SBI Card, among the largest credit card issuers in India, is making a number of significant changes effective July 15, 2025. These changes will affect insurance benefits (or lack thereof), calculated billing and the method by which you reverse your credit card dues. If you’re an SBI Card holder, certainly you will want to be familiar with the updated terms in order to avoid shocks in the future on your statement.
Complimentary Air Accident Insurance Will Be Removed
A significant change includes the removal of free air accident insurance on many of SBI’s premium cards and co-branded SBI Cards. Previously, many SBI card holders received some insurance coverage from ₹50 Lakhs to ₹1 Crore as a benefit of travel. This will no longer be available. What’s changing:
- The complimentary cover of ₹1 crore for air accidents will no longer be available on cards such as SBI Card ELITE and Miles Elite.
- SBI Card PRIME, Pulse and others will no longer have the ₹50 lakh for air accidents.
- This applies to numerous other co-branded travel credit cards as well.
- Effective date: August 11, 2025 (with notice going out from July 15)
- Impact: Frequent flyers and premium card holders who relied on this benefit as a built-in travel benefit will now need to seek stand-alone travel insurance plans.
New Billing Terms: Modifications in Minimum Amount Due (MAD)
SBI Card is changing the method of calculating its Minimum Amount Due (MAD). This is a small but very important difference, as it may change how much you have to pay each month to avoid late fees and keep your credit score. New MAD Calculation:
- Includes 100% of EMIs, finance charges, GST, fees, and over-limit charges.
- Plus 2% of the remaining outstanding amount of retail and cash spending.
- In the past, the MAD amount was typically lower and did not contain amounts that all charges were reflected in the MAD. This change is supposed to encourage users to repay more meaningfully, and to help users to pay down their debt faster.
- Effect: If you normally only pay MAD be prepared to see a much larger number in your monthly statement. This has the potential to help repayment discipline, but also constrict the monthly finances of some users.
Also read: These RuPay Credit Cards Charge ZERO Annual Fees – Don’t Miss Out!
Revised Order of Payment Reallocation
The next important update relates to the allocation of your payments to your outstanding dues. While this has been in place, most payments have been applied to retail spends, while the finance charges and fees were largely untouched and compounded upon each month.
- Hierarchy of payments (in order):
- GST
- EMI dues
- Fee and Penalty
- Finance Charges
- Balance Transfers
- Retail Spends
- Cash Advances
- Why it matters: This Structure ensures your payments go towards clearing high-interest components first, reducing the chance of rolling debt.
What Does This Mean for You?
Here’s a quick breakdown of how these changes could affect cardholders:
| Change | What You Should Do |
| No more complimentary air insurance | Consider buying separate travel insurance if you fly often |
| Higher minimum payment requirement | Review your monthly budget to accommodate slightly higher dues |
| New payment allocation method | Try to pay in full each month to avoid finance charges |
To Wrap Up
The SBI Card updated changes facilitates their aim for enhanced credit discipline, trust in billing, transparency and it is not unreasonable to think that some users may be shook, especially for those users who have relied on complimentary insurance, offered by or just paid the minimum payment due on their credit card statement. So, here is what you can do:
- First, try to always pay the full amount due and also when you pay interest only when you want to.
- Second, shop for third-party travel insurance for trips.
- Third, make sure after July 15, you pay attention to your credit card statements and examine them to get familiar with the new layout of billings.
Individually, these changes may not seem like much, but collectively they affect how you behave with your credit card, and therefore your financial world. Be aware and actively practice adapting these changes in your own behavior with your SBI credit card as appropriate.
Written by Pranjal Data
