AU zeroes rewards — 100% cut

AU Small Finance Bank has announced a significant devaluation of its rewards program, effective April 1, 2024. The bank will no longer offer reward points on fuel, rent, education, and government spends, and will also cap utility rewards at 100 points per transaction. This change is expected to impact households that spend heavily on these categories, as they will no longer earn any reward points. The affected categories include fuel, rent, education, government, and BBPS payments, which will now earn zero points. Our take: fuel, rent, education, government and BBPS all to zero, with utility rewards capped at 100 points per transaction — for a household whose card spend is mostly bills, an AU card now earns nothing across most of the statement. The Ananta and the Zenith were sold on exactly that everyday spend, and the annual fee did not fall to match. Whatever you are paying for those cards, you are now paying it for the lounge access alone.