Your First Credit Card Story - How did you get your first credit card?

[TechnoFinoTechnoFino is verified member.]

Hello every,
The first credit card is special for everyone. We all remember the experience of getting our first card 😃
Let's share our first credit card experience...
My experience-
My first credit card was ICICI HPCL Coral, which I received in 2015. My home address at that time did not fall within any bank's serviceable area, so they asked me to apply for credit card against FD. But I needed an unsecured credit card, so I talked to my branch manager and I told him I needed an unsecured card.
He told me that... we can give you an unsecured card but for that you have to purchase an ICICI Prudential Ulip policy of Rs. 2 lakhs (minimum).
At that time I desperately needed a credit card because my business was in USA and I needed a credit card for its payment. I was unemployed that time with zero CIBIL score, No bank was offering me a credit card so I had purchased a policy of two lakh rupees at that time and got my first ever credit card ICICI HPCL coral credit card (chargeable), later icici converted that card to a lifetime free hpcl coral credit card and I'm still holding that one 😄

 

[Survivor35]

Mine was Citibank Diners which i got it in 2006 when i was in bangalore working for HP.Those days they used to charge extra if we swiped cc in few of business slowly it became premier miles & reward card.

 

[NikAsr1503]

My first was when i was a student, got HDFC pre approved indane oil CC. Cannot forget how happy i was!

 

[haroldh]

My first credit card was a corporate credit card which i was forced to take. I didn't trust in credit cards before that.

After getting the credit card researched on pros and cons and then started to apply for personal cards. First personal card was dcb through alumni offer.

 

[Juganta]

My 1st CC is from HDFC Bank 'Millenia Cedit Card with Limit 1.5 Lacs, Instant approved, I had a two wheeler loan in my Cibil that time

 

[kishorvr]

I always wanted my own credit card after I used my father's credit card once for a purchase. I tried getting one since 2007 December. No one would give me as my salary that time was only ₹7,000. I asked with ICICI where I had my salary account, then many PSUs. I stopped pursuing it from the mid 2008 till the start of 2010.

My first credit card was Citibank Indianoil card in April 2010 with ₹37,000 limit which I got with my salary account with Citibank. I had this till March 2017.

 

[Nishan11]

My first card was SBI simplyclick. I always used to avoid getting credit card because of many misconceptions.

Last year before festival time, SBI card organized camp at state secretariat for credit card. So I took the plunge & got basic card to learn the game.

Still using it but it's not my primary card. Recently got LE too of around 60%.

 

[srikant]

My first card was SBI simplyclick. I always used to avoid getting credit card because of many misconceptions.

Last year before festival time, SBI card organized camp at state secretariat for credit card. So I took the plunge & got basic card to learn the game.

Still using it but it's not my primary card. Recently got LE too of around 60%.

Did you get it LTF?

 

[Nishan11]

Did you get it LTF?

At the beginning it was paid. But the agent said he will make all mid cards ltf for all those who are applying that day, after 3 months.

And after 3 months, when I called him,he made it LTF in a week.

Now he has joined indusind & behind me for salary account & card 🤣

 

[drshenoy]

My 1st Credit card was from Citi Bank after I took a loan for my 1st car, Maruti 800 non AC in mid 2000

 

[GopalV]

My first credit card was SBI Elite card,I don't remember exactly,it was probably in 2015 or 2016.I wasn't keen on using credit cards until then,because of the poor knowledge about credit cards.Later I read about them and changed my perspective about credit cards.I have a good relation with SBI,so it was an automatic choice.Now I have 12 credit cards.

 

[Saiv]

My 1st Credit card is in 2020 Kotak 811 Fd card I deposited 15K & got 12K limit.I'm the 1st one to hold a CC in my family coz my family thinks CC will cause debt traps so they're against it but without their knowledge i got one, from there to this date i made 100% on time payments which made my CIBIL SKYROCKETED. then i got 10K in hand so I deposited it on icici & got fd card. After few months amazon offered me a card but with an income proof, so I applied & postponed the document collection(kyc). After 1 month Amazon offered pre approved offers without any income proof so i got it with ₹130K limit which is now ₹460K limit.

 

[D C]

The first card I applied for was Amazon ICICI card in 2020, but got rejected as I had no credit history.

After that, when I was at SBI branch for some other work, I got approached by CC rep, they offered me Doctor SBI card, no income proof needed.

So that was my first card, just to get some credit history started. Since then, applying for other cards has been much easier.

 

[Lobogris]

My first credit card was from Bank of America in 1999. It was a secured card with a limit of $500. Unfortunately, I didn't manage it too well and it was closed by the bank after about 8 months due to late payments and being over the limit each month. At one point, I even used it for over $2,000 on a trip to England and Ireland as there were no direct debit machines in those days. The merchants took the impression of your card with a machine on carbon paper and then submitted it to your bank! It was very foolish as Bank of America had a programme where they would make your card unsecured after a year. Eventually I established excellent credit history there and my score was 830 plus.
In India, my first card was also secured in 2021 and had a limit of around 9 lakhs from Yes Bank. I closed it after about 6 months as I had gotten a few unsecured cards by then.

 

[Lobogris]

Boring old HDFC gave pre approved offer based on debit card usage i suppose. Hardly kept ~20k in account but used their debit card a lot as it gave a decent cashback. Wasnt really much aware of CC's back then. But the pre approved CC then really helped build cibil score.

Which variant was offered by HDFC and what limit did you get?

 

[bitsst]

My First Card was Union Bank Visa Gold Card in 2010, I was working at a remote location and Branch Manager was my neighbor. Limit 1 Lac.

 

[real_name_hidden]

First one was SBI simplyclick card. Some agent offered it in college campus to final year students with FYF offer. It had a limit of 15K which seemed good enough while applying but later realized was quite less once started earning. So i closed it due to low limit. I wasn't very knowledgeable about CC (had zero clue about LE) at that time.

 

[yaswanth458]

I got my first card in 2011 along with salary account.
I didn't knew about these credit cards then, l received card without applying (may be agent took extra signatures for credit card during salary account opening).

Now i hold more than 30 cards.

 

[pothi]

My first credit card was Axis MyBusiness. It was 10 years ago. I still hold it. I am planning to switch, though. Now, I have three cards including this. Super helpful while paying some international transactions where consumer credit cards may be declined at times.

 

[COSMOCRAT]

My first card was HDFC Moneyback+, and I got it pre-approved. Then I closed it within 6 months after discovering HDFC shadily showed fake LTF logic. At least it helped in starting a credit score and now I have few but decent cards.

Before this, I belonged to the Credit cards = Bad simpleton gang.

 

[Sourabh_13]

Hi everyone,

I was interested in credit cards for a long time but never tried to get one because I was not working, so I had no ITR/Salary slip and no credit history. Also, I had a savings account only in SBI, and I was not willing to book an FD there to get a secured credit card on which I would have to pay annual charges.

I got my first credit card in 2021. ICICI folks had set up a stall near my department building in the institute. A big banner in front of the stall showed pictures of Coral and Manchester credit cards. The ICICI guy asked me if I wanted to take a card when I was passing the booth. I told him I was just a student without income or credit history. He told me that the only criteria to get one of those cards is to hold an active ID card of my institute. That is how I got my first LTF unsecured ICICI Coral CC with zero annual fee with a limit of 1L.