Dear Esteemed Members,
This regards the SBI credit card division which is hounding my fiancee, M.
1. M has a savings bank account with SBI and was offered a free credit card somewhere around 2004.
2. She used the credit card for sometime and then went to the bank and asked for the card to be deactivated.
3. Later she was told that she had to pay for charges and interest and none of this was towards purchases.
4. She kept getting reminders for quite a few years.
5. Five years back, she went to the bank and asked for the credit card to be closed and for all the charges to be revoked else she would close her account.
6. From then, communication from the credit card divison stopped.
7. From two months back, the credit card guys started calling again and during one phone call she was told that she was getting a special offer wherein a major part of the charges were waived and she just had to pay 5724.
8. An email with a letter was also sent (attached) where it is mentioned that her CIBIL rating will improve if she makes the payment since SBI listed her as a defaulter.
9. I think it is blackmail by SBI to threaten her that unless she pays she will remain a defaulter in CIBIL when none of the fees they are charging are regarding to purchases.
10. Since I have sometime back won a home loan case against ICICI, I want to file a consumer case and also approach the ombudsman and higher authorities including the press.
11. The attached letter sent by SBI itself has no explanation of the charges and I have told M to as for a complete account statement from the credit card division.
12. M has around 15 lakhs in her SBI savings account which is why she got the card and am advising her to close her account as that will be a bigger loss for SBI than Rs 5724.
Is there anything else I can do? Please advise.
