SBI Card asked for payment five years after the credit card was cancelled Jitendra Nair |
How would you react when years after you have cancelled a credit card you receive a statement from the credit card company saying that there are still unpaid dues? After getting over the initial shock, most credit card users would call up the company and enquire about the dues. And wary of companies’ strong-arm tactics, most would settle the issue by paying up without going into the details.
But Ahmedabad-based Jitendra Nair is not the average card user. He maintains a record of all his card transactions and communications with his banks. It was because he is so organised and aware of his financial rights that Nair could take on a behemoth like SBI Card.
Unhappy with the interest charges, Nair, in 2001 requested SBI Card to cancel his credit card. The company, in turn, asked him to settle his outstanding dues which came to Rs 3,280.14. Accordingly Nair wrote out a cheque and cleared his dues.
Thereafter, he did not receive any monthly credit card statement which led him to believe that SBI Card had acceded to his request and cancelled his card.
Five years later, in May 2006, he got a shock when SBI Card sent him a letter stating that he still owed Rs 4,587 as outstanding dues. “It was shocking. I had cancelled the card and had cleared all my dues years ago,” he says. On 15 June 2006, Nair received another letter from the company saying that his dues had shot up to Rs 4,838.26.
After the second letter, Nair lodged a formal complaint with the company. “Though the company acknowledged receipt of my complaint, it did not provide details of my dues. Instead it asked me to contact a local payment assistant unit in Lucknow! I got in touch with the unit but was asked to call yet another number. But nothing fruitful came out of the interaction,” says Nair.
He got in touch with the company again and made another request for details of the dues. SBI Card provided him with the number of another local assistant unit. This time in Ahmedabad. Simultaneously, the company informed him that his outstanding dues had gone up to Rs 5,240.83. This was not all. In January 2007, SBI Card sent him a letter saying that an additional Rs 500 had been added to his dues.
Nair finally decided to take the legal route. In April 2007, he filed a complaint with the banking ombudsman in Ahmedabad. “I was aware of banking ombudsman as a mechanism for redressal of complaints.
But I always preferred resolving the matter with the credit card company first. However, when SBI Card didn’t respond to my repeated requests for details of the dues, I decided to file a complaint,” he says.
Within three weeks of filing the complaint, SBI Card reversed the entire outstanding amount on the card. The company also provided the details of the dues. As per the company’s stand, Nair hadn’t settled the full outstanding dues when he had cancelled his card. On the remaining dues, the company levied interest, resulting in the inflated bill. “This was ridiculous. I have their letter stating that my dues were Rs 3,280.14, which I settled.
Why was I not informed that in reality my dues were Rs 3,780.14? Were they trying to dupe me?” he asks. Though Nair is happy that the matter has been resolved, he is not ready to withdraw the complaint. “I won’t take the complaint back. I want to be compensated for mental harassment. I want the banking ombudsman to acknowledge this as a problem area,” says Nair.
For financial consumers who face similar problems, Nair’s advice is to keep a record of all communication. The complaint filing and redress mechanism of the banking ombudsman is quite simple.
However for filing a complaint before the ombudsman, it is essential to first try resolving the issue with the company concerned itself. If the company does not respond to the complainant’s queries within 30 days only then can one approach the ombudsman.
Are you a financial freedom fighter?
If you have fought bad service from a company or government department and resolved it, with or without court intervention, you are the fighter we are looking for. If you would like to share your story with other readers, get in touch with us at: letters.moneytoday@intoday.com
