Pay the full balance, never share your PIN, hotlist immediately on loss, and 7 more rules every cardholder should follow.
Credit cards have rules — most are obvious, some are easy to forget, and a few can cost you thousands of rupees if broken. Here are the 10 rules every Indian cardholder must know.
The single most important rule. If you don't pay the full statemented balance:
Pay the full statemented balance by the due date. Every cycle. Without exception.
No bank or merchant will ever ask for your PIN, OTP, or CVV. Anyone who does is a fraudster. The bank verifies your identity with the card, the OTP, and your personal details — they never need your PIN to verify.
If someone calls claiming to be from your bank and asks for your PIN: hang up. Call the bank's official customer care directly.
The 3-day zero-liability window for fraud starts at the time you reasonably discovered the loss. Proving you discovered the loss on day 1 is much easier if you hotlisted on day 1.
Hotlist via:
Hotlisting takes 60 seconds. Delay costs money.
Credit utilisation is 30% of your CIBIL score. The threshold: keep your outstanding balance below 30% of your total credit limit. Below 10% is optimal.
If your limit is ₹1 lakh, keep your balance below ₹30,000. Pay before the statement date if you need to.
The cash advance fee (2.5%–3.5%) and cash advance interest (2.5%–3.5% per month from day one) are brutal. The grace period doesn't apply.
Use a debit card or a personal loan for cash. Reserve credit cards for purchases.
The fastest fraud detection is the alert. Most banks let you set alerts for every transaction (above ₹1). Enable this in your bank's app.
If you see a transaction you didn't make, file a dispute within 3 days.
The 5 minutes spent reading your monthly statement is the cheapest fraud-prevention tool available:
Dispute errors within 7 days.
Paying only the minimum avoids the late fee but finance charges continue to accrue. The minimum is a trap, not a feature.
Set up auto-pay for the full statemented balance. The bank will pay on time, every time.
Your credit history length is the third-biggest factor in your CIBIL score. Closing your oldest card shortens your credit history.
Keep your oldest card active, even if you don't use it much. A small monthly charge (₹100 utility bill) is enough.
A verbal dispute over the phone is logged by the bank, but a written dispute (via the app or email) creates a permanent record. The record matters if you escalate to the Nodal Officer or the Banking Ombudsman.
Use the bank's app's dispute form. It's faster, creates a record, and triggers the RBI's 90-day timeline.
The MITC (Most Important Terms and Conditions) is the bank's binding contract. Read it once when you activate the card. Re-read it when the bank sends a "change in terms" notice.
The MITC tells you:
The MITC is your reference for every dispute.
Each credit-card application is a "hard inquiry" on your CIBIL report. Multiple applications in 30 days can drop your score 20–50 points.
Wait 3–6 months between credit-card applications.
Follow these 12 rules and you'll avoid 99% of common credit-card mistakes.
Credit-card rules exist to protect you and the bank. The rules are simple: pay in full, don't share secrets, monitor your account, dispute in writing. Following the rules keeps your credit score high, your fees low, and your money safe. The discipline: set up auto-pay, enable alerts, read the statement, and read the MITC once. The 5 minutes a month spent on these is the cheapest financial protection you have.
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