Hey TFCians,
Here we are—a community of more than 50,000 like-minded individuals, discussing credit cards and banking every single day. But today, let’s get a bit personal. Let’s talk about how you started your credit card journey.
This isn't just about which card you got first or what your initial experience was. Let’s go deeper—where did you first hear about credit cards? What were your expectations? What was your background at that point in life?
I’ll start this fun by sharing my own story…
I’m Sumanta Mandal, as many of you know. Born in 1993 (7 years before 2000... Thala for a reason, lol) in a lower-middle-class family.
I started freelancing at the age of 16, back in 2009. I used to work on oDesk (which is now Upwork), as well as platforms like Microworkers and Amazon Mechanical Turk. One of the biggest challenges back then was getting paid. There was PayPal, which allowed withdrawals in India, and AlertPay, which didn't.
At that time, I used my father's SBI bank account for withdrawals. But PayPal would often ask for verification, and back then, it only supported debit cards from HDFC, ICICI, and Axis Bank. So, I convinced my father to open an HDFC Bank account in his name—just to get the right debit card. And that was the spark. That was when my interest in the banking system truly began.
On my 18th birthday in 2011, the first thing I did was apply for a PAN card. The same day, I applied for a Voter ID card (even though it wasn't needed to open a bank account). After getting my PAN, I opened an Axis Bank student account with a ₹2,500 minimum balance. That was my very first bank account. Then came an SBI savings account. And soon after that, I started opening accounts in almost every PSU bank—Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, United Bank—you name it. By 2012, I had most of them.
By that time, I had become one of the top-earning member of Microworkers in India—among the top 3, actually. I was also rated as a “Rising Talent” on oDesk and had clocked over 1,500 hours of work. I mostly did website management and research-related work.
In 2013, I started hiring people to help with one of my client’s projects. I needed a credit card to pay them. Sure, I could use my debit card—but a credit card made more sense. That’s when I started learning more about credit cards. But coming from a lower-middle-class family, none of my family members had ever even thought of having one.
I approached Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and a few others. All rejected me—because I didn’t have a stable income. Freelance income had no value in the eyes of banks back then. I was making around ₹40,000/month, but it didn’t matter.
That same year, I got an offer from an Australian company through oDesk. They hired me to manage their Amazon store, handle shipments, communicate with factories in China, and conduct research. They were paying me around ₹85,000/month—but still, no bank wanted to issue me a credit card.
The company owner, though, was incredibly supportive. She constantly encouraged me to start my own business and begin selling on Amazon.
In 2015, I made the decision to start my own Amazon store. But for that, I desperately needed a credit card. I didn’t care about rewards—I was even ready to pay a 3.5% markup fee. I just needed a card to get started.
As expected, all the banks rejected me again. Income tax returns didn’t help either. Finally, the local ICICI Bank manager offered me a deal: If I bought a ULIP plan with a ₹3 lakh annual premium, they’d issue me a Coral credit card. I immediately agreed. And 15 days later, my first credit card arrived.
In 2016, I launched my Amazon US store.
Fast forward to 2019—I wanted to share something useful about credit cards with others. So I started the TechnoFino YouTube channel.
In late 2020, I attempted to build a community website. It didn’t work—too much spam, no engagement. In 2021, I tried again. Failed. Tried again in the last quarter of the same year. Failed again.
Finally, in 2022, I launched the current version of the TechnoFino Community website—and today, it’s used by over 50,000 members and many guest readers.
And the rest? Well, you guys already know that part.
Right now, I have 63 credit cards—all primary cards, no add-ons counted.
That’s my story. Now, I’d absolutely love to hear yours. Drop your story in the comments—it’ll be fun to see how all of us started and how far we’ve come.
Here we are—a community of more than 50,000 like-minded individuals, discussing credit cards and banking every single day. But today, let’s get a bit personal. Let’s talk about how you started your credit card journey.
This isn't just about which card you got first or what your initial experience was. Let’s go deeper—where did you first hear about credit cards? What were your expectations? What was your background at that point in life?
I’ll start this fun by sharing my own story…
I’m Sumanta Mandal, as many of you know. Born in 1993 (7 years before 2000... Thala for a reason, lol) in a lower-middle-class family.
I started freelancing at the age of 16, back in 2009. I used to work on oDesk (which is now Upwork), as well as platforms like Microworkers and Amazon Mechanical Turk. One of the biggest challenges back then was getting paid. There was PayPal, which allowed withdrawals in India, and AlertPay, which didn't.
At that time, I used my father's SBI bank account for withdrawals. But PayPal would often ask for verification, and back then, it only supported debit cards from HDFC, ICICI, and Axis Bank. So, I convinced my father to open an HDFC Bank account in his name—just to get the right debit card. And that was the spark. That was when my interest in the banking system truly began.
On my 18th birthday in 2011, the first thing I did was apply for a PAN card. The same day, I applied for a Voter ID card (even though it wasn't needed to open a bank account). After getting my PAN, I opened an Axis Bank student account with a ₹2,500 minimum balance. That was my very first bank account. Then came an SBI savings account. And soon after that, I started opening accounts in almost every PSU bank—Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, United Bank—you name it. By 2012, I had most of them.
By that time, I had become one of the top-earning member of Microworkers in India—among the top 3, actually. I was also rated as a “Rising Talent” on oDesk and had clocked over 1,500 hours of work. I mostly did website management and research-related work.
In 2013, I started hiring people to help with one of my client’s projects. I needed a credit card to pay them. Sure, I could use my debit card—but a credit card made more sense. That’s when I started learning more about credit cards. But coming from a lower-middle-class family, none of my family members had ever even thought of having one.
I approached Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and a few others. All rejected me—because I didn’t have a stable income. Freelance income had no value in the eyes of banks back then. I was making around ₹40,000/month, but it didn’t matter.
That same year, I got an offer from an Australian company through oDesk. They hired me to manage their Amazon store, handle shipments, communicate with factories in China, and conduct research. They were paying me around ₹85,000/month—but still, no bank wanted to issue me a credit card.
The company owner, though, was incredibly supportive. She constantly encouraged me to start my own business and begin selling on Amazon.
In 2015, I made the decision to start my own Amazon store. But for that, I desperately needed a credit card. I didn’t care about rewards—I was even ready to pay a 3.5% markup fee. I just needed a card to get started.
As expected, all the banks rejected me again. Income tax returns didn’t help either. Finally, the local ICICI Bank manager offered me a deal: If I bought a ULIP plan with a ₹3 lakh annual premium, they’d issue me a Coral credit card. I immediately agreed. And 15 days later, my first credit card arrived.
In 2016, I launched my Amazon US store.
Fast forward to 2019—I wanted to share something useful about credit cards with others. So I started the TechnoFino YouTube channel.
In late 2020, I attempted to build a community website. It didn’t work—too much spam, no engagement. In 2021, I tried again. Failed. Tried again in the last quarter of the same year. Failed again.
Finally, in 2022, I launched the current version of the TechnoFino Community website—and today, it’s used by over 50,000 members and many guest readers.
And the rest? Well, you guys already know that part.
Right now, I have 63 credit cards—all primary cards, no add-ons counted.
That’s my story. Now, I’d absolutely love to hear yours. Drop your story in the comments—it’ll be fun to see how all of us started and how far we’ve come.
