Hidden charges revealed
I am using a credit card by Emirates Islamic bank. I am a loyal customer at this bank, having a salary current account, Kunooz savings account and a credit card. Last Gitex (October 2014), Emirates Islamic offered its customers zero per cent interest when buying anything with a credit card. I purchased two items with 12-month instalments. I called the bank and requested to convert it into 12-months instalments and the bank sanctioned it. When I checked my bank statement (November 2014), everything was alright, but from December 2014 to March 2015, all of the 12-month instalment plans had disappeared, and they started charging me for the whole sum in my account. I called them several times to resolve this issue, but did not get any positive feedback. The banker promised me it would be resolved within four working days, but this issue has remained the same. The credit card was a zero per cent interest card, once I paid in full, within the credit period. But since the zero per cent instalment plan was converted to full payment, the bank is charging me Dh950 every month (from December 2014 to March 2015) because I am not paying in full. I would like to know why the bank could not solve this issue. I hope Gulf News will consider my complaint, which will not only help other readers, but also the bank, to improve their services.
From Mr Kyaw Wai
Dubai
The management of Emirates Islamic responds:
Thank you for bringing Mr Wai’s concerns to our attention.
The customer made two transactions on October 3 and 4, 2014, at Sharaf DG. On October 21, the transactions were converted to Easy Payment Plan (EPP), following the customer’s request.
The customer did not make any payment on his card, due on November 9, and was charged the monthly membership fee in his statement dated November 15.
For the statement dated November 15, with a due date of December 10, the customer made a payment on December 13, that is, three days after the due date, so he was again charged the monthly membership fee in the next statement, dated December 15.
In addition, as the customer did not pay the minimum amount by the due date for two consecutive cycles, the EPP was automatically cancelled, as per the bank’s terms and conditions, and rolled over to the retail plan, which means the full amount became due the following month.
We have sent the customer an email to explain the situation, since he is currently out of the country. We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that Emirates Islamic is committed to providing the best in customer service to our loyal clientele.
Mr Wai responds:
Thank you Gulf News, for taking up my issue. I missed the payment but I already received late charges of Dh180 in my November statement. So, why are they charging an additional Dh950? The bank has not informed me about it ever since I took this credit card. I got the credit card from Emirates Islamic because the bank called me and said that I am maintaining my current account very well, therefore they wanted to offer this card without any charges. Initially, I refused, because I already have a card from another bank, but they said this card was interest-free, with no charges for balance transfer and it was a free for life card. Therefore, I closed my account with another bank and took this card.
If they have these terms and conditions, why was I not informed when I followed up with the bank? As I have in my current account, more than Dh44,000 as of December 31 statement, to pay back the full amount. Why wait for five months to get additional charges from the bank? Whenever I followed up, their customer service told me that they would place a request to reverse this charge and after four days, I got an SMS saying it had been resolved. But it never got done. That’s why I am still struggling, till now.
Also, I queried the bank many times why my EPP was cancelled and they do not have proper information regarding this. Had I known earlier that the reason was I had missed the payment, I could have had a chance to request again or pay in full, because I have enough money in my current account. This month, I paid the outstanding amount with an EIB credit card, but I want to get my money back from all the hidden charges, such as monthly membership fee, which is continuously being charged to me, from January to April 2015, due to lack of information from the bank.
Emirates Islamic responds:
We have been in touch with Mr Wai, following a thorough investigation into the issue. Our findings have now concluded and we will be reversing Mr Wai’s monthly membership fees from the time he put in a request for the Easy Payment Plan service, with the exception of one charge where he was indeed late with making the payment. The customer has agreed fully to these terms.
In addition, as part of our commitment to inform and advise customers on the best options available, we have suggested that Mr Wai create a monthly standing order to debit the full outstanding on the card from his existing Emirates Islamic account in order to avoid similar charges in future. The customer has accepted this suggestion and made a request for the same.
(Process initiation: April 26, 2015. Response from organisation: May 7. Process completion: May 27.)
Editor’s note: Do you have similar issues that you would like to raise with us? You can write to us at readers@gulfnews.com.
