FIRST EA₹N Credit Card Review: ₹5,000 FD, UPI Cashback, ₹500 Cap

Fees on FIRST EA₹N

The MITC fixes the joining fee at ₹499 and the annual fee at ₹499, GST extra, so ₹588.82 each time (₹499 plus ₹89.82 of 18% GST). The card page has been showing ₹0 joining as a limited-period offer; treat it as an offer only and check if it still run when you apply. Add-on cards are not available.

Getting the annual fee waived

From the second year, the annual fee is waived if you spend ₹1 lakh or more in the card year. That is about ₹8,334 a month (₹1,00,000 divided by 12, rounded up), which most people paying groceries, phone bills and food on UPI can reach. Miss it and ₹588.82 come out of a year's cashback, which for a light user can be nearly all of it.

Interest, late fee and cash

• Interest: set per cardholder in a range of 0.71% to 3.85% a month (8.5% to 46.2% a year), and 3.99% a month, 47.88% yearly, if the minimum due is missed.
• Late fee: 15% of the previous statement's total due minus payments before the due date, from ₹100 up to ₹1,300, and nothing if the due is under ₹100. On a ₹2,000 due that is ₹300 (15% of ₹2,000).
• Cash: ₹199 + GST per withdrawal, with no interest for up to 45 days. On a small limit, cash also eat the room you need for UPI.
• Over-limit: the facility isn't offered on this card, so there is no over-limit fee.

Forex and other charges

Forex markup is zero since 9 September 2026. The bank's category fees apply here as on its other cards: 1% on rent with a ₹249 minimum, 1% on utilities once they cross ₹20,000 in a cycle, 1% on fuel above ₹30,000, railway above ₹25,000 and tolls above ₹10,000 in a cycle, 1% on education through third-party apps with a ₹249 minimum, and 2% (minimum ₹500) when a payment bounce. With an FD-sized limit, most users never come near these thresholds. All charges attract 18% GST, and there is no fuel surcharge waiver.

How the cashback works

Cashback is in rupees and credited to the card, so there is no points, no redemption fee and nothing to expire. The rates:

• 1% on UPI spends through the IDFC FIRST Bank mobile app, for cards issued on or after 16 December 2025.
• 0.5% on UPI through other apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm and Cred, on online spends, on utility, insurance and wallet loads, and on international spends.
• Nothing on EMI transactions and cash withdrawals. The bank does not say whether fuel earns cashback.

All this regular cashback stop at ₹500 a statement cycle. At 1% you reach the cap after ₹50,000 of UPI through the bank's app (₹500 divided by 1%), and at 0.5% it takes ₹1,00,000. Since the limit equals your FD, many users will run out of limit long before the cap.

Travel bonus in the app

Hotels booked through FIRST Rewards Gallery in the app earn 5% bonus cashback over the base 0.5%, so 5.5% in all, and flights earn 2% extra, 2.5% in all. The bonus has its own cap of ₹2,000 a calendar month across both, which a hotel booking hit at ₹40,000 (₹2,000 divided by 5%); the ₹500 cap is for regular cashback.

Joining offer and extras

The first transaction get 10% cashback up to ₹250, so a first spend of ₹2,500 earns the full amount (10% of ₹2,500). There's also 25% off movie tickets, up to ₹100, once a month. Cashback accrues only on spends up to your credit limit in a cycle, and a cycle's cashback is cancelled if the Minimum Amount Due isn't paid by the due date.

Worked examples

• Light, ₹6,000 a month on a ₹10,000 FD: ₹4,000 on the bank's UPI at 1% is ₹40 and ₹2,000 online at 0.5% is ₹10, so ₹50 a month and ₹600 a year. Yearly spend is ₹72,000 (₹6,000 times 12), short of ₹1 lakh, so the ₹588.82 fee leave only ₹11.18 (₹600 minus ₹588.82). Lifting spend to ₹8,334 a month would save the fee.
• Typical, ₹15,000 a month on a ₹25,000 FD: ₹10,000 at 1% is ₹100, ₹3,000 on other UPI apps at 0.5% is ₹15 and ₹2,000 online is ₹10, so ₹125 a month (₹100 + ₹15 + ₹10) and ₹1,500 a year (₹125 times 12). The ₹1,80,000 of yearly spend (₹15,000 times 12) clears ₹1 lakh, so there's no annual fee.
• Heavy, ₹60,000 a month on a ₹1,00,000 FD: ₹40,000 at 1% is ₹400, ₹15,000 online is ₹75 and ₹5,000 of utilities is ₹25, exactly the ₹500 cap (₹400 + ₹75 + ₹25), or ₹6,000 a year (₹500 times 12). A ₹20,000 hotel booked in the app in two months adds ₹1,000 bonus each (5% of ₹20,000), so ₹8,000 for the year (₹6,000 + ₹2,000).

In those hotel months the heavy user spends ₹80,000 (₹60,000 + ₹20,000), still inside a ₹1,00,000 limit. Beyond the ₹500 cap, though, extra regular spend in that cycle earns nothing at all.

Who can get FIRST EA₹N

The bank's criteria is short: an Indian citizen aged 18 to 80, with a current and permanent residential address, and a fixed deposit of at least ₹5,000 with IDFC FIRST Bank. No credit history is needed, and the bank publish no income requirement for it. The final decision still stay with the bank.

The FD rules

Your credit limit is 100% of the FD, and ₹5,000 is the smallest FD accepted. The card page gives no more FD details, such as tenure or what happens to the deposit if dues go unpaid, so ask before you open one. Across the banks we track, FD-backed cards give 80% to 100% of the deposit as limit, so IDFC FIRST's 100% is at the generous end.

Documents and applying

Only Aadhaar and PAN are listed as proof of identity. You can apply online, where the FD is opened as part of the journey, or at a branch. Once issued, the virtual card is linked automatically to the IDFC FIRST Bank app for UPI.

Your rights as a new borrower

• The RBI's 2025 card Directions require your explicit consent before any card is issued.
• The account can't be reported to credit bureaus before you activate the card.
• You should get a one-page Key Fact Statement with the interest rate and charges.
• If the bank say no, it must give you the reasons in writing.

From 1 July 2026 lenders report to bureaus as on the 9th, 16th, 23rd and last day of each month, so a late payment shows up fast. Questions go to 1800 10 888, or see our IDFC FIRST customer care page. With no history at all, our guide to cards without credit history can help.

Who FIRST EA₹N suits

It fits a student, homemaker or first-jobber who want a real credit card but can't show income or history. If you already pay most things by UPI, routing them through the IDFC FIRST app at 1% is easy, and ₹8,334 a month of such spends keeps the fee off from the second year.

It's less good once your spends grow. The ₹500 cap means ₹6,000 a year (₹500 times 12) is the most regular cashback you can earn, and nothing else sits on top: no lounges, no fuel waiver, no published insurance. A FD of ₹5,000 also gives a limit too small for anything beyond daily spends.

Points to keep in mind

• Only UPI through the bank's own app gets 1%; the same spend on another app gets half.
• It is virtual only, so there's no card to swipe at a counter which don't take UPI.
• Cashback land on your card statement, so there is no redemption to remember.
• Paying at least the Minimum Amount Due on time matters double, since a missed one cancel that cycle's cashback.

Clear the full bill every month and the card costs you nothing beyond the fee, which is important because interest on a carried balance can reach 3.85% a month.

Other FD-backed cards to weigh

All three below are secured against a deposit, so they suit the same person. The table below sets them side by side.

FIRST EA₹N or FIRST WOW!

IDFC FIRST's own FIRST WOW! is lifetime free but needs a bigger FD, at least ₹20,000. It earns 4 points per ₹200 worth ₹0.25 each, so 0.5%, on online, offline and international spends with no cap published, and gives a 1% fuel surcharge waiver up to ₹200 a cycle. For UPI it needs the ₹199 + GST FIRST Digital RuPay card. If you can lock up ₹20,000 and spend over ₹50,000 a month, WOW! avoid the ₹500 ceiling; if you live on UPI with a small FD, EA₹N is simpler.

FIRST EA₹N or Kotak Dream Different

The Kotak Dream Different card charges ₹424 + GST to join and no annual fee. It pays 2% cashback in billing cycles where you spend ₹15,000 or more, capped at ₹500 a cycle with UPI cashback limited to ₹200 and ₹100 per transaction, and the cashback expires 30 days after it is made available. Its MITC sets the limit at 80% of a FD of at least ₹10,000 (another Kotak page says 90%; we use the MITC), and forex is 2%. Spend ₹15,000 a month and Kotak pays more; spend less and EA₹N's 1% on bank-app UPI wins.

FIRST EA₹N or AU NOMO

AU NOMO costs ₹199 + GST once and nothing from the second year. It earns 2 points per ₹100 at ₹0.25, so 0.5%, up to 5,000 points a cycle, gives 2 domestic lounge visits a quarter once you spend ₹50,000 in a quarter, and charges 0.99% forex. It needs a ₹20,000 FD with AU. NOMO suits someone who wants the odd lounge visit; EA₹N gives more on UPI and charge no forex.

For more, see our best credit cards for UPI or the credit cards hub.