Let me first apologize for straying away from the purpose of this blog. However, I could not resist this.

I got a call from a lady who said to be calling from Citibank. (No, I am not going to mask any names here, however, I don’t remember the name of the lady. ) This was what was offered to me. A pre-approved platinum credit card on my name, looking at my credit history. I am not surprised at this offer. What caught my attention was her next line. “As today is our bank’s anniversary, so we are making this offer to a selected few only.”

What was surprising in this? Well, I had heard this same line a few months back.

I could not hold myself any more and asked her “how many times in a year does your bank has anniversary?”. This took her by surprise and she started defending herself. She tried her best to make me believe that she is calling directly from the bank and not from any marketing agency. And this is no simple offer as I would get a minimum balance of Rs.1.5 lakhs on my credit card.(what i would do with that limit is a different matter.) I did not fall for any and she was disappointed.

Now let me come to the point, these plastics have become so accessible to a salaried employee and it forms one of the chief reason for financial problems. (I am sure you understand what I mean by this.) Secondly, does the bank give these marketing agencies these permission to say they are calling from the bank and not from any marketing agency. If this is so, the RBI has some work to do here. Thirdly, anniversary, I mean how many times does a bank has its anniversary. Common think of a better marketing technique guys. Don’t you guys have any innovative methods for marketing. If not, then ask me, I am sure I can give you a half a dozen good ones.

Just for the info, I am a very good user of credit card and try to take advantage of all the offer available on credit cards. I maintain a good payment history on 5 cards presently and I am not sure if I can handle another credit card.

I have not registered myself in the Do-Not-Call registry coz I want to know what’s going in the industry which I am following very closely.

Comments are welcome.