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

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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 😄
 
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Ok bro keep us posted on the progress of your offline application. Did you not want to opt for Select/Premier card or you yourself wanted to go ahead with Easy?
I just want a BoB card because of two reasons
  • It is LTF
  • It has RuPay variant (which I will get by emailing to cc)

I went for the basic variant to have higher chance of approval 🙄
 
I just want a BoB card because of two reasons
  • It is LTF
  • It has RuPay variant (which I will get by emailing to cc)

I went for the basic variant to have higher chance of approval 🙄
Can you list down the benefits of rupay over visa.
Just wanna know as I have BoB visa Easy, if the benefits of rupay are more then I might also consider for convertion into rupay
 
Can you list down the benefits of rupay over visa.
Just wanna know as I have BoB visa Easy, if the benefits of rupay are more then I might also consider for convertion into rupay
Advantages :-

  • The best benefit of RuPay is that it is an Indian platform. So, due to all transactions being completed in India, the Govt. need not pay currency exchange fees to foreign platforms like VISA and Mastercard. So, it saves a ton of Forex reserves. The amount saved is actually huge (a Twitter account from a CA revealed some calculations back in 2016).
  • "Vocal For Local" is applicable here
  • By getting more people on RuPay, NPCI can improve the RuPay platform further, as more revenue will be generated.
  • Also, there are very less chances of International Frauds (which do not require OTPs in any transactions) as RuPay Cards are not accepted everywhere internationally. JCB and Discover Cards are accepted (in which cases Rupay cards are automatically accepted, due to tie up), but not as much as VISA and Mastercard. Also, since these cards are few in number , it will be very difficult to guess the card number completely. (However, it is not wise to leave the International Transactions on all the time).
  • Banks can also save more money, as they pay less money for RuPay platform , than foreign platform. So, more profits for banks
  • Also, all transactions will be stored in India.
  • There is a chance to avoid acceptance of Union Pay (China Platform), as everyone knows about data security of China. (To increase competition, as VISA and MC had high registration fees for banks, Govt. may allow other platforms). This is just my personal analysis; could be wrong.
  • All the benefits and cashbacks, which are provided by VISA and Mastercard variants are applicable for RuPay variants. So, it is a compounded benefit for all (customers, banks and the Govt. )
  • Many offline stores will gladly accept RuPay Credit cards , compared to VISA or Mastercard or even Amex (sometimes, they take additional money, to cover the cost of their transactional charges, or sometimes they say that their machine is not working, etc.) , because the charges incurred by the stores are less. This network is expanding to more stores as well. (Banks charge a small fee from stores which varies for different payment methods. For UPI, there is 0 fee, for Debit card , 1-2% , for Credit Card , 2-4% of transactional value)

Disadvantages :-

  • Comparatively, limited Lounge access (all JCB and Discover lounge access are provided, but still less than VISA and Mastercard)
  • People who visit foreign countries frequently or those who are planning to visit, should use at least one VISA or Mastercard, as RuPay/JCB/Discover cards are still limited in acceptance.
  • Sometimes, personalized offers provided by VISA and MC are more, in quantity and value , compared to RuPay. Not frequent but still. Like, VISA had lots of offers in Amazon and PayTM after RuPay was promoted by the Govt.
  • RuPay is controlled by Indian Govt. Employees. So, Govt. Employees' negligence is applicable, although many many people have had positive response in regards to the resolutions provided.

More can be added by other people. Also, correct me if I am wrong somewhere
 
Advantages :-

  • The best benefit of RuPay is that it is an Indian platform. So, due to all transactions being completed in India, the Govt. need not pay currency exchange fees to foreign platforms like VISA and Mastercard. So, it saves a ton of Forex reserves. The amount saved is actually huge (a Twitter account from a CA revealed some calculations back in 2016).
  • "Vocal For Local" is applicable here
  • By getting more people on RuPay, NPCI can improve the RuPay platform further, as more revenue will be generated.
  • Also, there are very less chances of International Frauds (which do not require OTPs in any transactions) as RuPay Cards are not accepted everywhere internationally. JCB and Discover Cards are accepted (in which cases Rupay cards are automatically accepted, due to tie up), but not as much as VISA and Mastercard. Also, since these cards are few in number , it will be very difficult to guess the card number completely. (However, it is not wise to leave the International Transactions on all the time).
  • Banks can also save more money, as they pay less money for RuPay platform , than foreign platform. So, more profits for banks
  • Also, all transactions will be stored in India.
  • There is a chance to avoid acceptance of Union Pay (China Platform), as everyone knows about data security of China. (To increase competition, as VISA and MC had high registration fees for banks, Govt. may allow other platforms). This is just my personal analysis; could be wrong.
  • All the benefits and cashbacks, which are provided by VISA and Mastercard variants are applicable for RuPay variants. So, it is a compounded benefit for all (customers, banks and the Govt. )
  • Many offline stores will gladly accept RuPay Credit cards , compared to VISA or Mastercard or even Amex (sometimes, they take additional money, to cover the cost of their transactional charges, or sometimes they say that their machine is not working, etc.) , because the charges incurred by the stores are less. This network is expanding to more stores as well. (Banks charge a small fee from stores which varies for different payment methods. For UPI, there is 0 fee, for Debit card , 1-2% , for Credit Card , 2-4% of transactional value)

Disadvantages :-

  • Comparatively, limited Lounge access (all JCB and Discover lounge access are provided, but still less than VISA and Mastercard)
  • People who visit foreign countries frequently or those who are planning to visit, should use at least one VISA or Mastercard, as RuPay/JCB/Discover cards are still limited in acceptance.
  • Sometimes, personalized offers provided by VISA and MC are more, in quantity and value , compared to RuPay. Not frequent but still. Like, VISA had lots of offers in Amazon and PayTM after RuPay was promoted by the Govt.
  • RuPay is controlled by Indian Govt. Employees. So, Govt. Employees' negligence is applicable, although many many people have had positive response in regards to the resolutions provided.

More can be added by other people. Also, correct me if I am wrong somewhere
Thank you for this, I recently got rupay moneybackplus with 50k limit.
 
My first Credit Card is Onecard IDFC. I received this card in their second rollout by completing all steps like inviting, bank statement upload etc. I got 30k limit unsecured. I was full happy on that day. Before that I had only paytm postpaid.
Dont go with BNPL options (cards or otherwise). They will destroy your CIBIL score.
 
Had applied for Amazon Pay ICICI & Flipkart Axia together, Amazon Pay ICICI Pay was the first to be approved. A day later got message of approval from Axis bank. This was in the last week of December 2021. Now I have 5 more, so a total of 7!
 
Had applied for Amazon Pay ICICI & Flipkart Axia together, Amazon Pay ICICI Pay was the first to be approved. A day later got message of approval from Axis bank. This was in the last week of December 2021. Now I have 5 more, so a total of 7!
Was Flipkart LTF? And what limit you got for Flipkart?
 
My first card was back in 2010 when I started working. It was SBI Simply save. Didn't know much about credit cards back then hence applied for a card from a known bank. Used the card on rare occasions. Wanted an add-on from SBI, instead they sent me another card which was SBI FBB (Now converted to Simply Click).

In the last 10 years, never really bothered about credit cards but collected a few of them just out of curiosity.

Started HDFC journey in 2014 with Allmiles card.

Started taking interest in the cards I own to maximize benefits a couple of months ago.

Now own:
1. SBI Simply save and Simply Click both LTF
2. HDFC Regalia FYF
3. ICICI Amazon Pay
4. Axis Ace
5. AXIS Magnus
6. SC Ultimate
7. Citi IOCL
8. RBL Platinum Choice Supercard
9. ICICI MMT Platinum
10. Onecard Metal

I think only AMEX is missing from the kitty here.
 
How did you get LTF SBI?
Got both converted to LTF through customer care this year itself. Threatened to close both the cards, the retention team gave an option to convert it to LTF to retain the card.

That's it. Maybe have paid too much fees to SBI in the past 10 years. Also had student loan from SBI 12 years ago. That might have helped.
 
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