[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by Ho0ligaN

I am looking for a free card with a minimum 40-50k limit.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Cards come either with an annual fee, or with "fine print" attached.

Also, Why hasn't anyone mentioned anything about PSU banks' cards? Are they a strict no no?

Because they are no issues??


Just a wild guess; I have one from SBI; (wife works in a subsidiary and is therefore free for her), the credit limit is proportional to the income, and so far have used less than 10K per month.

That also means that I am biased, right???

[Ho0ligaN]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Cards come either with an annual fee, or with "fine print" attached.

I thought they were free if you spent a certain amount every year?

[vdiatech]

Originally Posted by DCEite

I had a citibank salary account for 1 year.
During this one year i applied for their credit card three times. Everytime it got rejected.
I have stopped bothering those idiots now. Happy with my ICICI Titanium.

Doesnt repeat application hamper your credit rating in India ?

Thanks

[ikoneer]

Originally Posted by Ho0ligaN

I had been to an ICICI branch recently and they informed me that they have stopped issuing new cards. Any recommendations? I am looking for a free card with a minimum 40-50k limit. Also, Why hasn't anyone mentioned anything about PSU banks' cards? Are they a strict no no?

If you are employed and have a salary account, then apply for Credit card in that branch, you might get the card.

@all, whose limit has been reduced, are you all in IT field. This limit reduction started with Satyam saga, the next day after Raju scam, the credit limits reduced to almost 20% and No cash withdrawal facility. Maybe IT has lost its charm with the banks.

[Ho0ligaN]

Originally Posted by ikoneer

If you are employed and have a salary account, then apply for Credit card in that branch, you might get the card.

Yes I am employed and have a salary account, I asked in the same branch. Anyway, will try again early next year. :(

[DJANGO]

I am sorry to hear about your situation. You landed into it by accepting this card in the first place, whether you applied for it or not. Now that you do not want the card anymore, this is what you do.

If you can get through to their call center, tell them you are canceling all your cards with immediate effect. The call center exec will promise heaven and earth then in an effort to make you retain your card.

After a week, physically go to the office with a letter stating your intentions of discontinuing the card. Give them the original letter, get their bank stamp and seal on the copy and also ensure that the name of the receiving officer is legible. After this, you go to the queue, etc and tell them that you have already given this letter. Once they see the bank stamp, they will enter the details into their system believe me. They will cancel the card. Nothing motivates them like papers in your hand.

Next, after a couple of weeks or so, you again go back to the bank with another letter. This time state you visited the bank, spoke to to xyz on so and so date and you were promised that the card has been canceled. Bank executives do not like to be named personally, you see, and they will scramble to do their job once you advise them that you will include their personal name in any lawsuit against the bank. Get a written letter from them that states the card has been canceled and file it away for further use. Return the card in 40 pieces.

And in future, live WITHOUT a credit card,

The trick to doing this is to be polite, firm, insistent, and do your paperwork. Especially collecting signed and sealed copies of letters received by the bank. Banks have been known to stoop so low as to say, which letter, where when and what? And the onus is on YOU to prove that YOU sent THEM a letter. Get my drift?

I give you all of this information because I am one such customer who had a Citibank Gold card and I got the run around from them when they added charges to my statement they could not justify. I canceled the card using the above method.

Now, I have a debit card and I live within my means. Do the same......and go home to your family with a smile on your face and peace in your heart knowing that no recovery guys are stalking you.

Django

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Cards come either with an annual fee, or with "fine print" attached.

Banks can not charge anything unless payments have been delayed. Use a credit card as just a payment mechanism and pay well in advance.

Originally Posted by Ho0ligaN

I thought they were free if you spent a certain amount every year?

Quite a few banks has cards that have no annual / joining fee. BOB has a card with very low limits (30k I think).

Get such a card to begin with and start building your credit history. Make sure you pay full balance every month well before due date.

[shankar.balan]

all banks are facing issues with rising delinquency rates on loans and credit card repayments.

therefore certain corrective measures have been put into place as a "belt-tightening" measure.

also shows potential defaulters that the banks really mean business - for example the re-patriation of funds from salary accounts towards outstanding dues, recovery of such dues through salary payable by the employer etc.

Luckily in India we havent reached the level of prodigality of credit usage like some other markets have - we are still rooted in our savings based behaviour.

But this mind-set is changing slowly -the concept of instant gratification is IN and hence banks need to safeguard their own interests as well!

[Gansan]

I have been using a Citibank Master card from 1993. Absolutely no issues so far. I have another Visa card issued by HDFC Bank from 2003. Again no issues. As experienced users will know, these were silver cards with an annual fee at the beginning. At that time I used to partly adjust the rewards points towards the annual fee. Then I was promoted to Gold, Titanium and finally Platinum cards in due course. The annual fee was waived off sometime around 2004 for the citibank card, and in 2005 for the HDFC.

I have always made good use of the cards for all my purchases, and always settled the full amount within the due date. And on the rare occasions when I revolve the balance, I will settle it within as few cycles as possible. Especially while paying the last installment, I will always pay Rs 100 - 200 more so that I will end up with a credit balance during the next billing cycle. And will never make a single purchase on that card till this credit balance appears on the statement.

During the mid nineties, Citibank had a "member get member" program for their credit cards. They will send us a few application forms with each monthly statement, which will have a column on top for filling our card number. We should use those forms for referring our friends/associates to the bank, and if their application was approved, we will get n number of points. We could redeem the points for specified gifts. I enrolled many of my friends and even got a home stereo system as a gift. At that time I was working in the Shipping Division of my employer, and referred many of the floating officers to the bank. Some will be approved, and some rejected. This got me wondering, as all of them were highly paid merchant navy officers, drawing between Rs 50k PM at the junior level to Rs 175k PM at the senior levels at that time. Sometimes a junior level fellow will get accepted and a senior rejected, or out of two chaps with the same grade/pay, one will be rejected. Even in case of non-merchant navy guys I referred, this applied. This gave me an insight in to their application approval process. Naturally I did not cross check with any bank personnel, who will refute it anyway, and this was my own conclusion:

1. Salaried individuals were preferred over self employed.

2. Even among salaried, certain designations were straightaway rejected - e.g. assistants, even if they had sufficient pay. In our company, Jr.assistants in finance dept were designated as Jr.Accountants, and these fellows were approved to the chagrin of the assistants! Similarly from floating personnel, catering officer was approved, while a Senior Fitter was rejected, even though his pay was more!

3. People employed in certain industry/company will be barred from time to time. For example Software/Satyam. Same thing happened during the Dotcom bust.

4. Self employed will have to show a higher income level than those in service. Even there, certain businesses will be a no-no periodically. My brother's application was rejected because he was in the leather business, and the industry was in the doldrums.

5. Location; an urban address (correspondence as well as permanent) used to be approved and a rural one rejected. Among two First Officers who applied, a fellow from Bangalore was approved, while another from Dindigul was rejected.

6. Bank account reference given in the application. If they feel the balance maintained / amount transacted in the account is not commensurate with the income declared, they will conclude one has not provided his/her main bank account for whatever reason, and smell a rat. This happened to two Chief Engineers - one gave his main account reference, while the other gave an account no. where he received the rent for his Flat, and kept a minimum balance. The former was approved. Apart from this all the details in their application were identical and both were from Chennai.

7. If the applicant applied to some other bank earlier and was rejected for whatever reason, the next bank he applies to may learn of this and reject him too, just to be on the safe side.

These are some of the points I remember off the cuff! If I remember anything more, I will post it here again.

[nishantgandhi]

In case someone wishes to apply for Citibank cards, I believe the process is pretty straightforward. My friend forwarded me the screenshot of Citibank online apply and he claims they only ask for your PAN card copy and ITR/Form 16 of last year.

Also, here's the link for HDFC Bank's online application. I had tried this quite some time back and promptly got a call back - for the card(s) that I was shown being eligible for

https://www.hdfcbanksmartapply.com/c...ly-online.html

[GTO]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Cards come either with an annual fee, or with "fine print" attached.

Hey, all the 3 cards that I use have ZERO annual fees. Make all payments on time and thus, no fees paid to the CC company.

Of course, in such cases, their revenue stream is dependent on merchant fees.

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by GTO

Hey, all the 3 cards that I use have ZERO annual fees. Make all payments on time and thus, no fees paid to the CC company.

Of course, in such cases, their revenue stream is dependent on merchant fees.

Same for me. Have been holding cards since the last 5-6 years. Of HSBC, Citibank and HDFC. All my dues are paid before the due date AND in full.

I have (thankfully) never been asked to pay any Annual Fees or Renewal Fees.

[DCEite]

No annual fees for my ICICI Titanium card either.

[tj123]

FIVE golden rules for using a credit card

It might appear to be your plastic best friend, but if you don’t follow these rules, your credit card can quickly become your worst enemy.

1) Pay up all dues amount on time, ontime, ontime…..
Missing a credit card payment is a nightmare. Not only do you get hit with a nasty charge but that missed payment is added to your credit record, it gives the banks all the ammunition they need to turn you down for future credit applications or limit enhancement.

2) DON'T stick to making the minimum payments
Why? Because if you only make the minimum payment each month, you will only be making a small dent into your debt. As a result, you will never properly get on top of your credit, and will end up forking out a lot more in the long run. Do not fall foul of the minimum payment trap. Avoid, avoid, avoid!

3) DO stick to the 0% periods
This is just common sense really – nothing is free as promised as there are n number of ifs & buts associated to such promises.

4) DON'T use your card abroad
It simply isn't worth it - it costs a fortune to use your plastic overseas, as you will be whacked with extra charges. If you absolutely have to spend overseas, make sure you get the best card for spending abroad.

5) DO make the most of your card

You can get all sorts of brilliant bonuses from using your credit card. Like 0% surcharge on fuels, extra bonus points etc.

I feel that credit card is a useful tool when you are running short of immediate cash but you need to be sure that you will be able to pay back in full at the time of billing.

[mjkaushal]

Originally Posted by tj123

FIVE golden rules for using a credit card

It might appear to be your plastic best friend, but if you don’t follow these rules, your credit card can quickly become your worst enemy.

1) Pay up all dues amount on time, ontime, ontime…..
Missing a credit card payment is a nightmare. Not only do you get hit with a nasty charge but that missed payment is added to your credit record, it gives the banks all the ammunition they need to turn you down for future credit applications or limit enhancement.

2) DON'T stick to making the minimum payments
Why? Because if you only make the minimum payment each month, you will only be making a small dent into your debt. As a result, you will never properly get on top of your credit, and will end up forking out a lot more in the long run. Do not fall foul of the minimum payment trap. Avoid, avoid, avoid!

3) DO stick to the 0% periods
This is just common sense really – nothing is free as promised as there are n number of ifs & buts associated to such promises.

4) DON'T use your card abroad
It simply isn't worth it - it costs a fortune to use your plastic overseas, as you will be whacked with extra charges. If you absolutely have to spend overseas, make sure you get the best card for spending abroad.

5) DO make the most of your card

You can get all sorts of brilliant bonuses from using your credit card. Like 0% surcharge on fuels, extra bonus points etc.

I feel that credit card is a useful tool when you are running short of immediate cash but you need to be sure that you will be able to pay back in full at the time of billing.

Hi,

I have a citibank credit card for the past 15 years and haven't missed out on the payment even once till date. My monthly spending on the card is ~ INR 40-50K ( Personal + official travel ). Yet when requested for the increase in the limit and upgrade to Titanium card where one gets more points, I was flatly refused.

Now thinking of changing the card to some other bank and stopping this citibank card.