Cardholders will benefit from the following advantages that their credit card provides –
- Welcome Offers: These days, most credit cards come with welcome rewards in the form of gift coupons, discounts, or reward points for bonuses.
- Reward Points or Cash Back: You collect reward points, air miles, or direct cashback added to your account every time you make a purchase on your card. Gifts and merchandise can be used to redeem the accrued reward points, while cashback is directly added to your card account. At reduced rates, air miles can be used to book flight tickets.
- Fuel Surcharge Waiver: Almost all cards come with this advantage, in which the surcharge will be waived if you pay a certain amount if you refuel your vehicle.
- Airport Lounge Access: Certain credit cards also provide a certain amount of yearly free lounge visits at domestic and international airports. These advantages are specially provided by travel-centric cards and premium cards.
- Insurance: Credit cards often provide up to a certain amount of insurance and cover injuries. It may be coverage of an air crash, coverage of missing card liability, or coverage of an overseas hospitalization.
- Cash Advance: Using your credit card, you can also withdraw money straight from an ATM. This is very helpful when you need some urgent cash in times of emergency.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA TO APPLY FOR A CREDIT CARD
Many would have encountered advertising emails, SMS, or website ads asking you to apply for a credit card. Via them, you may have attempted to apply for the card and found yourself not eligible or may not have shown interest in applying for them.
If you are interested in applying for a credit card, before beginning the application process, you will first have to verify your eligibility for the card. You will get assured approval easily by remembering the eligibility requirements. Here are some of the most relevant conditions for eligibility that you need to know before applying for a credit card.
- Age: An applicant must be at least 18 years of age. Add-on cardholders may, however, be a minimum of 12 years old.
- The applicant must be a citizen of India. Those credit cards are also available for Non-Resident Indians.
- The applicant should have, as required for a credit card, a steady income. To receive a credit card, both salaried and self-employed citizens are liable. The minimum annual income, in general, is Rs. 2 Lakhs.
- You should have a decent credit score to get accepted for unique credit cards. Individuals who do not have a credit score will use their current income to get a credit card. Individuals with a poor credit score may use their fixed deposit to earn a protected credit card.
- In addition to the eligibility requirements set out above, banks have their own internal rules and approval is subject to the sole discretion of the issuer of the credit card.
HOW TO APPLY FOR A CREDIT CARD
You should apply for the card using the following methods after you have reviewed whether you are eligible for the credit card and have researched its features.
Applying Online:
- You can visit the official website of the bank.
- Take a look at the list of credit cards offered by the lender and compare their features
- Select the credit card that is best suited for your spending habits
- Fill in your personal and contact details in the application form
- Upload the documents if necessary
- Submit the form
After submitting the form, the bank’s executive will contact you for the purpose of verification and push the application for approval.
Alternatively, apart from applying through the banks’ portals, you can also apply through financial portals such as CreditBoss.
SMS: Most banks allow customers via SMS to contact them. According to the syntax given, you can send an SMS to the respective bank to get in touch with the application process.
Customer care: To ask about any questions, all banks have toll-free numbers to contact the customer service team. From your smartphone, you can contact them and get support to continue with the application process.
Mobile Banking: Each bank has a mobile app with all alerts and services offered. To apply for a credit card, you can download the app.
Visiting the branch: If you are not familiar with the methods mentioned above, you can go to any nearby branch of the bank and apply for a credit card. You will have to bring documentation and personal information that help your income.
