This is pertaining to my Pay Protect insurance claim that was rejected by Mashreq Bank one month ago.

I have paid Pay Protect fees on both my credit cards with Mashreq since July 2016, even though I do not remember when I authorised these charges. Later on, I acknowledged them, as long as the bank granted me this facility and activated the Pay Protect based on my eligibility for this type of insurance.

On July 10, 2017, I claimed Pay Protect insurance against my sudden job loss and visa cancellation, directly at Mashreq, with all the relevant documentation. After three weeks, I did not receive any feedback, so I began to contact them, but with no success.

On August 12, I finally received a couple of emails with a negative response to my enquiry email regarding the Pay Protect claim. Even after a face-to-face meeting with Mashreq personnel, the reasons were vague and they could not convince me that my documentation file was properly reviewed and assessed. I am not convinced that my documents ever reached Oman Insurance, even though they say it got rejected by them.

For three weeks after the rejection response, I have tried to call Mashreq’s customer service to lodge a complaint to review my case. Even though I have been a Mashreq premium client for the past 12 years, there has been no clear feedback on my requests. My last conversation on the subject was on August 28 on the phone with an agent, and they assured me someone would follow up from the call centre so that I could lodge the request for a Pay Protect rejection review case. However, this did not happen at all, that’s why I seek support from Gulf News for further scrutiny on my documentation file.

The bank’s reason for rejection of Pay Protect is that I have not completed several months’ employment with the same employer, but as explained to them, my employer has been the same for the past three years, only with a change of name and shareholder since January 2017. All further documents supporting this include my employment visa, trade licenses, and the same establishment card in immigration matters, which are available for review.

I can provide all the assistance required in the matter, as I want the Bank to release my Pay Protect insurance for July to September’s equated monthly instalments (EMIs), for which I am not covered, due to job change, as my new job assignment starts in September 2017.

Any other forms of reimbursements of Pay Protect charges paid by me (totalling over Dh500 debited every month for more than a year on both cards) are highly welcome as a positive response to my complaint.

I do hope for a quick response in this matter.

From Ms Marcela Ofrim

Dubai

The management of Mashreq responds:

I appreciate you forwarding Ms Ofrim’s concern to us for our comments.

Ms Ofrim had placed an insurance claim on the Pay Protect insurance due to her job loss.

The documents initially submitted were not as per the terms, due to which, it was rejected with the reason: “Due to non-completion of six months of continuous employment with the same employer”.

In her personal meeting at our collections office on August 12, 2017, the rejection reason was conveyed and the necessary information was provided to her.

Further to our discussion with Ms Ofrim, she has now provided the documents from the employer to prove that she has been working with the same organisation and it was only the organisation name that was changed. We approached and appealed to the insurance provider, along with the new set of documents, to reconsider their decision.

We are glad to confirm that an approval has been obtained to cover the outstanding up to the credit limits of her credit cards from the insurance provider.

Ms Ofrim has been asked to pay the negative balance only to cover the credit limit as she is currently overdue and this has been agreed to, by Ms Ofrim. She will confirm to our collection officer once the payment is made, in order for us to proceed with the claim.

We thank you for your intervention and assistance offered to our customers to resolve their concerns.

Ms Ofrim responds:

With regard to my Mashreq complaint, I just wanted to inform that upon their reply, all payments requested from my side were made accordingly to proceed with the approved insurance claim.

However, there is no update yet from their side, on adjusted card statements according to the insurance amount granted and waiving of fees, interest over interest and penalties incurred on my cards during the three months’ time in which Mashreq mishandled and rejected my claim for Pay Protect — charges which, I cannot take responsibility for.

I have requested them three times already over email so far, and I am awaiting further amount adjustment on my cards shortly. Hopefully, it’s going to be sorted.

Mashreq responds:

Thanks again for approaching us with Ms Ofrim’s concern.

The initial compliant of Ms Ofrim sent to us by Gulf News was with regards to the rejection of her ‘job loss’ insurance claim.

The reason for rejection was probably Ms Ofrim’s business involvement with her employer, where she once mentioned to our agent that she was actually the director/owner of the company she worked for. As a self-employed individual, she did not qualify for the insurance claim.

Upon Gulf News’ intervention, we have re-escalated the case to Oman Insurance as a pure exception and to our delight, received a positive reply in her favour.

However, in the interim, Ms Ofrim has informed us that she has been re-employed, hence as she knows, the claim is now restricted to three months outstanding only – which is in line with her ‘out of job’ period.

Let me also please emphasise that Ms Ofrim’s card outstanding currently is over Dh59,000, of which only Dh15,000 will be covered by the insurance company over the next three months.

She is aware of this as well and also that the remaining outstanding has to be paid by her, failing which, she will continue to be in the delinquency buckets and our collections team will need to follow the process to collect the same. Hence we advised her to come and meet the team in person and resolve her payment issues.

As per our ongoing collection process, currently there is also a Police Case filed by Mashreq against Ms Ofrim who has been asked to come and deposit a fresh security cheque for us to proceed with the release of the case. Hence, we now await her new employment details and documents along with a fresh security cheque from her end to proceed any further.

Ms Ofrim has been contacted by our collection team and will be visiting Mashreq tomorrow to settle the matter.

Thank you once again for your intervention.

(Process initiation: September 11. Response from organisation: September 13. Process completion: October 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.