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-   -   The Credit Card Thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/92603-credit-card-thread-20.html)

i had a friend who owed 3k or so to a credit card company - he went through a very bad period in his personal life and moved cities.In those trying times he forgot all about the credit card payment and then when he got back to normal almost 2 years later, the bank finally caught up with him. The amount was a whooping 60k!! He said he did not have that kind of money and he'd can only pay the original 3k, the bank collection agents finally settled at 5k :)
However he still has difficulty getting car loans, etc due to this bad rep in some database somewhere.
So keep in mind settlement only gets rid of the pesky bank collection agents, your reputations is still spoilt in the databases!!

I think its always better to give a standing instruction for the card linking it to a bank account they have transfer links to (i know ECS is not 100% reliable), but will save you the hassle of missing payment deadlines. Also it debits the exact amount so no chances of any due after that.

You can ask for "control number" for your profile in CIBIL.

With the control number you can check your own score with CIBIL.

Once you settle with bank, check your report after a quarter.

You should see either :

1. Closure of Credit Line
2. "Write Off" that is if you reached a settlement instead of paying in full.

Yes in older system this was a pretty good score. Not a new system is coming up that would normalize score across three reporting agencies. But its not yet implemented completely across banks.


There is a risk with automatic payments.

If there is a fraud, chances of the fraud slipping though are high specially if fraud / mistake is of smaller amount.

Reason is, with automatic payments users generally do not scrutinize individual transactions if total amount is not suspicious. This way an extra charge of few hundred rupees would go unnoticed.

Citibank claims No document - Apply online scheme, Tried today but it gave me this message !
"We regret to inform you that we will not be able to process your case as the details provided fail to meet our required criteria. We apologise for the inconvenience, this may have caused but would like to thank you for considering Citibank."
What should I do ? Go to agents ?

^^ goto another bank

In the Last /present week, i got new cards of HSBC, CITIBANK/ING VYSYA and ABN-AMRO which i closed few years back as i decided at that time that i only need to keep one.

I declined each of them, why they are issuing it again? is this an automated system?

My payment records are excellent as i always pay it in full and on time, with exact figures.

Check your CIBIL report. There might be some outstanding /write-off in some account.

This thread has details:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...it-report.html

I said my friend to try to apply card via Online process as result their application also got rejected, Anybody else has tried applying for CItibank card online ?

Which credit card least 'foreign currency transaction fee'?

Most of my cards charge in the range of 2.75 to 3.75% per transaction amount. I use my cards extensivly when abroad hence the amounts paid in fees are substantial.

I applied online and got an approval as well.

I guess HSBC charges me 2.5% and HDFC charges even lesser. Citibank is probably somewhere near the figure you quoted. Need to check the info though.

Right now I'm having fun. I carry two classic cards (a Visa and an MC) from a bank for the last 10 years, with an impeccable credit record. They withdrew the fuel surcharge refund for the same withoout notifying me. I therefore wanted an upgrade to Gold cards (which have zero fuel surcharge), for which I emailed them scanned copies of my financial documents. They wanted me to give them some more documentation in hard copy, which I saw no point in doing. Since then, I've parked the cards, paid off all dues, and changed over to other cards that I have already.

Now the fun part. It's usually the customer who chases banks. I've got it working in reverse!

SS: I can understand your predicament. I also packed off my card with this "local bank" and moved on. :deadhorse

HDFC and Citibank are 3.5%. BOB is 2.75%

Do check on HSBC. Anyone know how much Amex's fee on this is?

No predicament! And this is a multinational bank! The bottom line is, they hate losing a good customer. Their call now, since I'm not emotionally attached to the cards...

Nice tactic! Do let us know how it progress. In case of private sector bank, I have a feeling they will reach back to you. On the other hand, public sector banks may react differently.

Once I was sold a public sector bank credit card at very attractive rates. However, when the card arrived with tariff list, it was no better than the private sector card I already had. So I never used it. After a few months the bank informed me that they are closing the account due to lack of activity. I think that was a good and safe proactive step on their part.