[ntomer]

To tell you about the case, I am copy a mail I sent to ICICI's so called Head Quality Service -

Hi,

I hope this mail reaches to somebody senior and responsible in ICICI bank since I have been talking to ICICI’s customer care for last one month and the experience has been akin to talking to fifth-graders.

I have a savings bank account (XXXXX) with ICICI for 10 years, a current account (XXXX) for 6 years, have an ICICI credit card (XXXX) for 6 years, have an ICICI demat account for 3 years and have a vehicle loan for past 4.5 years. Till date my association with ICICI have a pleasant one and I have never had any reason to be dissatisfied. I have also made sure to always pay the total amount on my credit card within due date and all my loan EMIs have been on time.

Then one fine day on 25 Sep, 2009 I received a letter from ICICI stating that there is an unpaid outstanding due to Rs. 7446.77/- on a credit card XXXX XXXX XXXX XXX and because of that ICICI has placed a lien on my account. And if I do not respond to this letter by 25th Sep, 2009, this amount will be debited from my account. Thus giving me a notice of about 10 hours to respond. Anyways I responded to that letter but the amount was anyways debited from my account.

Now let me tell you about this credit card – I got this card from Tata-AmEx; and when I got it closed there was an outstanding due to less than 1000 on this card, which I didn’t pay because Tata-AmEx charged me for services which it had earlier promised to be free. This dispute was going on when they shut shop and were acquired by ICICI. After that I never heard anything from ICICI or Tata-AmEx for more than seven years, until this letter.

I had never given my consent or agreed to ICICI, able to debit money this way from my account. In fact I had never had any communication/dealing with ICICI regarding this particular card. This is a blatant case of breach of trust I placed in ICICI.

Please tell me what would you have done if I didn’t have my account with ICICI? And why did ICICI wait for seven years? To get the amount inflated this much?

I am not going to let it go so easily. If this issue is not resolved in a rational manner, in addition to closing all my association with ICICI, I will definitely approach banking ombudsman and consumer court. Frankly I feel cheated and will not let anybody cheat me so easily.

Regards

Nitin Tomer


Here is what banking ombudsman says about the lien -

"Banks have a right to exercise lien under section 171 of the Indian Contract Act against the dues from constituents/customers. However, the banks cannot exercise lien over the personal account of a customer on the ground that money was due to the bank in another account where he acts in a different capacity, if there is no agreement to that effect."

And since I didn't get this card from ICICI, I do not have any agreement with them. But they just refused to listen to me.

More than the money, it's the feeling of being cheated. I have already initiated a case with banking ombudsman and will be filing one with consumer court very soon. As I said I am not going to let it go so easily.

\N

[Samurai]

This is ICICI Bank, they are notorious for such behavior, I am not at all surprised. BTW, do you really want to expose all your account/card numbers?

[ph03n!x]

Seems tricky to me. You should have taken care not to have an outstanding in the TATA- AMEX card in the first place, and taken that dispute to a close. In our circumstances, it is possible for banks to take 7 or more years to wake up and act, I am not sure of the legality of the act in your case...

I'd rather if you not expose yourself- all your accounts and cards are out for everyone to see- PM a mod to mask them!

[bharanidharang]

A lot of horror stories on ICICI has been written all over the net including team-bhp.

as samurai said, do you want your acc/card numbers available on the net. better check with the mods and get this post edited (to hide the numbers).

[vkochar]

ICICI Bank - India's unfriendliest Bank !!

I absolutely hate this bank's services. I would strongly advise everyone to stay away from this bank - specially Loans & Credit Cards.

Operating a normal Savings Or Current A/C is allright though !

[wildon]

Firstly Do you used to get the Statement of TATA- AMEX after the "Closure" of your card which you were saying?

Do you have the record of TATA-AMEX saying your account with them is Closed?.If yes you have a chance to fight.

Next time onwards don't take a credit card from the same bank where you have an account with.

[ashwinsid]

If ICICI has acquired TATA-AMEX, then surely the assets and liabilities of TATA-AMEX will become the assets and liabilities of ICICI. Depends how their acquisition agreement reads.

If you have proof that TATA-AMEX agreed that the charge of 1000 will be reversed, then you can nail this with ICICI. If not, then surely consumer court will be helpful.

[mmmjgm]

You've opened my eyes atleast, i did a one time shopping on my debit card and they debited a healthy amount twice.

now they say respond within 10 days and then the procedure will take 45 days.

well suffice to state i respect tbhp's rules and have abused them no end on phone.

where do i move to is the question.
cheers
MMM

[Superleggera]

Always have a credit card with a bank where you dont have any other current/checking/savings accounts.This way, they will not be able to steal your money.Lesson that I learned ina hard way..

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by mmmjgm

You've opened my eyes atleast, i did a one time shopping on my debit card and they debited a healthy amount twice.

now they say respond within 10 days and then the procedure will take 45 days.

well suffice to state i respect tbhp's rules and have abused them no end on phone.

where do i move to is the question.
cheers
MMM

You need to go to the card issuing bank and fill a charge reversal form, double charging is usually not done by the banks, it happens by the merchant outfits. The charge reversal usually takes upto 45days, the bank will send a personal to the shop and he will go and ask the shop guy for both the slips you signed, he would not be able to produce both obviously so the money would be credited back. You can take your anger out on the custmer care associate, but seriously its not their mistake. Some merchant outfits purposefully do it.

Pramod


Pramod

[dhiman]

Related query...Over the years i have had ICICI credit cards issued by ICICI bank (when one expired, was issued a better card - ex: silver card gave way to a gold card etc) - All my CC bills are paid through their website online against the very first card number i was issued - thats how they originally wanted the payments to be made. What is the procedure to close my Credit card account with them? Will they issue a letter to me stating that i dont owe them anything for the current aswell as all pre-existing cards i have had from them? Otherwise 10 yrs from now they might come back stating you dint pay up on such and such date! Cheers.

[straight6]

This is also true for any personal loan you have taken. If you don't pay, they pick it up from your savings acc. Most banks do this.

If you have defaulted on a loan or a card of a certain bank, make sure you don't open any acc with them in the future.

[DieselFan]

Please go to Ombudsman RBI a body which takes in customer complaints on Banks. They can't just go and debit your savings account for your cc account outstanding. This is not allowed.

[Sarvodaya]

Originally Posted by ntomer

Then one fine day on 25 Sep, 2009 I received a letter from ICICI stating that there is an unpaid outstanding due to Rs. 7446.77/- on a credit card XXXX XXXX XXXX XXX and because of that ICICI has placed a lien on my account. And if I do not respond to this letter by 25th Sep, 2009, this amount will be debited from my account. Thus giving me a notice of about 10 hours to respond. Anyways I responded to that letter but the amount was anyways debited from my account.\N

You are lucky that you have been cheated of only Rs.7446.77. I have been cheated of nearly Rs.40,000/-. I had one ICICI Credit Card. Due to financial problems, I was not able to pay MAD (Minimum Amount Due) for about four months. One day, ICICI Bank Executive came to my house for collection. I asked him the status of my Card. Whether it is Blocked / Active. The Executive called on his mobile and told me to pay some amount this month. Next month, he will be able to tell the status of my card. He took the money, gave the receipt and vanished. There was no trace of the executive. Again I went to the Bank and paid for about three months.

A total amount of Rs.40,000/- was paid from DEC 08 to APR 09. Now I was not clear whether my card is active or blocked. I called their Customer Support. Got Information that my Card is blocked and I can go for settlement. I agreed. I was told by Customer Support, that some body will come to my house for settlement. Till September 09, nobody came.Then in September, I got a notice for 91,000/- as outstanding on my card. Two days later, somebody came to my house for collection. When I told that I already had paid Rs.40.000/-, he coolly told that the amount has been adjusted towards interest and other charges. A heated argument followed. He even called five persons to threaten me. I promptly sent a Legal Notice. Till date, the bank has not responded. I am just getting my monthly statements. As on date, the amount has gone up to 98,000/-. Will see till december. Then I plan to move to Court.

As long as you pay your dues, it is fine. If somethings happens (touchwood) and you are unable to pay, there is no way we can escalate our problems to the Bank. Their Quality Head, Customer Executive are just useless. All they tell is YOU HAVE TO PAY. And Banks are known to inflate their Bills.

[Anoop RD]

It is high time that some action should be taken by the authority to control the new generation banks. This type of issue is happening at almost all NG Banks. Only a few experiences we know, but there are a lot more which are untold.