IDFC First Bank enters credit card venture

IDFC First Bank is set to launch Credit cards with lowest finance charges that would be synchronized with customer ratings. The lender is set to levy finance charges at an annual rate of 9% for the best rated customer, climbing up to 36% for lower rated customers.

Generally, the annual percentage rate or the APR for other banks ranges from 34-40%. Customers can also use interest-free cash withdrawal facilities at ATMs of up to 48 days. They will have to pay a nominal fee of Rs 250 per transaction against Rs. 500 charged and interest charges levied by other major lenders.

“We are hoping to shake-up the industry with these disruptive first-of-its-kind initiatives; we hope with this we will be a reasonably strong and one of the most preferred cards as we go along,” B Madhivanan, chief operating officer, IDFC First Bank, told.

“Today, so much data is available on customers that we have the ability to give the right price to the right guy.”

The private lender did a closed user group pilot with 15,000 of its employees before the launch.