Lifetime Free Credit Card Guide 2025- Best Options for Beginners & Low Credit Score

Lifetime Free Credit Card: This post is divided into two parts. The first is for those whose credit score is either non-existent or poor and they want to get lifetime free credit card. The second is for those who already have a decent credit score and they want to take their first lifetime free credit card. And by decent credit score, I mean somewhere between 720 to 750 or above, if so, nothing like it. All links mentioned at the end of post.

Lifetime Free Credit Cards for People with No or Poor Credit Score

The first category of people can easily get FD-based credit cards. For that, you need to open a Fixed Deposit (FD) with the bank. Based on the amount of your FD, you get a credit limit ranging from 80% to 100%.

The options available in the market for such cards are a bit limited. We are going to tell you the Top 2 options.

Kotak 811 Dream Different Credit Card

• Lifetime Free Credit Card – No Joining and Annual Fees
• You can set a limit up to 90% of your FD amount, whereas normally other banks offer up to 80%.
• Other banks do provide FD-based credit cards, but usually, they don’t come with significant benefits. But this one is different.
• You get 4 reward points on every ₹100 spent online.
• 1 reward point = ₹0.25, meaning 1% cashback on online spends and 0.25% effective cashback on other spends.
• If you spend ₹1000 within the first 30 days of card activation, you get a ₹500 Amazon voucher, which is like free money.

• Milestone Linked Benefits:
  • Spend ₹36,000 in a year and get a ₹500 Amazon voucher.
  • Spend ₹72,000 in a year and get a ₹1000 Amazon voucher.
• Plus, you also get 3-month OTT Play subscription for ₹1 per month, which normally costs ₹300 per month.

Effective Reward Rate Example:
If you spend ₹72,000 in a year, your effective reward rate becomes more than 2%, especially if the majority of your expenses are online, which is quite decent for an FD-based credit card.

• Minimum FD required is ₹10,000.
• If you are already a Kotak 811 customer, you just need to open an FD of ₹5555 and you will also earn interest on it.
• After opening the FD, you are almost certain to get this lifetime free credit card.

OneCard Credit Card (Metal/Plastic Variant)

• Also a Lifetime Free Credit Card
• Comes in two variants: Metal and Plastic
• For the Metal Card, minimum FD required is ₹50,000.
• For Plastic Card, the FD amount varies;
  • Some get approved with ₹5000 FD,
  • Some with ₹15,000 or even ₹20,000 FD.
• You get 100% credit limit of your FD amount.
• You can also earn 7.5% interest on your FD.

One Card Credit Card is tied up with six banks, Your FD can be opened with any of these banks.

Best Part:

• Offers discounts on many popular brands:
  • 6% Value Back on Myntra
  • 3% Value Back on Flipkart
  • 5% Value Back on MakeMyTrip, Nykaa, etc.
• Full list of offers is available on their website and these offers keep changing from time to time.

Reward Rate:

• Standard: 0.25%
• On top two spend categories: 1%

Lifetime Free Credit Cards for People with a Good Credit Score (720+ CIBIL)

KREDIT.PE Yes Bank ACE RuPay Credit Card (Best for UPI Spends)

• Considered one of the best credit cards in the RuPay category for UPI spends, which most people need these days.
• A very simple, no-nonsense UPI credit card with decent rewards across all spend categories.

Why it’s good:

• Other UPI credit cards like HDFC Tata Neu, KV credit card offer 1% to 1.5% cashback,
• But with this card, you get a flat 2% cashback on UPI spends without any capping, but only if the transaction is done through the Credit Pay app.
• You can use this UPI cashback to get discounts ranging from 6% to 60% on brands like Amazon Pay, Swiggy, Flipkart, Zomato, etc.
• You get vouchers for these brands on the Credit Pay app, purchase them using your cashback at discounted rates.

Additional Yes Bank Rewards:

• 2% cashback on online shopping
• 1% cashback on offline shopping
• 0.50% cashback on utility bills
• Fuel surcharge waiver

Why it’s Unique:

• No tie-ups with random brands, only popular daily-use brands like Amazon, Swiggy, Zomato.
• Just like Amazon Pay ICICI, it’s a no-nonsense credit card with flat 2% cashback on UPI spends, no capping, no conditions.
• Credit Pay is rapidly adding new features like:
  • Bill payments (mobile recharge, electricity bills, FASTag, etc.)
  • 10% cashback on every bill payment
  • Soon expected to launch FD booking, gold purchase, etc.

Eligibility:

• Minimum age: 21 years
• Minimum monthly salary: ₹25,000
• You should not have any other Yes Bank credit card (One Card per customer policy).

Joining Bonus:

• If you apply for this card and link it to Credit Pay UPI, you get a ₹1000 joining bonus, which is free money as this card is lifetime free.
• Earlier, this bonus was ₹500, now temporarily ₹1000; it may reduce again soon.

Amazon Pay ICICI Credit Card

Amazon ICICI Credit Card is maintained its position as one of the top credit cards for the last 5 years and, One of the favorite cards, even the I personally uses it for the last 4 years without disappointment.

Main Features:

• 5% cashback on Amazon for Prime users
• 3% cashback for non-Prime users
• 2% cashback on Amazon merchant partners like Dunzo, Domino’s, Uber, Urban Company, etc.
• Over 100+ partners with 2% cashback
• 1% cashback on all other spends except fuel and gold
• One of the few cards offering 2% cashback on insurance payments if paid via Amazon Pay; otherwise 1% cashback

Eligibility:

• Existing ICICI customers: Minimum ₹25,000 monthly salary
• Non-ICICI customers: Minimum ₹35,000 monthly salary

The Only Downside: Approval rate is low; not easy to get. If you have it or get approved, consider yourself lucky and use it to its full potential.

Federal Bank Celesta Credit Card

• Federal Bank recently started focusing on credit cards seriously.
• Celesta is one of their newer offerings with a lot going for it.

Launched in 2023, offered as a lifetime free credit card; possible that fees may apply later.

Welcome Offer:

• ₹600 Amazon gift voucher on spending ₹10,000 within 30 days of card setup.
• Rare to see such vouchers on lifetime free credit cards.

Reward Rate:

Other Offers:

• Buy 1 Get 1 Free on movie tickets at INOX, up to ₹100 per month
• Buy 1 Get 1 Free on BookMyShow, up to ₹250 per month
• BookMyShow offer can be used twice per month, maximum 2 discounted tickets per transaction
• INOX offer applicable for one ticket per month

Complimentary Lounge Access:

• 4 domestic lounge access per quarter, i.e., 16 per year
• 2 international lounge access per year
• Lounge access is rare in lifetime free credit cards.

Official Website Links to apply Credit Card

Conclusion

If you want a lifetime free credit card but do not have a credit history or your credit score is low, then FD-based credit cards are a great option. At the same time, if your credit score is 720 or more, then you have many great lifetime free credit card options, which not only give cashback and rewards, but also save on your expenses. The cards mentioned above are perfect for your beginner or day-to-day living expenses. But if you’re looking for the best free credit card, definitely consider KREDIT PE: Yes Bank ACE Credit Card, decent reward rate across all categories as discussed, apply via the link.