It was back in 2019 that I started my career right out of college and joined the corporate sector. As usual, I got my salary account opened with HDFC Bank. Within a short while, I was invited to take the HDFC EasyEMI Credit Card. Being inexperienced with credit cards at the time, I had no idea what it was and what benefits it would offer me. However, I was delighted to get one anyway.
My First Credit Card Experience
I began using the EasyEMI card cautiously primarily to pay utility bills. After a couple of months, I was upgraded to the HDFC Indigo 6E Credit Card. Since I didn’t know the distinction between core and co-branded credit cards, I thought a credit card that was associated with Indigo Airlines would have special travel privileges. Believingly, I accepted.
Soon after receiving this credit card, I applied for and was immediately approved for the Amazon Pay ICICI Credit Card, which became my main card because of its high reward rate.
Co-Branded vs Core Cards
As I became more financially literate, I started looking at credit cards seriously. That is when it struck me that my Indigo 6E card was not suited to my spending habits or financial aspirations. HDFC did not enable me to apply for a new card online. I continued to get the same frustrating error message:
You have recently applied for a credit card. Please try again later.
At this point, I was eager to make use of credit cards for UPI payments and was looking at the Tata Neu HDFC Bank Credit Card. Luckily enough, I could apply directly through the Tata Neu app and was approved. But it had a joint credit limit of ₹75,000 unchanged from my very first card. That made me realize that I had reached a plateau with my current HDFC card arrangement.
A Visit to the Branch
Having gone through a few online community accounts, I discovered that going to an HDFC branch offline works better than attempting through online means or customer service.
I visited my local HDFC Bank branch and detailed my situation. I asked for either:
An upgrade of the Indigo 6E card to the HDFC Millennia Credit Card, or Closure of the Indigo 6E card and new Millennia card issuance.
To my surprise, the bank officials were very helpful. They didn’t demand that I close my co-branded card first. Instead, they requested that I complete a basic credit card upgrade form, took the necessary documents, and filed the application for me.
A Smooth Upgrade with Surprise Bonus
I thought a verification call or some additional procedures would follow, but nothing happened. Within a week, I received a confirmation text:
My new HDFC Millennia Credit Card had been sent.
Even better, HDFC had increased my credit limit without any solicitation on my part. The limit now exists on both my new Millennia card and the Tata Neu Plus card due to the shared limit model.