BOBCARD ends lifetime free on Easy, Select, Premier and Eterna: first year free now, then a fee

BOBCARD has quietly stopped issuing its four mainstream cards as lifetime free. Each card page on bobcard.co.in now carries the same line: "W.e.f. 1st September 2026, ₹0 joining/first-year fee." From the second year, each card charges an annual fee unless you hit a spend threshold in the previous card anniversary year.

This is the same bank that raised its lounge spend gate and its finance charge this year (see our BOBCARD lounge and finance-charge post). This change is smaller, but it lands on a different group: new applicants who picked BOBCARD because it cost nothing to hold.

What the new applicants pay, card by card

All four figures are from BOBCARD's own card pages, fetched on 27 September 2026.

What it replaced

Earlier this year the same four cards were issued lifetime free to new cardholders approved before 31 March 2026, as Live From A Lounge reported at the time. Those are the standard fees BOBCARD was waiving: the new structure does not raise them, it just brings them back from year two.

What we do not know

• Existing lifetime-free cardholders. No source we fetched says whether cards issued lifetime free under the earlier offer keep that status. The issuer pages describe the terms for new cards only. If you hold one, check your welcome letter or ask BOBCARD before assuming anything either way.
• Whether "Limited Period Offer" means more changes. Each page labels the ₹0 joining fee a limited period offer, so the first-year waiver itself may not last.

Should you still apply?

The thresholds are low enough that most people who use one of these as a regular card will clear them. The Easy's ₹35,000 is under ₹3,000 a month. The Eterna's ₹2,50,000 is about ₹21,000 a month, which is a real commitment for a card that is not anyone's primary rewards card. If a BOBCARD sits in your drawer as a backup, year two is the point to decide whether it earns its fee.

What to do

1. If you applied on or after 1 September, put your card anniversary in your calendar and track spend against the waiver threshold above.
2. If you hold an older lifetime-free BOBCARD, confirm its fee status with the bank rather than waiting for the first statement.
3. If the fee will not be waived, compare what the card actually returns against its fee. Polo Match ranks cards by net annual value after fees, so you can see whether a different card pays you more for the same spend.