Paying The Piper, Credit Cards in India

Rediff.com's Get Ahead Money section published a good article on Credit Cards in India on Feb 5, 2007.

I have heard of Credit Card issuing banks like ICICI, HSBC, CitiBank, etc harassing customers but I haven't had that experience. I use a number of cards but I use them for their ease of use, never for credit. I always pay the full amount pending on my cards at the end of the cycle. Credit Card interest rates are much too high for my pocket :-)

Anyway, the article in question ends with four points:

1. Always ask questions to anyone who offers you a credit card, bank loan, personal loan, etc.
2. Ask them about the finer points. More often than not, they may themselves don't know about it. In that case, ask them for their product's official brochures.
3. Don't sign blindly on the dotted line (remember Amit whenever such an impulse strike you!). Scan through the various clauses under which you are putting your signatures.
4. Finally, read through the fine print on your own. No one else can do this for you.

I agree. A credit card is a financial instrument. Treat it as such.

I have heard agents say - "Just sign Sir, I will fill in the rest"... No way buddy! I will read all the stuff, fill in the details myself and only then do I sign. I strike off all sections that I don't want. The auto debit part that the Rediff article speaks about for example.

Secondly I don't provide any more information than is strictly necessary. For example my car and other stuff like that. The credit card company does not need to know that. Fill in the bare minimum and strike out the rest. And make sure that the strike out is clear. Nobody should be able to put a tick in a box you don't want checked. An acquaintance of mine took a home loan from ICICI Bank about 3 years ago. The agent who came to his home to get the signatures etc forgot to get his signature on a particular document. My friend later found out that some bank official had forged his signature on the said document!

Opps!


Credit Cards are nice to have. They are easy to use and relieve you from the need of carrying lots of cash. But remember that if you use the credit part of the card, you must pay the piper.