Dubai: A Dubai expatriate was horrified after receiving a legal notice from bank loan recovery agents demanding that he cough up the outstanding amount on his HSBC credit card and personal loans – or face legal action.
Edipolo Aggarao, 57, however, initially thought he was being lured into a scam as he holds no HSBC-issued credit card.
“I was shocked when I received this first notice from the agent,” said the Filipino who works as design director of an advertising firm in Dubai Media City.
Enzi Corp, based in Manila’s Ortigas Centre and an authorised credit collection agent of HSBC Bank Middle East, sent a “first notice” to Aggarao on January 16, stating: “The said bank has referred to us your long-overdue credit card and overdraft account (numbers deleted) with a total obligation of Dh35,107.08 as of December 10, 2012.”
The agent gave Aggarao until January 21, a “non-extendible” period of five days from receipt of the e-mail, to positively respond. “In the event of failure to act on this matter,” the notice stated, “we will recommend to the bank that your account may now be scheduled for filing of civil and/or criminal case against you, in accordance with UAE Law.”
The bank and its agents, however, found themselves red faced after it turned out that Aggarao, who has been in the UAE for 27 years, was the wrong target.
An HSBC spokesperson told XPRESS: “We have reviewed the issues raised and would like to advise you that the e-mail sent to Mr. Aggarao was in error. We have apologised to Mr. Aggarao and have arranged to rectify the issue to avoid recurrence of a similar experience in the future.”
