[ghodlur]

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!
Agreed 100% on that. SCB are cheats waiting for that gullible customer who they can pounce upon and make a quick cash. But which CC bank does not. I feel almost all the banks take some advantages of customer's inability to read the fine print. At one point I had requested an SBI Platinum card and I was issued a Gold card and charged the yearly fees for that. With great efforts I got the card cancelled and amount refunded

While on credit cards though, there's only one way to use them : Pay up the entire outstanding before the due date. Interest charges will kill you!+1 to that. Dont give an oppurtunity for the CC guys.

I have been paying my CC dues before the due date and this has its own cons. I keep getting calls from CC co's for an upgrade card even after I have registered "Do not call" facility on their websites.

[gavinimurthy]

Originally Posted by GTO

While on credit cards though, there's only one way to use them : Pay up the entire outstanding before the due date. Interest charges will kill you!

+1 to that. Credit cards are to be viewed as a matter of convenience. If you really need credit there are better options like a personal loan. Credit card outstandings are charged @36% per annum. You can get personal loans @ 14% per annum .

Murthy

[MutantX]

*Update* I got an SMS from SCB that reads as follows:

"Dear Customer, As requested we have reversed the charges on of Rs 1460.16 on your credit card account. The credit will reflect in your next statement - Stanchart"

Guys, I would request anyone whos got Stanchart CC to check their bill for interest on outstanding amount (usually 3.5% per month) before paying the due.

[goldsun]

I too had my share of bitter experience with Standard Chartered couple of years ago. I have been using Stand Chart CC for over 10 years, since late 1990s and after the issues I have faced in 2008, I have surrendered the CC and come out of Stan Chart.

[shamanth]

From my experience SCB and HSBC are two worst credit cards, its almost like a money sucking cards if you don't see statements properly. Best cards for me is Citibank and HDFC bank.

Yes, Citibank and HDFCbank dont charge you late charge even if you are late by 3-4 days. HSBC i had great problem, cheque clearing used to take sometimes 10-15 days and they will charge u late payment charge also for their delay.

[Fordmanchau]

Originally Posted by shamanth

Best cards for me is Citibank and HDFC bank.

This holds true for me too. Have Citibank , HDFC and ICICI card. Had little trouble with ICICI for declining the transactions at the peak of recession. BUt citi has been kind. They enhanced the credit limit and even maintained the cash limit unlike ICICI which cut the cash limit to ZERO.
HDFC follows the rule book it seems. But no issues with it.
Citi doesn't even charges me any interest if I make the payment 2or 3 days over the last day but before the next billing date. I am happy with it. No experience with SCB card. But had the Barclays card with me, which I never used and they cancelled the card from their side for non-usage.

[gavinimurthy]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I have been paying my CC dues before the due date and this has its own cons. I keep getting calls from CC co's for an upgrade card even after I have registered "Do not call" facility on their websites.

I have a 'life time' card by paying around Rs.3000 as one time fee. With in 6 months of getting it I am flooded with 'offers' of upgrading it. My first question always was

" Do I need to pay anything extra for this?"

Some hesitation.

" Sir, it is free for the first year."

"What about subsequent years?"

" You have to pay yearly fee."

" I have a life time card and I don't need anything else."

I hang up.

But these people are a tireless lot. They keep bothering me atleast once a month.

Murthy

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by shyamhegde

Hi, thanks for the note.
I have a problem running at the moment with my last payment done to SCB online. I had transferred 32.2K online from my ICICI savings account, but it is not reflecting in SCB statements.

Payments under Rs.100,000 are handled by the NEFT. This allows up to three working days for completion. On the other hand transactions over 100,000 are under the RTGS which allows only four working hours! So quite likely the payment was credited after 2-3 days.

@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.

[ampere]

This looks like a Skoda kind of deal here! The bank seem to have a good name in other countries, but horrible reputation for CC.

I have a different story though. I have been running SCB CC for the last decade. Never had any issues what so ever.

I never paid through EMI etc. Just checked the bill and paid the amount in full.
I also have used their points rewards quite well. Many-many Life style/ Shopper stop vouchers for quite an amount for free.

For every CC transaction you get an SMS and hence the logs are there to bo noted.


I guess I am waiting for disaster to happen?

[MutantX]

well, SMS alerts and periodic offers, points etc., are one side of the story. The question is, how come a multinational bank makes a mistake on calculating the interest on outstanding payment!

I would blame the systems (Core Banking Systems) and also improper QA. No bank would intentially do such a mistake. Mind-you if it was done intentially their Indian operation license can be cancelled.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by MutantX

well, SMS alerts and periodic offers, points etc., are one side of the story. The question is, how come a multinational bank makes a mistake on calculating the interest on outstanding payment!

I would blame the systems (Core Banking Systems) and also improper QA. No bank would intentially do such a mistake. Mind-you if it was done intentially their Indian operation license can be cancelled.

I totally agree with this. A bank of this stature should never create mistake in the first place. Some how, all these problems show up only in the interest end!

[aargee]

Yes Citibank is good; I used to have one gold free for life & their billing & service was excellent. Now I've one from RBS for over 6 years now (former ABN Amro) & they're good too & very professional people.

American Express is another top-notch bank

I'm being chased by these guys to accept one platinum card & I outrightly rejected; I'm giving a second thought

[shamanth]

I had SCB credit card with add-on card. When statement came i put cheque with main credit card number, just like i was doing with other banks. What happened was surprising the amount was credited in excess to main credit card and they put late payment charge and interest on add-on card. After fighting with customer care they reversed it later, and i canceled my add-on card telling them to get back if ever their software improves.

You people can only judge is it because of pathetic software SCB uses or its done by bank purposefully to loot the public. Can you believe that international bank like SCB has such a pathetic software which cannot link Main card payment with add-on card, even small Indian banks have better softwares.

[UKR]

@MutantX: Thanks a lot for sharing the info. In fact I also wanted to get a credit card and was looking at SCB as one of the options, but later settled for Deutche bank plantinum as they are having my payroll account. Hope it doesn't become like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Does anyone have a Deutche bank CCs? If yes, how do you find it to be?

Originally Posted by shamanth

From my experience SCB and HSBC are two worst credit cards, its almost like a money sucking cards if you don't see statements properly.

Agree. I also have heard of many cases of excess billing by HSBC.

Originally Posted by MutantX

I would blame the systems (Core Banking Systems) and also improper QA. No bank would intentially do such a mistake. Mind-you if it was done intentially their Indian operation license can be cancelled.

Well theoretically their licenses can be canceled. But in a country as corrupt as ours, a few well placed "under the table deals" would be able to get them out of any legal tangle.

[MutantX]

Originally Posted by UKR

@MutantX: Thanks a lot for sharing the info. In fact I also wanted to get a credit card and was looking at SCB as one of the options, but later settled for Deutche bank plantinum as they are having my payroll account. Hope it doesn't become like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Does anyone have a Deutche bank CCs? If yes, how do you find it to be?



Agree. I also have heard of many cases of excess billing by HSBC.



Well theoretically their licenses can be canceled. But in a country as corrupt as ours, a few well placed "under the table deals" would be able to get them out of any legal tangle.

Ive had deutche bank credit card & german bank account. Their service was excellent in deutche-land, but i am not sure in India. With german banks, they might charge huge interest rates, but when it comes to kunden (customer) satisfaction and service, they are the best.

Most banks have their central ombudsman who take care of all complaints due to irregularities. They are efficient and merciless towards such banks.