Secured credit cards function similarly to regular credit cards. The only difference between a normal and secured credit card is that the latter is issued against collateral, such as fixed deposits, to reduce the risk level for card issuers. Secured credit cards are beneficial for individuals with no or poor credit history.
A debit card allows you to withdraw money directly from your bank account deposits. A credit card, on the other hand, is similar to a short-term loan from the card issuer that allows you to make payments or withdraw cash. Rather than repaying this short-term loan on a per-use basis, all of your credit card spending are combined into a single bill at the end of the billing cycle.
A credit limit is the maximum amount of credit extended to you on your credit card. Factors on which the credit limit of an applicant depends are his/her profile, the repayment capacity, CIBIL credit report, etc. However, to increase your credit limit, you can raise a request for the same with your provider. Upon raising the request your provider may ask for additional documents or may scrutinize your request based on factors such as credit score, financial status etc. If you are deemed eligible, your credit limit will be increased. Also, if you have paid your credit card balance on time, you may be eligible for an annual credit limit increase from your provider.
Credit cards can be actively used for international transactions. However, you will incur a transaction fee that is known as Foreign Currency Markup Fee. The fee is about 3.5 % + GST. Additionally, you will have to contact the bank for enabling or disabling usage of your card at the time of international travel.
