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 😄

 

[Lakshya Mahani]

Yes ... My dad got prime/elite something as LTF ...

WOW 🙂

 

[Lakshya Mahani]

Try ... Thinking of it even I have 15+ years relationship with SBI with 2L MAB ... I'll try somehow with it ... Hoping with @souvikdey2002 's help ...

Sure.

 

[sunnyhere]

One important thing to note about SBI card is that there are 2 customer service numbers. One for the regular CC and one for grievance redressal. The normal CC guys are clueless and don't understand your question most of the time. Ideal way is to raise a complain on the SBI card app. Give 3-4 days to receive a reply and speak to the Complaint redressal team. They will be most helpful.

 

[BankExpertIndia]

No SBI CCs because not LTF

My Suggestion For You @anirbanm Is To Get SimplyClik First And Spend 1L In The First Year To Waive Of The Annual Fees. Then In Second Year Apply For LTF Thing.... They Will Do It As You Have 15 Years Of Relationship With SBI(Otherwise We Have Other Weapons Too)

 

[AsB]

My Suggestion For You @anirbanm Is To Get SimplyClik First And Spend 1L In The First Year To Waive Of The Annual Fees. Then In Second Year Apply For LTF Thing.... They Will Do It As You Have 15 Years Of Relationship With SBI

Actually, I am going to do that. Have 10 years of relationship with them

 

[souvikdey2002]

Let's see ... Will not do it now ... Will do it sometime tactically like how @souvikdey2002 likes it ...

I agree the idea.
Obviously first choice is to have LTF from beginning which will have probability factor of 100-0.
But second choice is to use the card rigorously for 2-3 years & then threat SBI to close the card account permanently so that they will be forced to convert it to LTF, probability factor is 50-50.

I have converted my Sapphiro in the second way.

 

[souvikdey2002]

My Suggestion For You @anirbanm Is To Get SimplyClik First And Spend 1L In The First Year To Waive Of The Annual Fees. Then In Second Year Apply For LTF Thing.... They Will Do It As You Have 15 Years Of Relationship With SBI(Otherwise We Have Other Weapons Too)

Exactly, but not one 1 year, at least 2-3 years so that they won't be in a situation to say "No"

 

[Vinay Kumar Manchiganti]

Hello Everyone,

I got my first Credit Card ( ICICI APAY) even before my Job in Jan-2021. When I was in college I tried multiple BNPL like (Paytm , Ola, Flipkart etc...) later My friend referred me for Slice card and I got it with a limit of 4K and I used it properly and made sure that I never missed out on any payment. After all this I applied for ICICI APAY card from amazon after completing my KYC on 4th Jan-2021. I received an sms from ICICI bank that my card is approved.

But, later I faced issues with BNPL. I don't know that BNPL will be having Finance Partners. I got my First Job in Feb-2021 they asked me for Bank Account for salary disbursement, so I thought of opening a new account for the salary as Salary Accounts will be Zero account but I want it to come with free debit card with benefits so I started searching online/YouTube that's the time when I came to know TechnoFino channel so I went to his videos related to salary accounts and I came to conclusion that IDFC Bank will be better choice for me as provide free debit card that too VISA Signature one and it comes with few insurance (AIR/ACCIDENT/Purchase Protection), mainly BookMyShow upto RS.250/- No Min order value.

I tried to open account but its not allowing me to open digitally, I faced some kind of error its showing and I called there customer care they informed me that I already have an account with them which is opened digitally so they can't process another account digitally but as far as I know I never opened an account so I called them again and asked what kind of account I have with them but they didn't provide me any details so I got one IDFC BANK employee phone number from company helpdesk who assists employees to open account and after contacting them they mentioned that you could
opened an BNPL with flipkart I said yes. After that they asked me to come offline and submit the proof and open account with them after opening this account.

I mailed Flipkart customer care and closed my BNPL with flipkart and did the same with Paytm. Now I have ola and slice BNPL but ola is not reflecting in my cibil and where as Slice updated two consumer loans in cibil report with incorrect loan (lower than my actual limit) amount in which one got closed in the recent report.

Sir, If anyone can answer this why OLA BNPL is not reflecting in cibil and why Slice didn't update exact loan amount?

Thank you.

 

[ashwinkashwink is verified member.]

Hello Everyone,

I got my first Credit Card ( ICICI APAY) even before my Job in Jan-2021. When I was in college I tried multiple BNPL like (Paytm , Ola, Flipkart etc...) later My friend referred me for Slice card and I got it with a limit of 4K and I used it properly and made sure that I never missed out on any payment. After all this I applied for ICICI APAY card from amazon after completing my KYC on 4th Jan-2021. I received an sms from ICICI bank that my card is approved.

But, later I faced issues with BNPL. I don't know that BNPL will be having Finance Partners. I got my First Job in Feb-2021 they asked me for Bank Account for salary disbursement, so I thought of opening a new account for the salary as Salary Accounts will be Zero account but I want it to come with free debit card with benefits so I started searching online/YouTube that's the time when I came to know TechnoFino channel so I went to his videos related to salary accounts and I came to conclusion that IDFC Bank will be better choice for me as provide free debit card that too VISA Signature one and it comes with few insurance (AIR/ACCIDENT/Purchase Protection), mainly BookMyShow upto RS.250/- No Min order value.

I tried to open account but its not allowing me to open digitally, I faced some kind of error its showing and I called there customer care they informed me that I already have an account with them which is opened digitally so they can't process another account digitally but as far as I know I never opened an account so I called them again and asked what kind of account I have with them but they didn't provide me any details so I got one IDFC BANK employee phone number from company helpdesk who assists employees to open account and after contacting them they mentioned that you could
opened an BNPL with flipkart I said yes. After that they asked me to come offline and submit the proof and open account with them after opening this account.

I mailed Flipkart customer care and closed my BNPL with flipkart and did the same with Paytm. Now I have ola and slice BNPL but ola is not reflecting in my cibil and where as Slice updated two consumer loans in cibil report with incorrect loan (lower than my actual limit) amount in which one got closed in the recent report.

Sir, If anyone can answer this why OLA BNPL is not reflecting in cibil and why Slice didn't update exact loan amount?

Thank you.

Bcz slice has multiple financial partners so that you are seeing multiple consumer loan in your cibil
Most people said that limit of slice always shows low in cibil

 

[vprajnya]

I started earning in 2011-12 and started looking for a credit card.
However it was rejected by all of them saying Home/office at same location.
Technically both were in different site number but right next to each other.
Then my cousin got me an HDFC Titanium/Platinum add on card which i used till 2015.
In 2015 i started helping out my uncle in this business, but this was almost without any pay.
One day i received a call from an agent asking if i'm interested in a credit card.
Like always i said YES and immediately also informed them that i get paid in Cash and
i wont be able to provide any bank statement.
I gave them a Payship and KYC documents.
In a few days the card was approved and
i received a HDFC Diners rewards credit card with a limit of 80K.

 

[vprajnya]

And now what's your portfolio?

HDFC- Diners Black
SBI- Aurum
Axis- Vistara Infinite, Airtel
YES- Business First
IDFC- Wealth
ICICI- MMT Signature
Indusind- Legend

 

[AsB]

HDFC- Diners Black
SBI- Aurum
Axis- Vistara Infinite, Airtel
YES- Business First
IDFC- Wealth
ICICI- MMT Signature
Indusind- Legend

No Amazonpay card ?!

 

[vprajnya]

No Amazonpay card ?!

i use HDFC Diners for all amazon purchases thru SmartBuy.
is it better to pick up Amazonpay card?
i was even thinking of closing my ICICI MMT Card.

 

[007]

i use HDFC Diners for all amazon purchases thru SmartBuy.
is it better to pick up Amazonpay card?
i was even thinking of closing my ICICI MMT Card.

Yeah, do get the Amazon Pay card. It's good enough without any capping for cb. And don't close the MMT card coz Amazon Pay card doesn't work for 10% instant discount offers on most ecommerce websites, so would be useful then (and it's LTF anyway). ICICI allows upto 3 cards, so no worries on that either.

 

[vprajnya]

Why no higher variant CC from ICICI?

Not really a fan of ICICI. Their cards are not really that premium.
They didnt increase limit when it was required for my Ferrari card.
Now they offered MMT card with 5L limit thru my ICICI Wealth account.

They reversed 2L points from my Business card giving some lame reason.
Had the worst response from the RM once this happened.

 

[spatone]

Started working in 2013 and my first company opened a salary account with Standard Chartered. SC did not give me a card due to my home address PIN code and I never bothered about it either. Continued using SC Debit card for purchases and it also accrued benefits worth 1-2K per year and I was happy with it.

Then sometime in 2015 a Citi sales guy caught hold of me in the office and asked me to get signup for a card. Not knowing anything I signed up and received my Citi Rewards card, which became my primary card for coming couple of years. It fetched me 2-3K per annum in terms of statement credit and I was happy with it.

Then in 2017 another HSBC guy bumped into me in office and got me a LTF HSBC Platinum card. I used it just so that i have a different card to flash from the blue Citi Card.

In 2019 I got to know about the Cashoverflow blog from a personal finance book. Visited it and got to know how much beneficial credit cards can be. The SC Manhattan card was placed as the best card for salaried people and I applied for it, and promptly got it as by then I had built sufficient credit history.

Having come across several credit card blogs subsequently I started expanding my portfolio begining with AmEx MRCC, SBI SimplyClick, HDFC Regalia and Citi Indian Oil cards.

My first premium card was AmEx Platinum Travel in 2019, then an upgrade to HDFC DCB in 2021 followed by the recent addition of BoB Eterna in 2022. Having recently gotten an increase in CL on SC Manhattan, will soon replace it with SC Ultimate.

I don't think I have sufficient time to get Citi Prestige before they wrap up in India, but that remains my next goal, so that I can subsequently convert it to an Axis premium card when their transition is complete.

 

[spatone]

LTF Eterna?
What is your highest CC limit among all CCs?

Yes, the Eterna is indeed LTF. But I have limited idea about their criteria (something that gets discussed a lot here). Had applied for a LTF Premiere and got Eterna instead.
Funnily enough, most regular limit enhancement offers I have been receiving are on ICICI Amazon card and the limit stands at 9L. Followed by OneCard at 6.3L, HDFC DCB at 6L, SC Manhattan at 5.35L and Axis Ace at 4.95. Lowest continues to be Citi at 1.2L.

 

[spatone]

What's limit of Eterna?

3Lakhs. I don't think we will be able to find a correlation between LTF Eterna and the factors leading to it. All the best 😀

 

[ashwinkashwink is verified member.]

3Lakhs. I don't think we will be able to find a correlation between LTF Eterna and the factors leading to it. All the best 😀

Upload some pics bro only seen it's mastercard variant 😅

 

[spatone]

Upload some pics bro only seen it's mastercard variant 😅

Not much different from the MC version