This is a very long post, and the only summary I can provide is that this is not a story where I end up getting an Infinia (or maybe it is, but you’ll need to read to the end to find that out😊). I’ve been pondering if I should write this story for a while. Given the possibility that banks’ credit card folks may be actively monitoring these forums and the fact that one of those folks may figure out my identity on the basis of the details I am providing, putting this on record is a risk. However, at the end of the day, I just couldn’t resist pointing a finger at India’s largest private bank and laughing at it for its “Dyed hair and tight jeans uncle” avatar, aka the Pixel credit card. So here goes my story.
My frustrations with HDFC bank began many years back when I was looking to acquire a second card after getting an Amazon Pay card with a decent limit. I was essentially looking for a card I could use for most non-Amazon expenses, and as if on cue, I got pinged on Whatsapp by one of those infamous credit card agents who promise you to get any card you want and also show you their ID card to prove they are legit. I straightaway fell for it when the nice lady told me she could get me a Regalia (this was then Regalia was actually worth something), and I submitted my docs. The experienced folks among you will know what happens next: a couple of weeks later, a parcel arrived at my doorstep bearing (lo and behold!) a Diners Millenia. 😊 Now don’t think I didn’t know how valuable a Millenia was, but remember, this was meant to be a card for non-Amazon purchases (which essentially meant “offline” at that time), so a Diners card was dead in the water. I tried using it a few times and was only met with blank faces and terminals that didn’t support Diners cards, so I ended up closing the card and mentally made a note to not tangle with nice ladies offering HDFC cards again.
Fast forward a few years, and when the Tata Neu cards were released, I tried my hand at getting one and was granted a Tata Neu plus card with a measly limit. Like a good boy scout, I tried using it regularly and asked the folks at HDFC if they could upgrade me to an Infinity, but their mysterious “criteria” told them that was not possible. So I went ahead and closed that as well and decided I’d just try to get an HDFC card sometime in the future. However, in a stroke of fortune, I checked my wife’s eligibility (she works in a reputed MNC while I am self-employed) and found that she was eligible for a Diners Club Privilege, LTF Tata Neu Infinity, and (when it released) LTF Swiggy HDFC. I decided that since HDFC seems to be not very inclined to issue me decent cards with good limits because of whatever reasons, I’d just use the backdoor to get some decent cards for myself. So I got my wife to sign up for the DCP, made it LTF by meeting the 90-day spend criterion, and then got her to take the other two LTF cards as well. At that point, HDFC still had that terrible policy for add-on cards, so I waited. And when they finally started issuing add-on cards with separate phone numbers, I got myself add-on cards for all three of my wife’s cards. So there I was, with three LTF HDFC cards that I could use freely.
However, at least some of the people on this forum may understand the “keeda” that you get when you feel there’s probably a better card with your name on it. For me, it basically started with the ongoing irritation of not having the HDFC bills arrive in my email and following up with my wife to ensure that the bills were paid on time. I decided that I now wanted to try my luck again to get an HDFC card through the front door, so I visited a nearby branch to put in an application (on the online portal, I would keep getting pushed back to the “Identify yourself” page after providing the OTP on the same page). So imagine my surprise when the lady at the branch looked at my profile and told me, “Sir aapke paas already teen card hain, aapko aur cards nahi milenge” (you already have three cards, so you can’t get another card). It seems HDFC’s systems did not recognize me as an add-on cardholder (even though I was not receiving any bills) and had effectively locked me in the balcony from the backdoor. My ego was defeated, so I retreated. However, my enterprising spirit remained uninhibited, so I kept testing the HDFC application page to see if it would let me through.
One fine day, my efforts bore sudden and unexpected fruit. I opened PayZapp to check something else and noticed the banner for the Pixel credit card. I followed the links to see that they were offering an LTF Pixel card, so I went ahead and filled in my details and (lo and behold again!) my card was approved instantly. However, at that point, things became weird, like “RBI would be interested in this” weird. The system basically told me I had to split the limit the bank had assigned to my wife (I am assuming the same bug that recognized me as a primary cardholder despite holding add-on cards also thought that I had the authority to split the limit). I went ahead and split the limit in half, assigned one half to my spanking new LTF Pixel card (offline VISA and online RUPAY, you don’t say!), and kept the rest for my wife.
So, just to summarize, HDFC first refused to offer me a card because it assumed that the add-on cards I was holding were actually my primary cards (the lady at the bank told me she could clearly see me as the primary cardholder for those cards), and then, when it did offer me a card, it asked me to split the limit that it had assigned to another person (I do share a joint HDFC account with my wife, but the card issues predated the creation of that account and making it a joint account). My initial impression after completing the application was to ask myself, “Wtf just happened?” I thought maybe this was just another add-on card that HDFC was issuing me. However, the bill arrived on my email the next month, confirming that the card and limit were issued to me. So yeah, that the f**k totally happened. 😊
Now, I am totally not a banking person (you could say I am as removed from banking as a plate of idli is from a plate of pasta), but I am gonna hazard a guess nevertheless to explain what’s happened here. I think HDFC is using some newer systems for its more modern products (like Pixel) that are not fully integrated with its older systems, which is why it probably can’t even run these basic checks before it issues Pixel cards. Of course, all this wouldn’t have been an issue if there weren’t bugs in its legacy systems (like the bug that tags add-on cardholders as primary cardholders), which is why I think HDFC’s fancy new products are basically like uncles with dyed hair and tight jeans: you can put on all the makeup you want, but those creaky joints and middle-aged waistlines are gonna show nevertheless. If that is indeed the case, then I have some unsolicited advice for HDFC: you folks really need to understand that modernizing by attempting to bury your older s***t ain’t not gonna miraculously change the s***t to gold or even hide the stench. Considering how much of our stockmarket fortunes rest on your bank, I do hope that you find a way to do this properly.
So that’s that. Thank you if you managed to reach here. And if you are someone from HDFC bank and you figured out who I am, how about giving me an LTF Infinia for telling you about this, eh?
My frustrations with HDFC bank began many years back when I was looking to acquire a second card after getting an Amazon Pay card with a decent limit. I was essentially looking for a card I could use for most non-Amazon expenses, and as if on cue, I got pinged on Whatsapp by one of those infamous credit card agents who promise you to get any card you want and also show you their ID card to prove they are legit. I straightaway fell for it when the nice lady told me she could get me a Regalia (this was then Regalia was actually worth something), and I submitted my docs. The experienced folks among you will know what happens next: a couple of weeks later, a parcel arrived at my doorstep bearing (lo and behold!) a Diners Millenia. 😊 Now don’t think I didn’t know how valuable a Millenia was, but remember, this was meant to be a card for non-Amazon purchases (which essentially meant “offline” at that time), so a Diners card was dead in the water. I tried using it a few times and was only met with blank faces and terminals that didn’t support Diners cards, so I ended up closing the card and mentally made a note to not tangle with nice ladies offering HDFC cards again.
Fast forward a few years, and when the Tata Neu cards were released, I tried my hand at getting one and was granted a Tata Neu plus card with a measly limit. Like a good boy scout, I tried using it regularly and asked the folks at HDFC if they could upgrade me to an Infinity, but their mysterious “criteria” told them that was not possible. So I went ahead and closed that as well and decided I’d just try to get an HDFC card sometime in the future. However, in a stroke of fortune, I checked my wife’s eligibility (she works in a reputed MNC while I am self-employed) and found that she was eligible for a Diners Club Privilege, LTF Tata Neu Infinity, and (when it released) LTF Swiggy HDFC. I decided that since HDFC seems to be not very inclined to issue me decent cards with good limits because of whatever reasons, I’d just use the backdoor to get some decent cards for myself. So I got my wife to sign up for the DCP, made it LTF by meeting the 90-day spend criterion, and then got her to take the other two LTF cards as well. At that point, HDFC still had that terrible policy for add-on cards, so I waited. And when they finally started issuing add-on cards with separate phone numbers, I got myself add-on cards for all three of my wife’s cards. So there I was, with three LTF HDFC cards that I could use freely.
However, at least some of the people on this forum may understand the “keeda” that you get when you feel there’s probably a better card with your name on it. For me, it basically started with the ongoing irritation of not having the HDFC bills arrive in my email and following up with my wife to ensure that the bills were paid on time. I decided that I now wanted to try my luck again to get an HDFC card through the front door, so I visited a nearby branch to put in an application (on the online portal, I would keep getting pushed back to the “Identify yourself” page after providing the OTP on the same page). So imagine my surprise when the lady at the branch looked at my profile and told me, “Sir aapke paas already teen card hain, aapko aur cards nahi milenge” (you already have three cards, so you can’t get another card). It seems HDFC’s systems did not recognize me as an add-on cardholder (even though I was not receiving any bills) and had effectively locked me in the balcony from the backdoor. My ego was defeated, so I retreated. However, my enterprising spirit remained uninhibited, so I kept testing the HDFC application page to see if it would let me through.
One fine day, my efforts bore sudden and unexpected fruit. I opened PayZapp to check something else and noticed the banner for the Pixel credit card. I followed the links to see that they were offering an LTF Pixel card, so I went ahead and filled in my details and (lo and behold again!) my card was approved instantly. However, at that point, things became weird, like “RBI would be interested in this” weird. The system basically told me I had to split the limit the bank had assigned to my wife (I am assuming the same bug that recognized me as a primary cardholder despite holding add-on cards also thought that I had the authority to split the limit). I went ahead and split the limit in half, assigned one half to my spanking new LTF Pixel card (offline VISA and online RUPAY, you don’t say!), and kept the rest for my wife.
So, just to summarize, HDFC first refused to offer me a card because it assumed that the add-on cards I was holding were actually my primary cards (the lady at the bank told me she could clearly see me as the primary cardholder for those cards), and then, when it did offer me a card, it asked me to split the limit that it had assigned to another person (I do share a joint HDFC account with my wife, but the card issues predated the creation of that account and making it a joint account). My initial impression after completing the application was to ask myself, “Wtf just happened?” I thought maybe this was just another add-on card that HDFC was issuing me. However, the bill arrived on my email the next month, confirming that the card and limit were issued to me. So yeah, that the f**k totally happened. 😊
Now, I am totally not a banking person (you could say I am as removed from banking as a plate of idli is from a plate of pasta), but I am gonna hazard a guess nevertheless to explain what’s happened here. I think HDFC is using some newer systems for its more modern products (like Pixel) that are not fully integrated with its older systems, which is why it probably can’t even run these basic checks before it issues Pixel cards. Of course, all this wouldn’t have been an issue if there weren’t bugs in its legacy systems (like the bug that tags add-on cardholders as primary cardholders), which is why I think HDFC’s fancy new products are basically like uncles with dyed hair and tight jeans: you can put on all the makeup you want, but those creaky joints and middle-aged waistlines are gonna show nevertheless. If that is indeed the case, then I have some unsolicited advice for HDFC: you folks really need to understand that modernizing by attempting to bury your older s***t ain’t not gonna miraculously change the s***t to gold or even hide the stench. Considering how much of our stockmarket fortunes rest on your bank, I do hope that you find a way to do this properly.
So that’s that. Thank you if you managed to reach here. And if you are someone from HDFC bank and you figured out who I am, how about giving me an LTF Infinia for telling you about this, eh?
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