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Federal Bank Celesta Mastercard application experience

sjmajumder

TF Ace
I closed One Card earlier to apply for Scapia but as Scapia is not issuing new cards decided to go with Federal Bank Celesta MC.

One Card was closed on 29th December but I was unable to apply for Celesta as system kept saying "You are already using Federal Bank Credit Card services". So, I wrote to customer care and they asked me to provide proof of One Card closure. Provided mail from One card team and also shared CIBIL report where closure date was reflecting as 29th December. They asked me to wait for cool down period which is 90 days. But even when I tried on 1st April system was giving the same error, so I wrote back to customer care. They opened a ticket and kept giving me updates every 3/4 days saying team working on it, we need some more time. Yesterday night also I saw a mail from them and wrote back saying it's already 15 days when is the problem going to be resolved? As usual after sending the mail I tried applying and Voila! it worked. It was around 9:10 pm when I submitted the application. System only asked for last 3 months salary account bank statement. Did not ask for salary slip, no Aadhaar verification, no address proof or anything else, no VKYC either.

Today morning at 10:57 received SMS your card is issued. That was superfast...card issued in less than 14 hours. The SMS also said I can use the digital card from FedMobile app but when tried to register, after mobile number verification it is asking for 14 digit Federal Bank account number and not allowing to proceed :(

Let's wait and see when I receive the card.

Update:
17-Apr: Card issued Signet Visa with 1.2L CL
18-Apr: Requested for cancellation on 18-Apr as they refused to upgrade to Celesta MC
22-Apr: Card received through Delhivery on 22-Apr
26-Apr: Card closed on 26-Apr (exactly on the 7th working day from date of request :cry:)
09-May: Registered complaint with RBIO against Federal Bank for mis-selling of Signet card
18-May: Random CIBIL hit from Federal Bank credit cards. Didn't apply anywhere
20-May: Wrote to Bank asking to remove CIBIL hit.
21-May: Received reply from bank that they are now willing to offer me Celesta with CL of 3L and they will look into the CIBIL hit issue. Asked for my consent. Confirmed back stating want only Celesta MC, OK with CL.
06-Jun: Got call from Federal Bank. They asked me to reapply. After entering mobile number and OTP straightaway showed me Celesta Card with CL=3L. Address was also entered by default, just clicked submit. Within seconds received SMS your card is issued. Checked mail variant is mentioned as "Non Kerala - Celesta 50K" - anyone knows what is meant by that? Mailed them to issue only MC.
10-Jun: Received mail confirmation that network change from Visa to Mastercard is done. Will receive card shortly.
13-Jun: Received Celesta Visa through Delhivery. Not sure why they sent it as network change confirmation already received 3 days back.
16-Jun: Finally received my Celesta MC through Delhivery today!!
02-Jul:
Went to branch and activated transaction mode using branch token. Now CC is visible in the app.
 
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"Complimentary Lounge Access at Airports- 2 International Lounges per year and 4 Domestic Lounges per quarter"

How do I access international lounges with my CELESTA Mastercard? Is it through Priority Pass, Lounge Key, or some other program?
 
>>Complimentary lounge visits are applicable only for the primary card holders.

This is what the Federal Bank has to say about the CELESTA CC. What's the use of this card then?
1000091897.webp


But as per their email, all benefits on Primary card are extended to add-on cards as well.

Did you get that statement in writing from them?
 
I was thinking of getting Celesta CC since it's LTF and there's offer on flight bookings with Federal Bank cards.

Went through the thread and got to know that Federal Bank checks Experian credit score which is surprisingly very low in my case, Experian is 573 and CIBIL is 780 ... both the score are as of 2nd July, 2024.

There's no default in payment reflected in Experian credit report yet the score is very low and I'm pretty clueless.

What should I do in this case?
 
I was thinking of getting Celesta CC since it's LTF and there's offer on flight bookings with Federal Bank cards.

Went through the thread and got to know that Federal Bank checks Experian credit score which is surprisingly very low in my case, Experian is 573 and CIBIL is 780 ... both the score are as of 2nd July, 2024.

There's no default in payment reflected in Experian credit report yet the score is very low and I'm pretty clueless.

What should I do in this case?

Identify the issues in Experian credit report, start with the basics:

1. Is the name correct as per PAN?
2. Are the opened/closed accounts same as in CIBIL?
3. Get any unknown accounts reported removed.
4. Does it have multiple variations of the same or different address and names? Experian report considers this as negative thing even if it's the same address (like even small spelling mistakes or order of the address), they think all of them are different addresses and thus consider you're moving a lot which is risky.
5. Check payment history for all accounts and get them fixed if anything inconsistent/wrong.
6. Check for unknown enquiries and get them removed.
7. Overall, try to compare with your CIBIL report (data wise) and if you notice some differences in reporting, get them fixed.
8. Payment outstanding / usage, wait for it to be updated if not get it updated by relevant institution.
9. Once you do all of these, wait few weeks and it should be back to the good range.
 
I closed One Card earlier to apply for Scapia but as Scapia is not issuing new cards decided to go with Federal Bank Celesta MC.

One Card was closed on 29th December but I was unable to apply for Celesta as system kept saying "You are already using Federal Bank Credit Card services". So, I wrote to customer care and they asked me to provide proof of One Card closure. Provided mail from One card team and also shared CIBIL report where closure date was reflecting as 29th December. They asked me to wait for cool down period which is 90 days. But even when I tried on 1st April system was giving the same error, so I wrote back to customer care. They opened a ticket and kept giving me updates every 3/4 days saying team working on it, we need some more time. Yesterday night also I saw a mail from them and wrote back saying it's already 15 days when is the problem going to be resolved? As usual after sending the mail I tried applying and Voila! it worked. It was around 9:10 pm when I submitted the application. System only asked for last 3 months salary account bank statement. Did not ask for salary slip, no Aadhaar verification, no address proof or anything else, no VKYC either.

Today morning at 10:57 received SMS your card is issued. That was superfast...card issued in less than 14 hours. The SMS also said I can use the digital card from FedMobile app but when tried to register, after mobile number verification it is asking for 14 digit Federal Bank account number and not allowing to proceed :(

Let's wait and see when I receive the card.

Update:
17-Apr: Card issued Signet Visa with 1.2L CL
18-Apr: Requested for cancellation on 18-Apr as they refused to upgrade to Celesta MC
22-Apr: Card received through Delhivery on 22-Apr
26-Apr: Card closed on 26-Apr (exactly on the 7th working day from date of request :cry:)
09-May: Registered complaint with RBIO against Federal Bank for mis-selling of Signet card
18-May: Random CIBIL hit from Federal Bank credit cards. Didn't apply anywhere
20-May: Wrote to Bank asking to remove CIBIL hit.
21-May: Received reply from bank that they are now willing to offer me Celesta with CL of 3L and they will look into the CIBIL hit issue. Asked for my consent. Confirmed back stating want only Celesta MC, OK with CL.
06-Jun: Got call from Federal Bank. They asked me to reapply. After entering mobile number and OTP straightaway showed me Celesta Card with CL=3L. Address was also entered by default, just clicked submit. Within seconds received SMS your card is issued. Checked mail variant is mentioned as "Non Kerala - Celesta 50K" - anyone knows what is meant by that? Mailed them to issue only MC.
10-Jun: Received mail confirmation that network change from Visa to Mastercard is done. Will receive card shortly.
13-Jun: Received Celesta Visa through Delhivery. Not sure why they sent it as network change confirmation already received 3 days back.
16-Jun: Finally received my Celesta MC through Delhivery today!!
02-Jul:
Went to branch and activated transaction mode using branch token. Now CC is visible in the app.
I am applying for celesta and want to know is there any difference in MC vs Visa variants as you seem to have been adamant on the MC network. Are there better benefits on MC?
 
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