Your E-mail box is often flooded with credit card offers. But getting an offer and actually owning a card is not a straightforward process. There are multiple criteria considered by the banks before approving a card. Such as:

• Income
• Credit Rating
• Age
• Employer and so on…

However income of the applicant is the most commonly used parameter for credit card approval. There is a minimum income threshold to get a credit card. Individuals with low salary often face difficulty in getting a credit card compared to a high earning individual. Based on the income repayment capacity of the applicant is evaluated and decision to approve the card is taken. For a high income individuals, chances of card denial are low because of the salary requirement.

Moreover there are many employers who do not provide salary slip to their employees, which is actually a problem when the employee applies for a card.

So how can individuals with poor salary or no income proof get credit card?

Following are the ways to get a credit card if someone is earning a poor salary typically (less than Rs. 10000 per month):

1) Apply in banks offering cards to low salaried individuals: Not every bank or card requires high income in order to become eligible. Listed in the below table are 12 cards you can apply for if your monthly salary is less than Rs. 10,000 with minimum income required of Rs. 5,000 from Vijaya Bank.

2) Salary account bank statement: If employer gets salary credited directly in the bank account but no salary slip is issued then applicant can show bank statement of the last 6 months. Every credit in the bank account will have employer name, which should be an acceptable income proof.

Check out: 26 ways to earn extra money in India.

3) Cheque: If you get salary in cheque with employer’s name, stamp and signature then make sure every month you take photocopy of the issued cheque. Also make a practice to deposit the cheque on a fixed date every month and later show bank statement as a proof. Photocopy should be an acceptable proof. Banks should accept this as a income proof, if salary slip is not issued.

4) Show offer letter: If employee doesn’t get salary slip or earns in cash but has high income then you can also produce offer letter to the card issuing bank along with above mentioned two documents.

Additional reading: 7 consequences of faking documents to get credit card.

5) Add-on: If any of your family member has a credit card then you can ask him/her to take supplementary credit card. Bank will not ask for salary slip or bank statement. They will only check primary card holder’s credit usage and accordingly issue an add-on card. This is also an excellent option to build or improve credit score.

6) Credit card against FD: This is an excellent option to get credit card requiring no income proof such as salary slip or bank statement. Many banks in India offer secured cards with credit limit 80%-90% of the FD amount. However every bank has a minimum fixed deposit amount limit and a tenure of minimum 180 days and most importantly FD should be on the card applicant’s name.

Here are few cards offered against FD by various banks in India:

So as you can see getting a credit card when you are earning poor salary is not difficult. But remember that cards are approved not just on the basis of salary. There are multiple criteria and documents which banks might ask on a case to case basis before approving the card.

Author Bio:

Hi, I am Nikesh Mehta owner and writer of this site.

I’m an analytics professional and also love writing on finance and related industry. I’ve done online course in Financial Markets and Investment Strategy from Indian School of Business.

I can be reached at nikeshmehta@allonmoney.com. You may also visit my LinkedIn profile.