
- Government and business payments
- Crypto/digital asset transactions
- Gift cards
- Utility bill payments over Rs. 20,000 in a billing cycle
The cardholder will earn an accelerated reward rate of 20% on all travel bookings made through the Scapia App. The travel bookings include flights, hotels, buses, trains and visa applications.
Along with the Visa card, the cardholder can opt for a digital RuPay card. The cardholder will earn 5% rewards on all UPI and RuPay spends of Rs. 500 or more. Thus, the cardholder can enjoy the benefits of 2 networks (Visa and RuPay) with a single credit card account.
The rewards are converted to Scapia coins on the statement date, with 1 reward = 1 Scapia coin. The Scapia coins have a validity of 3 years.
Fees for specific transactions
There will be a convenience fee for the following transactions.
- A 1% convenience fee for utility, telecom, and cable spends over Rs. 50,000 in a billing cycle. The fee will be capped at Rs. 3,000 per transaction, excluding GST.
- A 1% convenience fee for fuel spends over Rs. 50,000 in a billing cycle. The fee will be capped at Rs. 3,000 per transaction, excluding GST.
- A 1% convenience fee for rent payments. The fee will be capped at Rs. 3,000 per transaction, excluding GST.
Rewards Redemption
The Scapia coins can be redeemed on the Scapia App for travel bookings. The travel bookings include flights, hotels, trains, buses, and visa applications. The value of 5 Scapia coins = Rs. 1.
For every Rs. 100 spent using the card, the cardholder will earn 10 rewards (equivalent to 10 Scapia coins). With a conversion rate of 5 Scapia coins = Rs. 1, the 10 Scapia coins earned on every Rs. 100 spent, can be redeemed for making travel bookings of Rs. 2. It translates into a base reward rate of 2%.
For every Rs. 100 spent on travel bookings on the Scapia App, the cardholder will earn 20 accelerated rewards (equivalent to 20 Scapia coins). With a conversion rate of 5 Scapia coins = Rs. 1, the 20 Scapia coins earned on every Rs. 100 spent, can be redeemed for making travel bookings of Rs. 4. It translates into an accelerated reward rate of 4%.
The cardholder can pay up to 100% of the travel booking value through Scapia coins if they have the required number of Scapia coins.
Additional Features
The Federal Scapia Co-branded Credit Card offers a number of exciting additional features. Some of these include the following.
- Airport privileges program
When the cardholder spends Rs. 10,000 on the Visa Card or Rs. 15,000 on the RuPay Card in a month, they unlock the airport privileges program for the subsequent month. Under the airport privileges program, the cardholder can unlock one of these four benefits per departure.
- Complimentary airport lounge access
If the airport privileges program is activated for a particular month, the cardholder can enjoy unlimited complimentary access at domestic airport lounges for that month. The cardholder can generate the QR Code through the Scapia App and avail of the complimentary airport lounge access.
- Dining at the airport
Instead of having a meal at the lounge, what if you want to enjoy a meal at your favourite restaurant/outlet at the airport? The Scapia Credit Card caters to this requirement of cardholders.
The cardholder can enjoy a meal at their favourite restaurant/outlet at the airport and pay with the Scapia Credit Card. For a food bill of up to Rs. 1,000, the cardholder will get an equivalent amount of Scapia coins. The offer can be availed of at the following airports: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
When the above offer is availed of at other airports, the cardholder gets Scapia coins equivalent to the food bill, up to a maximum of Rs. 500.
The cardholder must select the restaurant/outlet in the Scapia App, activate the offer, and then proceed to ordering the food.
- Shopping at the airport
Instead of having a meal, if you want to shop at your favourite brand outlet at the airport, the card has you covered. As discussed in the earlier section, you will get Scapia coins equivalent to your shopping bill, up to a maximum of Rs. 500 or Rs. 1,000, depending on the airport location.
The cardholder must select the shopping outlet in the Scapia App, activate the offer, and then proceed with shopping.
- Spa access
While waiting for your flight at the airport, you may not want to eat or shop. How about taking a relaxing spa session before boarding the flight? The card has you covered for that much-needed relaxing spa session.
As discussed in the earlier section, you will get Scapia coins equivalent to your spa bill, up to a maximum of Rs. 500 or Rs. 1,000, depending on the airport location.
The cardholder must select the spa outlet in the Scapia App, activate the offer, and then proceed with the spa session.
Note: Under the airport privileges program, the cardholder can avail one of the above four benefits per departure.
- Zero forex mark-up
The Federal Scapia Co-branded Credit Card has zero mark-up charges on foreign currency transactions. Most credit cards from most banks usually have forex mark-up charges of up to 3.5%. Thus, the Scapia Credit Card can help you save a lot of money on your forex transactions during your international trip.
- Fuel surcharge waiver
The 1% fuel surcharge is waived for transactions of up to Rs. 5,000. The maximum waiver is Rs. 500 per month.
Image Suggestion: Lounge photo
How to Apply
To apply for this card, the applicant must be a resident Indian citizen. For salaried persons, the age must be between 21 to 65 years, and for self-employed persons, it must be between 25 to 65 years.
Once approved, the virtual card can be activated immediately. The physical card is received in 2-5 days.
Image Suggestion: Application form screenshot or infographic
Optimal use
The Federal Scapia Co-branded Credit Card is good for earning 20% rewards on the Scapia App spends and 10% rewards on other eligible spends. With monthly spends of Rs. 10,000, the cardholder can unlock exciting benefits of the airport privileges program. These include complimentary lounge access, rewards of up to Rs. 1,000 for airport dining, shopping, or spa.
Expert Verdict/Conclusion
The Federal Scapia Co-branded Credit Card is a good choice for frequent travellers. It offers an accelerated reward rate for travel bookings on the Scapia App. The accumulated Scapia rewards (coins) can be redeemed on the Scapia App for booking free travel like flights, buses, trains, hotels, etc. The airport privileges program is unique to this card, making it one of the best lifetime free travel cards in India. The icing on the cake is that it is a lifetime free credit card. Thus, if you are a frequent traveller, you may consider the Federal Scapia Co-branded Credit Card.