Listen all,
its a well known fact that due to sub prime crisis in USA and Europe in 2008 till date the two major credit card companies Visa and Master card are facing huge losses. The governments in US and Europe has come up with various regulations to protect their citizens with various schemes which hits these companies.
now since they cannot fight with the governments there they have connived with the banks of India and various emerging countries to hatch a conspiracy which is simple.
Extract too much from each card in name of late fee and panel interest, I have seen instances where an amount of Rs 100 has grown up to 7000 in less than one year. people getting statements of overdue amount despite the fact that card was never received, used or closed long back.
Because the sword of CIBIL is hanging on the heads of common credit consumers here they are forced to pay through nose the exorbitant amount which is in almost all cases cannot be justified under any court of law.
I am sure RBI and finance ministry knows about this but the lobby of bankers are so influential that even though they wish to take any action to amend the rules etc it will take ages.
So, what should be done. here is a small check list.
Don't use credit card
ok fine I know you cannot live without plastic then why not use debit card?
Close the unused cards - but first call up the customer care to find out the status of the card- then ask them politely to close the card as you don't want to use it-
On the call with retention department of the bank - insist for a case number for the closure.
Send an email as well to the card care of the bank and keep the reply handy.
Use only Credit cards where you have netbanking account - so you can check the state of the card anytime and pay online.
Never drop the cheque in drop box - this is major reason for the things getting complicated always pay online do a visa money transfer if you have an account with any other bank.
Pay cash if you are just near the last date of payment - two major credit cards issuer hdfc and icici bank accept payment on any branch for card. Citi too accept cash but levy small fee of 100rs per transaction as far as my knowledge.
never spend more than you can pay - if you have overspent because of any reason the first thing you need to do is to pay at least 10% of the amount the very next day of bill date so you are saved from the late fee, since you are not paying in full interest is okay and you should pay it.
never go for any offers which you don't understand fully. take your time to understand the offer, do some research about the offers regarding insurance, holiday packages, goodies etc offered on credit cards - never accept that over the phone rather you should call the customer care and ask for the offer.
till the day rbi and finance ministry takes corrective action against these conspiring banks follow these simple steps you would save lot of hassles for yourself and your family
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