Canara Bank Credit Card Eligibility Criteria - Super Strange Experience at Branch

[PayKaroAbhi]

Hey everyone,

I had a strange and questionable experience today at a semi-urban Canara Bank branch, and I think it's important to share. I’d also love to hear your opinions.

I visited the branch to inquire about their unsecured credit cards, and the branch manager himself handled my request. However, the way he assessed my eligibility raised several red flags.

1. Asked for Trade License for ITR-4

Since I file ITR-4, he insisted I must provide a trade license because my income is from business.

This makes no sense because I am a freelancer, not a business owner, and ITR-4 is valid for presumptive taxation, including freelancers.


2. Strange Credit Limit Rule – No Official Proof for Public!

After I gave consent for the credit check, they pulled my CRIF report instead of CIBIL.

He saw that I hold multiple credit cards with a strong total credit limit.

Then, he presented a bizarre rule:
“Your total credit limit across all banks should not exceed 30% of your reported ITR income.”

Example: If my ITR shows ₹5 lakhs, my total credit limit (from all banks) should not exceed ₹1.5 lakhs (30% of ₹5L).

🚨 The biggest issue?
There is NO public documentation for such a rule! These eligibility criteria are completely hidden from us, the customers. We cannot verify them anywhere!


3. Denied Unsecured Card Just Because I Have Other Credit Cards?

Since I already have multiple credit cards, I was denied an unsecured card, even though my financial profile is strong.

This is not a proper or fair approach.

I personally know many people holding multiple cards who still got Canara credit cards without these weird conditions.


🔴 This raises a serious concern: We, as customers, have no access to Canara Bank’s internal eligibility rules and policies, yet they are being applied in a way that seems arbitrary or even misleading. How do we verify what’s real and what’s just branch-level misinformation?

Has anyone else faced such issues?

Would love to hear from others—is this a real internal policy or just an excuse used by the branch? Let’s discuss!

 

[Dr.Anand456Dr.Anand456 is verified member.]

Your case is quite unusual. This is the first time I've heard of something like this. Such issues are common with government banks. I've been trying to get a Canara Bank credit card for the past two years, but according to the bank, I can only apply through my home branch. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to visit my home branch. Due to such restrictions, I prefer private banks.

 

[PayKaroAbhi]

Your case is quite unusual. This is the first time I've heard of something like this. Such issues are common with government banks. I've been trying to get a Canara Bank credit card for the past two years, but according to the bank, I can only apply through my home branch. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to visit my home branch. Due to such restrictions, I prefer private banks.

Yes I firmly believe that it's the BM who's not willing to provide credit card.

The way of starting the conversation with a demand for trade license made me believe that he's going to play something tricky with me 🙂

 

[the.avhishek]

Hey everyone,

I had a strange and questionable experience today at a semi-urban Canara Bank branch, and I think it's important to share. I’d also love to hear your opinions.

I visited the branch to inquire about their unsecured credit cards, and the branch manager himself handled my request. However, the way he assessed my eligibility raised several red flags.

1. Asked for Trade License for ITR-4

Since I file ITR-4, he insisted I must provide a trade license because my income is from business.

This makes no sense because I am a freelancer, not a business owner, and ITR-4 is valid for presumptive taxation, including freelancers.


2. Strange Credit Limit Rule – No Official Proof for Public!

After I gave consent for the credit check, they pulled my CRIF report instead of CIBIL.

He saw that I hold multiple credit cards with a strong total credit limit.

Then, he presented a bizarre rule:
“Your total credit limit across all banks should not exceed 30% of your reported ITR income.”

Example: If my ITR shows ₹5 lakhs, my total credit limit (from all banks) should not exceed ₹1.5 lakhs (30% of ₹5L).

🚨 The biggest issue?
There is NO public documentation for such a rule! These eligibility criteria are completely hidden from us, the customers. We cannot verify them anywhere!


3. Denied Unsecured Card Just Because I Have Other Credit Cards?

Since I already have multiple credit cards, I was denied an unsecured card, even though my financial profile is strong.

This is not a proper or fair approach.

I personally know many people holding multiple cards who still got Canara credit cards without these weird conditions.


🔴 This raises a serious concern: We, as customers, have no access to Canara Bank’s internal eligibility rules and policies, yet they are being applied in a way that seems arbitrary or even misleading. How do we verify what’s real and what’s just branch-level misinformation?

Has anyone else faced such issues?

Would love to hear from others—is this a real internal policy or just an excuse used by the branch? Let’s discuss!

Same issue for me. Branch Manager not helping me for canara CC, i have other banks cc with high limit. He said that if you do 3L FD then he provide me unsecured card. I said kal aata hu 😂

 

[bharathnalla]

I don’t understand what do these illiterate lazy idiots get by troubling customers with their own rules. You should have recorded all the bullshxt that guy told and escalated to RBI ombudsman.

 

[SBL]

My bm also told the same.

 

[karanssh]

what canara card is worth all this pain? why even bother?

 

[D3V1L]

In my case, I applied for a credit card at an urban branch (Bengaluru) about two to three years ago. They simply instructed me to open an account and credit a monthly limit of 50,000 rupees. I diligently submitted the required documents, including my ITR, Form-16, six months’ salary slips, and six months’ bank statement hard copies. (I had a total of 204 pages of bank statement as my UPI transactions were numerous.)

After submitting these documents, they issued me a Visa Classic credit card with a limit of 25,000 rupees. At that time, the branch manager mentioned that she lacked the authority to approve a higher limit.

A year later, I approached the same branch manager again to request a credit card upgrade and limit enhancement. However, she informed me that there was no provision for such an upgrade or limit enhancement. Instead, she suggested that I could apply for another Canara Bank credit card. I submitted the same documents once more, filled out the credit card form, and explicitly mentioned at the top of the application that I needed a Canara Rupay Select credit card with a limit of 1 lakh rupees. (I was skeptical that they would reject my application due to the higher limit request.)

To my surprise, I received the Canara Rupay Select credit card within 15 days. Both credit cards are currently functioning properly.

Interestingly, when I initially applied for a credit card two to three years ago, I had a total of 45 credit cards. However, they never inquired about this fact.

Here are a few other experiences in short:

1) When I visited Union Bank, they requested that I write down all the credit card numbers, the bank names, and the credit card limits on a white paper and submit it along with my application's. Immediately I tore the application form infrong of her and closed my new savings account which was opened only to get the CC.

2) In Indian Bank, the branch manager literally refused to provide me with an update on my 3months old application because I held a significant number of credit cards. I even had some heated arguments and confrontations with her.

In response, I decided to raise an issue with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Ombudsman, and I successfully obtained my Indian Bank credit card with a limit of 30,000 rupees after 3 long months.

ALL THE BMs were ladies🤣