CRED was the first app in India through which you can earn reward points or cashback by paying your credit card bills.
Now you can pay credit card bills through Amazon, Paytm, phonepee app.
But, should you trust these apps for providing your credit card details & other information?
I am going to review CRED app keeping the same question in mind.
Major Benefits of CRED App
#1. Credit Card Payments
You can add all of your credit cards in the app, track the payment due dates and pay the bills directly from the app.
You don’t need to check your credit card statement every month separately. For payments, you can use net-banking or UPI apps.
The whole process of payments is very swift and smooth.
#2. Cashback on Paying Bills
You would earn cashback on your bill payment transaction. You would see the option to #killthebill just after making a payment of more than Rs. 1000.
This works like a scratch card, where you can win cashback up to 1000. In earlier days people actually earned Rs 1000 cashback as but now the cashback doesn’t go beyond Rs 10.
You can earn maximum of 5 scratch cards of cashback value upto Rs 1000 in a calendar month.
You can also earn scratch cards on payment for
| On Payment | Earn Up to |
| Rs 50,000 | 1,00,000 |
| Rs 20,000 | 10,000 |
| Rs 5,000 | 5,000 |
In reality, you can expect a small cashback from these scratch cards, like under Rs 20 from the 5000 scratch card.
#3. Earn CRED coins to redeem gifts
You would earn CRED coins equal to your credit card payment. For example, you will earn 15,000 cred points on payment of Rs 15,000.
You can use the CRED points to get a product discount. The offers keep changing on regular basis.
I will share the details in the later section of the article.
#4. Upto Rs 500 Cashback on referring your friends
You and your referred friend would earn upto Rs 500 cashback on their next bill payment.
CRED has not provided more details on this.
#5. Free Credit Report & Score
You would be able to see your CIBIL score and credit history free of cost. Currently, the app shows the credit score from Experian and CRIF.
You will get your first report free. After that you can check your latest score by spending 1000 CRED points
In the detailed credit report, you can see the payment history, credit card utilization and age of credit history.
How to make the Best Use of the CRED App
Installation process
- Install app on iOS or Android
- You would be approved only if you have a good CIBIL score
- The application starts with your primary mobile number that is registered with banks
- Your application may get denied if your mobile number details could not match with the CIBIL report or your credit score is not good.
If approved,
- Start adding your credit card information in the app.
- CRED is very smart to give you a hint of your credit card numbers. Just fill the missing numbers.
- The app would validate the credit cards by depositing Rs. 1 into your card (that would appear into your credit card statement)
- Start paying the bills of your credit cards
If rejected,
- Change the contact details if you are using multiple mobile numbers for banking
- Contact their customer support if you believe the information is correct
- Wait & Apply after a few months if your credit score is low
How to earn & redeem CRED coins
You would earn 1 CRED coin for each rupee payment through the app. If you are paying 5000 rupees for 3 credit cards then you would earn 15,000 CRED coins.
Redeem Option #1
You would also get a chance to earn additional cashback on each payment above 1000 rupees. You can see the option of burning your CRED coins to win upto 1000, 5000 or 10,000 rupees. The options vary as per your payment amount.
Some people have won 1000 rupees in a single chance while I earned a max of Rs. 488 in single transaction.
But now the casback remains under Rs 10. You can earn 5 #killthebill scratch card mystery reward systems in a calendar month.
You can try your luck. It’s pure FREE money that you get just by paying credit card bills.
Redeem Option #2
The second option is redeeming CRED coins for the rewards catalog that keeps updating with new options every month.
Currently CRED is offering discount on
- Leaf Hush ANC
- Kiehl’s
- OnePlus TV
- Easydiner
- Pepperfy
So far I have claimed 10 rewards by redeeming CRED coins.
- Swiggy Super for one year
- Rs. 100 off on 5 meals from Swiggy
- Rs. 500 products from Moms Co
- Free gift from Bodycraft
- Discount on groceries from Grofers
- Rs. 500 gift from EazyDiner
- Dineout Gourmet Passport for 3 months
- 20% off on Zoom Car
- Rs. 150 off on Uber rides
- 25% discount on hotels from Yatra
Two types of rewards
I love the fact that CRED has clearly defined the terms & conditions for reward redemption.
You would find the rewards with “No TnC” label, that means there is no trick. It’s pure money without any condition.
- Use points to get the reward
- Check on the details
- Click on the redemption link
- And order the products
The second type of rewards have ‘Terms & Conditions’
For example, You can see that Rs. 1500 gift card is ‘valid only on shirts’.
I prefer to use CRED coins for rewards that have ‘No TnC’. You can pick the rewards as per your requirement.
Safety & Privacy Concerns
I am using the app and love the benefits. But there are some concerns that I want to clarify to the best of my knowledge.
#1. Credit Card Information Safety
CRED app does not save the complete credit card information. You only need to add the credit card number in the app for bill payments. No one can misuse your card without expiry date and cvv.
In my opinion, CRED app seems safe.
#2. Email Access for Statements
CRED app needs to access your email to fetch the details of credit card statements that you receive via emails. CRED claims that they won’t read anything in the emails other than credit card statements.
If you have critical information in your email then don’t give access to CRED app. You would only lose one feature, notifications of the credit card due date and amount.
After 3 years of launch, CRED must have build the partnerships with the banks for getting the credit card statement balance. They could build a system to get the authorisation from the user to get the information from the bank.
#3. Failed Payment Refunds
It may happen that payments fail due to technical or banking issues. Your money would be refunded back to your account within 1 to 3 days (or faster).
I have never faced payment failure issue but many community members have faced payment failure/delay with CRED app.
Use at your own risk. CRED is run by credible people so your money would be safe and come back to your account.
It’s an inconvenience that money gets deducted from your saving account and you have to wait for a few days to get that back. My suggestion is that if you have a big amount to pay then pay in small chunks. (maybe in multiple of 10,000 as shown in the snapshot below)
#4. Delayed Payment Credit
Don’t pay the credit card bills on the last day of the due date. Delays may happen in reflecting the payments in your credit card statement. However, I have seen that all the payments made through CRED appeared on the same day in my credit card statement.
To be on the safe side, always pay 2-3 days before the last date of the credit card. My suggestion is to complete the credit card bill payments as soon as you get the salary.
What Needs to be Improved
#1. No Email Access Requirement
CRED should work on their partnership with the bank to get the credit card bill statement directly from the bank. Currently, CRED asks for email access to fetch the details of credit card statements which is definitely a security concern for some people.
#2. Better Offers
Deals under the reward catalog are actually not much useful these days. You would get a higher discount directly on other shopping sites for similar products.
CRED should bring some good deals that actually benefit the user. They can bring some exclusive launch deals which would benefit the user and the partner companies as well. Like AppSumo brings deals for SAAS products.
Verdict
CRED app benefits are over and above the credit card rewards & cashback. There is no reason to miss the extra cashback & rewards that come by just paying the bills through the app.
You are anyways going to use net-banking to pay your credit cards, why not to double the benefits.
I would give 3 out of 5 to CRED app for its beautiful design, ease of payments and value of reward points. 1 point deducted because of delayed/failed payment experience of CashOverflow readers and 1 point for not bringing exciting offers for the users.
If you want to enjoy a luxury lounges experience for free then you can check out the list of best credit cards for free airport lounges in India.
Hi all
I made a payment thru cred in July 2022 and it failed. After a chat with their bot, and dozens of mails, I get a standard reply
“ Greetings from CRED!
Thank you for your response.
With regards to your concern we would request you get back to us with the password-free PDF statement from the date of payment till date for us to check and assist you with the concern accordingly. As you said that you have more queries so kindly elaborate so that we can assist you accordingly.
Feel free to reply to this email for any further assistance. You may respond to us from the app by clicking on this link.
Regards,
Team CRED”
After a dozen replies to de above mail, I tried to contact them thru their helpline. It was then I discovered that poor CRED doesn’t have one. So I decided to donate my money to them to help them buy a phone line instead of wasting my precious time with this moronic CHEAT.
If u still wanna use CHEATING CRED, then you are de moron n u deserve to donate your money to another moron.
You should tag the founder of CRED on Twitter and hopefully you will get the resolution.
I am planned to use this app thank god after seing this comment now plan change .
Thank you friends for ur valuable feedback…..
Cred customer care Helpline number 9433.47.6191..payment issue.. have made the payment on 29th October 2019 and still it’s not reflecting to the my credit Card and now i am getting calls, SMS, emails for non-payment of credit card which is spoiling my cibil records and also i have been imposed penalties for late payment on credit Card, Bank has already informed me that payment has been successfully done on the same time and payment also received to CRED message also been received from CRED system
REPLY
Bill payment successful paid ok
I had payment through cred toll -free app No:9433.47.6191 refund amount just on date 14 /09 /18 yet the payment not updated .
Not any payment received message from electricity board
I have received hdfc credit card bill Rs.2125/- and its due date is 9.11.2021 and i paid above credit card bill on 1.12.2021 Rs.1000/- and 1114/- and and i see rs.11 and Rs.5 is cash back of above transaction and Rs.1000 and 1114 is deducted my BOB Account. But above amount is not credit in my next month HDFC credit card bill. so where is my money. many time i request for call back of cred but it is not supported and said your amount is send to HDFC Credit card. but HDFC Credit Card Executive said above amount is not received. So who is responsible. So I request you to don’t take HDFC credit card and don’t paid any amount via CRED. It is fraud website. no costumer care number in this app. I enclosed with proof and don’t pay any amount to cred.
You can contact the Cred team on Twitter. Even if the issue is not resolved, you may need to take legal action.
Cred app customer care number 9064-786-587 payment issue.. have made the payment on 29th October 2019 and still it’s not reflecting to the my credit Card and now i am getting calls, SMS, emails for non-payment of credit card which is spoiling my cibil records and also i have been imposed penalties for late payment on credit Card, Bank has already informed me that payment has been successfully done on the same time and payment also received to CRED message also been received from CRED system
Didn’t know that review comments can be deleted! Reposting it. While making payment for my credit card bill through Cred, the amount from my account got debited thrice but the payment was not made. It’s been more than 14 business days and I haven’t got the refund. I have followed up multiple times and they have asked me to wait (endlessly!)
Cred app customer care number 933-9433-406 payment issue have made the payment on 29th October 2019 and still it’s not reflecting to the my credit Card and now i am getting calls, SMS, emails for non-payment of credit card which is spoiling my cibil records and also i have been imposed penalties for late payment on credit Card, Bank has already informed me that payment has been successfully done on the same time and payment also received to CRED message also been received from CRED system
Fake referalls program I refer 3 members also they join cred and make payment but cred didn’t give me cashback.all customer care is told me we are discussing from last 6 days.they are not helping me.
Try to reach our CRED customer support over twitter.
I am planned to use this app thank god after seing this comments i think its no use to instal this app…
Thank you friends.
My cred app number 9*75*44*58 is credit card payment not track plz help me
Please contact CRED customer support team
Cred app customer care number../6201673256/////have made the payment on 29th October 2019 and still it’s not reflecting to the my credit Card and now i am getting calls, SMS, emails for non-payment of credit card which is spoiling my cibil records and also i have been imposed penalties for late payment on credit Card, Bank has already informed me that payment has been successfully done on the same time and payment also received to CRED message also been received from CRED system
If you received the message/email from the bank regarding the successful payment then you should visit your bank branch and show the proof to the bank.
Check your credit card statements from that period to find the discrepancy.
After reading all the comments I’m clear close the door for CRED.
Does anyone have first hand experience with the Hotels / Travel options it shows for redeeming cred points ?
It shows me some huge cred point balance but the redeem options don’t inspire much confidence.
Specially as all products have some part to be paid in cash and some in points. Unless there are at least some products, even smaller ones, that need only points, I tend to feel doubtful.
In terms of purely making payments for multiple cards I find it very useful. Somehow this is one app where I have never faced any problem at all.
But I am sure some % of users must have faced problems and at that point if Cred doesn’t have anyone for support on phone who is empowered to do something meaningful to help the user then it doesn’t have much future.
One bad experience with financial transactions is enough. Specially when its a 3rd party’s fault.
You can compare the travel options over CRED with other online websites. Go for CRED only if you find a better deal.
Currently, there is no single product that can be bought only with the points.
Today, I made my mind to go for CRED, but thankfully I saw these comments. It saved me from hassles. Thankful to people who have shared their experiences. Also it looks like Mr. Pradeep Goyal is only sole customer who is been specially treated by CRED.
I have explained the drawbacks and areas to improve for CRED in the article
Horrible, i have made payment of 2 of my credit card dues but even after 24 hours its not updated in the respective card statement. It only reflects in cred app that the amount is paid but not in the respective bank credit card statement. No customer acre number to enquire where the money has gone. It will impact credit score as well.
It may take up to 48 hour for payment proceeding
Then what is the purpose pay bill through cred app..that means cred using ut money for 48hrs for any other purpose may be trading ect.so people be careful and do payment only respective your credit card related bank..example citi..pay through citibank net banking..so that I am clearing my card bill max in 5mins not 48hrs
Your greed for 500rs to get those casback offer ..any one of the time delay payment due server issue or payment not credit on before due date you have to pay more penalty amount.. So be careful public on this app
In my personal experience, my payments get cleared in a fraction of mins. But some users also reported payment delays.
CRED is useful if one person has multiple credit cards and wants to manage the credit card payments at one place.
I have already auto payment mode on my account so if i want to make payment through cred should i change my auto payment mode in my bank account if no then wht will happnd if i would pay it by cred?
Better to change the auto payment mode
They are giving offers with select murchant payment as cashback money, no actual cash involved by cred. We are doing cash transaction with cred.
You can use the Kill the bill option to get a cashback scratch coupon for redeeming your points.
Guys,
Please don’t trust this app. I made the payment to one of my credit cards and the amount deducted from my account but not credited to my Credit card account. I am unable to track my payment details as they don’t even have customer care support to address such kind of issue.
Shashi.. Cred people are active on twitter. So complain them on twitter to get your complaint resolved at earliest. However, I never found any issue with CRED, using it since it’s launching date.
but why do i need to use twitter? why cant cred work like any other decent company with a proper customer care?
There is an option inside the app to contact support. You can try that
After reading all the comments about the benefits of using the app and also the problems that people face in paying their credit card payments, I would drop the idea of using CRED. Just for the sake of few bucks, I cannot risk my payments of large amounts and later get frustrated and contact customer care and Twitter etc etc.
Gitanshu..
You are right. Even I think twice before making a decision where the money is involved.
But I would like to tell you that I am personally using CRED without any issue.
Pardeep,
I am using the cred app only for one month 2 payment has been made on time but right now I am facing issue that cred is not paying the money to the bank. I have paid the money 3 day before the due date through cred app using net banking feature . Then why Cred is not paying the money to the bank on time.
Rakesh.. Complain on their twitter handle.. They are very active on twitter
After reading comments about the problems that people face in paying their credit card payments, I facing same problem my payment was debited form bank, but CRED not credited my payment to credit card. I also email this issue to CRED email id – support @cred.club. But CRED not reply my mail. CRED not issue any customer Helpline/ Care number for customer. Any one know how to contact CRED Team for this problem and any one have CRED helpline number.
On 24.05.2019 amount of Rs.18,477.00 has been debited from my Bank account & not credited to My HDFC Credit cad account.
Till date I have not received back my amount neither to my bank account nor to my card account till time.
Kindly reply.
Write an email to feedback@cred.club
Or connect with them over Twitter at https://twitter.com/cred_club
They are pretty active in providing support through twitter.
Referral earning of RS 1000 to 10000 by share of 3 person (30 gems)
is it for one time only..?
I have contacted the customer support to Opt out from this app, initially they contacted, but no response after, even they are not responding to the queries, poor customer service and responsibility
Hey debasish, Complain on their Twitter handle, they are highly active on twitter.
The support service is very poor. No response at all and there is no Customer support number it looks app only controlling all and if any support required it on GOD grace.
Hi
We need customer care no of CRED
Haven’t got refund of transaction failed
You can write an email to feedback@cred.club
Or better to connect with them over Twitter at https://twitter.com/cred_club
They are pretty active in providing support through twitter.
Hi,
I have done payment of Rs.5000 on 08-May-2019 amount debited from my bank account but not credited to credit card and status showing failed but still no refund update came from your end.
So do it needfully.
Same thing happened with me on 8th May.. have u got your money back.. if yes how. .
I too lost 1223.09 any one can help.
It seems Cred is fake app.
No customer care service.
You can write an email to feedback@cred.club
Or better to connect with them over Twitter at https://twitter.com/cred_club
They are pretty active in providing support through twitter.
Thanks for the reply.
I have got my money back. Registered with bank details in cred app. Returned to my account.
hello
we need customer support number of CRED.
HI ,
I had paid my credit card bill for Rs 20k on 1 may thr CRED
but no amount is reflecting as a credit in my Statement.
Plz help in same.
It takes upto 48 hours.. sometimes it happen within a few minutes.
Contact CRED team if you can’t see the amount in your credit card statement even after 48 hours.
Pls show customre support no
I am not getting credgems on each referral even when referred person js accepted. What could be the reason
I wonder how they’re able to pull the credit card statement from our email which are password protected. Cred need to open the statement to view the outstanding. But, we don’t share our passwords to them though.
they probably have your PAN and DOB from CIBIL etc. and probably have a list of which bank uses which password format etc.
I’d do it that way.
CRED is fraud. They steal your personal information by accessing your emails and other info. They share these details to third party for money. This is the only way they can earn money. A small portion of money is shared to customer via voucher. This is just an eye wash to attract more Customers.
It could be true. Please share the proofs so that I can include in my review
Sir, I am using cred for last 2 months for payment of my credit cards.. last week I made payments and two of them failed to proceed but deducted from my account. From that point I have requested using app for confirmation of payment because my bank has already confirmed me that amounts have been deducted from their end… Please guide me how I will get my money back… Please…
See here what I did
First I gave my personal mail ID to CRED, they automatically read my statement, even password protected statement to show due amount and due date.
Later I removed that mail ID, I opened extra email ID and registered on CRED app. Whenever I get statement on my personal email ID, I just forward that mail only to my new email which was registered with CRED app. So they can’t hack or read my any other mails. This idea works well, try it
Hi,
thanks for sharing. i use the auto debit facility to pay my bills. The bank automatically deducts the amount due on the due date. will i have to change that setting with the bank first, if i sign up for payment via Cred?
Can payments be made regularly throughout the month in parts?
Thanks
Yes, you can make partial payments.
You would earn bonus points on each transaction.
I am thinking to use the application, but before using it, i have some doubts and clarifications required. Can you clarify it?
– What is the authenticity of application developer, as we are linking the credit card credentials along with bank accounts
– In case if they misuse the credentials for their own benefit
– What is the benefit to CRED while we are paying the same amount to the bills which has been issued to us by Credit Card Company.
I am in a big doubt why developer company named Dreamplug Technologies Private Limited is a Private incorporated on 19 April 2018. It is classified as Non-govt company and is registered at Registrar of Companies, Mumbai. Its authorized share capital is Rs. 150,000,000 and its paid up capital is Rs. 98,425,400. It is inolved in Other service activities.
How can i believe that it is genuine benefit provider.
Gunjan,
They won’t take any credentials of your credit card or banking. You need to add credit card number, similar to filling up the deposit form in bank if you have to pay credit card bill by Cash.
They can’t misuse the information because they are collecting only the number (not cvv or expiry date).
The founder of CRED is Kunal Shah (who founded FreeCharge), You can take your decision if you want to trust his company or developers. Trust is subjective things and we all have to make our personal choice.
The benefits of CRED have been described in the article.. let me know if you have any specific question about the benefit.
If they cannot facilitate a100% guaranteed transaction the only service they promote to provide how would any customer believe their business. They should be able to provide a garunteed service when it comes to financial transactions or if fail a stipulated time frame to refund which any other financial system does. Not only for Mr. Pardeep but for every other person. So then a trust develop else its a building block for a possible scam in future. Why would someone look oh they are active on only twitter so lets ping there, but not on email.These are lame excuses to believe. They need to have some SOP and not to simply put adds to lure public on every platform.
You get debit card points too :). It is definitely an awesome app!
I have not checked my debit card points. Thanks for pointing this out.
We can maximise the benefits by paying through a debit card where the reward ratio is great.
Any example of a debit card that we can use to earn extra reward points?
Sir, is there any contact number or mail I’d where I can share my issue.. I have made two payments of 1k+1k, bank has confirmed me that payments have been deducted but it’s showing the failed status in cred.. please guide me how to deal with this.
I am facing the same problem.money has been detected from saving account.but payment failed.
contact their customer care and do check your account statement if the payment amount has been re-credited to your account or not.
Which debit card do you use? I did not earn single reward point on ICICI Bank Coral debit card. I am waiting for more than two months to see my reward points. I think ICICI Bank pays no rewards. But I am sure SBI gives reward points for CRED payments
You can get details here -https://www.icicibank.com/Personal-Banking/cards/debit-card/debit-cards/the-gemstone-collection.page