Credit card for a business owner

[gabzvee]

Hey guys, (first post here so I hope I'm not missing any information or data and not breaking any rules...)

As a business owner, (Partnership firm) taking the least amount necessary per month as salary has always been the practice (leading to lower income on paper - barely 20-30k per month, and low ITR). This becomes a big issue when applying for a credit card apparently. I realized I had no credit score hence I wasn't getting a CC.

So I went on to get a secured OneCard with a 20,000 FD - giving me a 22k limit. I used to use it as much as possible thinking it would help build my score, but soon realized that I need to actually keep the usage under 30% for maximum credit score benefits. Then 5 months later my credit score is 741 (CIBIL) and I tried applying to SBI SimplyClick, Induslind, Axis Ace (Through Google Pay, since it said it'd an exclusive offer only for select members), and even RBL Zomato - All declined. All these in the span of 2 months, which I know is not ideal...

But since I'm not getting more credit cards, I decided not to damage my score with all these inquiries and instead will increase my OneCard FD by 10k every month. However, a month later Cibil report did not recognize the increase in the limit... Should I be reporting the error?

Also, what would be the best move forward in this case?

I was considering applying for LazyPay's RBL lazy card (partnered with RBL) or else the IDFC Millenia card... Since I use the non-KYC LazyPay (Just 5k limit) and SimplPay (1.5k limit)

Should I just start paying myself a higher salary (Which I've now increased to 35-50k/m), and then only apply after my ITR is higher, or is there another/better way to go about this?
Alternatively, does anyone know what's the ideal income for business owners?

Side note: aside from this I do not have any loans/debt.

 

[vaibhav111vaibhav111 is verified member.]

showing higher income in ITR won't result in CC approval, you need a pre-approval cc and FD one with 20k won't do with just 2 months you need 6-12 months then should have applied, there are many posts on zero balance a/c where you get kotak card i believe. or just wait and use onecard . people with Salaried get cc cause they had pay taxes and all and hence a stable income is generated this doesn't mean increase in ITR will get you a cc for business/self-employment will be the same.

 

[gabzvee]

showing higher income in ITR won't result in CC approval, you need a pre-approval cc and FD one with 20k won't do with just 2 months you need 6-12 months then should have applied, there are many posts on zero balance a/c where you get kotak card i believe. or just wait and use onecard . people with Salaried get cc cause they had pay taxes and all and hence a stable income is generated this doesn't mean increase in ITR will get you a cc for business/self-employment will be the same.

Alright, I read IndusInd has this with their Delite savings account, so I'll try that... Also, I have had my Savings account with SBI for many years now, I believe I should go to the branch and apply there for the card... Had only applied online till now but visiting the branch and trying seems to have worked for others.

Oh, I've only been applying for other cards for the last 2 months... I've had my OneCard for 5 months now

 

[vaibhav111vaibhav111 is verified member.]

Alright, I read IndusInd has this with their Delite savings account, so I'll try that... Also, I have had my Savings account with SBI for many years now, I believe I should go to the branch and apply there for the card... Had only applied online till now but visiting the branch and trying seems to have worked for others.

Oh, I've only been applying for other cards for the last 2 months... I've had my OneCard for 5 months now

Try to get sbi card then

 

[SiddharthR]

Hey guys, (first post here so I hope I'm not missing any information or data and not breaking any rules...)

As a business owner, (Partnership firm) taking the least amount necessary per month as salary has always been the practice (leading to lower income on paper - barely 20-30k per month, and low ITR). This becomes a big issue when applying for a credit card apparently. I realized I had no credit score hence I wasn't getting a CC.

So I went on to get a secured OneCard with a 20,000 FD - giving me a 22k limit. I used to use it as much as possible thinking it would help build my score, but soon realized that I need to actually keep the usage under 30% for maximum credit score benefits. Then 5 months later my credit score is 741 (CIBIL) and I tried applying to SBI SimplyClick, Induslind, Axis Ace (Through Google Pay, since it said it'd an exclusive offer only for select members), and even RBL Zomato - All declined. All these in the span of 2 months, which I know is not ideal...

But since I'm not getting more credit cards, I decided not to damage my score with all these inquiries and instead will increase my OneCard FD by 10k every month. However, a month later Cibil report did not recognize the increase in the limit... Should I be reporting the error?

Also, what would be the best move forward in this case?

I was considering applying for LazyPay's RBL lazy card (partnered with RBL) or else the IDFC Millenia card... Since I use the non-KYC LazyPay (Just 5k limit) and SimplPay (1.5k limit)

Should I just start paying myself a higher salary (Which I've now increased to 35-50k/m), and then only apply after my ITR is higher, or is there another/better way to go about this?
Alternatively, does anyone know what's the ideal income for business owners?

Side note: aside from this I do not have any loans/debt.

I think you can get cc for business by creating current account in bank (usually has higher limits than Personal CC)

 

[gabzvee]

I think you can get cc for business by creating current account in bank (usually has higher limits than Personal CC)

Yes, I haven't applied for a business CC yet because I wanted to increase revenue before getting a CC since I believed that I'd get a better limit, account is over 3 years old now and the annual revenue approx 18-25L...

Will try this soon

 

[SiddharthR]

Yes, I haven't applied for a business CC yet because I wanted to increase revenue before getting a CC since I believed that I'd get a better limit, account is over 3 years old now and the annual revenue approx 18-25L...

Will try this soon

Didn't you get pre-approved offer in current account yet?

 

[gabzvee]

Didn't you get pre-approved offer in current account yet?

No... Haven't received a single offer email/sms from the bank till today... Which is odd now that I think of it

 

[moonsmart]

No... Haven't received a single offer email/sms from the bank till today... Which is odd now that I think of it

I have a digital current account in ICICI, asked them for cc in 2020 they asked to do FD, got a business card with 1.2L limit on FD of 1.5L. After one year, closed the card and the credit card guy in the branch told me that he’ll get me an unsecured card as I’ve some history with the bank now. Got the same LTF variant along with 2 add-ons.