A reader of our advisory services, Mr. Naresh Writes his plight seeking Help in distress on continuous Harassment by ICICI Bank’s Credit Card Collection Agency. His case is as below, [89359]
My ICICI Bank Card Number is 447746XXXX588001.Bank’s Collection agency sent an agent to collect my payment and he harassed my family. Moreover, I just made an online payment but he is harassing me to make the payment to him and not online. Why would he do that? I mean, I remember the Supreme court’s order on such agencies. I’m promptly making online payments. Let me continue the same way. Kindly guide me on how I deal with the bank in this situation.
Mr. Naresh is right in making the payment to ICICI Bank Online as it is a Transaction made by Crossed A/C Payee Cheque which can be tracked forever. The advantage of online payment is it will get posted within 24 hours and thus no late fees or other charges can be levied by the bank.
As Far as harassment by collection agents is concerned, Mr. Naresh must note the following Guidelines from RBI’s Master Circular on Credit Card Regulations in India – RBI/2013-14/60 DBOD.No.FSD.BC. 4/24.01.011/2013-14 – Details here. Section 5 of the Circular clearly states that Banks must be careful while employing Collection Agencies. Further, seeking Privacy as per Section 6 of the circular, Mr. Naresh can go ahead and file a complaint with the Ombudsman of ICICI Bank for Mental Agony and Harrasment and seek compensation.
However, in reality the Ombudsman will not award any compensation but will stop the harassment for sure. With the new Government of Shri Narendra Modi and a very hands-on RBI Governor Mr. Raghuram Rajan, we hope the eco-system of Banks and Consumers will improve with progress on mind.