It happened in 2005, when I first applied for my credit card - ahem, I know what you’re thinking about; yes, ‘m pretty late to this money borrowing business. Way back in 1999, when my father used to swipe his credit card for purchases, I used to drool at the glittering gold card gleaming with the name of my dad in raised letters. I yearned for one add-on card at that time, and my father said ‘NO’. Even my friends used to show off with their credit cards, taking care of the bill at the restaurant or bar.

So, back to my story, I called up the credit card section of a large multinational bank over here, and the very next day there was this guy at my door-step with a five-page application form. I happily filled out the details like permanent address, property holdings, and so on, and handed over the form to him. He told me that someone from the credit card section will do a background check before issuing the card. He also took photocopies of my driving license, passport photos, payslips, employment confirmation letters, etc.

So, after a couple of days, I got a phone call from the bank, and confirmed that if I had indeed applied for the credit card. I replied in affirmative, and also answered a couple of questions pertaining to my salary, educational qualification and current and previous employment. I empathized with the bank that this is a natural process of verifying the applicant’s credibility before handing out the credit. That being said, there’s a limit to this verification process. The next day, when I was in the middle of an important meeting, I received calls from two different numbers and I didn’t answer the call ‘coz of the meeting. The same evening I got a call from the bank that my application is in the first stage of rejection as there was no one at home that day when one of their personnels visited my house, and for not answering the phone a couple of times. What the heck? How could they conclude that someone will be at home between 9 AM and 6 PM, and that if no one’s at home the address that I gave is fake? How on earth can they expect me to answer calls at their will? I explained the situation to them and asked them to go ahead with cancellation of my application and that I didn’t want to entertain any calls from such a bank that doesn’t apply its senses. Immediately they apologized for the inconvenience and said that they would go ahead with the process of verification again on a day when ‘ll be at home. I firmly rejected their offer and hung up.

A week after this, I got a fat envelope from the bank containing the credit card and instructions on how to use the same. In spite of me not cooperating with the bank in their verification and even after asking them to cancel my application, they’ve promptly mailed me the credit card. Now I know why people cheat banks!

I cut the card into two and sent them back the envelope saying ‘no thanks’! My friend sent back the card without cutting it into two, and someone happily used his card. Well, that’s his mistake and he had to pay for the expenses incurred.

So, I again initiated the credit card application process with a nationalized bank, and I got the card after normal verification processes. The bank was very considerate and even asked for permission to talk before doing the verification process over the phone. Usually, our nationalized banks are given a lower rank for their lethargy, and ‘was quite taken by surprise when I received the card within 15 days of me applying for the same.

People have a wrong notion that privatized banks are better than nationalized ones, both in service and offerings, but it happened to me otherwise…

My next post will be on how I’ve been smart in using my credit card so that it never over-whelmed my expense report. Stay tuned!