HSBC BANK

Not everyone can get a credit card. Different financial institutions have different eligibility criteria for allowing or disallowing someone from using their credit cards. Here are the top rules that you must consider before applying for a credit card.

Salary: Credit Card providers need to know your ability to pay back. Hence, they would keep a minimum salary requirement for various types of cards that they offer. Check the cards that you are eligible for based on your income, and they apply for the one which suits you best.

Interest Rate: Different banks or financial institutes offer different rates of interest. Some offer monthly rates, while others offer annual rates. If you have a savings account with the bank the price may be different for you too. Ensure you know the interest rates before applying for the credit card.

Membership Charges: Credit Card providers often charge an annual fee from the users. However, there are various schemes and eligibility guidelines that often make the card free for the user. Check out different ongoing plans and policies where the membership charges are waived off for a few years. The systems can be many and would vary with each credit card provider.

Premium Benefits: Ensure you know about the premium benefits that come along with your credit card. Do not end up paying a premium charge for benefits that you do not avail. For example, if you do not watch movies in theatres regularly, it will be a waste if you have to pay premium charges for a card that offers you free movie tickets. If you do not need the premium benefits, you may as well go for a primary credit card with no or very few benefits attached to it.

Hidden Charges: Many credit cards have hidden charges, like those for late payment, etc. Ensure you know all about the various other expenses, miscellaneous costs, and such fees that are associated with your credit card. Once you sign the agreement you will not be able to change these. So, please read the terms and conditions before applying for the credit card of your choice.

You must earn a minimum salary of AED 60,000 annually (or AED 5,000 per month) to be eligible for a credit card, according to UAE Central Bank regulations. If you have a suitable salary you can apply for a credit card.

Additionally, it is required that the credit card holder has a Debt Burden Ratio (or DBR, which is calculated as the ratio of the total debt that the applicant owes to total assets the applicant possesses) of less than 50% to be eligible for any credit card.

Applying for a credit card is made simple on Choose My Bank (CYB). At Choose My Bank, you can browse through the various available credit cards offered by multiple banks and financial institutions in the UAE, and check the eligibility criteria for the shortlisted credit cards.

Once done, you can apply for a new card on our website or get in touch with us if you need assistance or more information about the products. So, here is the process in three steps:

1. Browse through the various credit cards available on our website, which are offered by different financial institutions in the UAE.
2. Shortlist a few credit cards which you like based on the various features and benefits that they offer to the user.
3. Check the eligibility criteria of each of the shortlisted credit cards that you like and apply for the one which best suits your needs. You may apply for multiple credit cards as well, as per your requirements.

A premium credit card is one that has a lot of extra benefits that are not present in a standard or basic credit card. Using a premium credit card, the user often gets various rewards or reward points, cashback, shopping vouchers, and other gift coupons.

Typically, the credit card vendor requires the card holder to have a higher income to be eligible for applying for a premium credit card. Such a credit card often incurs higher annual charges in exchange for the premium benefits that it offers to the card holder.

Some credit cards offer cashback on each purchase made using that card. This cashback is added to the monthly statement as credit and deducted from the final value of the report. Such credit cards that offer a cashback are called cashback credit cards.

Some cashback credit cards offer a flat rate of cashback, like 1% or 2% of the amount swiped or spent on it, while other cashback credit cards offer cashback based on specific categories of the spent, like 2% for the expenses on purchasing grocery, 5% for fuel, 7% for educational fees, and so on.

Most of these cash back credit cards fall in the category of premium credit cards. Hence, it is recommended that you know about these features and the associated monthly or annual charges for the credit card that you have chosen. The policies would vary from one credit card provider to the other.

Now, there is another type of credit card that does not offer a cashback directly. Instead of an instantaneous cashback, it offers the user to accumulate rewards or reward points in their account. With each spent on the credit card, the user gets some reward points that get accrued.

These points are an incentive given to the cardholders for using the card. When a certain amount of points is accumulated, they can be redeemed in various ways. Some credit card providers offer the user to convert those points into real money and add to their bank accounts, while others provide the user to purchase various online goods and shopping vouchers, which can then be redeemed at the specific shopping outlets.

Such credit cards which do not offer a monetary cashback but offer reward points instead are called reward points credit card. Please get in touch with our support team if you want to know more about Reward Points Credit Cards.

An Airmiles Credit Card is the one which provides airmiles instead of cashback or reward points. Airmiles are a type of reward points which can only be used while purchasing flight tickets.

The credit card provider would have a deal with a specific airline where these air miles can be redeemed while booking a journey with that airline, as part of their frequent flyer program. Such type of cards would be more valuable for those who travel by air very frequently. If you are one such traveler, you should go for an Airmiles Credit Card.

Some banks here in the UAE would offer credit cards for free, which means that there would be no annual maintenance fee for this credit card. The Annual Maintenance Fee (AMF) is waived off in this case, and many financial institutions would call such cards as a free credit card with no annual maintenance fee.

However, such cards often carry no reward points and may have very few additional benefits for the user. Please ensure that you know the kind of credit card that is going to be issued to you before applying for one.

Some credit cards do offer a bunch of benefits and also waive off the annual maintenance fee, hence reducing the cost drastically. Please get in touch with us for more information on such a credit card. Also, please feel free to get in touch if you need help or if you are confused with anything that I have said, and our team experts will be answering your queries.