In-depth review
AU SPONT Credit Card
A clean, no-fuss flat-cashback card built around UPI — 1% back, credited straight to your statement, on e-commerce, POS, contactless and scan-and-pay through any UPI app, capped at ₹500 per statement cycle. It won't out-earn a good category card, and the ₹299 fee has no published waiver — but for a UPI-first spender who doesn't want to track categories it's honest, low-friction value. Just know the airport-lounge perk is gated behind ₹50,000 of quarterly spend; railway lounges are not.
Read the full review →Key features
What this card is built to do — the highlights that actually matter.
1% on Other
1% cashback, credited to the statement, on e-commerce, POS, contactless and UPI spends — capped at ₹500 per statement cycle
Airport Lounge Access
2 domestic airport lounge visits per quarter on ₹50,000 quarterly spend (plus 2 railway lounge visits per quarter unconditionally)
Fuel Surcharge Waiver
1% waiver on fuel transactions, capped at ₹100/month
UPI Linked
Pay UPI QR codes from your credit line. What UPI payments earn can depend on the app you pay through, so check the rewards details.
✈️ TRAVEL BENEFITS
Lounge access, miles, forex rates and travel perks at a glance.
AIRPORT LOUNGE ACCESS
8 visits/yr
Domestic lounges
₹5,200
Estimated annual value
3.49%
Forex markup
- Domestic airport lounge access (8 domestic visits/yr, worth ~₹5,200)
For UPI-heavy spenders who want a simple flat 1% back on everyday spends — including scan-and-pay — without tracking categories, and whose monthly spend sits under the ₹50,000 that exhausts the ₹500 cashback cap.
Full reward structure
What you earn on every rupee, per spend category — as of 11 Oct 2026.
| Category | Type | Rate | Monthly cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other | cashback | 1% | ₹500 |
Other: 1% cashback, credited to the statement, on e-commerce, POS, contactless and UPI spends — capped at ₹500 per statement cycle
Earns nothing on: Fuel · Rent · Government & Tax · Education · Cash Advances · EMI Conversions · Insurance
These spends earn no rewards at all — not a reduced rate, and not the base rate. They are also normally left out of any milestone or fee-waiver calculation.
Fees & charges
The numbers that matter beyond rewards — verify on the issuer site before applying. Fees below are shown inclusive of 18% GST, as of 11 Oct 2026.
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹353 |
| Joining fee (incl. 18% GST) | ₹353 |
| Finance charge (APR) | 3.75% p.m. |
| Forex markup | 3.49% |
| Fuel surcharge waiver | 1%, cap ₹100 |
Perks & benefits
Estimated annual value beyond rewards — ~₹5,700/yr in total.
2 domestic airport lounge visits per quarter on ₹50,000 quarterly spend (plus 2 railway lounge visits per quarter unconditionally)
1% fuel surcharge waiver on transactions between ₹400 and ₹5,000, capped ₹100 per statement cycle
Should you get it?
- Best for: UPI-first everyday spenders, People who want simple flat cashback without category tracking
- Entry tier — great for first-time and lower-spend users.
- Strongest value if you spend heavily on everyday spends (1% back).
- Frequent travellers benefit from the included airport lounge access.
Pros & cons
✓ Pros
- Flat 1% cashback across e-comm, POS, contactless and UPI (capped ₹500/cycle)
- UPI spends via AU's 0101 app additionally earn coins redeemable at AU Rewardz
- Railway lounge access plus spend-gated airport lounges
✕ Cons
- Cashback is capped at ₹500 per statement cycle
- Flat 1% is modest next to category cashback cards
- Airport lounge access is gated behind ₹50,000 of quarterly spend
- The ₹299 fee applies every year — AU publishes no spend-based waiver
Eligibility & documents
Documents required
- 📄PAN card
- 📄Aadhaar / valid address proof
- 📄Latest 3 months bank statement
- 📄Income proof — salary slips (salaried) or ITR (self-employed)
- 📄Recent passport-size photograph
How to redeem rewards
Ways to convert what you earn into real value.
- 🎁Statement credit / cashback adjustment
- 🎁Online rewards catalogue (vouchers, merchandise)
What your Cashback are worth
Realistic value per point by redemption route — the difference is what most people leave on the table.
Direct cash adjustment — no conversion
Cashback is capped at ₹500 per statement cycle, the ₹299 fee has no published waiver, and fuel, rent, government, education, cash, EMI and insurance spends earn nothing.
Frequently asked questions
What does the AU SPONT earn?
Does it offer lounge access?
Is it lifetime free?
How has the AU SPONT Credit Card changed over time?
Has the AU SPONT Credit Card been devalued recently?
When did the AU SPONT Credit Card's fees last change?
How did the AU SPONT Credit Card change in 2026?
The bottom line
A clean flat-cashback UPI card. The appeal is simplicity — 1% on e-comm, POS, contactless and UPI alike, up to ₹500 a statement cycle, with lounge access that scales with spend. It will not out-earn a good category card, but for a spender who lives on UPI it is honest, low-friction value at a small fee.
How this page was built
Counted from this card’s own record: 1 earn rule, 1 of them capped, the spends listed as earning nothing and 2 recorded perks.
Last updated 11 Oct 2026.
Sources & verification
Fees, reward rates, and benefits for the AU SPONT Credit Card are taken from AU Small Finance Bank's official Most Important Terms & Conditions (MITC) and fee schedule — see the card's official page. Last updated 11 Oct 2026. Reviewed by Devchandra Sah. Always confirm current details on the issuer's site before applying. How we research →
Independence. CardAdvisor is an independent editorial publication. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or authorised to act for AU Small Finance Bank. All issuer names, product names, and payment-network marks are the property of their respective owners and appear here for identification and comparison only. Card faces shown on this site are our own original illustrations — we do not display or host issuer card artwork or logos.
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Guides and reviews related to this card.
Value timeline
Every real-world change to this card's rewards, fees and benefits we've tracked — newest first, each linked to its source.
Tracking since 2024 · last change Jul 2026
2026
- ▼ FeeEffective 1 Jul 2026
Fuel fair-usage terms tightened — trigger halved, levy on the whole aggregate
1% fair-usage charge once monthly fuel spends exceeded 50% of the credit limit or ₹50,000→1% on the entire aggregate once a single fuel transaction exceeds ₹10,000 or monthly fuel spends exceed ₹25,000
From 1 July 2026 AU tightened its fuel fair-usage charge: the trigger dropped from ₹50,000 of aggregate fuel spend in a calendar month to ₹25,000 (or a single fuel transaction above ₹10,000), and the 1% charge is now levied on the entire aggregate fuel spend for the month rather than the portion above the threshold. Fair-usage charges do not apply to international transactions. The complimentary fuel-surcharge waiver bands are unchanged.
Verification: AU Small Finance Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
- ▼ FeeEffective 14 Jun 2026
New 1% fair-usage charge on transportation spends
No transportation fair-usage charge→1% on the entire aggregate once monthly transportation spends exceed 50% of the credit limit or ₹25,000, whichever is lower
From 14 June 2026 AU levies a 1% fair-usage charge when aggregate transportation spends (MCC 4111, 4112 and 4784 — local commuter transport, passenger rail and tolls) in a calendar month exceed 50% of the credit limit or ₹25,000, whichever is lower. The charge applies to the entire aggregate transportation spend for the month, not just the excess. IRCTC and select marquee travel partners are excluded, international transactions are out of scope, and AU exempts the ixigo AU co-brand variants entirely. This charge is separate from (and adds to) the April 2026 removal of reward-point earning on transportation MCCs.
Verification: AU Small Finance Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
- ▼ LoungeEffective 10 Apr 2026
Domestic lounge spend-gate raised to ₹50,000/quarter
₹20,000 minimum spend per calendar quarter→₹50,000 minimum spend per calendar quarter
AU raised the domestic-airport-lounge quarterly spend threshold from ₹20,000 to ₹50,000 bank-wide; SPONT was already spend-gated (since the 2025-01-01 event above), so this is a rate increase, not a new restriction, for this card. Railway lounges remain unconditional.
Verification: AU Small Finance Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
- ▼ RewardEffective 10 Apr 2026
Transportation-category spends stop earning cashback
1% cashback earned on transportation spend (rail, transit, tolls and similar MCCs)→transportation MCCs excluded from the 1% cashback
AU excluded 11 transportation merchant-category codes (rail, transit, tolls and similar) from reward earning bank-wide, narrowing SPONT's "every spend" 1% cashback promise. (Dating note, 2026-08-06: AU's own surfaces carry both 1 April and 10 April 2026 as the effective date of the transportation change, and the bank-wide revision PDF originally cited for it now serves a lounge-only notice at the same URL; both dates are disclosed rather than silently picking one.)
Verification: AU Small Finance Bank ↗ · Confidence: High
2025
- ▼ LoungeEffective 1 Jan 2025
Domestic airport lounge access made spend-gated
no documented spend condition on domestic lounge access→₹20,000 minimum spend per calendar quarter
AU introduced a bank-wide minimum-spend condition (₹20,000/quarter) for complimentary domestic airport lounge access, naming SPONT among the affected cards; railway lounge access stayed unconditional. This is the origin of SPONT's spend-gated domestic lounge benefit — the card was not launched with this gate.
Verification: CardAdvisor Research · Confidence: Reconstructed
Each change links to the issuer's own document — bank T&C, MITC, notice, press release or product page — where one is public. Where the bank published nothing, it's marked CardAdvisor Research and verified against the card's current terms. Independent of the live terms shown above. This timeline is one card's slice of our market-wide change record across every tracked card.
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Source: <a href="https://cardadvisor.in/cards/au-spont#value-timeline">AU SPONT Credit Card value timeline</a>, CardAdvisor (CC BY 4.0).
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