[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by bond_bhai

Even though he filled up for 1000, why was he billed for 1025? And what is the point of "providing" 25Rs waiver when he was charged 25 Extra to begin with?

Did the charge-slip signed by your friend have the amount as 1025 ? With my StanChart card, the amount on charge-slip would be only what I filled for (1000 in this case), but the monthly credit-card statement will have it as 1025. Then they credit a Rs25 as surcharge-waiver, effectively making the amount payable as Rs1000. Then there will be another entry called Cashback which will give me a credit of Rs25. So effectively for a fill-up of Rs1000, I will pay Rs975, which is a neat saving of Rs25 per thousand, apart from the convenience of not having to carry cash around.

[rki2007]

Finally somehow successfully struggled to get the waiver of the inappropriate interest charges with standard chartered bank . I am confused whether to continue relationship with them or just terminate because I have had below par experience . The credit card that I have gives me more benefit than other cards and that's the reason why I am having a second thought .

[rki2007]

Originally Posted by bond_bhai

How does the "Surcharge Waiver" work? Recently, my Friend and me had gone to Indian Oil. We filled up for 1000Rs and he paid using his "Citibank IOC Card". When he was signing the receipt, i saw the breakup as below -
Amount: 1025
Surcharge Waiver: 25
Total : 1000

Even though he filled up for 1000, why was he billed for 1025? And what is the point of "providing" 25Rs waiver when he was charged 25 Extra to begin with? When we asked the attendant, He mentioned this is the "Directive" from the Bank and we need to contact the bank itself! Anybody else experienced this?

See the concept is you will get a bank slip once you swipe for say 1000 amounting 1025 and a waiver of surcharge of 25 immediately and your bank statement will show the purchase amount as 1000 and a cash back of 25 will be credited in your account as turbo point which you can redeem later . Therefore you end up paying 975 only .

[Guite]

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

That is an EMV card, with a chip. It is a lot more secure than the current set of magnetic stripe cards. They are natural upgrade for cards, as happened in European countries.

Thanks for the response. Considering the security benefit, I am inclined to go for this card. First year joining fee is 1000, there are some free gifts which does not make much difference to me. Second year and subsequent years can be free depending on usage.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by rki2007

See the concept is you will get a bank slip once you swipe for say 1000 amounting 1025 and a waiver of surcharge of 25 immediately and your bank statement will show the purchase amount as 1000 and a cash back of 25 will be credited in your account as turbo point which you can redeem later . Therefore you end up paying 975 only .

It is not like that. For every transaction done through CC, bank deducts a certain percentage from the merchant.(1.5-2.5%) . Since Petrol dealers do not have such margins in retailing fuel, they do not agree for this deduction , hence CC banks used to charge customers. Since this is service charge, it attracts service tax from Govt.

What Banks are doing they reverse this surcharge. That means they are foregoing a certain amount of their income

Few banks like CITI and ICICI bank allow this in certain fuel stations( IOCL and HPCL) only

Where as other banks like HDFC, Stan Chart allow it all petrol stations.

But stan chart gives a cash back of 2.5% in addition to this surcharge reversal. No other banks gives cash back on fuel transactions. please correct me if iam wrong

Originally Posted by Guite

Thanks for the response. Considering the security benefit, I am inclined to go for this card. First year joining fee is 1000, there are some free gifts which does not make much difference to me. Second year and subsequent years can be free depending on usage.

Go for HDFC, all its cards are chip based. Service is much better. SMS alerts come even before you sign the charge slip. In case of high value transactions you get call ( physicla call). Once i had swiped the card for 16K.even before i can sign the slip , a lady called me from bank, asking wheather i had swiped the card or not?



ICICI is general has lot of fine print.

[Guite]

Originally Posted by rkg

Go for HDFC, all its cards are chip based. Service is much better. SMS alerts come even before you sign the charge slip. In case of high value transactions you get call ( physicla call). Once i had swiped the card for 16K.even before i can sign the slip , a lady called me from bank, asking wheather i had swiped the card or not?
ICICI is general has lot of fine print.

Next time I get a marketing call from HDFC I will be more receptive. In the meantime I am comfortable with ICICI. My experience with them has been good so far. I particularly like their pro-activeness in terms of security (may not be to the level you have described for HDFC). Opon our return from Thailand recently, the bank called up to say our cards swiped in Thailand may be compromised: apparently credit card fraud is rampant there as well. So they replaced both my wife's and my card.

Compare that with Citibank. There was a fraudulent online transaction on my Citibank card. I raised a complaint and the card was blocked immediately and replaced. However the transaction was never reversed, inspite of their promise to do so after completing investigation.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by Guite

Next time I get a marketing call from HDFC I will be more receptive. In the meantime I am comfortable with ICICI. My experience with them has been good so far. I particularly like their pro-activeness in terms of security (may not be to the level you have described for HDFC). Opon our return from Thailand recently, the bank called up to say our cards swiped in Thailand may be compromised: apparently credit card fraud is rampant there as well. So they replaced both my wife's and my card.

Compare that with Citibank. There was a fraudulent online transaction on my Citibank card. I raised a complaint and the card was blocked immediately and replaced. However the transaction was never reversed, inspite of their promise to do so after completing investigation.

If you are comfortable with ICICI, it is fine. But ICICI fuel surcharge works only with HPCL outlets having ICICI EDC machine.

I too was having salary a/c with them. Later our organisation changed to SBI.

During my association with them i had some bitter experiences, which are plain cheating on their part. Hence i had cancelled their CC and moved out.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by rkg

If you are comfortable with ICICI, it is fine. But ICICI fuel surcharge works only with HPCL outlets having ICICI EDC machine.
During my association with them i had some bitter experiences, which are plain cheating on their part. Hence i had cancelled their CC and moved out.

Same here. While offering the card, they will have all kinds of big assurances, which slowly they will remove by just a fine-print notification in the statement which you will surely miss.
Plus lot of conditions need to be met like use only ICICI EDC machine as rkg mentioned - who has the time/thought to ensure the salesguy uses some specific machine.
I also used their ICICI-HPCL till I got sick of these issues and moved to StanChart.

Originally Posted by rkg

ICICI is general has lot of fine print.

And that is being diplomatic / courteous / putting-it-mildly.

[aka_iitd]

As a rule in my family stay away from ICICI and Reliance products. IMO Company ka sapna sab ka paisa apna
Better go for Stan C or SBI. I like SBI which has waiver of surcharge till 4K. After that limit I use AMEX which has zero surcharge at HPCL without any conditions etc.

[Deep Blue]

I am using ICICI CREDIT card for the last 10yrs. I have had absolutely no cause to complain till now. Their customer care also has been excellent and have patiently and courteously explained all my queries. My only grouse has been that they have been slow to up my credit limit.

[sgiitk]

I have been with StanChart (earlier Grindlays) since 1979, and took my first cad in 1995. We have always kept all our cards (now 5 holders and 6 cards, since I have both MC and Visa) linked to the bank accounts with 100% auto-debit. As far as I know no other bank offers 100% auto-debit facility. saves a lot of hassles. The debit is on the last day or the day after, so no damages there.

However, I may qualify that all of us are Priority Customers so do get preferential treatment.

[nitinbose]

There is a catch on all Free cards; you have to use the card for a certain minimum value annually!

[sa_kiran]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

I have been with StanChart (earlier Grindlays) since 1979, and took my first cad in 1995. We have always kept all our cards (now 5 holders and 6 cards, since I have both MC and Visa) linked to the bank accounts with 100% auto-debit. As far as I know no other bank offers 100% auto-debit facility. saves a lot of hassles. The debit is on the last day or the day after, so no damages there.

I've savings account and credit card with ICICI Bank. If I remember correctly, they offer auto-debit facility. I've not bothered to check because, I pay with some other savings account. I have Citibank credit card and once had Citibank savings account as well. Auto-debit was offered by them and I was using it. They also had the option of auto-debit of minimum due amount.

Frankly, banks don't like credit card customers who always pay on time; they like defaulters. So in credit card business, I'm not surprised with banks not offering freebies to loyal customers. However, upgrade to EMV cards should be a given, it reduces liability of banks at a very nominal cost.

[Deep Blue]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

I have been with StanChart (earlier Grindlays) since 1979. As far as I know no other bank offers 100% auto-debit facility. saves a lot of hassles.

ICICI Bank as 100% auto debit facility. I have been using it for the last 10yrs. Yes, it saves a lot of hassles.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue

ICICI Bank as 100% auto debit facility. I have been using it for the last 10yrs. Yes, it saves a lot of hassles.

I too had opted for auto debit for my P loan with them. only that their great SW did not do it and i was penalized with compound interest. i had go to branch and fight with them. it happened for three months at a stretch. disgusted, i had closed the a/c by prepaying the loan. Surprisingly their SW started working efficiently by deducting EMI on due date( loan was already closed). Again i had to run around and shout several times to get it corrected.

If a person is lazy/busy and dot check the a/c regularly stay away from icici & Citi