Rent payment through credit card: which cards earn, what it costs

What does each bank charge to pay rent by credit card?

Most banks charge 1% of the rent plus 18% GST. SBI Card charges a flat Rs 199 plus GST, and three Kotak cards charge 2%.

DBS sets a Rs 199 minimum, YES BANK does on payments above Rs 1,000, and IDFC FIRST sets Rs 249. So rent below Rs 19,900 at DBS and YES BANK, or below Rs 24,900 at IDFC FIRST, costs more than 1%. AU's Rs 99 minimum applies below Rs 9,900.

This fee is the bank's own. ICICI's FAQ says its 1% is in addition to any platform or convenience fee the merchant charges.

Banks mostly spot rent by merchant category code 6513, which ten of the banks below name. ICICI and SBI Card word the fee as covering rent paid through any merchant.

Read at each bank's document on 31 October 2026. Canara Bank's MITC, American Express's MITC (updated 31 March 2026) and Punjab National Bank's key fact statement do not mention rent, which does not prove there is no fee or that rent is accepted. Federal Bank's document was blocked and Bank of Baroda's returned an error, so they are not listed.

Which credit cards earn rewards on rent?

We read no bank document that promises rewards on rent. HDFC's MITC, updated 29 October 2026, says rent earns no Reward Points or CashPoints on all its cards, from 1 January 2023. ICICI's MITC, updated 9 October 2026, says no reward points on code 6513 for all credit cards, but ICICI's changes page still says its February 2024 rent change will not apply to Amazon Pay ICICI, so ask ICICI if you hold that card.

ICICI's MITC rent lines carry no Amazon Pay exception. It also names codes 7014, 7407 and 5271 as rent in some card sections and says its code lists are not exhaustive.

SBI Card's MITC sets the rent fee but gives no general rule on rewards. Its customer notices say reward points on rent stopped on ten co-brand cards from 1 July 2023 (Aditya Birla, Apollo, BPCL, Delhi Metro, Mumbai Metro, Chennai Metro, Fabindia, IRCTC, Ola Money and Yatra), on certain cards from 1 April 2024 (AURUM, Elite, PRIME, Pulse, SimplyCLICK and SimplySAVE, among others) and on others from 15 April 2024 (Air India Signature, BPCL OCTANE, IRCTC Premier, Club Vistara and Etihad Guest, among others). A card missing from these lists may still not earn, so ask SBI Card.

Kotak's reward table, effective 1 June 2025, shows no rewards or cashback on rent for the cards it lists, including Privy League Signature, Royale Signature, League Platinum, Urbane, Dream Different, Kotak 811, Essentia, IndianOil Kotak and the IndiGo Kotak cards. The other MITCs we read state no general rule.

The table below shows what our catalogue holds for each open card, with its source and date. Rows marked Not confirmed were not verified. A card that does not list rent is not proof that it earns.

A NoBroker blog post, updated 5 February 2026, says users can earn points, rewards or cashback on rent. Your bank's terms decide what your card pays.

400 of 562 open cards, from 34 banks. 162 open cards have no figure here because we did not find one. Rows marked Not confirmed are figures we could not check against the issuer document, so check with the bank.

Does rent count toward annual fee waivers and milestones?

Often not. ICICI excludes rent from the spend threshold for annual fee reversal and milestone benefits from 15 November 2024, and Axis excludes it from the annual fee threshold on Select, Reserve, Magnus and Magnus for Burgundy from 1 September 2023.

Kotak excludes rent from the spend-based fee waiver on Air, Cashback+ Prime, Air+ Prime and Air+, and from milestone benefits on named cards. So Rs 4.8 lakh a year in rent may do nothing toward a waiver. See how other large bills are treated.

Is paying rent by credit card worth the fee?

Only if what you get beats the fee, which is 1.18% of the rent at a 1% bank. On a card that pays no rewards on rent, the only return is the interest-free days.

An example. Your rent is Rs 40,000 and your bank charges 1%. The fee is Rs 400. GST at 18% adds Rs 72, for Rs 472. That is 1.18% of the rent, and Rs 5,664 over 12 months. SBI Card's flat fee on the same rent is Rs 199 plus Rs 35.82 GST, or Rs 234.82, about 0.59%.

Break-even on rewards. A card would need to return more than Rs 472 in usable value on that Rs 40,000. A hypothetical 1% return gives Rs 400, which leaves you Rs 72 short.

Break-even on the free credit. HDFC and SBI Card both say the interest-free period could range from 20 to 50 days. Paying Rs 472 to hold Rs 40,000 for 50 days works out to about 8.6% a year. If the rent lands only 20 days before the due date, it is about 21.5% a year. Your money would need to earn more than that for the fee to pay for itself.

If you pay through an app. A 1% app fee with GST takes the example to about Rs 944, or 2.36%. That is about 17.2% a year for 50 days of credit and about 43% for 20 days.

If you do not clear the bill. The free days go. At 3.75% a month, the rate in HDFC's own illustration, one month's interest on Rs 40,472 is about Rs 1,518, and GST adds about Rs 273. That is about Rs 1,791 for the month, nearly four times the fee. See what paying only the minimum costs and how the statement date sets your free days.

What do rent payment apps charge on top?

A NoBroker blog post, updated 5 February 2026, says its charges usually range between 1% and 2% for credit card transactions, plus GST, and that the fee is shown on the payment page. That is the app's own statement. We could not confirm a current figure for any other app.

If the app's fee is charged to your card as part of the payment, the bank's percentage may apply to the larger amount. Read the final amount on the payment screen.

On 31 October 2026 we could not read a rent fee at the source for CRED, Housing.com, MyGate, PhonePe, Paytm, MobiKwik or RedGiraffe. The RBI's card directions require a card issuer to show a convenience fee before the transaction. Its aggregator direction says an aggregator must ensure merchant charges beyond the price are distinctly displayed first.

Can I pay my landlord directly with a credit card on UPI?

Not as a person-to-person payment at the banks we read. ICICI, Axis and RBL all limit a RuPay credit card on UPI to merchant payments and do not allow peer-to-peer transactions.

The rent fee follows you onto UPI. Axis says the 1% fee applies on a credit card on UPI payment identified through code 6513. See our guide to RuPay credit cards on UPI.

What does the RBI say about paying rent by credit card?

We found no RBI line that names rent. The RBI's Master Direction on Payment Aggregators, dated 15 September 2025, and its card directions, updated as on 1 October 2026, do not mention rent or landlords, so we cannot tell you the RBI permits or bans it. We found no later amendment on rent, though we cannot rule one out.

The aggregator direction says an aggregator can collect funds only for a merchant it has a contract with, and defines a merchant as an entity or marketplace that sells goods, provides services or offers investment products. It does not say how a landlord fits, so ask the app or your bank.

The card directions do protect you on charges. The RBI's direction for commercial banks says a bank cannot levy a charge it did not explicitly disclose, and it must give 30 days' notice of a change in terms.

What are the risks of paying rent by credit card?

The main risks are a review of your card, a fee you do not get back, and interest if you do not clear the bill. ICICI and Axis can restrict or cancel a card they think is being misused, without giving a reason first.

ICICI says the card is issued solely for personal use and that it may review disproportionate usage at a few merchants, potential merchant collusion and misuse of programmes to build up rewards. Axis lists similar checks, and says it may cancel the card and withhold rewards without notice.

These terms do not name genuine rent as misuse or say what amount or pattern would trigger a review. Both banks list collusion with a merchant among their checks, so a payment presented as something other than rent carries that risk.

Rent can also use up a low limit, and a missed due date adds a late fee. Use My Cards to see the charges on the cards you hold, or Find to compare cards.