[condor]

Originally Posted by narayan

yes they do have annual fees but promptly have been reversing mine upon my request. also they have been kind enough to reverse late payment fees a few times although it was my fault.
.

The last part is what SBI refuses to do. Like - I had a due of 45.5k, but by mistake paid 44k. THey wont consider such small balances at all. But worse is the repayment channels - can drop cheques only in certain branches / most ATM's dont accept payment / else go in banking hours and pay at counter.

The annual fees may be reversed after a couple of years I guess. Not for a new customer.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by binand

Huh? HDFC Card owner for > 5 years here. They refund everything. Not refunding the service tax would be illegal.

They have refused to waive service tax in my case. Further, they clearly mention in their website and written communications about service tax being applicable.

Originally Posted by condor

The Stanchard cards have annual fees too.
One more feature I want is ease of payment - where I can drop a cheque. Kotak is closest. Axis Bank ATM network is wide.

Annual fees are reversed if the spends are more than 60K per year. They are reversing my annual fees for the past two years.

Pay by NEFT why bother about drop box?

[binand]

Originally Posted by rkg

They have refused to waive service tax in my case. Further, they clearly mention in their website and written communications about service tax being applicable.

Please point me to the link on their website.

It can't be that the law applies one way to HDFC Bank and another way to Standard Chartered.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Assessment based on personal experience and treatment. Its an opinion. Opinions differ.

Agreed. It wasn't clear to me that yours was an opinion in your first post - it was quite unqualified.

[condor]

Originally Posted by rkg

Annual fees are reversed if the spends are more than 60K per year. They are reversing my annual fees for the past two years.

Pay by NEFT why bother about drop box?

I Dont use netbanking

Originally Posted by binand

It can't be that the law applies one way to HDFC Bank and another way to Standard Chartered.

Service charges are not waived by banks. Basically, the 2.5% surcharge is still in place by GoI. As long as this is there, the Service Tax will be there. waiving the 2.5% surcharge is with the bank. But ST is in the Govt's domain.

[binand]

Originally Posted by condor

Service charges are not waived by banks. Basically, the 2.5% surcharge is still in place by GoI. As long as this is there, the Service Tax will be there. waiving the 2.5% surcharge is with the bank. But ST is in the Govt's domain.

I filled 40.3 litres at Rs. 60.32 per litre on 27/8. Total bill amount is Rs. 2430.90 which is what they swiped (SMS screengrab below).



This second screengrab is what actually went into my statement. As you can see, they waived both the surcharge and the service tax on the surcharge. Rs. 61 is surcharge @2.5% and Rs. 9.15 is service tax on surcharge @15%.

[haria]

Originally Posted by vigsom

I used to be a fan but not anymore.

....and thrust a Regalia card on me.

What unsettled me is

a) how they silently included a clause of Rs.x as annual charges if the spend was less than Rs.Y

It happened to me also. My HDFC Signature card which was free for many years was upgraded to REgalia and the annual charges imposed. I wrote to HDFC and they gave the standard reply that they will waive off charges if Rs. X minimum was spent. I escalated the matter, and got this condition also waived off. I requested an official communication and they sent an email which stated that my regalia will be life time free card.

Quite pleasant and professional interaction, though if one doesn't follow thru, he/she would have got the annual charges, which is a bit "sneaky"

Originally Posted by binand

Huh? HDFC Card owner for > 5 years here. They refund everything. Not refunding the service tax would be illegal.

+1 to this. I have also found that service tax is refunded in full. In some cases I get a few paisa more!

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by condor

I Dont use netbanking


Service charges are not waived by banks. Basically, the 2.5% surcharge is still in place by GoI. As long as this is there, the Service Tax will be there. waiving the 2.5% surcharge is with the bank. But ST is in the Govt's domain.

HDFC does refund the service tax component. That's one of reason I still use HDFC Card, best for fuel, no fuel surcharge at any fuel station.

Got an email promotion by AMEX, they are offering 3% cashback on all fuel transactions. AMEX already had a tie up with HPCL, hence you get 3% cashback with zero surcharge on fuel at HPCL. At all other fuel stations, you will get 3% cashback but 2.5% surcharge will be applicable.
This offer is valid until 28th Feb, 2017.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by binand

Please point me to the link on their website.
It can't be that the law applies one way to HDFC Bank and another way to Standard Chartered.

It is clearly mentioned on the schedule of charges. Almost all bank web sites are stating this clearly.
HDFC never refunded me ST component. Hence i always prefer to use stanchart for fuel

[binand]

Originally Posted by rkg

It is clearly mentioned on the schedule of charges. Almost all bank web sites are stating this clearly.
HDFC never refunded me ST component. Hence i always prefer to use stanchart for fuel

Well, they seem to be doing so for at least speedmiester and me. For me, they have never charged it (I've been using their card for 5+ years now).

This surcharge is not a government charge, by the way.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by rkg

It is clearly mentioned on the schedule of charges. Almost all bank web sites are stating this clearly.
HDFC never refunded me ST component. Hence i always prefer to use stanchart for fuel

Originally Posted by binand

Well, they seem to be doing so for at least speedmiester and me. For me, they have never charged it (I've been using their card for 5+ years now).

This surcharge is not a government charge, by the way.

I always got the service tax and surcharge refunded from HDFC. I also have SBI Card, but SBI doesn't refund the service tax component.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by binand

Well, they seem to be doing so for at least speedmiester and me. For me, they have never charged it (I've been using their card for 5+ years now).

This surcharge is not a government charge, by the way.

I too was a hdfc CC customer for the past 5 years. used it for fuel only few times. using stanchart for this purpose since past 4 years, as there is a cash back option.

[condor]

Originally Posted by binand

This surcharge is not a government charge, by the way.

If this is correct, then they should also refund ST when the Surcharge is refunded.

So are they using this ST for their own use ??

[binand]

Originally Posted by condor

If this is correct, then they should also refund ST when the Surcharge is refunded.

As two of us demonstrated with snippets from card statements, that is indeed the case.

[indian21r]

Originally Posted by binand

As two of us demonstrated with snippets from card statements, that is indeed the case.

Originally Posted by speedmiester

I always got the service tax and surcharge refunded from HDFC. I also have SBI Card, but SBI doesn't refund the service tax component.

Originally Posted by condor

Service charges are not waived by banks. Basically, the 2.5% surcharge is still in place by GoI. As long as this is there, the Service Tax will be there. waiving the 2.5% surcharge is with the bank. But ST is in the Govt's domain.

I am surprised to see people getting ST waived off on the petrol bills. This has never happened for me in 10 years of usage. I bill easily 5k on an average.

Maybe the next time I have a call from them I will check on this

[condor]

Originally Posted by binand

As two of us demonstrated with snippets from card statements, that is indeed the case.

Does some one want to give the Banking Ombudsman a heads-up ? I dont think individual ST amounts are accounted for. Total amount collected would be used against the ST due from the bank to the Govt. Hence these small amounts may be are being used by the banks against total ST due to the govt ?