Economic Dose

Different Types of Bank Card

You can get different types of Bank Card. They are:

• Cash Card
• Debit Card
• Credit Card

Most Bank Cards are Chip and PIN Cards. To use them you will need the correct PIN. Each card has a different PIN - a secret number just for you. If you find it difficult to use or remember a PIN, you can ask your Bank for a Chip and Signature Card instead.

Cash Card

If you have a Cash Card you can only take out money from a cash machine, and only as much as you have in your Bank Account.

This card is the one you are most likely to get with a Basic Bank Account or a Savings Account.

Debit Card

If you have a Debit Card you can take out money from a cash machine AND you can use your card to pay for things such as shopping at the supermarket.

This card is the one you are most likely to get with a Current Account.

Credit Card

A Credit Card is a Bank Card with which you can pay for items from shops and, at the end of the month, you will be sent a bill. You then have to pay this bill – if you do not you will be charged interest.

 CURRENT NEWS

Number of credit card holders slips to 18.3 mn in March: Fewer swipes

The number of credit cards in circulation fell below the 20-million mark in March, as issuers continued to cull inactive and defaulting accounts and focus instead on increasing spends.

The country’s credit card population fell to 18.3 million as of end-March from a peak base of 28.3 million in April 2008, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India. In the last financial year, 6.04 million cards were put out of circulation. This is in addition to nearly 3.61 million credit cards being cancelled in 2008-09. So, over two years, nearly 10 million cards have gone out of circulation.

This is the first time since August 2006 that the credit card population has declined below 20 million.

As the economy slid into a downturn, unsecured portfolios of banks such as credit cards and personal loans were severely affected. As part of a firefighting exercise, banks began to cancel inactive cards and close accounts they feared would default. The country’s largest private sector lender, ICICI Bank, cut its base from a peak of more than eight million to about five million at present. Late entrants into the credit card space such as Barclays Bank and Axis Bank were also affected.