Closing loan on phone

I request Gulf News to get an answer from Dubai First, as I am unable to solve the problem myself, as they are not honouring a commitment given by their sales person and they intend to take penalty interest from me for requesting to close the Loan on Phone (LOP). This issue is pending since April.

I took a Dh22,000 LOP on February 19 at 0.59 per cent per month for a year and the instalment was Dh1,963.33, with a one-time processing fee of Dh200.

After a month, I got a call to take the same offer for Dh20,000 for a year. The total instalment expected was Dh3,768, which was above my budget, so I rejected the offer. During the discussion, I was given an option to take it for 18 months and was promised that the first LOP would also be converted to an 18-month plan, without any processing fee.

After the conversion of both the LOPs, the equated monthly instalment (EMI) should have been Dh2,468.68 per month. The second tranche was transferred to my account on April 17. When I received a statement dated April 18, the EMI was charged separately with a total of Dh3,192.24 instead of one with a processing fee of Dh200 — an excess of Dh723.56 to my monthly budget. The second LOP was calculated for 18 months and there were no changes in the first LOP.

On April 19, I called Dubai First to complain about the discrepancy, and a representative informed that she was aware of the issue, had already written about it to the supervisor and promised it would be done in due time. Not to have problems, I made the full payment by arranging funds. I continued to follow up with Dubai First almost every 10 days and was always given promises that it was under process.

During the beginning of June, I informed customer service that if Dubai First did not settle the issue by June 19’s statement, I reserved the right to settle the principal amount without any penalty, as I couldn’t afford to pay EMIs in the bank’s way. Dubai First has given me no feedback and I settled the principal by July 13, by borrowing from friends and another bank.

Even after settlement, I was in touch with Dubai First for closure of issue and at one point, I was told to contact the person who processed the loan, as they were unable to fix it because it was an error from this particular person. There was no confirmed answer as to why they couldn’t contact the person and resolve the matter internally, instead of the customer having to do so.

After the complaint, I received a call from a Dubai First representative. She accepted that the error was not fixed and that if I pressed on any further, she would be issued with a warning and would lose her job because of her mistake, since Dubai First could not resolve it. After my insistence, she promised to call back and during the follow up call, she advised that I should pay the penalty interest to close the deal, as I initiated the request and couldn’t expect any assistance from Dubai First and there was nothing she could do.

Again, I spoke with the supervisor of Dubai First’s representative. She apologised for my inconvenience and said she was ready to take my consent to close the first deal with a penalty interest, as it was burden to my pocket, and when I asked what would happen to the excess funds, which I paid to bank, she gave me the option to take a further loan with interest, plus processing fee. She said Dubai First did not have a system to return excess funds, because the funds are set off against the credit limit though EMI may fall in future, because outstanding is ideally due.

To break the deadlock, I did offer the following: To settle the principal on June 19 and close the two deals or to convert the LOPs as promised and return the excess funds to be paid into credit card.

Both the options were not considered. They asked me to pay penalty interest if I wanted to close the deal. There would be no refund of excess funds to the account, as funds are ideally due even though the last EMI would fall in November 2015.

From Mr Chandrasekhara Sankole

Dubai

The management of Dubai First responds:

Dubai First is committed to provide the best of service. We have been in touch with Mr Sankole and have been able to provide him a solution to his satisfaction.

Mr Sankole responds:

Dubai First contacted me and confirmed the closing of the LOPs without any charges to me. Thank you very much Gulf News for taking up the issue. Without your assistance, it wouldn’t have been possible.

(Process initiation: September 19. Response from organisation: September 24. Reader confirmation: September 25.)

Currency matters

I am a RAKBANK credit card customer for 10 years now. The bank has a good incentive for credit card purchases by way of Cash back. There are different limits for overseas purchases and domestic purchases. I made a transaction in the Philippines in dirhams. I was expecting this as an overseas transaction, whereas the tele-bank executive said this was a local transaction, as it was done in dirhams. I do not understand — if the hotel charges in dirhams, the charges I paid was in an overseas merchant outlet.

I do not have any other mechanism to report this matter, as the tele-bank is the only avenue, and they are not escalating this issue. I hope to receive feedback in this regard, if possible.

From Mr Venkat Krishna

Abu Dhabi

Mr Ian Hodges, Head of Personal Banking, RAKBANK, responds:

Thank you for giving us an opportunity to justify our stance on the issues raised by Mr Krishna.

The concerns raised by Mr Krishna have been reviewed and we understand that the customer has disputed the Cash back earned on his Credit Card in his July 2014 statement. The transaction referred to by Mr Krishna has been performed outside the UAE; however, it has been billed by the merchant in AED instead of the local currency of Peso. Hence, the transaction was treated as domestic spend and customer earned Cash back, as clarified in the published Credit Card Terms and Conditions.

Since receipt of your email, we have attempted to contact Mr Krishna and understand that he is travelling. He has requested us to call him back for clarification on his return.

Mr Krishna responds:

Thank you for your reply and the social initiative Gulf News has for consumers. I agree with the comments made by RAKBANK as here, the merchant used the system to his advantage. But it should have been the bank’s responsibility to cross verify why the currency claimed is different from their country’s currency or the claimed currency is different from their invoice currency, which I feel is a lapse on the part of the bank.

Mr Hodges, RAKBANK, responds:

The concerns raised by Mr Krishna have been reviewed again and we would like to clarify that the Bank has no control over choice of currency for billing the transaction at the Merchant’s terminal as the currency to bill the transaction is agreed between the cardholder and merchant at the time of completing the transaction. In view of the above, our stance on the matter remains the same.

(Process initiation: September 18. Response from organisation: September 22. Process completion: October 1.)

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.