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 😄

 

[reddyb]

My first card was with Halifax UK back in 2009 . First in india was axis my choice card in 2014 .

 

[Avishma1]

My first cc was HDFC superio back in 2010. It was offered by HDFC bank as I had my salary account with them.

 

[vysakh]

Citi Rewards in 2013.

My friend/colleague had got the same one a month or two earlier and that's when I started researching about it. Until then I was sceptical about credit cards - the credit trap, hidden charges and all those things that misinformed people say. I had applied in May. Citi wanted the last two salary slips. The March payslip had higher amount than usual because of all the tax adjustments and stuff. The April salary had the annual bonus as well. So those two slips had higher take home pay than usual. At 1.2L, my first credit limit was higher than my friend even though we had the exact same pay. I was worried about the high credit limit about getting misused and so used it with extreme caution. IIRC the PIN was not mandatory at that time. So you could simply swipe at the POS and the transaction would complete. Those days in restaurants, people would place the card in the pouch thingy in which the bill comes and the waiter would take it, go to the billing counter, swipe and come back with the receipt. I was worried about misuse and card spoofing things and so I'd take the bill and go to the counter and have it swiped in front of me. lol

 

[Naman Jain]

Currently I am 21 and also studying so getting a credit card would be very hard but was offered hdfc millennia card around 1.5 years ago as a pre-approved offer.
Got that and was able to upgrade my limit from 50k to 1lac now.
My second card was onecard unsecured card with 30k limit.
Also have lazypay card (i personally don't count it as a credit card and looking not much offers and even after so many months of talking to them still this loan is not shown on my cibil so might close soon).

 

[ichiranjeeb]

I wanted a Credit Card badly. So, I called all banks and asked them how I could get a CC if I didn't have any income proof and Cibil. Everyone declined except HDFC. They told me to visit the branch and talk to their staff. There, I learned that I could get a pre-approved card if I open an account with a 10K minimum balance. But the condition was I had to maintain 30K in that account for 3-4 months.

So, I opened the account but could not fulfill the 30K criteria. I left that account open with a 10K initial deposit. 4 months went by, and I got a call from HDFC saying I am eligible for Moneyback Card with a 25K limit.

That's how I got my first Credit Card. It was two and a half years ago. Now I have 6 Credit Cards 😆

 

[StanRoute66]

My First CC was ICICI Apay Card in Early 2020 . Got it from Amazon itself !

 

[shubhamaggarwal]

I have got my first credit card at the age of 20 from Kotak which is FD based card. I have applied in November 2021 and started my credit card journey.

 

[shubhamaggarwal]

Which cards do you have now?

I have Kotak 811 Dream Different Credit Card, OneCard taken against FD. Recently, I have applied for my first unsecured credit card from Bob Select.

 

[Suno]

Heard only sob stories from friends / relatives / colleagues as to how bad their credit card journey was and I should stick with only debit cards to have peaceful life.

Initially I was very adamant to go for credit cards even though I had pre-approved cards from banks. So I read several blogs and viewed YouTube videos to get to know pros and cons of credit card, how to avoid penalty/interest, how to leverage with reward points / cashback for utility bill payments.

So folks from the bank kept pestering me at least once a week for several months and it finally worked and I ended up getting Kotak Urbane Gold CC in 2017.

Since then, there is no turning back.

 

[pratyush]

My first card was Axis Bank myzone card in 2019. I was pre approved for this card with limit of 1.15L
currently active cards:
Axis Select card, Axis privilege card, hdfc regalia first,citi rewards, indusind aura edge

closed cards: sbi simplyclick, sbi bpcl, idfc classic, axis myzone, one card

 

[kapilahir]

My first credit card was IDFC OneCard.
I was out for open grazing to my cows. Sudden i got notification in OneScore app that Metal cards rewards you with limit of 30k later 5 months back it's increased to 50k. I was so happy after that i got Amazon pay ICICI with 110k limit 1 year back based on that shared limit got ICICI MMT Platinum, then HDFC then axis then sbi then au and counting

 

[kapilahir]

Was MMT Platinum LTF?

Yes joining fee 500 something no annual fees LTF after that also you will get 500 my cash in MMT wallet

 

[kochiro]

I recently got SBi Simply Click credit card (yet to generate any statement) with limit of only 19k rs. I am considering showing high expenses on card while having 30% spending at the end of bill cycle. This is my first credit unsecured card after I used icici fd based coral credit card for couple of months ( I specially created this card to get sbi card after 6 months but I got call from agent and mentioned that my sbi card is already approved).
Currently I have 47k expenses on sbi card (increased limit by adding money in it but usage is still 30%) hoping to get limit increase, no cost emi on hdfc debit card so that I will get pre-approved credit card and no cost emi on icici fd card for getting amazon pay icici card. I wonder if any of this will work out for me or I might just end up with horrible credit score (right now it's 756)

 

[Akashgod]

I recently got SBi Simply Click credit card (yet to generate any statement) with limit of only 19k rs. I am considering showing high expenses on card while having 30% spending at the end of bill cycle. This is my first credit unsecured card after I used icici fd based coral credit card for couple of months ( I specially created this card to get sbi card after 6 months but I got call from agent and mentioned that my sbi card is already approved).
Currently I have 47k expenses on sbi card (increased limit by adding money in it but usage is still 30%) hoping to get limit increase, no cost emi on hdfc debit card so that I will get pre-approved credit card and no cost emi on icici fd card for getting amazon pay icici card. I wonder if any of this will work out for me or I might just end up with horrible credit score (right now it's 756)

Congrats also @anirbanm today I have purchased hdfc life from online and linked to netbanking. Trying insurance way like u did for cc 😄

 

[kochiro]

You don't need no cost EMI on ICICI card for getting Amazon Pay ICICI card ... You can apply for the card form Amazon app directly

I tried doing that and they kept asking for income docs. It took a month to cancel card application.

 

[kochiro]

Congrats also @anirbanm today I have purchased hdfc life from online and linked to netbanking. Trying insurance way like u did for cc 😄

let me know if this work for you, hdfc on DC emi worked for my friend and got millennia cc in less than 1 year of creating youth ac

 

[Akashgod]

let me know if this work for you, hdfc on DC emi worked for my friend and got millennia cc in less than 1 year of creating youth ac

I have taken 3 debit emis and paid off full.
Hdfc gave me 2.8 lakh debit emi limit but no cc.
Been 9 months account opened

 

[kochiro]

I have taken 3 debit emis and paid off full.
Hdfc gave me 2.8 lakh debit emi limit but no cc.
Been 9 months account opened

debit card emi limit depend on your bank balance, I will ask RM after 6 months if she can help with this.

 

[swastik2233]

My first card was HDFC money-back in 2014 which I was given by bank on my internship salary account. Just used it a couple of times in 2014-15. Then closed hdfc savings account and forgot about card. At that time , i was completely ignorant about credit cards and score. Luckily did not had any pending dues.

When I applied for car loan in 2020 at sbi , i came to know that my cibil was 821 ( thanks to 5 year credit history ). And the hdfc card was still active. ! !

Only started using credit cards since aug 2021 when Amazon offered it's card to me.
And then I took almost one card per month to a count of 10 till now.

The latest one being SBI Pulse LTF 1.67 L limit

 

[StanRoute66]

My first card was HDFC money-back in 2014 which I was given by bank on my internship salary account. Just used it a couple of times in 2014-15. Then closed hdfc savings account and forgot about card. At that time , i was completely ignorant about credit cards and score. Luckily did not had any pending dues.

When I applied for car loan in 2020 at sbi , i came to know that my cibil was 821 ( thanks to 5 year credit history ). And the hdfc card was still active. ! !

Only started using credit cards since aug 2021 when Amazon offered it's card to me.
And then I took almost one card per month to a count of 10 till now.

The latest one being SBI Pulse LTF 1.67 L limit

LTF SBI Card ? how ?