Case Study (SBI Credit Cards) - Rs.500 Late Patyment Fees on Outstanding Less than 50 Paise

Customer Says: SBI Credit Card

HARRASSMENT BY APPLYING UNJUSTIFIED CHARGES: I was using the SBI GOLD card no. 431751234567890 from 2006 to JULY-2007. In one of the payment i made payment of the amount excluding the fractional amount, e.g. Billed Amount was 884.23Rs. & made payment of only 884Rs. to make it round figure. But in the next months statement the bank charged me late fees for the remaining 23 paisa.

When I requested their customer care executive for reversal of the same he refused to do so. I stopped making payment of that late fee, and repeatedly requested customer care to consider it, but all in vain. The same is going on and the latest amount due against the card in the month of June -09 is of 2476.90 Rs. Now I am fed up of talking with customer care department, as they are not at all ready to understand my issue. Sir, I want to bring it to your notice that if really I wanted to cheat the bank, I would have used the card further also as the credit limit over my card was of Rs 52,000, but I never did that. You can even verify my track record before this incidence. I hereby request you to please look into this matter kindly and give me the reversal of the amount whatever you charged me. Otherwise it will be a big injustice with me.

Ask.Pranav Says:

Hi, I faced a similar problem with my Barclaycard. The issue is that most Credi Cad issuers allow a short Payment of Rs.100 on the Total Amount Due. If you pay Rs.100 less than your Total Amount Due, you will still not be charged any Interest.

However Banks likeSBI Card and Barclays do not follow this practise. Hence all customers have to be very careful and ensure that the full amount de is paid to the nearest Paisa. I suggest you do the following.

(1) Register a Case with the Banking Ombudsman stating that you had not paid a few paise and the Late Payment Fee Charged has been Rs.500+ for a short Payment of 23 paisa.Word the letter saying that the Late payment Fee cannot be 1000% of the Payment Outstanding
(2) My bigger worry for you is that by now, they would have reported your name to the Credit Beureau completely ruining your Credit Card. Fo more details on what this means you can visit the following article which explains what a Credit Beureau is.
http://simplybank.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-is-cibil-credit-bureau-and-why-is.html

I suggest you pay off the amount and close the matter as it is very important to have a good Credit Record these days. For any further clarifications you can write to me at Ask.Pranav@Gmail.com or visit my Blogsite on http://www.simplybank.blogspot.com I am sure you will find some articles of use out here.