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Let's Talk Credit Card Retention Offers

DrSaichand

TF Buzz
VIP Lounge
This is my first ever post in this community but I have been following TechnoFino team for long time so please pardon my mistakes if any and do correct me.

Banks spend a lot to gain a customer on their credit card portfolio. A lot of work goes behind Marketing, onboarding & maintaining a trustful customer who brings good revenue to the bank and most likely pay all the dues on time. But at times when customer want to break this relationship by closing the card, banks offer retention offers to make him stay with the bank. Though this sounds odd to few this is an ultimate trump card a credit card company plays to stop a leaving customer. Banks does this because it costs banks much less to offer incentives to leaving customer for their retention rather than the cost of accruing a new customer, that too in this competitive market. This also doesn't mean banks offer these offers to each and every customer that exploits this raw nerve.

Generally these offers are not published/discussed and further they vary from customer to customer based on their relationship with the lender. So I thought of initiating a thread to accumulate various credit card retention offers for long time so here we go please share your card retention offers of various banks credit cards under this thread so that we can better our portfolio further lets find out which bank goes a extra mile to retain their customer. Here's my retention offer.

YES BANK
**************
I have been with Yes Bank since 2017 and got Yes bank Unsecured credit card in the year 2018. Initially my card was Yes Rewards Credit card offered as a pre approved bases on my savings account and I had instantly accepted the offer as I was a student at that time. Yes Bank card being my first ever credit card, I got a credit limit of 20,000 and I was ok with it as my requirements were minimum.

By the time I graduated my usage and spends gradually increased and credit limit requirement started to rise. After the devaluation following the Yes Bank crisis the card offers and reward points were reduced to so low that it didn't made any sense to hold the Yes Bank Cards. In addition to that inspite of being loyal to bank and with absolute zero late payments Yes Bank used to offer poor credit limit enhancements of 3,000 - 5000 for every 8-12 months, but they offer credit card upgrades every 6 months so I was adjusted to it. last straw that broke the camels back was in the year 2021 I got my second credit card i.e Amazon Pay ICICI Credit card with the limit of 2,50,000 and instantly I called Yes bank to close my card as credit limit on my Yes Edge CC was 32,000 at the time of closure and I was hardly able to buy even a mid range phone with it under Bank offers (knowing card closure effects my credit score in bad way) they took the request and I thought card was closed.

but after 15-20 days later I got a call from their Credit card retention team and they offered me direct upgrade from Yes Edge CC to Yes First Preferred CC with 1000 rupees worth reward points in statement with absolutely zero annual fee. I was amazed and decided to remain with them. But eventually after a year due to my other banks cards portfolio I hold by the mid of 2022 I finally closed my Yes Bank card and Yes they again called me and tried to persuaded me to at least stay on card to avail longe benefits, but as I travel near to nill I have denied their 2nd time card retention offer and closed the card. my card closure is solely regarding my poor Credit Limit offered by the bank inspite being with them for almost three years.

SBI
*****

Yes you heard it right, SBI...!!! Suprisingly I also had good retention offer experience on SBI. My father applied for SBI Cashback card via website and as he is salaried, during initial launch of Cashback card there was a glitch for salaried people so SBI agent came home to collect documents. After all formalities they issued Simply save card fraudulently and we have followed up with the SBI customer care but no action was taken.

As my father already holds SBI Elite which is 3 years old, we requested them to close this Simply save card. Immediately within 30 minutes of raising card closure request SBI Card retention team called us and reverted annual fee of 500+18%GST and told to retain card, after 30 min of persuasion I have accepted for the same but my father was unaware of this.

But the immediate next month my father has placed card closure request without my knowledge and again card retention team contacted him and enquired why did we again placed card closure request inspite of annual fee refund for which he also asked them to deduct the fees again and close the card due to bad onboarding experience and he also told about the mis-selling issue and also explained Simply save variant is not that useful in the current card portfolio which he holds, after enquiring about all cards he is holding and spend pattern (which is quite wierd from their end) immediately they have credited 20,000 reward points even without asking in SBI Elite Card rewards account on call and asked to Check the same in the app they also promised that after 6 months variant change option will be enabled for Cashback card too so that we can change the existing simplysave to Cashback.

Being infamous for their slack nature SBI Card retention team gave good offers inspite of placing back to back card closure requests.
they reverted 499+18% GST = 588 (Annual Fees) and 20000 reward points = 5000 Rupees total of 5588

It took a while to understand this is for real 😛 🙂 But this doesn't warrant that SBI does the same with every customer as my father card has spends of 12L almost every year on Elite since a couple of years so that history might have helped him getting a good retention offer for the other card of SBI.


So that it here's my experience of Card retention offer with Yes Bank and SBI do share yours if you have any in the thread below. Sorry for the long post in advance.
 
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I tried to close my SBI Tata card and Citi Rewards card this month.

For SBI Tata, offered 500 credit to compensate the annual fee to be charged in next statement cycle, I accpeted it for now, and it has even been credited to my card account with even the GST amount - which naturally will cancel out the annual fee exactly.

For Citi Rewards, they offered 1000 credit directly although I was asking for a LTF Axis Rewards - they said currently it's not possible and will take some time for their systems to work out these things.
So for now I took the free 1k, as I've already spent 30k so the annual fee won't be charged anyway.

One thing I must say is that there is a noticeable difference in attending customers by closure and retention teams of the two banks.

Citi team was very professional and efficient, in one call itself, they directly connected to the next department responsible and retention offer and everything was completed in just one call in about 10 minutes.

SBI team on the other hand was totally opposite.
One idiot guy annoyed me for 4-5 days, called 3 times, every time asked the reason for closure, didn't make any proper retention offer, talked about some usual gibberish - infact the guy was so poor in his job that he couldn't even frame correct meaningful sentences in either Hindi or English and talked with an absolutely horrible diction. Don't know how he got his job honestly.
4th time just on the day before 7th day was to be up, a lady called and she brusquely offered the annual fee recompense and completed the process quickly.
I also received 1k in my Citi rewards card. I used it and asked them to swap rewards card to LTF Citi Indian Oil card. they did it on call.card generated in app instantly and received within 5 working days. then I used it for 1 month and called CC and ask to swap Citi Indian Oil to LTF Citi rewards. again they did it in no time. instantly card reflected in app. and delivered within 5 days. After receiving it confirmed calling CC and it's LTF now.
 
how much did you use it ?
I'm not sure I want to use a card for much spend if I know I'll trade it in a month
another question: how these card swaps reflected in your CIBIL ?
I think there's no need to spend anything. But I had spent 7k as there was offer on Flipkart 10% instant discount for Citi credit card.
No cibil hit as no new credit account. just switching of card in same account.
 
do you have other Axis credit cards ?
For me dilemma is that Flipkart card is my only relationship with Axis, I don't know what they gonna offer and/or whether they'll offer anything at all
I have 3 Axis Bank cards. and this 4th Citi. When I had called customer care for 1st time to close Citi Rewards. they had transferred it to retention team. and that guy only had told "Don't close and we will credit 1000₹ on account. and after that you can swap in LTF Citi Indian oil and back to LTF Citi Rewards". So they
 
I have 3 Axis Bank cards. and this 4th Citi. When I had called customer care for 1st time to close Citi Rewards. they had transferred it to retention team. and that guy only had told "Don't close and we will credit 1000₹ on account. and after that you can swap in LTF Citi Indian oil and back to LTF Citi Rewards". So they
are Axis retention team good ?
how long they take generally? I prefer to close the card via call as I don't have any other Axis contact point.
asking because had totally opposite experiences with Citi & SBI.
Citi being the better and swift one.
 
I also want to try it with Axis for the flipkart card
But kind of hesitating because of Axis being Axis they might close the card without any ado
add to the fact that the flipkart card is a popular one
Finally tried with Axis Flipkart today
It's so difficult to get anything out of Axis
After 10 minutes of haggling, only benefit I got is annual fee waiver condition reduced to 150K from 200K
Note : My card will be due for renewal fee on August
 
Finally tried with Axis Flipkart today
It's so difficult to get anything out of Axis
After 10 minutes of haggling, only benefit I got is annual fee waiver condition reduced to 150K from 200K
Note : My card will be due for renewal fee on August
That's why I left Axis for retention.
Got charged Airtel axis Annual Fee today, 590.

Flipkart is LTF.
for ACE, 2L spends reach out in a year.
 
So I have some cards with annual fees which I were not using and wanted to see what banks will offer if I close them, here's my experience -

HDFC -
Put the closure request for moneyback+ card, received a call from team I don't think it was retention team. They told me the card is LTF and the closing is going on they'll try the next month. Although I now think if I had instructed them to close it then maybe I would have got some retention offer. Anyway I raised the grevience to the grevience email for LE and upgrade and shared required docs. Let's see what resolution they came up with.

SBI-
Raised a closure request for Ola Sbi card. Shared the reason that Ola is closing their services so not much value to hold. They made the card LTF and transferred limit from this card to cashback card

ICICI-
Wrote a mail, but just got the reply no call received. Seems like they're not interested in retaining customers

Kotak-
By far the best experience, raised the request got the call next day told the card is chargeable and is not premium. They told me they have upgrade offer in my account for zen signature. I asked them to upgrade but I need that to be LTF, she told me she'll try to get approval. After 3 days got the call ,she didn't have the approval, I suggested to close the card. Received another call this time executive mentioned specifically calling from retention team. She reverted the old card fees and assured me upgrade to zen signature as LTF with assurity on mail. I accepted the offer.
 
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So I have some cards with annual fees which I were not using and wanted to see what banks will offer if I close them, here's my experience -

HDFC -
Put the closure request for moneyback+ card, received a call from team I don't think it was retention team. They told me the card is LTF and the closing is going on they'll try the next month. Although I now think if I had instructed them to close it then maybe I would have got some retention offer. Anyway I raised the grevience to the grevience email and shared required docs. Let's see what resolution they came up with.

SBI-
Raised a closure request for Ola Sbi card. Shared the reason that Ola is closing their services so not much value to hold. They made the card LTF and transferred limit from this card to cashback card

ICICI-
Wrote a mail, but just got the reply no call received. Seems like they're not interested in retaining customers

Kotak-
By far the best experience, raised the request got the call next day told the card is chargeable and is not premium. They told me they have upgrade offer in my account for zen signature. I asked them to upgrade but I need that to be LTF, she told me she'll try to get approval. After 3 days got the call and she told me she didn't have the approval, I suggested to close the card. Received another call this time executive mentioned specifically calling from retention team. She reverted the old card fees and assured me upgrade to zen signature as LTF with assurity on mail. I accepted the offer.
Kotak gives the best retention offers almost always
 
Finally tried with Axis Flipkart today
It's so difficult to get anything out of Axis
After 10 minutes of haggling, only benefit I got is annual fee waiver condition reduced to 150K from 200K
Note : My card will be due for renewal fee on August
Similar experience, same retention offer. I closed the card.
 
So I have some cards with annual fees which I were not using and wanted to see what banks will offer if I close them, here's my experience -

HDFC -
Put the closure request for moneyback+ card, received a call from team I don't think it was retention team. They told me the card is LTF and the closing is going on they'll try the next month. Although I now think if I had instructed them to close it then maybe I would have got some retention offer. Anyway I raised the grevience to the grevience email for LE and upgrade and shared required docs. Let's see what resolution they came up with.

SBI-
Raised a closure request for Ola Sbi card. Shared the reason that Ola is closing their services so not much value to hold. They made the card LTF and transferred limit from this card to cashback card

ICICI-
Wrote a mail, but just got the reply no call received. Seems like they're not interested in retaining customers

Kotak-
By far the best experience, raised the request got the call next day told the card is chargeable and is not premium. They told me they have upgrade offer in my account for zen signature. I asked them to upgrade but I need that to be LTF, she told me she'll try to get approval. After 3 days got the call ,she didn't have the approval, I suggested to close the card. Received another call this time executive mentioned specifically calling from retention team. She reverted the old card fees and assured me upgrade to zen signature as LTF with assurity on mail. I accepted the offer.
In which month and how did you raise Ola SBI card closure request ? After how many days, you got the call ?
 
Finally tried with Axis Flipkart today
It's so difficult to get anything out of Axis
After 10 minutes of haggling, only benefit I got is annual fee waiver condition reduced to 150K from 200K
Note : My card will be due for renewal fee on August
Tried with my paid Flipkart card today. I already hold a LTF MYZONE. I have spent around 50k in FK card and renewal is in September. They reversed joining fee with gst today. Also I had got 500 FK voucher when I paid joining fee last September. So overall good benefit. I will cross 2 lakh spends for this year so no renewal fee too. Will call next year to get it converted to LTF.
 
Since sbi announced the limit of cb to 5k only per month and lot of exclusions for 5% after 3rd April bill generated I paid full and got cb which I loaded to a wallet and submitted card closure on app and got call in the afternoon
That lady convinced by stating that u already spend more than 2 lac so for another year it’s free card for u and requested to keep card live
I strongly asked for Ltf but she denied and asked to call after September which is 1st yr completion of card launch
May be sbi make it ltf but not sure
With a hope I said her to ignore the request
My limit on sbi cb 410000
 
Same
Since sbi announced the limit of cb to 5k only per month and lot of exclusions for 5% after 3rd April bill generated I paid full and got cb which I loaded to a wallet and submitted card closure on app and got call in the afternoon
That lady convinced by stating that u already spend more than 2 lac so for another year it’s free card for u and requested to keep card live
I strongly asked for Ltf but she denied and asked to call after September which is 1st yr completion of card launch
May be sbi make it ltf but not sure
With a hope I said her to ignore the request
My limit on sbi cb 410000
Same was offered to me when i put up a closure request of my simplyclick card few months back.only difference being that they added 499+gst on to my card(even though i had already got a waiver for spending 2 lakhs). I too insisted on ltf and the same in september was promised so i too opted not to close the card
I guess you should have asked for 999+gst to be added along with ltf in September.
 
Same
Same was offered to me when i put up a closure request of my simplyclick card few months back.only difference being that they added 499+gst on to my card(even though i had already got a waiver for spending 2 lakhs). I too insisted on ltf and the same in september was promised so i too opted not to close the card
I guess you should have asked for 999+gst to be added along with ltf in September.
Oh ok
We make this stunt again next month haha
 
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