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What should be my next move?

I currently have an IDFC First WOW Card, with 50K in CL. The card was issued in February. At the same time, I took an HDFC consumer loan last month to buy a MacBook Pro on installments, with a tenure of 18 months.

Currently my Experian score is 757 (with only two payments being updated from the credit card), but there is no details on the CIBIL yet. It should improve with time as I don’t miss my payments.

My main target for card is Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Diners Club card (the 10 nights will really help out with my Bonvoy. Currently I am Lifetime Gold, and only 2 years away from Lifetime Platinum, but I have diversified my loyalty to various other programmes including Accor ALL, so I cannot fully stay in Marriott property all the time) and any kind of Amex.

I don’t work since I am a student (outside India) but I do trading, and other various means. I also do get a large allowance from my parents, though I doubt I could put that as income. Currently I haven’t yet filed my ITR. I will do by July for my first ITR, and expect around 13-14l

I do wanna get an unsecured credit card with higher limit (since my usage of my current secured card is around 1 lac every billing cycle, I pay most of it off to use it again during the same cycle), by end of August. What would be my ideal option be in my current case? if it is possible.
 
I also do get a large allowance from my parents

you actually don't need to do anything, whenever you want something ask your parents to check with RM/BM of that bank and get required card. Its simple and easy process for you.

you can even get MB+ and with that spend of 1L every month as student in abroad, they'll easily provide card based on talk with BM.. whichever, just have to negotiate with them. Just check with HDFC bank / whatever bank your parents have long relationship and get a card for you.. and use that to apply others.
 
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I currently have an IDFC First WOW Card, with 50K in CL. The card was issued in February. At the same time, I took an HDFC consumer loan last month to buy a MacBook Pro on installments, with a tenure of 18 months.

Currently my Experian score is 757 (with only two payments being updated from the credit card), but there is no details on the CIBIL yet. It should improve with time as I don’t miss my payments.

My main target for card is Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Diners Club card (the 10 nights will really help out with my Bonvoy. Currently I am Lifetime Gold, and only 2 years away from Lifetime Platinum, but I have diversified my loyalty to various other programmes including Accor ALL, so I cannot fully stay in Marriott property all the time) and any kind of Amex.

I don’t work since I am a student (outside India) but I do trading, and other various means. I also do get a large allowance from my parents, though I doubt I could put that as income. Currently I haven’t yet filed my ITR. I will do by July for my first ITR, and expect around 13-14l

I do wanna get an unsecured credit card with higher limit (since my usage of my current secured card is around 1 lac every billing cycle, I pay most of it off to use it again during the same cycle), by end of August. What would be my ideal option be in my current case? if it is possible.
If u r outside India student why u need cc anyways ..
Get amex or something in that country
 
you actually don't need to do anything, whenever you want something ask your parents to check with RM/BM of that bank and get required card. Its simple and easy process for you.

you can even get MB+ and with that spend of 1L every month as student in abroad, they'll easily provide card based on talk with BM.. whichever, just have to negotiate with them. Just check with HDFC bank / whatever bank your parents have long relationship and get a card for you.. and use that to apply others.
Thanks for the answer.

Right now I am in India, and I will definitely see with the BM or RM about what my options might be.

I don’t really think my parents would be ideal for this scenario as they are not well versed with credit cards and it has been my own initiative to start building a credit score. But I know my father is in contact with several BM of HDFC, so that might give me some leeway here and there.

what is the ideal CL on a card for C2C to get other premium cards in India? I am very curious about trying my luck with premium Axis bank cards eventually once I achieve my next card, hopefully with HDFC
 
If u r outside India student why u need cc anyways ..
Get amex or something in that country
Unfortunately credit card is not much of a popular thing where I am studying. Upon that it is very difficult for international students to get a credit card there. The most I get myself is savings account with cashback debit card, and that also required a lot of workarounds by the bank employee.

I don’t plan on living there in future and I will return to India for few years to work on a specific sector so I am really interested in building a healthy credit history and strong cc lineup inside India.

Besides the benefits of credit cards are very instrumental for me right now. I fly 100+ flights every year and even though I have Star alliance gold with SQ, the perks of getting lounge access through a cc when flying non alliance airlines are useful for me. I know PP is an option but when you consider it is complementary with many CCs, the value proposition does not add up for me.
 
Unfortunately credit card is not much of a popular thing where I am studying. Upon that it is very difficult for international students to get a credit card there. The most I get myself is savings account with cashback debit card, and that also required a lot of workarounds by the bank employee.

I don’t plan on living there in future and I will return to India for few years to work on a specific sector so I am really interested in building a healthy credit history and strong cc lineup inside India.

Besides the benefits of credit cards are very instrumental for me right now. I fly 100+ flights every year and even though I have Star alliance gold with SQ, the perks of getting lounge access through a cc when flying non alliance airlines are useful for me. I know PP is an option but when you consider it is complementary with many CCs, the value proposition does not add up for me.
100+ flight ? Are you kidding
What for

If you can fly 100+ flight ..
Tell me how much u can put max in fd ..then I can give u recommendation
 
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100+ flight ? Are you kidding
What for

If you can fly 100+ flight ..
Tell me how much u can put max in fd ..then I can give u recommendation
Even I was shocked to see 100+ flights in a year translates to 1 in 3 days.

And Lifetime Gold member of Marriott Bonvoy and will be platinum in 2 years.
 
I currently have an IDFC First WOW Card, with 50K in CL. The card was issued in February. At the same time, I took an HDFC consumer loan last month to buy a MacBook Pro on installments, with a tenure of 18 months.

Currently my Experian score is 757 (with only two payments being updated from the credit card), but there is no details on the CIBIL yet. It should improve with time as I don’t miss my payments.

My main target for card is Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Diners Club card (the 10 nights will really help out with my Bonvoy. Currently I am Lifetime Gold, and only 2 years away from Lifetime Platinum, but I have diversified my loyalty to various other programmes including Accor ALL, so I cannot fully stay in Marriott property all the time) and any kind of Amex.

I don’t work since I am a student (outside India) but I do trading, and other various means. I also do get a large allowance from my parents, though I doubt I could put that as income. Currently I haven’t yet filed my ITR. I will do by July for my first ITR, and expect around 13-14l

I do wanna get an unsecured credit card with higher limit (since my usage of my current secured card is around 1 lac every billing cycle, I pay most of it off to use it again during the same cycle), by end of August. What would be my ideal option be in my current case? if it is possible.
Why did you have to take a consumer loan to buy a $1500-2500 laptop if you receive a large allowance from parents?
 
100+ flight ? Are you kidding
What for

If you can fly 100+ flight ..
Tell me how much u can put max in fd ..then I can give u recommendation
Half of my flights are on standby since my gf is a F/O with an European carrier. We frequently tend to go on weekend trips or longer trips, depending on how long she gets off from her work.

It is easy to get J class tickets very cheap using IDtravels. Most major carriers like LH group, American carriers, etihad, qantas and so on have good terms with my gf’s airline, which allows companion (non family) to travel standby with them.

For example, you can easily fly europe to Newark on UA Polaris for $300/ticket when booking through IDTravel

I can assure you, 100+ flights is normal compared to some people I know in aviation community, pilots and crews alike (just on personal travels). Besides when you fly multiple flights per leg, you can easily score upto 100 flights.

~

I am not really interested in doing FD because as much as I am embarrassed to admit this, I tend to spend money as frequently as they come. The only concurrent secured asset I would even say is a bunch of ETFs that I bought and haven’t sold since last year. That said I do hold around $7000 on my foreign account and on a running basis I have 2-3l in my IDFC and SCB accounts combined (after accounting for my expenses)

I hope those numbers help
 
Why did you have to take a consumer loan to buy a $1500-2500 laptop if you receive a large allowance from parents?
I thought a mix of various credits help with credit score so I got it out of curiosity(maybe I am wrong as it seems some type of loans are looked down upon for credit building). I was looking for shorter EMI terms but that came with interests so I took the 18 months.
 
Half of my flights are on standby since my gf is a F/O with an European carrier. We frequently tend to go on weekend trips or longer trips, depending on how long she gets off from her work.

It is easy to get J class tickets very cheap using IDtravels. Most major carriers like LH group, American carriers, etihad, qantas and so on have good terms with my gf’s airline, which allows companion (non family) to travel standby with them.

For example, you can easily fly europe to Newark on UA Polaris for $300/ticket when booking through IDTravel

I can assure you, 100+ flights is normal compared to some people I know in aviation community, pilots and crews alike (just on personal travels). Besides when you fly multiple flights per leg, you can easily score upto 100 flights.

~

I am not really interested in doing FD because as much as I am embarrassed to admit this, I tend to spend money as frequently as they come. The only concurrent secured asset I would even say is a bunch of ETFs that I bought and haven’t sold since last year. That said I do hold around $7000 on my foreign account and on a running basis I have 2-3l in my IDFC and SCB accounts combined (after accounting for my expenses)

I hope those numbers help
Put 3.5 lakh in hdfc and take regalia gold.

Best bet .will help you in Flight.. don't know about international..

Even try amex as student with fee Lance . For mrcc
 
Even I was shocked to see 100+ flights in a year translates to 1 in 3 days.

And Lifetime Gold member of Marriott Bonvoy and will be platinum in 2 years.
Achieving Marriott status is not that difficult either.

So for example, every year, Marriott does 1-2 promos in various quarters where you can get double nights on a qualifying stay.

You can just book a cheap hotel in Asia, say Chennai or Bangkok or Bali, where you can find properties for as less as 3500/night including taxes. When you consider you stay 25 nights, will result in 25 bonus nights. You can easily qualify platinum every year for just 25 nights.

That has been my strategy since the beginning. Off course this is not really easy if you do this in Europe or North America, since hotels cost legs and arms. Unless you stay on corporate expenses, pretty difficult for the average Joe to qualify frequently without some co branded credit card perks.

For me, I started staying with Accor ALL, so I started to miss the promos with Marriott so the bump of 10 nights with the MB HDFC card is awesome. In fact I only did 35 nights last year with MB, half of which came from promo. I only retained platinum since I was titanium last year and I got a soft landing.
 
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Did you really had trouble getting that card? By the looks of it, you just have to ask them.

Just ask or use your father as referene (since he know those BMs), say 'I want this card before going abroad, what to do?' - its all in the hands of BM.

And, curious - do you really need this card? ask them bigger if you're ok with their requirements when you can.

Btw, need 5L to get premium cards 80%.. very few need higher but as I said people got those 20% also <3L limit, its all those who process our appln.
 
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Did you really had trouble getting that card? By the looks of it, you just have to ask them.

Just ask or use your father as referene (since he know those BMs), say 'I want this card before going abroad, what to do?' - its all in the hands of BM.

And, curious - do you really need this card? ask them bigger if you're ok with their requirements when you can.

Btw, need 5L to get premium cards 80%.. very few need higher but as I said people got those 20% also <3L limit, its all those who process our appln.
Docfixit and helloworld

I will definitely see the regalia gold option and also what the known BM might provide to me based on the interaction.

The Amex MRCC also sounds interesting. I don’t really need Amex but I just want to have that just for the sake of interest on the Amex brand.

regardless that’s all for now. If there is any help I need further, I will comeback here.

Thanks again
 
Put 3.5 lakh in hdfc and take regalia gold.

Best bet .will help you in Flight.. don't know about international..

Even try amex as student with fee Lance . For mrcc
Hi Docfixit,

So I talked with the known BM tonight. He said to maintain 3l on the account for 3-4 months and I will get Regalia Gold with a CL of around 1.5l, I will surely consider this because it seems very attractive.

Anyway, just referencing the Amex MRCC. I was researching this card the past few hours too and it seems really good as a general card for regular uses.

I am thinking of trying to apply as a student with freelance as you mentioned (not now, since I don’t even have a CIBIL score that shows up, other then an Experian score. Maybe in July). Do you think a 5-6 months credit history would suffice for this card? And does referral help with the application?

I also found across various post of this forum that people mention some specific individuals who helps with positive Amex applications. Could you reference me to anyone in general who would be ideal?
 
Hi Docfixit,

So I talked with the known BM tonight. He said to maintain 3l on the account for 3-4 months and I will get Regalia Gold with a CL of around 1.5l, I will surely consider this because it seems very attractive.

Anyway, just referencing the Amex MRCC. I was researching this card the past few hours too and it seems really good as a general card for regular uses.

I am thinking of trying to apply as a student with freelance as you mentioned (not now, since I don’t even have a CIBIL score that shows up, other then an Experian score. Maybe in July). Do you think a 5-6 months credit history would suffice for this card? And does referral help with the application?

I also found across various post of this forum that people mention some specific individuals who helps with positive Amex applications. Could you reference me to anyone in general who would be ideal?
If you are looking to apply for amex card, just to get into amex ecosystem, then amex smartearn is the best bet for you, considering your small/absent cibil score history. If approved, you may then later upgrade to other amex cards. But based on your profile, amex mrcc doesn't seem gettable
 
If you are looking to apply for amex card, just to get into amex ecosystem, then amex smartearn is the best bet for you, considering your small/absent cibil score history. If approved, you may then later upgrade to other amex cards. But based on your profile, amex mrcc doesn't seem gettable
Smart earn is entry .true but
More scrutiny while getting it .

Many PPL said they got mrcc without doc . But not the case I heard for Smart earn .


But based on your profile, amex mrcc doesn't seem gettable
True , without solid cibil even entry into application will be not easy ..
But let him try atleast they give card below 21 .
 
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