How ABN Amro and Other Foreign Banks including Indian Private Banks cheat customers

When you take a personal loan from any Foreign or Indian Private Bank including ICICI, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra, please be sure of the fact that they have decided to cheat you right at the very outset itself.

When you take a loan, you are given a cheque which is normally dated for the second or the third week of the month. By the time the money is in your account, it is the end of the month.

And as per agreement executed by you, the bank is now ready to take back the first installment. This is where the cheating happens.

First, the bank does not give you the full amount of the loan, deducting the processing charges at source along with the service tax and all other levies.

Secondly, the bank takes back the first installment in the first week of the month that follows the disbursal date. Therefore in effect you are paying back the bank interest on the entire amount within 7 to 10 days of getting the loan.

This is a standard sharp practice deployed by all the banks other than nationalized banks.

With nationalized banks you may face a delay but they will never cheat you. Do you know why? Because promotions in Nationalized banks are not linked to returns generated by an individual. Whereas in MNC and Private Indian Banks, fresh MBA's are hell bent on increasing the profit of the bank in the hope that they will be able to climb the ladder of success faster, and they do!

KV Kamath takes home 10,00,00,000 per month as salary, how is that for success! He also holds stock options in the bank that he is heading. Do you think the owners of these banks pay these salaries?

If you said yes, you are completely wrong. It is the customers of the bank that make it possible for the company to pay Mr. Kamath the salary quoted above. And what does Mr. Kamath and his team do? Find new ways of cheating the customers that are paying for his salary!

The Loot is over

For 24 Years, Private and Foreign Banks such as Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, ICICI, HDFC, HSBC, Kotak, ABN Amro, GE Countrywide, IndiaBulls, etc. have flouted interest rate regimen and looted the people of India in the guise of giving soft loans at exorbitant rates of interest.

These rates have ranged from 20% to as high as 80% all in the name of unregulated interest regime allowed by the Reserve Bank of India.

As an association of people utilizing credit from these banks, we have been petitioning RBI to stop this practice of giving usurious loans to unsuspecting people. We have staged countless demonstrations in front of these banks and have maintained constant pressure on the RBI since 2003.

Under the able leadership of Mr. Vijay Kamble and the hard work of his team CCAI has been finally successful in getting the monolith RBI to take note of the problem plaguing the system.

RBI has now pegged the maximum rate of interest at 18% per annum diminishing. What this means is that if your loan is at any other rate, you can have it reduced to this rate as anything more than this is considered usurious by RBI.

We are seeking a similar reduction on credit card rates too and very soon you can expect relief from high interest rates there too!

CCAI has been working tirelessly since 2003 for protecting the exploitation of the general public at the hands of MNC and Private Banks. Join us in our fight against the heavily biased banking system that favors the bank and penalizes the common man.

Call us now!

Credit Consumers Association of India
3/141, M.H.B. Colony, Ram Mandir Road,
Kher Nagar, Bandra (East), Mumbai 400051
Tel: 91-22-26474857, 26471908, Email: ccai.mumbai@gmail.com

ICICI Bank offers 15 Lacs to Family of member killed by them

In a startling development, ICICI Bank has offered to pay 15,00,000 (1.5 Million Indian Ruppes) as compensation to the family of Mr. Y. Yadaiha, the person killed by its recovery agents in Hyderabad last week.

What is your life worth Mr. Kamath?

Can someone kill you and offer the price that you put on your life to your family?

Follow up on ICICI recovery story

Today I read in Times of India that police has arrested four employees of the recovery agency, Elite Financial Services.

The Supreme Court direction in such cases is very clear. The agencies appointed by the banks and other financial institutions are the direct responsibility of these banks and financial institutions. They can not escape the actions of their agents and associates.

I thus urge the police and powers that be that Mr. Kamath, CEO of ICICI Bank be arrested and put behind bars as an exemplary punishment. This will serve as an eyeopener for all the banks that are operating within the country and their executives who sit in air-conditioned office and are responsible for the reprehensible activities of their agents and associates.

One top person being sent to jail will wake up everyone down the line. But I think this is again going to be wishful thinking.

Death to ICICI Bank

Today I read a shocking incident pertaining to recovery of personal loan by ICICI Bank.

In Hyderabad, a person has been detained illegally and beaten up brutally by a private recovery agency of ICICI Bank.

This person later died due to his injuries at a local hospital.

The police has registered a case of wrongful confinement and culpable homicide not amounting to murder! How can they register as culpable homicide not amounting to murder when an actual murder has taken place.

All this after the Supreme Court of India giving clear guidelines to all the banks operating within India on methods of recovery. The Court has clearly said that 'There will be no use of force'. But the banks don't want to listen.

This person lost his life for a paltry sum of 15,000.

I wish death to ICICI Bank.

Read the complete article here

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Man_dies_after_being_confined_by_debt_recovery_men/articleshow/2145190.cms

A personal experience with credit cards

I want to tell you my personal experience with credit cards.

I started with a single card from Standard Chartered Bank in the year 1990. This was a Master Card, very soon they sent me another free card with Visa affiliation. Thus I had two cards.

One of my friends was working in a DSA for ANZ Grindlay's bank and he requested that I take a card from him in a particularly lean month of sales for him. Thus I got my third card, very soon ANZ Grindlays sent me another card with Visa affiliation. Thus now I had four cards.

I very soon acquired another credit card, this time from American Express called the green card.

At this point of time, I was feeling on top of the world. I had a combined credit line of more than 5 Lacs, which at that point of time meant that I could buy a house using just my credit cards!

All through the time, I used my cards judiciously and never maxed them out, although the temptation to do so arose on many occasions.

Being in the IT industry, I fell into a debt trap following the dot com bust that happened in year 2000-2001.

I now had an outstanding on my card and no source to pay it up. Very soon the bill collectors were on my back. I had to answer one harassing call after another.

Sometime in June 2001, I settled with the credit card company and paid them their outstanding dues after getting a discount from them.

But before I did this, I did my home work. I insisted on a settlement letter from the company (Standard Chartered Bank, which by then had taken over ANZ Grindlays) before I made my payment to them. For some strange reason they asked me to pay 96000 in six installments of 16000 each even when I offered to pay them in one go.

Later on I learned that this was another of their dirty tricks. What they are banking upon is that the payer will falter and in their settlement letter they mention that even if you miss out on any one payment, the settlement stands canceled and the money already paid stands forfeited!

Anyway I managed to pay all the installments in time. But I kept getting their statements showing outstanding dues for the next 1 full year. When I complained to them, they said that it takes time for the statements to stop. This I found hard to believe given the fact that everything they do is computerized and they have the ability to suspend a card within an hours notice. During this period when the statements were still coming, I had to confront a bunch of bill collectors, who I could ward off only when I showed them my settlement letter along with the receipt of the payments that I had made.

I held on to the American Express Credit Card just in case of any emergency.

During this time, I have had to fight American Express for waiver of charges on many occasions. I once withdrew cash of 8000 and they levied me two separate charges while it was their system that was at fault as it did not allow withdrawal of more than 5000 from the ATM. When I took this up with them, they reversed the charges.

Tell me, is this not a trap? How many people must have been shortchanged this way?

At the time of renewal of this card, when American Express charged me the annual fees, I refused to pay and told them that they could cancel my card. They waived the charges and I have not paid any annual fee for the last three years.

On another occasion when I paid my monthly dues at an American Express Bank branch, my cheque went missing. Inexplicably this happened at their own office. They put late charges on my account and also charged me interest for the delayed payment. I once again fought with them and accused them of probably shredding my cheque just to levy late charges and interest. When confronted thus and in the light of evidence that I had always paid on time everytime, they had no option but to reverse my charges.

Thus the readers should remain vigilant of all the charges that appear on their statement and fight back to have charges they don't agree to be reversed. Using a credit card only in emergencies or in situations where cash is not accepted is the best way to handle them.

Do not make a costly purchase on your credit card. Save for such extravaganzas. If you do make such a purchase opt for the EMI scheme from the company. This carries a much smaller percentage rate on the credit that you avail.

Now Government wakes up to credit card fraud

An article that appeared today in the Mumbai Mirror, edition dated 22nd June 2007 talks about MRTPC getting into act to probe the wrong doing of Credit Card companies.

It is a known fact amongst people who watch this industry that this kind of skimming has been happening for year. The Credit Card Industry is so loaded with money that they have been able to buy silence from the authorities.

My question is, when a person commits a robbery by snatching a chain on the street, you first beat him up, then haul him to the nearest police station, then the police extracts their pond of flesh from the thief. Later he is consigned to the legal system where the reason why he did the act in the first place is ignored and he is sent to prison.

How many such cases can you remember of corporate thieves going to jail? Not many I believe. Therefore it becomes all the more important that this industry is reined in and the MBA's who head and manage these schemes be sent to jail. Only then the white-collar people will realize that they can not get away with fraud and larceny.

Imagine a credit card issuing company like ICICI which has 20 Million cards committing a fraud of 100 rupees on 10% of their card base. Do you think this does not happen? Wait for the MRTPC report which will tell you the truth unless these companies are able to buy the investigators from here too.

Article reproduced below for your reading pleasure.

MRTPC orders probe into credit card fees

NEW DELHI: Alarmed by reports that credit card companies have collected over Rs 6,000 crore in a decade from customers by way of fines and late fee, India’s antimonopoly w a t c h d o g has ordered a probe into the fees levied by them.

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has asked the Director General of Investigation and Registration (DGIR) to probe the issue and report back, sources have revealed.

The commission ordered the probe after taking cognizance of reports that claimed credit card issuers extracted more than Rs 6,000 crore as late fee, cash, advance fee, billed finance fee, overlimit fee, cash withdrawal fee, insurance charges, cheque pick-up fee and service taxes during the past 10 years.
DGIR would direct banks to furnish details of their income during last three-four years derived from other than the credit limits (extra charges), the sources added.

As per the MRTPC Act, DGIR has to submit its preliminary investigation report before the commission within 90 days.

The commission has already initiated judicial enquiry against Citibank, HSBC, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank for adopting unfair practices for selling credit cards, as the DGIR submitted its preliminary report in which it suspected these organisation to have violated norms.

In its report, DGIR had found that these banks were making false promises to their credit card customers and caused loss to the general public by violating the rules framed by the Reserve Bank of India. It also alleged that the banks were delaying delivery of bills and realisation of cheques toward payment just to charge increased interest rate, late fee and fines, etc.

The commission had initiated judicial enquiry against HDFC on November 10 last on the same grounds.

The sources added enquiries against American Express Bank, ABN Amro and country’s largest lender State Bank of India on the same issue are also going on. PTI

CIBIL the new Evil

CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau of India Limited) is the new evil that threatens to disturb the lives of common Indian people.

CIIBIL setup by an Act of the Government of India, is a privately held company. The mandate of this company is to provide lenders with data on people who have availed credit. This agency monitors all loans, credit card data and personal loan information.

But the problem is the company will not provide you with your own credit report!

Internationally too, credit bureau's followed a similar method until consumers fought back and got the right to access their own credit report at least once a year free of cost.

How does this report affect you. Read below experience of international consumers

The Creditor/Consumer relationship seesaws

Originally, credit reporting services were created for the benefit of creditors. In the beginning, the consumer just went along with the system. However, as time went on, the consumer, backed by the government, forced the issue and gained some encouraging ground. Errors on credit reports could drastically affect someone’s life, in that they could be refused employment, refused tenancy, refused credit, and generally be given a bad name in the credit industry. So the consumer fought for access to their credit information.

Now, as the system stands, the scales are much more balanced. Consumers have more rights: to see their credit report information, to object to errors in them, and a number of other positive outcomes. And for the credit bureaus, more information could be collected, and they could sell that information to marketers for extra profits.

So it seems that both sides are content with the system. But each side, the consumer and the credit bureau, is constantly jockeying for a better position. So the relationship continues, back and forth. But the bottom line for consumers is, as mentioned, credit reports can deeply affect their lives. That’s why it’s so important to check your credit report regularly – and have peace of mind.

Taken from http://www.thehistoryof.net/history-of-credit-reports.html

It is now up to the people of India to get similar access to their own credit reports. How many of us have not had a dispute with our lenders? It could be over wrong billing, fraud, excessive charges for which we have refused to pay up. All these delinquencies are being put on your credit report and they will make life very difficult for you in days to come.

More writing on the problem can be accessed at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6612374/

Credit card cos make extra (Rs 6000 Crores) bucks Mumbai:

Credit card cos make extra (Rs 6000 Crores) bucks Mumbai:

You always knew your credit card company was charging you an exorbitant rate of interest for the convenient mode of payment it offers. But were you ever tempted to figure out how much “extra’’ these companies have made from people like you in, say, the last ten years? Well, don’t rack your brains. For the Credit Cardholder’s Association of India has worked out some chilling numbers for you. According to the association, these companies have made at least Rs 6,000 crore extra from credit cardholders in India in a span of ten years, through “hidden charges’’ such as overdraft fee, late fee, cash advance fee among others.

“We have studied the interest income and non-interest income columns in the balance sheet of many banks for a period of ten years. We have found that non-interest income is 10-15% of the gross income in the case of national and private sector bank in the country. When we studied foreign banks, we have found that the non-interest income forms 50-60% of the gross income for them.’’ Says CV Giddappa, general secretary of the association. “The figure is highly suspicious. We think these banks have made this extra money by keeping various charges hidden from the customers at the time of joining,’’ he added.

The association is planning to call for a general body meeting on May 28 in Bangalore to decide its future course of action. “Our delegates will meet and decide whether we should approach the supreme court to ask for refund of these extra charges levied by the bank,’’ said Giddappa, who claimed Indians pay the highest rates of interest on credit cards in the world.

Foreign banks, however, refused to join the issue. “We don’t have details to comment on the issue. Anyway, it is too general for us to comment,’’ said an official at a foreign bank. Another foreign bank official refuted the claim that Indian pay the highest rate in the world. “It is well known fact that countries like Argentina and Brazil have the highest rate of interest in the world. Also, the argument of hidden charges is not true. Details of all charges are given to the customers. In fact, they will get details of these charges through net, credit card bills,’’ said the official.

According to financial experts, interest rates on credit card is always highest because of the possibility of default on them. “If you get into the habit of rolling on a credit card, you may in all possibility would fall into a debt trap. In fact, in theory, you could go on paying forever if you opt to pay only the minimum amount due every month,’’ said a financial advisor. Check the fineprint before applying for a credit card

Mumbai: Recently, a 49-yearold Mumbai consumer reached her bank ATM to find that her account balance of Rs 42,440 was reduced to a mere 0.94 paise. When she contacted the bank’s 24-hour customer care number, she was told that the amount had been adjusted against her credit card outstanding. “This has really shocked me as there has been
no intimation whatsoever from the credit card department to this effect,’’ she says.

In order to avoid a shocker of this sort, the next time you get a credit card offer from your bank, you must must go through the fineprint minutely before signing up. Such offers could carry a “right of setoff ’’ clause, which allows banks to set off outstanding credit from any of the cardholder’s accounts held, singly or jointly, with the bank—without any notice.

The Mumbai consumer, too, remained unaware about the clause because, she says, “when you apply for a card, you just sign on the form, you don’t really read it.’’ Her grouse is that the clause could have been invoked in case she were absconding. “But the recovery agents were constantly in touch with me and I had informed them of my intentions to pay up.’’

Says H N Sinor, chief executive at the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), “Banks do not immediately invoke such a clause. Bankers prefer that you do not pay the first time so that interest accrues. A two- threemonth delay in payment is considered good business for a bank. Only after three-four reminders, do banks trigger such a clause.’’

According to Sinor, if a bank plans to invoke such a clause, it does not require to send across a specific notice to a customer, as “the mandate is already obtained upfront’’.

A senior banking consultant, though, deems this a malpractice. “Banks must send one or two notices to a customer to give him an opportunity to pay up, as he may have kept the money aside for other purposes.’’ Like, the Mumbai consumer who needed the sum to pay her medical bills. “If at all an amount is to be adjusted, it could have been only the immediate due amount and not the entire outstanding amount,’’ she says, as the bank was charging her interest, late payment fees and service charges on the dues.

This case brings to light the lack, and thus, importance of transparency and clarity in bank dealings. As per the IBA’s Fair Practice Code for Credit Card Operations, “Our banks’ dues collection policy is built on courtesy, fair treatment and persuasion. We believe in fostering customer confidence and long-term relationship... We will provide you with all the information regarding dues and will give sufficient notice for payment of dues. Our staff/ agents are governed by Model Code for Collection of Dues and Repossession of Security issued by Indian Banks’ Association.’’

If a consumer faces trouble with his card issuer, Reserve Bank of India’s master circular on credit card operations of banks, issued in July 2006, has laid down redressal guidelines. It says a time limit of 60 days may be given to a customer to refer his grievances. Besides, the card-issuing bank should constitute a grievance redressal machinery within the bank and publicise it through media. Redressal officers’ names and contact numbers must be mentioned on the credit card bills. The designated officer should ensure that genuine grievances of card subscribers are redressed promptly without delay.

“There should be a system of acknowledging customers complaints for follow-up, such as complaint number/ docket number, even if the complaints are received on phone,’’ the circular says.