Double deductions
This is regarding Emirates Islamic bank’s double deductions from my loan instalments in January. I filed my complaint on January 8, and the bank’s representative admitted that this deduction had been done due to a system error and they would refund my money within the week. After many visits to the bank and many complaints, they called me and refunded just Dh431 out of a Dh1,031 deduction.
I filed another complaint and asked them what formula they adopted for this reversal. After a few days, they called me saying that my case had been resolved and I should go to their Al Twar branch.
On February 22, I visited Al Twar branch and to my surprise, they told me that another Dh600 has been adjusted, because I did not pay my instalment within the due dates of September and October, 2014. I was surprised and upset by their behaviour and justification. They deducted double instalments and don’t want to revert, so they seem to have made up this justification. How can they deduct late payment penalties after five months in this way? The service of this bank is unacceptable. I request Gulf News to raise this issue with the bank.
From Mr Haroon Razzaq
Sharjah
The management of Emirates Islamic responds:
Thank you for bringing Mr Razzaq’s concerns to our attention.
Please note that the customer holds a personal finance account with Emirates Islamic wherein a monthly installment of Dh1,050 is being paid by him on the first of every month. In the month of January 2015, the customer failed to make the full payment due to insufficient funds on January 1. Funds were available in Mr Razzaq’s account on January 7, following which, the remaining due amount of Dh1,031.46 was debited from customer’s account towards the installment. However, the system erroneously debited an additional Dh1,031.46 due to a technical error.
After being alerted by Mr Razzaq about the error, the bank refunded Dh431.46 wherein Dh600 (Dh200 each) was charged towards late payment fees for the months of October 2014, December 2014 and January 2015. Please note the customer has been sent reminder messages via SMS and letters for the delayed installments, which state that Dh200 will be charged as late payment fee for each delayed instalment. The amount was taken in January when sufficient funds became available in the customer’s account.
We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that Emirates Islamic is committed to providing the highest level of customer service to our loyal clientele.
Mr Razzaq responds:
Thank you, Gulf News for taking this into consideration. The amount is not very big, but the way my bank treated me was so annoying, I just want the bank authorities to take notice and develop their services.
The bank’s response is illogical and my issue has not been resolved.
Emirates Islamic states that due to a system error, they debited Dh1,031 in January 2015. Then, they reverted Dh400 out of Dh1,031. Despite complaining about 10 to 15 times and visiting the bank three to four times, nobody told me that I had a late penalty. After one-and-a-half months they just refunded Dh400 and told me that Dh600 would be the late penalty charge for the months of October, December and January.
Why didn’t they inform me that my instalment was late and they are hence deducting that money? Why didn’t they deduct it in November 2014 when my salary had been credited? Then again, they didn’t deduct it in December nor did they update me. My salary is directly credited to Emirates Islamic by my company each month. Why didn’t they directly take that penalty? How can they adjust this without informing the customer?
When I took a loan, their representative told me there would be no deduction till one week. My salary reaches the bank within the first week of every month. So why is there so much misguidance?
Emirates Islamic responds:
Emirates Islamic has been in close contact with Mr Razzaq to resolve his issue and we regret the inconvenience caused to him. Our Customer Service team has explained the applicable charges to Mr Razzaq and we are pleased to say that the matter is now resolved.
We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that Emirates Islamic is committed to providing the best in customer service to all our clients.
Mr Razzaq responds:
It surely helps when you talk with bank authorities, who are very courteous and show genuine concern for a problem. They approached me and apologised for their service. They compensated me differently. As a result, the matter was resolved. I thank Gulf News for its kind consideration.
(Process initiation: February 22. Response from organisation: March 3. Process completion: March 19.)
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.
