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- College Days: I’ve always been fascinated by credit cards, starting with my first one with icici salary account , an ICICI Platinum with a 30k limit, which I got in February 2020. It wasn’t much, but it felt like a big deal at the time.
- Chasing the Millennia: A bit later, I set my sights on the HDFC Millennia card. @TechnoFino suggested I open a Max Savings Account with HDFC, so I did. But just as I was ready to apply, HDFC stopped issuing new cards due to RBI guidelines. Talk about bad timing!
- Finally, Some Progress: After waiting for what felt like forever (8-9 months), early 2021 arrived, and I finally got a pre-approved offer for the Millennia card with a limit between 50k-1 lakh. It was a chargeable card, but I managed to spend enough within the first 90 days to get it converted to a lifetime free card. That felt like a win.
- New Job, New Hopes: In July 2022, I started a new job with a decent salary (around 1.5-2.5L in hand). Feeling pretty confident, I approached my BM to see if I could get the Infinia card. Unfortunately, they said my salary wasn’t high enough. That was a bit of a letdown.
- Not Giving Up: I wasn’t ready to give up, so I escalated my request to the grievance team and even sent them my last three months’ salary slips. They still said no to the Infinia LTF but offered me a Diners Black card instead. After some back-and-forth, I accepted the Diners Black as an LTF card.
- Reality Hits: I quickly realized that the Diners Black card was a hassle—so many merchants, both online and offline, didn’t accept it. I contacted the grievance team again, asking for an upgrade to the Infinia card, but they declined.
- Persistence Pays Off: After spending nearly 13 lakh on the Diners Black card over a year, I tried one more time to get the Infinia, but grievance team denied my requests.
- A Lucky Break: Then, something lucky happened. A new HDFC branch opened near my home, and the BM there was someone I knew. I explained my situation, and he agreed to help. Normally, to upgrade to Infinia, you need to spend at least 7.5 lakhs in 6 months and have a 10 lakh limit on your Diners Club Black. I didn’t meet the second criteria, but the BM decided to push my request to the higher-ups anyway, based on my banking relationship, a 5 lakh FD, and regular account maintenance(preferred Group).
- The Final Win: After a few weeks of waiting, they offered me the Infinia card—not LTF, but chargeable. I accepted, and after another month of waiting, the Infinia Metal card finally arrived at my home.
Final Thoughts: Holding that card was surreal. It had been a long journey with its fair share of ups and downs, but in the end, I got what I wanted. It just goes to show that persistence really does pay off.