Today I’d like to educate our Readers on what a Secured Credit Card means, its availability in India and who can avail the same.
Like any other industry, Credit Cards vertical of the banking industry had a bumpy ride since its off-take in 2005 and subsequent bust in 2008-09. Credit Cards by nature are classified as unsecured loans to consumers. The Issuing Banks Guarantees the Merchant on behalf of the credit card holders and settles with the merchant hoping the consumer will pay his credit card bill. Blame it on negligence or circumstances or willfully, many people defaulted for example ICICI Bank had to drastically re-structure its Credit Card Portfolio. Thus this gave rise to a new stream of credit cards known as Secured Credit Cards.
So what Exactly is a Secured Credit Card ? It is a normal Credit Card in all respects except that it is issued only against a Fixed Deposit with the Bank. For Example, we chose