No Cost EMI is a promotional EMI offering wherein the interest component is passed on to the user as an upfront discount by the seller so that even after the bank charges interest on the discounted price, the cost to the user comes out to be the original cost of the product. This helps the seller get more sales and helps customers elevate their affordability and by extension their quality of life if used judiciously.

For example - If you are in the market for a new lens for your DSLR or mirrorless camera as a professional photographer, No Cost EMI might help you be able to afford a better, more expensive lens - which in turn might help your career. This is an example of how No Cost EMIs can be a boon for you. But if you go on a reckless shopping spree without taking into account your finances and priorities, the debt will catch up pretty soon potentially leaving you in a less than comfortable place financially. So in a way No Cost EMIs make your credit card experience more powerful - an innovation if you are prudent but a curse if you are not careful.

However, it is quite interesting to note that No Cost EMIs are not actually 100% No Cost. Assuming that you pay your credit card bills on time, you are still left with three primary costs that you have to bear -

GST on Interest Component - Remember that No Cost EMIs still attract interest charges on the discounted price. It's just that a discount equal to this interest component has already been passed on to you upfront so that it doesn't affect you. But the interest will still attract GST at the rate of 18%.

Processing Fees - Often Credit Card issuers like SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis, Kotak, IDFC First Bank etc will charge processing fees to the tune of a few hundred rupees. This may or may not be disclosed to you at the time of opting for the EMI option during your purchase process. This cost is additional and makes the cost of the item go over and above the original cost of the item. Making things worse, this processing fee also attracts a GST at the rate of 18%.

Foregoing Reward Points - Often Credit Cards don't offer reward points for EMI transactions which you'd have gotten if you chose to pay for the item in one go. There might also be certain offers as well that only apply to one time payments (although this cannot be considered a con in general as many times payment offers are also available exclusively for EMI payment options).

For example - The ICICI Amazon Pay Credit Card offers either 5% flat cashback on pretty much all purchases done on Amazon or offers 3, 6 months No Cost EMI on all products above a certain price point. Now, if you were to buy an item worth 10,000 from Amazon using this credit card - you could either pay upfront and get the item for an effective cost of Rs 9500 (after 5% cashback worth Rs 500) or you can get it on No Cost EMI. The point to note here is that if you opt for No Cost EMII, the seller will pass a discount such that the cost to the customer after the bank's interest is 10,000 and not 9,500. So this delta of Rs 500 should also be considered as the cost of No Cost EMI, that is obviously in addition to the other hidden costs like GST, processing fees etc as detailed above.

But not to worry, the pFinTools Credit Card EMI/No Cost EMI Cost Calculator breaks down all these costs for you so that you can make an informed buying decision and stay on top of your finances both through our browser extension as well as the calculator available on our website.

Some of the hidden costs in any EMI plan irrespective of whether it's No Cost EMI or Standard EMI are -

GST on Interest Component - Remember that even No Cost EMIs attract interest charges on the discounted price. It’s just that a discount equal to this interest component has already been passed on to you upfront so that it doesn't affect you. Despite all that, the interest component will always attract GST at the rate of 18% in both standard EMI as well as No Cost EMIs.

Processing Fees - Often Credit Card issuers like SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis, Kotak, IDFC First Bank etc will charge processing fees to the tune of a few hundred rupees. This may or may not be disclosed to you at the time of opting for the EMI option during your purchase process. This cost is additional and makes the cost of the item go over and above the original cost of the item. Making things worse, this processing fee also attracts a GST at the rate of 18%.

Foregoing Reward Points - Often Credit Cards don't offer reward points for EMI transactions which you'd have gotten if you chose to pay for the item in one go. There might also be certain offers as well that only apply to one time payments (although this cannot be considered a con in general as many times payment offers are also available exclusively for EMI payment options).

But not to worry, the pFinTools Credit Card EMI/No Cost EMI Cost Calculator breaks down all these costs for you so that you can make an informed buying decision and stay on top of your finances both through our browser extension as well as the calculator available on our website.

Also read - What is a No Cost EMI? Is it really No Cost?

You can certainly do that by calling your card issuer (eg - SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis, Kotak, IDFC First Bank etc) and get your EMI canceled. People often do this to trick the system and get the No Cost EMI discount without having to pay the interest that the discount was supposed to compensate for. But your card issuer may at times charge a foreclosure fee for such kinds of requests.

We do not advise customers to indulge in such activities as we feel it is unethical. No Cost EMIs were meant to help people boost their affordability but these tactics by certain customers might force merchants and banks to relook at the arrangement. Any adverse policy here will affect the many people who use No Cost EMIs as a necessary measure to scale up in life. Customers should rather learn concepts like Time Value of Money and focus on investing the extra cash in relevant financial instruments to generate more returns from the same money than abusing/tricking the system. Also understand that by opting for the EMI option, you are most likely foregoing the reward points that you'd have otherwise accumulated against your purchase.

We are really sorry that you are facing any such issue. Please carefully check the i buttons next to the text input field as well as any error message that you might be getting while trying to check the real cost of Credit Card EMIs, and ensure that you are complying with the message therein. In case if you don't understand something or are still getting the issue, please write to us using the contact us page with all the relevant details and we'll look into it immediately.

This is tricky but there can be a couple of possible solutions to this -

You can couple wallet balance (eg - Amazon Pay balance or Amazon Gift Card balance on Amazon) with your credit card to pay for such an item. Although please check if this voids any t&c of any associated payment offers.

You can try overpaying your credit card balance in advance so that your credit card limit increases temporarily. But this method is not always possible and your card issuer i.e. SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis, Kotak, IDFC First Bank etc might have certain restrictions that dictate that you can only over pay the credit card so much.

Please note that in both these options since you are anyways prepaying the balance amount, you are effectively only getting EMI on an amount equivalent to your credit card limit that you are using up for the EMI/No Cost EMI Option.

Before proceeding, please also see - What is the impact of buying a product on EMI/No Cost EMI on my Credit Card's Limit?