[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by batish

Is it safe to send KYC documents digitally to a person who called for Credit Card? I received a call for HDFC Card and I intend to apply for the same. Also, she was offering LTF which I can't find online on their site.

Shall I approach the branch or take a leap of faith and send the documents?

DO NOT send documents to anyone who isn't a verified employee of the institution you intend to deal with.

Safest thing to do is ask them to share a link from an official email address to the application process portal where requires documents (if any) can be uploaded. If the caller is genuine, they should have no trouble facilitating that. If they don't, red flag, walk away.

[batish]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Safest thing to do is ask them to share a link from an official email address to the application process portal where requires documents (if any) can be uploaded. If the caller is genuine, they should have no trouble facilitating that. If they don't, red flag, walk away.

This is what she said. Honestly, I am still amazed by her authority of offering LTF on her own.

[montsa007]

Just closed & destroyed my Amex rewards credit card today citing low acceptability & poor reward structure.

The customer care lady tried her best to convince me stating you are getting gold catalogue, 1000 points if spending 6k in a month, complete AMC waiver if spending 1.5L in a year.

Wasn't ready to listen to the fact that the acceptability is poor, so how am I supposed to spend. Also I have other cards which reward me 1% (and not 0.25%) in the form of cashback, makes no economic sense to keep the card.

Told her bluntly, that I've already made up my mind and not interested to keep the card, she asked to make the balance payment of about 400 rupees, which I did and the card is closed now.

[shivkumar19]

Originally Posted by montsa007

Just closed & destroyed my Amex rewards credit card today citing low acceptability & poor reward structure.

Did this back in 2018 for the same reason, even Club Mahindra and some major hospitals do not accept it.

[batish]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

DO NOT send documents to anyone who isn't a verified employee of the institution you intend to deal with.

Safest thing to do is ask them to share a link from an official email address to the application process portal where requires documents (if any) can be uploaded. If the caller is genuine, they should have no trouble facilitating that. If they don't, red flag, walk away.

She did share the link to apply the card and asked to share the application number after verification. She was also okay with masked Aadhar Card details. To relieve my apprehensions, she was okay with sharing any other address proof.

Since I was not okay and don't want unnecessary trouble, I called HDFC Customer Helpline and asked my doubts. The update is below.

Originally Posted by skanchan95

You probably received a call from one of those free lance agents and not from the bank directly, eventhough she might have claimed to be from the bank. The bank will not take any responsibility if your KYC documents get misused.

At at time when Aadhar based KYC verification is OTP based where you do not have to reveal your Aadhar number to anyone while applying for credit cards, sending your Aadhar or PAN details to someone is very risky. There no telling how it can be misused. It is better if you apply directly on the bank's website.

Lastly, HDFC has a notorious reputation for rejecting credit card applications, even if you have a 790+ CIBIL score!!

Update: Called up HDFC for this same issue. Asked them if they could verify the person or contact number to which they refused as they did not have any resource to check personal numbers.

They also informed that in HDFC cards are issued based on the person. Any sales agent cannot decide which card would be issued. Neither the sales person nor the customer can decide which card to choose directly. After entering the details the bank shows the cards available for the applicant.

Also they informed that sales agent cannot issue LTF Cards on their own. The discretion lies with the bank. One can verify the status within 90 days of getting a card through the customer helpline. Only after 90 days the card is charged for joining fees.

They also informed it's better to apply online as it would be easier and transparent.

I also asked sharing application number would be safe to which they replied, 'It's absolutely safe and they won't have access to any documents'. They also said sales people get incentives on this basis. The application number only tracks the status of card, Nothing more!

[adimicra]

5-6 years back, I had 6-7 credit cards, and I got obsessed with credit card deals and reward points. I used to visit various credit card websites, follow credit card experts on social media to find the best deals and the latest offers. Also, whenever there was new kid on the block with some exciting reward structure, offers, I had to have it.

Over the last few years, I have completely simplified my life in terms of credit cards. Currently, I have only 2 credit cards - 1 HDFC Infinia (along with addon card) and 1 Amazon Pay (Life-time free). I probably should have done this much earlier, but later late than never

Also, I have no aspiration to have any other credit card unless HDFC devalues Infinia significantly.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by montsa007

Just closed & destroyed my Amex rewards credit card today citing low acceptability & poor reward structure.

The customer care lady tried her best to convince me stating you are getting gold catalogue, 1000 points if spending 6k in a month, complete AMC waiver if spending 1.5L in a year.

Wasn't ready to listen to the fact that the acceptability is poor, so how am I supposed to spend. Also I have other cards which reward me 1% (and not 0.25%) in the form of cashback, makes no economic sense to keep the card.

Told her bluntly, that I've already made up my mind and not interested to keep the card, she asked to make the balance payment of about 400 rupees, which I did and the card is closed now.

You probably did the right thing if your usage pattern doesn't align with an Amex, but I find it amusing to see it's cashback rate mentioned . It's not a cashback card (and even then it's not 0.25%, it's 0.5% at the least if you go with base reward rate).
If you redeem the points using the 18k or 24k catalog, it's easily 4-5% reward rate at the minimum for Amex MRCC (assuming it's free by spending 1.5L a year).

[montsa007]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

You probably did the right thing if your usage pattern doesn't align with an Amex, but I find it amusing to see it's cashback rate mentioned . It's not a cashback card (and even then it's not 0.25%, it's 0.5% at the least if you go with base reward rate).
If you redeem the points using the 18k or 24k catalog, it's easily 4-5% reward rate at the minimum for Amex MRCC (assuming it's free by spending 1.5L a year).

It took me a long time to accumulate enough points for a 9K Amazon voucher. Spending 1.5L was not an issue, the issue was poor acceptability, coupled with poor reward structure. And if at all I miss the 1.5L mark, 4.5K straight away gone for nothing
The customer care rep said "You can tell us the establishment which doesn't accept, we'll onboard it"

Now imagine a scenario, where I am on a store, clearance sale, and I want to spend via Amex, since they don't accept it I'll have to go with another card, in no way Amex can onboard them in a couple of minutes.

[VaibhaoT]

Originally Posted by adimicra

5-6 years back, I had 6-7 credit cards, and I got obsessed with credit card deals and reward points. I used to visit various credit card websites, follow credit card experts on social media to find the best deals and the latest offers. Also, whenever there was new kid on the block with some exciting reward structure, offers, I had to have it.

Over the last few years, I have completely simplified my life in terms of credit cards. Currently, I have only 2 credit cards - 1 HDFC Infinia (along with addon card) and 1 Amazon Pay (Life-time free). I probably should have done this much earlier, but later late than never

Also, I have no aspiration to have any other credit card unless HDFC devalues Infinia significantly.

Same here. I was crazy about keeping all credit card options for the Diwali sale. In 2021, I had 8 cards. But last year I decided to significantly cut down my cards.
Now I am down to 4 cards. But only 2 are actively used.
I fought with HDFC and got Infinia. My 99% of monthly spend is now on Infinia. So far I am very happy with it.
I have Amex MRCC which I got as LTF. Amex LTF is rare so I did not close it. I manage to make 4 transactions of 1500 every month with recharges of utilities and milk app.
I have IDFC Wealth as well which is Visa Infinite. But its used only for Lounge Access of my daughter/parents. I have a 12 year old Citi Bank card which I am holding only to make CIBIL happy. I make 1 or 2 transactions a year to keep it active.

[dass]

Is there any real disadvantage of having multiple credit cards, especially if they are free for life?, apart from the hassle of keeping a track of them?

[saisree]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

DO NOT send documents to anyone who isn't a verified employee of the institution you intend to deal with.

Safest thing to do is ask them to share a link from an official email address to the application process portal where requires documents (if any) can be uploaded. If the caller is genuine, they should have no trouble facilitating that. If they don't, red flag, walk away.

I did the same thing when I was contacted by a Credit Card team from Kotak. I was very skeptical to share my Aadhar & PAN. Though the person supposed to collect the docs whatsapp'ed me his ID card, I had a doubt and finally ended up applying online in HDFC for a RUPAY credit card.

One guilty feeling with this approach is that What if the person is genuine and I did not help him to reach his target and obviously his job. A probable MBA graduate trying to cement his job.

[Fx14]

Originally Posted by montsa007

And if at all I miss the 1.5L mark, 4.5K straight away gone for nothing

If this was one of the major sore points, you should have tried asking for conversion to LTF. They do offer the card LTF some times.

Originally Posted by dass

Is there any real disadvantage of having multiple credit cards, especially if they are free for life?, apart from the hassle of keeping a track of them?

As long as you don't miss out on any of the payment due dates, they can only be advantageous.

[IamNikhil]

Currently using 2 active Credit Cards, both for specific purposes:
- HDFC Business Regalia
- Citi Rewards

Have another one- IndusInd Legend credit card that has been given to my mother, which she uses sparingly for some grocery shopping, etc.

Out of the lot, most happy with the HDFC one.

[Everlearner]

I also jumped on the Amex bandwagon today and applied for MRCC via BHPian Tejas's referral link.

I hold Infinia, Amazon Pay ICICI and Tata Neu HDFC Infinity cards all are LTF. This will be my first card in many years which will have an annual fee. Should plan how to achieve the target spends and hoping that they will not reduce the benefits for latecomers like me

[tejas08]

Let me add some positivity towards Credit Card usages. Needed from time to time.

If you can move your focus from Instant Gratification (A transaction level reward Rate) to delayed gratification (Accumulation of Reward Points and effective utilization), the impact / reward rate can be unbelievable.

Here's the extent of Travel Redemptions that I have achieved in the past Two Years (With Points accumulation of around 4 years):

- 17 Hotel Nights across various 4 & 5 Star Hotels
- 3 Business Class Return Tickets to Bali
- 3 Economy Return Tickets to Mauritius
- 1 Mumbai-Delhi Economy Return Ticket
- Upgrade to Business Class on Long-haul flights

The list doesn't stop there. Have further flights and Hotel bookings on Points lined up or getting lined up on already accumulated points:

- 1 Business Class Return Ticket to an SEA Country
- 3 Business Class Return Tickets to EU
- Hotels Stays worth 2000-2500 Euros (Accor or Marriott Bonvoy Properties)

And almost all of these are through Points earned on HDFC Infinia / DCB, Amex & Axis Cards.

Most people would be quick to jump to attribute it to extremely high spending. Spending Levels are relative. For some, 10 Lacs Spends a year is too high and for some 50 Lacs per year is usual. But the real problem is when people consider these spends to be only Luxury and non-essential spends.

Anybody spending upwards of 10-12 Lacs a year (Excluding Rent but Including Utilities, Groceries, Insurance Premiums, School Fees etc) can at least get Rs. 60-70K worth Travel Rewards in a year easily. That's a decent amount in my opinion.