[Daewood]

Originally Posted by MutantX

Guys just a note of caution for SCB CC holders. For last billing cycle my wife's billing amount was 23k out which she made a part payment of 12k. We knew that we would be charged interest of 3-3.5% interest on the entire outstanding amount. When we got the bill for the next month's cycle the total interest was 1600 rs which is like more than 6.5%.

i made a rough calculation of the interest plus other charges and i think the Rs.1600 is actually correct, if you follow this procedure listed in SCB website... Maybe im wrong.
Try calculating again as per the table in page 3 of this link
http://www.standardchartered.co.in/_...SoSC_cc_09.pdf

Me too a SCB customer, so was curious to know.
Even i would rate their service as not good but sticking to them because of the 'freebies' i get.

Originally Posted by MutantX

To my surprise, they agreed immediately and waiver'ed off the entire interest of 1600 rs.

Does a CC executive has the authority to waive off the 'entire interest'.

I guess he just bluffed to pacify you or maybe he didn't understand the calculations. Anyway just wait for the next statement (or) check your account online.

[MutantX]

Daewood, I got a message and a confirmation that the interest has been waivered. I would have to pay only for the transactions for which I have swiped. The interest calculation is getting way too complicated, let me wait till I get the statement for the next month :d

[DigitalDragon]

Well, the thread started with SCB and has widened to credit cards as such. Having used credit cards for almost 12 years now, I thought of posting some learnings with credit cards for others benefit ( I am sure you might be doing the same, but just in case) - most of them i have learnt the hard way:

1. Golden Rule - As far as possible, please do not revolve the balance.
2. Cash withdrawal is a strict No No.
3. Always try to preserve the charge slips (wherever applicable) at least till the transactions reflect in your statement. Personally i keep it for a minimum of 6 months.
4. Every time tally the billing details with your expense details (charge slips / screen shot of web transactions) before paying out. Remember in most instances, it is 20 days within which you need to revert for any discrepancies.
5. I personally feel its a good idea to scratch out the CVV on the back of the card.
6. Is it necessary to carry all your cards together in the purse every time, I feel NO. I have personally 2 cards with low credit limits to be carried along.
7. As far as possible try to use the virtual cards for web transactions, e.g. Netsafe by HDFC and Virtual credit card by ICICI.
8. In case you need to revolve the outstanding balance, first try to check if there is any other card you have which gives balance transfer facility for a 0% interest. Best of them i find is SBI. Please note that the interest charged, in such case, sometimes vary from customer to customer. For Example, typical interest rate is 2.99%, whereas for me SCB approves interest rate of 1.99%.

Well the above are some which immediately came to my mind. Will post more as and when i remember/find something useful.

Coming back to service providers experience, I have my own expereinces contrary to some fellow members here:

1. I found Citi Bank the worst as far as transparency is concerned. I closed the account long back in 2004 and I am not sure if there have been improvements of late. Pardon me if Yes.

2. I have been using SCB since 2004 and never did i have any issues with them. In fact find there customer support very good. Yes, at times, they charge you with false stuffs, but as somebody has said earlier, they are quite prompt at rectifying / reversing charges. So far so good.

3. Of all the cards I have, I find HDFC is the best in terms of professionalism and service.

4. ICICI is one of the craps in terms of support, but they have some real good merchant connections for various offers and stuffs like that.

5. After reading the non-usage charge by Barclay, as mentioned by somebody, thinking of closing it right away.

[gavinimurthy]

Originally Posted by DigitalDragon

2. I have been using SCB since 2004 and never did i have any issues with them. In fact find there customer support very good. Yes, at times, they charge you with false stuffs, but as somebody has said earlier, they are quite prompt at rectifying / reversing charges. So far so good.

I concur with this. I have been holding SCB card since the last 10 years or so and had to correspond with them a copule of times about missing DDs/ reversal of interest etc. I always find them willing to help and sort out the issue to our satisfaction.

What irks me is their constant phone calls to keep you indebted to them in one way or the other. Other than that I have no complaint. I fact I am glad that they are servicing even when I am in a small town.

Murthy

[myavu]

Originally Posted by GTO

Stan Chart is probably the WORST bank you can use the credit card of. Highly manipulative and a long history of fraudulent charges. I've had my share of run-ins with them. Funny thing is, the customer service reps immediately acknowledge billing errors and reverse charges on the spot. It's as if they wait for customers to spot their mistakes!

Fully agreed GTO!. Me too suffered a lot from them. Canceled it back in mid 2006. Most of the times I had to follow them to get clarification on interest charges and other charges

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@GTO: I bet to disagree. I have had SCB (earlier Grindlays) cards for over 15 years. Excellent service. On the other had if you ask my colleagues in IITK the biggest cheats are Citi.

Me too started using card as ANZ Grindlays (1999). After it became SCB only the problems started.

[Gansan]

Slightly OT. I had an ICICI Titanium card which I was using sporadically. Though I never had any problems, was getting thoughtful after reading many bad experiences in the forum. Though it was a lifetime free card, these jokers may start levying annual fee suddenly citing low usage, and if we just ignore it and destroy the card, it will affect our cibil rating.

So I first ran up a small credit balance on the card and then called them up to close the card account. Sure enough, the person who spoke to me used all the tricks in the book to encourage me to keep it but I was adamant, though I was talking sweet all the while! Then he connected me to the supervisor who also started the same rigmarole. When he asked me the reason for closure, I lied I was going to quit my job and start a shop in my neighborhood, and hence was surrendering all my cards! No further questions were asked. He immediately took my request and assigned a number. When I checked today, the account is closed.

Guys who want to surrender your cards, please don't just destroy them without following up with the bank. They can come back to haunt you!

[DigitalDragon]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Slightly OT. I had an ICICI Titanium card which I was using sporadically. Though I never had any problems, was getting thoughtful after reading many bad experiences in the forum. Though it was a lifetime free card, these jokers may start levying annual fee suddenly citing low usage, and if we just ignore it and destroy the card, it will affect our cibil rating.

So I first ran up a small credit balance on the card and then called them up to close the card account. Sure enough, the person who spoke to me used all the tricks in the book to encourage me to keep it but I was adamant, though I was talking sweet all the while! Then he connected me to the supervisor who also started the same rigmarole. When he asked me the reason for closure, I lied I was going to quit my job and start a shop in my neighborhood, and hence was surrendering all my cards! No further questions were asked. He immediately took my request and assigned a number. When I checked today, the account is closed.

Guys who want to surrender your cards, please don't just destroy them without following up with the bank. They can come back to haunt you!

Absolutely Right. Never ever dump your card without intimating the card issuer. Normally if the outstanding is not much they might not be after you barring few like Barclays, but eventually it will affect the CIBIL rating.

[indian21r]

Originally Posted by MutantX

Guys just a note of caution for SCB CC holders. For last billing cycle my wife's billing amount was 23k out which she made a part payment of 12k. We knew that we would be charged interest of 3-3.5% interest on the entire outstanding amount. When we got the bill for the next month's cycle the total interest was 1600 rs which is like more than 6.5%.

I was of the opinion that Banks charge interest on the whole amount if a pratial payment is made. isn't that the case here

[MutantX]

yes, they do charge interest on the whole amount. There seem to be some issue with the interest calculation which the callcenter executive accepted and reversed the charges.

[Oxy]

Ok, I am now in a reasonably big soup, thanks to SCB.

I own a Manhattan Platinum credit card, the bill of which is generated on 25th of every month, the payment due date thus falling on 16th or 17th of the next month.

Now SCB decides to randomly change my billing cycle, so that my bill gets generated on the 2nd of the month, and I have to pay the amount by the 24th. I did not authorise them to do so.

I had not received my last month's bill on my mail, so did not know about this change. I made some airline ticket bookings amounting to nearly Rs.32k on the 30th of May, thinking that I would be paying it only by the 17th of July, by which I would have sufficient funds in my account to clear off this bill.

I was utterly shocked to see the statement on my mail today, with the airline transactions included in it, which I am supposed to pay by 24th of this month. On contacting the customer care, they say that this change was intimated through SMS, which needless to say, I never received. On requesting them to move these airline transactions to the next month's statement, they plainly refused saying it just cannot be done. I am now going to have to find a way to arrange for this Rs.32k, which is going to be quite a hassle considering I also have my home loan EMIs running.

What are my options now? How can a bank deliberately cause such inconvenience to it's customer?

At the least, I will cancel this card after paying up all the outstanding bills. What an utterly useless bank!

My sincere appeal to anyone who's reading this, please stay away from SCB cards. If you already own one, get it cancelled.

[rkg]

I too have SCB super value titanium card. it was clearly communicated in the last month statement about the record date change