Should You Go For A Debit Cum Credit Card?

In today’s world, it is difficult to imagine moving out of your house with lots of cash in your pocket. This is the reason why debit card, credit card, or plastic currency has attained popularity over these years. Debit cards and credit cards play a very important role in our life. They are accepted at almost all places for receiving payments and people are more comfortable using these cards rather than carrying cash everywhere. But carrying multiple cards can be annoying as well as it makes your wallet bulge and in case of loss of wallet, all cards will be lost as well. Hence, to solve this problem, a few banks came up with the idea of innovating a card that will be a combination of both debit cards and credit cards. Let us first understand the meaning of a debit cum credit card:

What Actually is A Debit cum Credit Card – Meaning

It is technically a dual card that provides you the facility of both the cards – debit card and credit card. By saying this, we mean that a customer can use this card normally to withdraw cash from his account through an ATM and can use it at any merchant establishment for payments. Adding to this, he can also use this card as a credit card, up to a pre-defined limit, which will be determined by the bank, like in the case of a normal credit card. It is a single card that has the features of both a debit card as well as a credit card. In India, only two banks, namely Union Bank of India and IndusInd Bank have come up with the issuance of Debit cum Credit Card.

Debit cum Credit Card – Structure

These dual cards look exactly like a traditional debit or credit card but they come with updated and modified technology. The face of the card contains 2 chips, one chip will function as a debit card and the other chip will function as a credit card. These are placed at opposite ends to each other. Similarly, there are 2 magnetic strips that are present at the back of the card, each pertaining to a debit side and a credit side. Now you have to present that side of the card at the time of billing through which you want the payment to be deducted. (Debit or Credit)

Everything Else You Need To Know

There are many more things related to the Debit cum Credit Cards that you should be aware of. Following are some of the most important of them:

Features of Debit cum Credit Cards

• All the features of a normal debit card are implied in this dual card.
• You are provided with a credit limit like that in a credit card.
• This credit limit is pre-determined by the bank on the basis of certain eligibility criteria.
• The customer can hence use the credit side of the dual card to either withdraw cash from an ATM or pay their bills at any merchant establishment.

Debit cum Credit Card – Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility and credit limit determination criteria are established on different factors for different banks. The major ones include – 

• This dual card will be issued only when the bank is satisfied with the credit standing of the customer.
• The credit limit is generally placed at 2-3 times your take-home salary.
• This can also be determined on the basis of collateral with the bank – Like a fixed deposit with the bank or National Savings Certificate to be kept with the bank.
• This card is generally issued to salaried Indian nationals. The reason behind this is that the banks want a backup in the form of regular salary credit in the account. If there arises any default in interest payment or repayment of the amount spent, then the default amount can be recovered from this.

Also Read: Information and Documents Required to apply for a Credit Card.

Fees & Charges

• No processing or initial charges are applicable on these dual cards but this may vary from bank to bank. 
• You are not entitled to pay any charges on the Debit part of the card, i.e the actual balance in your own account. 
• If you withdraw any amount, from the credit side of your card, you will have to pay charges on that, which is just similar as in case of a normal credit card. 
• The interest rate charged in case of dual card is on the lower side as compared to the charges of a traditional credit card. 
• As this card is a debit card as well, hence no cash withdrawal charges will be applicable in case of withdrawing cash even from the credit side of the Debit cum Credit Card as well. 
• But the important point here is that, as in case of a normal credit card, you are not entitled to an interest free period in case of a Debit cum Credit Card. Banks will start charging interest on the amount used through the credit side from the very first day. Hence, the interest is charged on the entire period and the amount of interest will be recovered from your savings bank account.

Precautions

Combining the 2 cards, namely debit card and credit card, into one card might sound good to you as you will be relieved from carrying multiple cards and cash in your wallet but you will have to be extra careful while using these cards. Making a mistake while swiping or withdrawing cash has a high probability. Even the storekeeper might get confused while swiping the card as EMV Chips and magnetic strips are present at both the ends of the card. Also, in case of unfortunate circumstances, where you might lose your card, you will lose your savings account balance as well as credit limit if both are combined into a single card. Hence to prevent this. Hence, to prevent ourselves from all such confusion, we can set a different PIN for both the debit side and credit sides of the card.

Examples of Debit cum Credit Cards in India

Debit cum Credit Cards are currently not very popular in our country but still, there are some banks that have launched these dual cards in India.

Union Bank of India Combo Card

UBI’s Combo Card enables the cardholders to enjoy the flexibility to choose a single card instead of carrying 2 different cards. The card has 2 different unique numbers on it for debit card and credit card respectively. It also has 2 different chips, magnetic strips and CVV. In the case of a debit card, you have to generate a green pin (a pin that can be generated through Internet Banking, ATM, IVR and SMS) and for a credit card, a pin can be generated from the website www.unionbankonline.co.in. The card comes with an identification on both the ends of the card to avoid any confusion between debit card and credit card.

Features of Union Bank Combo Debit cum Credit Card

• Debit Card comes under RuPay Debit Platinum Variant and Credit Card comes under RuPay Credit Select variant.
• The daily cash withdrawal limit from the debit card is Rs. 40,000 and that from the credit card is 20% of the card limit.
• The daily shopping limit via POS and Internet from the debit card is Rs. 60,000 and that from the credit card is up to the limit of the card. 
• This Combo card provides you with complimentary lounge programs at 25+ domestic and 500+ international lounges. (Applicable on both the cards)
• The card issuance charges of the Union Bank Combo Card are placed at Rs. 200 + applicable taxes.

IndusInd Bank Duo Card

IndusInd Bank’s Duo Card also provides you with the freedom to choose how to pay by using a single card. This card also has 2 magnetic stips and 2 EMV chips on either side of the card to differentiate between debit side and credit side. This card provides you several benefits and offers like free annual fee, movie tickets, fuel surcharge waiver, reward points and much more. The card has a blue arrow and a yellow arrow on both the sides of the card to differentiate between the 2 sides of the card, wherein blue arrow is for debit side and yellow arrow is for credit side. 

Features of IndusInd Bank Duo Card
IndusInd Bank launched this card in 2 variants, i.e IndusInd Bank Duo Plus Card and IndusInd Bank Duo Premier Card.

• By using IndusInd Bank Duo Card, you can earn 1 Reward Point on every Rs. 150 spent on all transactions.
• While booking tickets via BookMyShow using this card, you get 1 movie ticket free on purchase of 1 movie ticket once a month. The price of the free ticket is capped at Rs. 250. (This is applicable on both the cards)
• This card comes with a low Foreign Currency Mark-up Fee of 2%.
• The main difference between the 2 variants is in case of charges which is explained in detail below – 

Basis of Difference	Duo Plus	Duo Premier
Joining Fees	Rs. 1,500	Rs. 3,000
Annual Fees	Rs. 799	Rs. 799
Voucher Value	Rs. 1,000 (Voucher will be of any brand out of Bata, United Colors of Benetton, Levis, Pantaloons, Pizza Hut)	Rs. 3,000 (Vouchers will be of any brand out of Louis Philippe, Titan, Aldo, Bata, Fab Hotels, Marks & Spencer)

Bottom Line

This dual card definitely offers some unique advantages and benefits. The ease of using  a single card as both debit card and credit card is incomparable. You will not have to carry multiple cards in your wallet. With this card, you will not be charged any amount on cash withdrawal, which is an added benefit because you have to pay charges in case of cash withdrawal from a normal credit card. Moreover, the interest charged on this card is on the lower side. The only thing that concerns us is that this card comes with zero interest free period. You are liable to pay interest on the entire period of the overdrawn amount. We should compare the features of this dual card with the features of the individual products and then choose out of the two!