Even though it is good to stand up for your rights and I would do the same, I fail to see what is the issue here? Whenever you apply for a card or even try to check eligibility, it is well known that the bank will check your credit status. How else would they kbow whether to offer a card and which one and with what limit? AU is a relatively new entrant to CC and they might have overlooked placing a warning about this. Nevertheless, we all know that applying for a CC will lead to an enquiry. I think you are needlessly fighting this.
Good points raised and I totally agree with that, provided I'm aware of the fact that I'm applying for the credit card and that's what I've clearly mentioned in my OP, Blog post, social media threads, etc.
This is where the problem is. SwipeUp program unfortunately DOES NOT explicitly say ANYWHERE in their landing page, terms and condition, FAQs, etc. that we are applying for a credit card or a credit bureau enquiry will be made.
Instead, they go on to advertise 3 simple step process based on which they say they will recommend and later you can choose to apply. That is where the problem is.
What are those 3 steps?
- 1. Enter the first 6 digits of your other Bank’s Credit Card
- 2. Select the name of the Credit Card variant
- 3. Compare your card with SwipeUp platform recommendation and apply
Now if we go by their landing page, FAQs, Terms, etc. it is being understood that they want us to give our 6 digits of our other bank's credit card using which they can present their offering based on which you can decide to apply or not.
In fact, if you enter your mobile number on their landing page, they say "
Looks like you’re not part of the SwipeUp program yet." even at this point, they talk about you not being part of their program and hence, ask you to apply. Again, they are not saying apply for the card but apply for the program. This is a wordplay and clear manipulation.
...Now when we actually go on applying for their SwipeUp program after reading their terms and thinking you'd be asked to enter the 6 digits of other bank's credit card number, it doesn't ask at all. It's a technical glitch which they continue to deliberately ignore acknowledging despite their own support team mentioning and what does it lead to? A hard enquiry and a normal credit card application without even applying for it and then offer an entry level card as LTF and other premium cards as chargeable. When you question them, they cite the application came in as normal application and not swipeUp program and ask you to re-apply which leads to further damage of your credit report which the bank doesn't care about.
If we compare this with any other banks which also have similar recommendation systems, let's take IDFC for example, they too have compare feature which is simple and straight forward without damage to your credit report. You can choose your other bank card and their cards, compare the offerings between the both and apply or leave.
Similarly there's OneCard, which does soft enquiry and tell you whether you are eligible or not. There are many such banks/neobanks/startups that offer comparison and make things clear whether you are applying for a card or not and whether you are eligible or not from the beginning. This bank on the other hand continues to mislead in the name of comparing, capturing data, and then creating a trap after damaging the credit report without even applying for a card YET because you are still in evaluation phase but they chose to damage your report and now if you don't take their chargeable card or an entry level card, it is your loss regardless.
