Unexpected charge
I would request Gulf News to help me with my issue.
I have had a First Gulf Bank (FGB) card for past three years. The issue is that I made a payment in US dollars and the bank charged 2.75 per cent higher than the already high exchange rate difference between the dirham and dollar.
After a couple of days, I paid to the card in US dollars and the bank charged me 2.75 per cent more once again on the deposit. This was a huge difference.
I lost around Dh2,000 with these two transactions, which is totally unfair and no where does it say in FGB policies that this would be done.
I raised the issue with the bank twice - once through telephone banking - but didn’t get a satisfactory answer. When I e-mailed my complaint to them, a bank representative informed me to go through FGB’s policies and charges and he provided me with a link to the information. Although I went through their policies, I did not find details about any such charges.
I request Gulf News to help me in this regard.
From Mr Pravin Kumar Nahata
Dubai
The management of First Gulf Bank responds:
FGB is committed to providing the best possible service to its customers and listening to their feedback is a top priority for the bank. The bank contacted Mr Nahata on March 23 and April 1 regarding purchase transactions outside the UAE on his credit card. The customer has been informed that in addition to the 2.75 per cent international charge and exchange rate, there is a 1 per cent fee from Visa and Mastercard, which is why the fees for these two transactions are higher than Mr Nahata initially expected.
(Process initiation: April 7. Response from organisation: April 14. Process completion: May 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
