Beware of free credit cards

[Anonymous]

Some time back I received a free credit card from State bank of India.

I confirmed with the call centre executive whether the card is free.

They told me that the card was free for doctors and that there are no annual charges.

I utilize my card sparingly and I used it only once. Immediately the next day i deposited the amount in the SBI branch.

I received the credit card statement with the annual fees after some days. I again called their help line. Again i was reassured that the annual fees would be waived of. I discontinued the use of my card altho i kept on receiving statements asking to pay the annual charges. With every statement the amount kept on increasing.

After one and a half year I got a call from their legal department asking me to pay or else….

I explained the matter in great detail to her. Initially she refused to budge and threatened legal action. After some time she cooled a little bit and asked me to pay only the annual charges and she would waive the interest.

I again refused and after some time she cooled considerably.

I do not know what is the future course of action of SBI but the moral of the story is that beware of free crdit cards.

Regards,

Veerendra Darakh

        

[Anonymous]

dats true ,., , nowadays offereing free credit cards, tours, insurance plans and other gifts have become a common marketing gimmick ., ., it is always safer to get things authenticized in hard form before falling prey to such acts of fooling people ., ., i guess you dont need to worry if you have the terms and conditions in print form stating that it was offered for free to you since you are a doctor .,. , u can challenge them .,. , u could even ask them for investigation of the telecall u recieved wen the offer was made to you for this purpose, provided u remember the day/date, approx time and name of the telecaller ., ., although it will be a slow process but if things fall in place u will get justice ., .,

        

[Anonymous]

The same happened with Standard Chartered bank credit cards. I was given a free credit card. The next year I received an account statement with annual charges. I called up the call centre and pointed it out to them. Immediately the annual charges were waived off.

Why were the annual charges levied in the first place if they can be waived off by one phone call.

With credit cards eternal vigilance is the name of the game.

        

[Author]

Posts