Credit Card User Base Falls lead by ICICI, SBI and Citi

With the economic downturn, aggressive lending institutions like ICICI have burnt their fingers and are in a mode to consolidate for couple of years before they can aspire to grow.

Some facts as on Sept-2009 about the Indian Credit Card Industry.

• ICICI Bank Credit Card customer base has shrunk to 7 mn from 9 mn [ most of it due to closure of default / delinquent accounts, non-renewal of cards and also small amount of cancellations and consolidation from many to single card]
• ICICI still is the largest credit card issuer with 28% market share.
  
• Total number of cards in India by March-2010 is likely to be 22.6 mn down from 24.7 mn on March-09
• Bucking the trend, HDFC Bank and HSBC plan to add customers - current base is 4 mn and 3.5 mn respectively
• Citibank's credit card base in India is 2.5 mn while that of SBI Cards' is at 2.7 mn [both have shrunk in the current year]
• Credit Card Industry Voices can be read here.
  

Questions and Comments can be posted on the CardBhai Discussion Forum or e-mailed directly to me - feedback at cardbahi dot com

Review - Citi + Indian Oil Gold CreditCard

Citibank and Indian Oil together have just e-mailed us about a card that they are offering to readers of CardBhai.

Some of the main features of this card are

• Save 5% everytime you fill fuel at IndianOil Outlets
• Full waiver of the fuel surcharge (2.5%)
• Earn 4 Turbo Points for every Rs.150 spent
• Earn 1 Turbo Point for every Rs.150 spent on all other purchases
• Redeem each Turbo point for Re.1 of Fuel at IndianOil outlets
  

You will also get instant alerts for all card purchases greater than Rs.5000.

How many points can you accumulate in a year using this Card ?
Fuel purchase at IndianOil [with Citibank swiping machine] outlets - Rs 3000 - Points earned - 80. All other purchases - Monthly spend, say Rs 7000 - Points Earned - 46. So in a month, you will be able to earn 126 points so annually, this translates into 1520 points and hence so much worth Fuel FREE. [~ 1% CashBack, compared to 0.4% on your HDFC Bank Gold Card]

Residents of Bangalore, Chandigrah, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida and Pune are eligible to apply here. [Apply, only if you can pay your entire bill every month]

Earning by Spending on Credit Cards, How To ?

Have you ever thought how you can earn while spending on your credit card ? Well, first always bear in Mind - This Rule is applicable only to folks who have atleast 12 months history of paying their credit card dues in FULL at the end of every billing cycle. If you can't, then please don't use it as you end up losing than gaining anything.

If you are able to pay your CC dues every month, than go for a rewards card. The payback is in between 0.225% to 0.5% of your total spend. Here is how it is.

ICICI Bank Rewards Program is one of the worst rewards program for Gold / Silver Card Holders. To accumulate, 1000 points, you need to spend 2 Lakhs :-) If you choose to redeem with a Shoppers Stop Gift Voucher of Rs 500 given on 1075 points, your return is mere 0.23%.

Now lets consider for example, HDFC Bank Gold Card - You earn 1 point for every Rs 100 spent. To get a Shoppers Stop Gift Voucher worth Rs 500, you need to spend 114,000, which means a return of 0.438%.

So at the maximum, you earn 0.5% on all your credit card spends, in a way of speaking, you save while you spend on credit card, but bear in mind, Pay your bill in full every month, otherwise this is not for you as you will end up losing a LOT of Money.