Complaint Details

Status	:	Closed
Complaint No	:	0037760/2014
Category	:	Credit Card
Date	:	14-12-2014
Subject Line	:	Unfair Terms & Conditions
Complainant	:	NARENDRA NATH KINI
Address	:	4 A&B THE GREENS, 49/2 PRINCE GOLAM MOHD SHAH ROAD, NEAR NEW BETTER HIGH SCHOOL, GOLF GARDENS
Complainee	:	HDFC BANK CREDIT CARD DIVISION
Address	:	BOMBAY

Complaint Details
The HDFC Bank Credit Card in its terms and conditions states that the payment due against the credit card bill will be deemed to paid on due date only if it is credited to their account within the due date. My IndusInd Credit Card deems it to be timely payment as long as the cheque is deposited with them within due date as long as the cheque clears. All government organisation accept the deposit of cheque date as the deemed day of payment, even on the last day and it has no relevance to clearing date - as long as it clears. Further it has been my experience that HDFC has taken longer to deposit the cheque for clearing and further have discovered that they are still clearing the cheque through the clearing house route. My bank manager informs me that the cheque deposited clear the same day or maximum by next day morning. Further it has been my experience that despite depositing the cheque 4 days prior to due date, the cheque did not clear because there were either bank holiday or bank strikes. I have written to them several times on this issue and though they have reluctantly reversed all the penalties and interest charges, it is unfortunate that one has to fight with them on this one-sided rule favoring them even when they have delayed the deposit. They have always avoided the basic question on the unfairness of their terms and instead they simply tell me to use NEFT/RTGS. This is not a solution because many a time the broadband is down or the bank web site is down. Happens all the time. I had also written to the RBI ombudsman but got no reply. If another bank's credit card and the government institutions like Sales Tax, Income Tax, Excise and Service Tax departments accept deposit of cheque within the due date regardless of the date of clearing, I think HDFC is taking advantage of a weak system and forcing us to abide by their grossly unfair and one-sided terms and conditions. Please help me and many others who also have faced the same problem - many quietly paying the finance charges and interest without protesting.

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