Platinum Cards Get Additional Benefits

HDFC Bank Platinum Card Customers Get Additional Benefits compared to Gold / silver or other entry level cards.

For instance, consider this, HDFC Cards has a Co-Branded Online Shop with Surat Diamonds. By virtue of being HDFC Bank Customer, you are already getting big discount. Now add any item to your cart and enter 558818 [6 Starting Digits of Platinum Card], you get additional discount.

This is just one such instance. You also get Petrol Surcharge Waiver, IRCTC Charges Waived, etc.

ClearTrip Discount to Debit Card Holders

Use your HDFC Bank Debit Card to book any flight, hotel or train & get 10%* cash back

Domestic Air Offer - Book any Domestic Flight and get 10% cash back on Base Fare or Rs.250 cash back per booking (whichever is less).

Trains - Book any Train and get 10% cash back or Rs.50 cash back per booking (whichever is less)

International Air Offer - Book any International Flight and get 10% cash back on Base Fare or Rs.600 cash back per booking (whichever is less)

Hotels Offer - Book any Hotel (Domestic/International) and get 10% cash back on Base Price or Rs.500 cash back per booking (whichever is less)

To avail the cashback kindly enter coupon code HDFCTRIP during step 3 of the booking process before payment.

Terms & Conditions:
* Offer valid on bookings made on www.cleartrip.com from 01/04/10 to 30/06/10 for any date of travel.
* Offer valid only on payments made using an HDFC Bank Debit card.
* To avail cash back the customer needs to enter coupon code HDFCTRIP during step 3 of the booking process before payment.
* The cash back will be credited to customer's A/c within 5 working days
* Customer can transact twice during offer period to avail the cash back. If he transacts more than twice he can still book but will not get any cash back for his third transaction.
* This offer cannot be clubbed with any other offer.
* Cleartrip & HDFC Bank reserve the right to change or withdraw the offer, anytime at the sole discretion of the Management.
* The terms and conditions of this offer are subject to change without any prior notice.
* All disputes are subject to Mumbai jurisdiction.

Upgrading Without Consent - Violation

A reader of our column wrote to us,

Recently, HDFC Bank Credit Card Division upgraded my Gold Card to Business Platinum without my consent - on phone or in writing. What worries me is the huge credit limit offered from Rs 30,000 to over Rs 100,000. Additionally, I am not getting any reward points on this. What are my rights as a consumer, can you please help as I need to go back to Gold Card.

It is quite common to see credit card companies raising limits / upgrading to Platinum / Signature cards for consumers who have a very good track record. Often, consumer are happy and they just accept the upgrade. However, it is VIOLATION of RBI's Notification to go ahead and UPGRADE CREDIT CARD without the consent of customer. So we suggest you to write a letter to HDFC stating that they have violated Section 6.1.f of RBI's Notification - RBI/2009-10/64 DBOD.No.FSD.BC.19 / 24.01.011/ 2009-10, issued on July-1-2009.

After this, the card issuing company will have to send a letter of apology and restore your original card and rights. You can post more question / comments of the forum.

NetLimit Feature on your Credit Card

HDFC Bank has introduced a new feature for all its Credit Card Customers known as NetLimit. Using this feature, you can set aside a part of your credit limit exclusively for online spends.

The three options of NetLimit are 25%, 50% and 100% of credit limit and this is a percentage of your existing limit. This feature is for your added safety and comes FREE of cost.

Advantages of NetLimit on Credit Cards:
In case of fraud, NetLimit reduces your total avaialble credit limit to just the percentage that you have set for online transactions. Additionally, RBI in India has done an impeccable job by adding another layer of security where the user enters a password to authorize all online credit card transactions.

NetLimit set on primary card is also applicable on the Add On cards within their limits. To set these thresholds, the primary card holder has to call the customer care and set them. Questions and comments can be made on the Credit Card Forum.

Credit NPAs Half the Industry Average

HDFC Bank one of the conservative banks in India which had adopted quite a laid back approach in growing its credit card business is in a better position now. The industry reports around 30% of credit card customers as delinquent accounts while HDFC's Cards Division reports it to be half of it.

HDFC Bank on an average is issuing 70,000 credit cards and most of them are its bank's own customers. As on Sept-30th the bank had 4.5 mn credit card customers with average spending per active card is Rs 9,500.

Kindly note that, if you have defaulted on Credit Card payments, its going to affect your credit history and score very badly. You can check out Introduction to Credit History and ask any related questions here.