[anonymous]

Originally Posted by Proxima

Its actually very simple. Use a CC from a bank where you have your salary account from.

You get a lot of freebies from time to time plus in most banks, you can pay your CC bill online, saves you from the trouble of dropping cheques month after month.

I use an ICICI gold CC. My salary account is also with ICICI. Last week, I got a box of chocolates free.

And make sure that you pay your cc bill ontime otherwise Its quite possible that bank deducts the minimum amount automatally and if delay the for 2-3 months, they will deduct the full amount from your saving accounts (Happened with me and yelling on phone with the customer care or yelling at any branch will not be any help as there is no credit card division in any branch.

[diabloo]

Has anybody successfully canceled any of their Credit Cards? How to do it?

[abhilash_iv]

Yes, I have canceled my HDFC credit card.
It was because my salary account was moved from HDFC to SBI.
First, I made sure that I have paid everything. Then I called them and asked that I am cancelling, what to do? They first asked the reason etc, then asked to cut the card across and send it to their address with a request to cancel. Did it promptly, and got a call from them after 2 weeks, asking why cant I continue keeping it, since it is a life time free card etc. Told them sorry, no need. After 2 more weeks, got one more call from them, to make sure that I am not doing this because of their poor service (maybe usually thats the case)
. Then I got a letter form them, saying account is closed, thank you etc etc.
That was the end. Process took almost 2 months to complete.

[sushrutha]

Latest update.
I had been to HSBC office on 26-Nov-07.
Just gave a letter stating that my annual charges levied & also I said i want to cancel my card.
Previously i had mailed HSBC about the same.
This is the response I got.

Dear Mr Sushrutha

We refer your message of 21 November 2007.

We wish to inform you that we have reversed the annual fee of INR
2000/- that has been levied on your card account which will reflect as
credit in your next card statement.

We wish to advice you that we offer Life Time free credit cards only
for the employees of the concern which has corporate tie-up with HSBC.
Henceforth we are unable to offer you with a life time free credit card.

We also wish to inform you that going forward on good usage of your
credit card we would be glad to waive the annual fee in the future. We
request you to go for good spends on your credit card.

........................

Now i''ll be cancelling my credit card by breaking it into 4 pieces and i'll post it to HSBC.

Thanks everyone for the Help

[benbsb29]

So Sushrutha, thats how the cookie crumbles.

i have been using a StanChart CC since the past threee years, and like Rtech have been paying the annual fee of Rs. 160 like a good son. However, this year i forgot to drop the cheque in time owing to me being out of the country, and i got late payment fine of Rs.300 added to the total amount, plus some other penalty based on the number of days.
i called up customer care, blasted them, and was informed that henceforth my annual charges would be waived off.

Expect an update from me next year.

Was offerred a CitiGold card based on my salary account with them, and for the past year, havent received any annual charges.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

All CC banks are silent looters and being a HSBC salaried account member I was never charged but some of my colleagues had a bad experience and had been paying the annual fee for some time if the statements remain unchecked. These bank people try playing this trail and error method I suppose to charge the fees even for salaried customers. Anyway one of the greatest financial gurus Warren Buffet always advocates not to have a CC @ all, well i certainly dont listen to him though ..

Good that you are zeroing onto them.

[amohit]

@diabloo,
best way to avoid any followup calls when requesting for cancellation is to tell them that you are relocating out of india with your whole family. Say that you have no issues using the card, but there is no way you can make the monthly payments as you will have no relatives in the city.
I have cancelled all my(unused) cards like this..and never have they asked any more questions

Regards,

[BomBatt]

Nothing comes free in this world my dear friends !

I have been using StanChart CC since 6 years. Started with basic silver card. Within a year they changed it to Lifetime-free Gold, and now they have converted it into a Lifetime-free Platinum. I have'nt been charged any annual fee. I get 1% cash back on all purchases and 2.5% cash back on fuel bills.

All this because I am using the card for almost all my purchases. My average per month bill is about 6000/- Also, I have been taking personal loan from them all the time and paying back promptly.

So, it all depends on your credit history and the profit they earn from you.

[Rtech]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

rtech, they will make it free. Just call them and tell them that you wont take card if its not free.
Thats the route many people are following with HSBC. This is actually funny.

Well. I sent them an email requesting them to waive the annual fee's. They replied within 48 hours saying "We wish to inform you that we have reversed the annual fee of INR 2000 that has been levied on your card account, which will reflect as credit in your next card statement."

No word on whether it is a permanent fix, but heck, I'll send them an email every year!

Thanks TBHP, you just saved me some more money!

[condor]

Originally Posted by abhilash_iv

SBI card also is not bad, even though not satisfied with their customer support staff.

SBI's a GE co-branded card. I haven't interacted much with their support staff for issues, but so far have found their call center folks to be polite and good. The agents talk well & language is fluent.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Or just broke the card into 4 pieces and mailed them ?

Exactly! I did that several times when i am presented with a bill like that. Just break the card into tiny pieces and call customer care and let them know that you have never used the card and have broken the card into pieces and ask them to make a note of it.

Oh, don't forget to take the customer care exec name and a reference number for your telephone call. That should sort you out!

[carzy]

Hi,

Hope I'm posting this in the right section. If not, mods please feel free to move this thread.

Of the millions of calls that we receive each day on our mobiles, I happened to take one. This was a lady from SBI offering the platinum card (She was talking in hindi , I did the same). She spoke for 3 minutes without taking a single breath... Impressive but I guess they're all trained to breathe underwater, just doing her job I guess.

I didn't really pay attention until she mentioned there was absolutely no fees on the card whatsoever. No hidden fees, no annual fees etc etc. I told her I'd call her back and tried to check about this card online. There are lots of news articles mentioning it but I couldn't get my hands on the official SBI site mentioning what the card offers (I mean the fine print and all )

I've been abroad for many years and have no idea about how the credit card applications work here. I'd like to go for the card (if indeed there are no hidden fees and all )

1. Anyone using this card, please share your experiences about any fees etc.
2. Should I take their word for it that there are no hidden costs etc - I know I shouldn't but where would I find this information? My aunt applied for a similar card and had a lot of trouble because there were indeed fees which weren't mentioned when she applied for the card. They even charged her when she wasn't using the card at all and had a hard time closing the account.
3. Is this card worth going for? Can someone point me in the right direction about how do I get to be absolutely sure there are no fees on this card.

Thanks for reading this really long post. Appreciate any help from fellow BHPians!

[mjothi]

Normally the agent or someone who takes your application is suppose to give a yellow color slip forgot the name, basically it will have detials of whats the annual fees, if its waived of or not etc. But i dont see 99% of guys even show this to us.
Next, I had got SBI Gold card free and they claimed it to be 3 yrs free without any annual fees. And they kept the word. Hidden charges is mostly when you do any transcation and late payments not on the Annual charges. (May be + taxes...)
Legally, if you can prove that you have NEVER used the card even once, then they cant claim any annual fees. And that is the reson why some banks like ICICI, HSBC give credit of like 150 or 250 rupees to make you to use it once before expiry.
Any credit card is usually worth, unless you pay it correctly on pay date, most importantly, not using for cash withdrawal. Else, whatever card you have, you would end in complete mess

Just my 2 cents...

[phamilyman]

SBI cards in general is impossible to get rid of, like education loan. jab tak mar nahin jaoge, tab tak nahin chhodenge. back in 2004, made cardinal mistake of signing on one form - agent did the rest. Till today have been horribly unable to get rid of it. ICICI might generally be scum but when it comes to credit cards that will never leave your life - SBI.

/Due apologies for language and hurting any SBI people's sentiment, but I have completely reconciled/given up to maybe the SBI card living longer than I will.

[spadival]

Watch out.. they will probably send you a gold card instead of Platinum. They did the same to me..imbeciles (I shouldnt say this because I was working at GE SBI Cards some time ago )

These agents tick whatever they feel like on the application form. So just insist and ensure that the form is filled by you and you alone. And there is a section in the form to opt for card protection insurance - Dont sign that if you dont need it. The agent tried getting my signature there as well, either deliberately or out of ignorance.