Should you be hiring a consultant to manage credit card rewards?

From points to travel perks, why credit card consultancies are becoming a must, especially for high-spenders

- Shipra Singh

What's the role of a financial advisor? They assess your finances, understand your future goals and make a plan to help you achieve those goals by investing in the right assets. In a parallel universe of financial products, a set of advisors are doing the same for credit cards.

When used correctly, credit cards can earn you anywhere from 3-30% return on your spending. So, there is enough value in the right advisory, says Rohan Varshnei, co-founder of The Points Code, a credit card rewards consultancy platform.

"I used to help out friends and family with optimizing rewards on credit cards and planning their travels. It got me thinking, there is enough demand, so why not provide the service to those who need it in exchange for a fee," said Varshnei, who started The Points Code with two other partners, Tejas Ghongadi and Jitu Hemlani, in early 2023.

Like Varshnei, credit card enthusiasts who have developed expertise in rewards, air miles and hotel loyalty points have turned into full-time consultants to help people maximize the value of credit card spends.

Ajay Awtaney, founder and editor of LiveFromALounge.com, one of the early movers in the credit cards space, regularly conducts masterclasses on credit cards that last six to seven hours. "These are for people who know nothing about the world of credit cards and loyalty programmes. These classes address how the cards are linked to the different programmes and used efficiently for travel," he said.

Different types of advice Credit card advisory is mainly available in two forms: one-time consultations for specific queries and annual enrollment for holistic advisory. In the first model, customers can expect a one- to two-hour-long video consultation or a detailed email interaction that costs ₹2,000-8,000, depending on the range of topics covered. Siddharth Raman, founder of CardExpert, offers a beginner consultation service for ₹2,999.