Credit shield without application
I have a credit card from United Arab Bank (UAB). In November, 2014, I was getting messages from the bank about credit shield. In the same month, I called the UAB call centre and told the staff to cancel my credit shield. The staff confirmed to me that the credit shield was cancelled and there would be no charges in the future.
However, in the January 2015 statement I got charged Dh338.20. I called the centre and raised a complaint on January 14. Since then, I would have called them more than 10 times, with not a single callback from the bank.
I also spoke to the supervisor in March and he promised that the issue would be resolved in 72 hours. Since then, he isn’t even available on the phone.
I believe the Central Bank should take some action against these optional benefits, which banks add to their product without the customer’s approval and leave it to the customer to follow up for reversal. Why should a customer call the bank to cancel a product they don’t want and never applied for?
From Mr Sachin Sahni
Dubai
The management of UAB responds:
United Arab Bank is committed to serving its customers in the most efficient and fair manner possible. The bank reviewed Mr Sahni’s case and applied a reversal of the credit shield amount on his credit card on April 2, 2015. This reversal is reflected on Mr Sahni’s April 2015 statement.
Mr Sahni responds:
Yes, the issue has been rectified after the complaint was sent to Gulf News. I thank the newspaper for its support.
(Process initiation: May 7. Response from organisation: May 10. Reader confirmation: May 16.)
