[rki2007]

Hi people just require some clarifications . Actually I very recently got a standard chartered credit card . The first credit card bill couldn't be made on time,actually it was paid within a couple of days after the due date by way of cash as advised by a customer care representative to avoid late payment charges . But even after doing that the late payment charges and interest close to 2500 inr is charged . I actually called the customer care to waive off the charges because I very well remember Citibank and icici people did it once for me . But standard chartered bank guy's are very arrogant and they are even ready to close the credit card but still waiver is not possible is what they say . Please advice me on what can I do to avoid the charges . If I cancel the card by paying only the due amount by not paying the charges will create any problem or what ?

[k2max6]

Originally Posted by rki2007

Hi people just require some clarifications . Actually I very recently got a standard chartered credit card . The first credit card bill couldn't be made on time,actually it was paid within a couple of days after the due date by way of cash as advised by a customer care representative to avoid late payment charges . But even after doing that the late payment charges and interest close to 2500 inr is charged . I actually called the customer care to waive off the charges because I very well remember Citibank and icici people did it once for me . But standard chartered bank guy's are very arrogant and they are even ready to close the credit card but still waiver is not possible is what they say . Please advice me on what can I do to avoid the charges . If I cancel the card by paying only the due amount by not paying the charges will create any problem or what ?

Try again 2 times,it depends on your luck how helping is the customer care executive.
Although the late payment charges are easy to get reversed, the interest is a hard game.

You can also try and talk to their senior or mail them.

Asking them to close the card by leaving the dues unpaid is not a good idea as it will spoil your cibil raiting.

Tell them that you will go to consumer court, since you did not receive the statement you are not liable.

Once my uncle took icici to consumer court for the same reason, ICICI ended up paying a penalty of 90k to the court plus charges incurred by my uncle and minor compensation.Around 10k i guess.
That ended well but now no bank makes a card for them. Every time he applied he would get a reply after 15-20 days from the agent 'Sir you take banks to court' hence rejected. Although he can challenge this as well but he doesn't bother fir credit cards.

[arup.misra]

Originally Posted by rki2007

Please advice me on what can I do to avoid the charges .

Your best option is try speaking with customer care and requesting them for a reversal. I agree their customer care is absolutely useless. Have experienced it personally. Try sending a mail to card.services@sc.com. You would get a senior CC to call you. You can then try to get a waiver. That's your best possible option.

Personally I have had bad experience with them too (never received my bill no post no email). Luckily I knew what my deadline was and paid on time. Gave them a month to rectify. After they failed I canceled my card.

[sa_kiran]

Originally Posted by amtak

ITried all; hence went to the branch. I am planning to visit the branch again tomorrow (not carrying the card today) and ask them for an update. If not, I shall make an access payment of Rs. 1 in CC account so that they have to send me monthly statement!

Did you go to the branch? I suggest that you go to the branch, write another application and get acknowledgement from the teller that you have submitted this application for cancelling the card. Frankly your job ends there, call or no call. Also, check if the bank has online complaint section on their website. If they are active on twitter, lodge a complaint on twitter, banks are quick to respond if complained on twitter. Once you have a valid complaint number, you can be doubly sure that you can not be charged for whatever reason. If the card is not closed within a month of complaint, write to Ombudsman. The bank will then come running to you to do whatever you want.

[sgiitk]

My experience is that the CC division may be located in the branch, but the two are totally independent and often at cross purposes. So unless you are a old customer do not expect much joy from the branch. If you can establish that the bill was generated late then you have a very good chance of a reversal. The lowest level of support is mostly a call centre in every bank, so worse than useless.

[Bomi]

RKI2007, tread carefully. SCB is absolutely within its rights to charge you interest as your payment was delayed. The reasons for the delay do not matter. I would recommend you talk to the SCB Helpline and reach a compromise (they waive most of the interest given that there was just a 2 day delay). Note down the name of the rep. and the service request number.
If you pay only the bill, and not the interest, SCB will promptly report you to CIBIL as a defaulter and this will go on your credit history. All banks access the CIBIL database before extending any loan to a prospective customer. In future, your chances of getting any loan from a bank, will be very poor.
Even if you want to cancel your card, ensure that your balance is zeroised, get a confirmation from SCB that it is zero and then cancel the card.

[rajesh1868]

Originally Posted by rki2007

If I cancel the card by paying only the due amount by not paying the charges will create any problem or what ?

Ask for the escalation contacts. When i was charged annual fee for my manhattan card without taking consent, I asked for the amount to be returned. CC turned it down. Then i wrote a mail which was also turned down. This mail had a signature with their escalation contact details. I mailed to them and it was returned in a week

[daredeviljpr]

Originally Posted by rki2007

Hi people just require some clarifications .

I have been using SCB Credit Cards for almost 4 years and have always payed them on the last date of payment. There have been a few instances where I was late by 1-2 days in payments due to bank holidays or missing the last date and SCB charged late payment fees and interest which may have been around Rs. 1,000/-. I also have a salary account with them and my cards are linked to the online banking. I wrote them from the online banking email feature explaining my situation and requested them to revert the late payment charges and interest which they have done promptly. Never had any issues where I had to escalate. Try using the online banking and request them to revert or reduce the charges and you may get lucky.

A word of caution never ever leave any outstanding on the card not even a few paisa. When I went for my home loan they had all the history of my CC including a few cards where I disputed the annual fee which was charged without my consent and I had asked them to close my card without paying the annual fee. The annual fee is charged in advance and since I had asked them to close the card which they did, there was no point in paying the fee. The bank kept charging interest on the annual fee which I had not paid but all other dues were cleared and I had to escalate the matter. Since I had all the details of my past payments and all the data was in my favor after a few exchange of emails I was informed that there's no outstanding on my card. I had saved the email and this email helped me secure a Home loan otherwise I may not have got a Home loan.

[amitk26]

Icici bank and Citibank also gives free card which are truly free.
Icici several times tried to upgrade my free gold card to coral which is paid but I refused.

[rki2007]

I haven't seen such an arrogant bank like standard chartered bank . Normally my experience with other banks haven't been so bad . In terms credit card , I would suggest Citibank as the best.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by rki2007

I haven't seen such an arrogant bank like standard chartered bank . Normally my experience with other banks haven't been so bad . In terms credit card , I would suggest Citibank as the best.

Yes stay away from Standard Chartered Bank , I got SCB Visa card in 1999 and at that point it was the only card I had and my spending on card were decent. I got Citibank card and an ICICI card in 2001 and from that point usage of SCB card went down.

Till 2006-07 IIRC they never had any mechanism of electronic payment of the card dues and I they never used to clear the dropboxes in time may be it was tactic to generate revanues. So I stopped using it and asked them to cancel my card but the customer care insisted that I keep it and they will not levy any annual fee. Every year I had to call them to reverse the annual fee which they happily did only to put a late payment charge despite the original charge being reveresed. So next month I need to call again to reverse the late fee.

Finally I forced them to cancel it in 2010 and clear all charges , While cancelling they again did a lot of drama asking me that I need to confirm using PIN number . Now I had not used the PIN in ages so I did not had it.
So after couple of months of haggling and lots of rude calls and shouting somehow I managed to get rid of them.

[ghodlur]

My experience with SCB has been mixed, neither too good nor too bad. The main purpose of going in for the SCB card was 1) zero annual fees 2) 2X reward points for every Rs 100 spent 3) 5X reward points for spends at fuel pumps/dining.

Their reward redemption catalogue is absolutely useless, no amount of complain have yielded any change. Imagine redeeming 3500 points for a 1K voucher of a retail store. Pure daylight robbery. Once the validity expires, I am going to junk this card.

[sgiitk]

I have been very happy with SCB, but then we are now Priority Customers and all our accounts are on Autodebit from the corresponding Savings Accounts. The debits are on the last day, or the day after, so no charges are leviable. In my family we have five cards in all, all Black (Infinite) and I also have a Titanium. I have had their card(s) since 1995 or something like that

[IronH4WK]

anybody using the Citibank Premier Miles card? it's not free (3k annualy), but the benefits seem nice.

[rkg]

I got a SCB super value titanium card recently

I did not get any statement either by mail or paper copy even after one month. I had mailed them , immediately they reverted back with apologies and sent me the mail.

That is the end of customer care.

All of sudden, I was not getting the SMS alerts

Two mails to them over a week, no response

A mail was sent to nodal officer in Chennai last week, no response

They have given a huge credit limit by my standards. I wanted it to be reduced to reasonable limits. There is no response to that query too.

With no SMS alerts , Iam thinking of cutting the card in to 4 and send it their HO by Regd Post along with outstanding dues immediately.