‘I was charged for a card I didn’t use’

I had a First Gulf Bank (FGB) [which has now merged with National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) to form First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB)] credit card for six years, which I did not activate or utilise. In October 2017, I applied for a staff personal loan from Emirates NBD Bank (ENBD), where they stated that there are two closed credit cards of limit AED13,600 and AED27,200, which were in default repayment.

This was very surprising to me because I only had ENBD staff credit card. Also FGB didn’t inform me or email me on my registered email address with regards to the due amount.

I visited their branch in Al Muraqqabat area, Dubai and was told that I have to settle the outstanding amount first, that is Dh2,100 in order to get a clearance letter. Also they couldn’t provide the statement as the card was showing no records as it had been written off in 2015.

If not willing to pay, they told to raise the complaint via customer care. So I called up the FGB customer care and told them from the beginning about being charged on unused credit cards. The operator said I should receive a call within four working days, with a solution for my complaint.

On November 13, I got a call and the FGB representative told me that they couldn’t give me a clearance letter because I have to settle the balance amount first, that is Dh2,100. He also said that I had activated this card, which has resulted in an annual fee of Dh2,100.

I informed them again that the said card was inactive and requested them to reverse or waive the charges. The FGB representative refused and advised me to initiate a reversal request to the call centre.

I request Gulf News to look into this matter and take up this issue with the concerned people.

From Ms Davina Lobo

Dubai

The management of FAB responds:

FAB supports the growth ambitions of its stakeholders and goes beyond financial products and services, and as such, we are grateful for all customer feedback as we strive to consistently deliver the highest standards of service.

The bank has been in contact with Ms Lobo, and the matter has been resolved.

Ms Lobo responds:

Please note that the matter has not been resolved. One of FGB’s representatives contacted and confirmed that all the charges are being written off. I requested them to provide me a clearance letter for the same. But, till now, I have not received the same.

Editor’s note: The reader’s complaint was raised with the management of FAB for further investigation. However, despite repeated reminders, they did not respond.

(Process initiation: November 21. Process completion: December 4.)

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.