dailyO
Money

My six-month struggle to get a credit card in digital, cashless India

Advertisement
M Reyaz
M ReyazMar 07, 2017 | 13:26

My six-month struggle to get a credit card in digital, cashless India

Last week, I received the fourth mail and SMS from as many banks, but the response was the same that I got from three other banks: "Your application for a credit card is rejected."

This is the story of the struggle that even a state government employee, an assistant professor, a regular columnist, have been facing for the last six months in getting that privileged plastic card for digital transactions that the Indian government is promoting vociferously. 

Advertisement

The only plausible reason that appears is that I am a Muslim and to top it, I live in a Muslim dominated pocket, termed “non-serviceable”, by several banks.

The latest rejection is from Kotak Mahindra Bank and they are most forthcoming and honest in their mail: “We regret to inform you that we will be unable to issue this card due to the below reasons: Your credit profile is not in line with our prevailing credit norms... as your residence address is not covered within our serviceable area."

The non-serviceable area is Kidderpore in Kolkata, a predominantly Muslim locality near the famous dock of the city. 

Don’t believe me? Read my travails of exaggerated marketing gimmicks, scam of collecting personal data and digital footprint only to be told that your application has been rejected at the end, often without any reasons, due to "internal guidelines" of respective banks. 

Till March last year, I was surviving on the fellowship money I was getting from the government for the last five years for MPhil and PhD in Delhi, and some extra bugs I got as remuneration for the articles I wrote. Hence, even when I got calls from the marketing team of any bank for a credit card, I would politely refuse.

Advertisement

In June last year, I joined as an assistant professor in Kolkata in a state university. A few months later, in September, I was preparing to travel to England to participate in a conference at Cambridge University. I realised that I couldn't perform online transactions on several international sites through net banking or debit cards of State Bank of India. I was forced to use the credit cards of my friends and brother for some transactions as I paid for visa application fees, booked tickets, hotels and other logistics. 

It was still more than a month to leave for the United Kingdom, and hence I decided to apply for a credit card thinking it would be handy in England. As someone working as an assistant professor in a state-run university, I saw no reason why I would not get one. My brother suggested I should register on Paisa Bazar website and then I would automatically get calls from their representatives.

From the next day onwards, I got calls from representatives of Paisa Bazar and through them, from a few banks. Their first question, however, appeared annoying. “Sir, are you presently using any credit card?” I told them politely, “I am not a business man or in some high paid job; if I had one or two credit cards, I would not apply for another one.”

Advertisement
hdfc-ebed_030717012150.jpg
My brother, who works in a private company, told me he was refused a credit card by HDFC Bank thrice.

The Paisa Bazar staffer asked me a few more questions and said that an HDFC Bank credit card would suit me the most - considering my income and the fact that I do not have any card yet. The second possibility, they said, was ICICI Bank. They initiated applications in those two banks.

Within days, I got a call from the marketing team of both banks and my application process began. After initial verification on call, I got an SMS from HDFC Bank that said my application has been provisionally approved and I was then asked to verify the application digitally - that is I was directed to log in to the social media accounts of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. one by one.

Although HDFC assured that my “personal details will stay secure”, I am apprehensive at the very fact that the bank needs to collect all social media data while we are worried about Aadhaar cards.

There was a lull for a few weeks, and in that time I visited the UK and returned after two weeks. One fine day, I checked my application status online, and realised that my credit card application had been “disapproved” after “internal verification”.

What is disappointing is that I got no intimation of the rejection and when I sent a mail asking for details and whether I had been rejected because of my Muslim name or because of my residential address, the lone sarkari-type mail I got directed me to check the status online, showing that the bank's “customer care executive” who had replied had not even bothered to read my mail properly.

This mail came a few days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for digital banking after the announcement of demonetisation on November 8 last year. Meanwhile, I had also applied for the card at SBI thinking that I had had a savings account in the bank for more than five years and they would process my request easily, now that my salary account was also in the same bank.

After going through the whole process, months later, I was told that my CIBIL score was low and hence I couldn't have that precious little plastic card.

I got a similar rejection mail from ICICI Bank too; but weeks later, the same employee from the marketing team who had processed my application earlier, called me again. As I vented my frustration on her, she politely heard me and said: “The verification department rejected your application as your pay-slip was not properly stamped. I called to request you to get it stamped from your department and I will send someone to collect the documents once again and process the application.”

She assured me I would get the card this time but I was not sure if I should once again give them an opportunity to humiliate me.

Meanwhile, I got desperate during the much-touted promotion of a cashless economy in November-December as there were times I did not have cash in hand and the debit card/net banking of SBI would fail me (for example, you cannot transfer money to Paytm through SBI net-banking due to their own rivalry).

A friend who works at Kotak Mahindra Bank suggested he will recommend me in his bank. A few days later, I got a call from the bank and the marketing person tried to convince me that since I don’t have any other credit card, it would be easier for me to get the coveted card from their bank if I opened a savings account.

I initially refused saying I didn't have many sources of income and another savings account would be useless for me. But as the cash-crunch continued for weeks, I finally agreed to open the account with Kotak thinking that I might get the much-envied credit card this way at least.

I had to go through another round of application process and a few weeks after that I had a new savings account that I did not really need. I filled the application form for a credit card at Kotak Mahindra Bank.

kotak-embed_030717012204.jpg
Kotak Mahindra Bank was the only one which accepted that Kidderpore, a locality that is perceived to be a Muslim ghetto, does not fall into their service area.

Weeks later, on the last day of February, I got the rejection mail that I quoted at the beginning of the article. Consequently, I am left with a savings account at the bank and still no credit card.

What was interesting about Kotak Mahindra Bank’s response was that they were the only ones who openly accepted that Kidderpore, a locality that is perceived to be the dark-world of a Muslim ghetto, does not fall into their serviceable area.

But if it is so, why do they need to harass prospective consumers and not point blank refuse in the first place? It is also intriguing that I could open a savings account at the same address but not get a credit card! I hence wrote a mail to the bank asking for clarification and it’s been a week but they have not yet bothered to respond.

Even if I accept that I live in a locality that does not suit the credit profile of banks, my office address and the fact that I work in a state-run university - I gave the address and ID card copy - make no difference to these banks.

As I vented my frustration on social media, playing what you can say the “victim card”, many upper-caste Hindu friends shared their misery. One of them said that despite working in one of the Navratna companies and residing in the company’s quarter in Mumbai, she was refused the card once for no known reason.

My brother, who works in a private company, told me he was refused a credit card by HDFC Bank thrice before he finally got it once he joined a new job where the salary account was also in the same bank. He has similarly been refused twice by SBI and once by Standard Chartered Bank.

I have heard from friends how certain areas are "black-listed" in a company’s database and so I asked a cousin who works in a private bank. He acknowledged that indeed there are certain lists like these, but added that it is not based on just religion. Areas from where banks get maximum defaulters are black-listed, he suggested. 

I understand that banking fraud and non-payment of credit card dues or loans are real challenges that banks need to fight. But certainly there needs to be more transparency so that honest citizens like us do not have to go through hassles if the government and banks really hope to promote a cashless economy and digital banking.

Also, addresses in posh colonies simply do not make one honest as even the likes of Vijay Mallya did not pay bank dues despite all verifications.

Further, the target set for the marketing team needs to be realistic so that they do not exaggerate offers so much that at the end of the day you feel cheated. As the cousin working in a private bank said: “Even a teller has some set target to sell products.”

PS: After I got my pay-slip stamped, my application at ICICI Bank was accepted on the second attempt and after six months I finally got one credit card.

Last updated: March 07, 2017 | 15:40
IN THIS STORY
Please log in
I agree with DailyO's privacy policy