Whatever you do, let's mint together. Review on Imintpoints

I received the imint card with a free membership - courtesy a certain bank. Ok, I’ll clarify. One of the members of the bank was pleased when I pointed out that I had written reviews on the bank and they seem to have read it. And so, I receive another card from them!?!

Again, I must clarify – I am not fond of plastic since I am bankrupt most days. However, there appears to be a slight difference with this card. Let’s review what imint offers and specifically how it can improve.

Imint is a membership card with a points collection system based on your purchases. However, the payment option is not limited to your credit or debit card(where the points accumulate) but also through other forms – cash, cheque, DD…

Earlier, I used to get a discount on cash purchases. But there was no way of accumulating points for rewards. But now I do. I specifically recommend this card for frequent air travelers. It certainly is a boon for users who pay cash. I would recommend imint for those -

who get the membership free

are frequent flyers  through Indian Airlines or use Maketrip often

transact mostly through cash.

What do you do with the points?

Unlike MS points where the points have no intrinsic value, you get to exchange the points for gifts right from an ipod, golf set, clothing, beauty accessories, vouchers, pen drives, refridgerators, TVs(including 29 inches), digital camera, mobile phone camcorder, an LCD tv too! If you have any other card which provides as much variety of gifts by the points collection, then go for it.

You accumulate the maximum number of points when you book air tickets- Indian Airlines to be specific . You earn 6 points on every 100 Rs spent at the travel outlets.(Of course you need to check if they have imint through a travel agent) And if you like makemytrip.com you receive upto 18 points for every 100 Rs on international packages.

That means a minimum spend of 5000 on domestic tickets and you receive an amazing 300 points. Now which card offers you that many points? Some of the jewellery stuff, household items, kid stuff, books and automotive rewards programs appear attractive. For complete info on rewards, check out rewards at imintpoints.com. However, if you don’t wish for any, you can opt for any of the gift vouchers for clothing, eateries or any purchase on electronic stores. Good deal if you ensure that all your purchases are cash.

One sore point of this program is the lack of a good network associated with imint. While it is free to you, it appears imint charges the dealer a percentage. And while they seem to be building their network, I scarcely see any with the imints logo.(Much like the sodexho, I need to check out which have that symbol before going in) While you can check the points collected online, it is a little cumbersome to obtain one if you don’t have a free card. You pay 199(the cheapest offer so far) for the membership and you are done. I do have a card, but a closer look at the validity makes me suspicious. I think the charges are 199 annually while the charges were waived off initially. I am keeping a close watch on the rules of the program. I already have a bad experience with the card. I mean the petrol bunk just refused to swipe imint. They hadn’t even heard about it before!

Since its early days yet, I won’t put the product down.(I will leave it to the future reviewers for this category) Let’s hope they improve the dealer network.

Currently, imint has a tie up with Airtel, HP pumps, ICICI bank, Indian Airlines, Lifestyle, Makemytrip and also a few select retail/clothing stores. So if your life revolves around the above which accept imint, you are on your way to some free add ons. Also, some of their dealers like makemy trip are not exactly good in the reputation market, but I believe with the recent changes, there is some pretty good service in the offing. Of course, you need to continually check that the points have been updated at the imints site., ie., after registering yourself with the card(once you receive it). Its success definitely depends on a wider acceptability of the card plus more offers for the cash segment.

There is no other offering a rewards program for the cash segment and imint should be able to capture this provided they capitalize on the early bird and the worm theory. Only wish it were possible for the street cart vendors and the pani puri guys too…