Indians are receiving free credit card offer letters. You have to treat these letters with utmost CAUTION. Raj an MNC executive received a free credit card offer letter but with a TRAP – Raj is eligible only if he has any existing credit card and Raj who already had three wanted the fourth to make some pre-wedding purchases. Raj quickly filled in all the details including his existing credit card number, personal details such as date of birth, PAN and sent it.
A week past by, Raj had no card on his hand. Unfortunately Raj left the country asking his father to pay his credit card bill. Raj on business trip in Seattle, swipes his card and the purchase was declined due to insufficient limit. Raj thought maybe his parents forgot to pay the bill.
A fortnight later when Raj returned home, he asked his parents why haven’t they paid the bill and they replied they never received one. Raj, then calls the call center and finds out that the address on card is not the same as his and was changed just couple of weeks ago. Raj, now realizes that he is in credit card trap and heads straight to the bank and files a complaint. Apparently, what the scamster did was using Raj’s personal details he changed the address and requested for a new card and spent the entire limit. Raj had to also file a Police complaint but until then the credit card companies have held Raj responsible and he has to pay the monthly bill. You all know the fate of Police complaints in India.
So beware of using credit cards in India where their are no consumer protection laws and the bankers will always make you liable. Also if banks gives higher limits, say Rs50,000 or Rs 200,000, just deny high limits and ask for 10K or lesser. Don’t be tempted, you will land in a credit trap and interest rates are as high as 36%.