Adv. For the Complainant : - Self
Adv. For O.P. No. 1 :- Sri Asit Kumar Sarangi
Adv. For O.P.No.2 & 3 :- Rabindra Kumar Nanda & Others
Date of filing of the Case :- 12.05.2022
Date of Order :- 02.04.2024
JUDGMENT
The fact of the case in nutshell :-
- The complainant after getting call from the dealing assistant of the B.M Patnagarh SBI , Patnagarh for opening a credit card of Rs.10,000/- as credit limit ( Purchase value) who is Op no.1 in this case and on being told by the dealing assistant that for the credit card an amount of Rs.449 only deducted from the account of the complainant as annual fees nothing more, believing on the words in good faith the complainant got issued a SBI credit card in favour of him bearing no xxxx ending with 5770. The complainant was sure that only annual fees will be deducted from his account but after checked the SBI card account through SBI credit card mobile app. The complainant came to know that money has been deducted in different way except the annual fees namely. late fee dishonour fee , in sufficient fund fee , and so on and a sum of Rs.1,129/- has been deducted on dt. 15.04.2022 and 16.02.2022 towards SSP payment , without the approval or consent of the complainant.
It is noteworthy to mention here that the complainant after received of the SBI card done only two transaction of Rs.1,354/- for online purchase from Amozon on dt.17.02.2022 Rs. 700/- and on dt. 08.02.2022Rs. 654/- respectively.
The complainant made complainant to the dealing assistant of SBI , Patnagarh as well as the help line number ( Customer Care) but no result, aggrieved with the deficiency of service the complainant waited to withdraw the SBI card came to know there was an outstanding amount of Rs.7,010.57/- due and to return the SBI card all the outstanding dues must be paid by the complainant. The amount due as outstanding was Rs.5,889/- if the amount will not be paid the bank will imposed penalty in the name of payment dishonour fee , late fee finale al fee @ 18 % GST per annum otherwise it is automatically debited from the account through SSP, as suchthe complainant bound to paid Rs. 5,889/- on dt. 05.05.2022 manually toavoid the penalties again Rs.1,129 deductedfrom his account after that a sum of Rs. 1,331.65/- again imposed as outstanding on 11.05.2022 as current dues , which create mental agony and financial loss and torture to the complainant. Hence this case.
- To substantiate his case the complainant relies on the following documents.
- Photocopy of Aadhar card. Annexure – I
- Internet generated copy of on line shopping through Amazon. Annexure-II
- Internet generated copy of Bank details regarding deduction of money from SBI A/C. Annexure – III
- Internet generated copy of Email sent to the customer care. Annexure – IV
- Internet generated copy of email received from the customer care. Annexure – V
- Internet generated copy of account summary of SBI credit card. Annexure – VI
- Online payment receipt of Rs. 5,889/- Annexure – VII
- Internet generated copy of showing current Outstanding of Rs. 1,332/- Annexure – VIII
- Having gone through the complainant it’s accompanied documents and on hearing the complaint prima facie it seemed to be a genuine case hence admitted and notice to the Ops were served and in response they appeared through their councel and filed their version.
- To counter the allegation in the rival contention Op no. 1 contended that (SBICPSL) in an separate entity from state Bank of India, any transactions through SBI card & is maintained by M/S SBI cards & payments service limited ( SBICPSL) State Bank of India has no link / connection with the transactions made through SBI cards is solely imposed by M/S ( SBICPSL) as such the SBI Patnagarh OP no.1 is free from any liability.
Op no 2 and 3 in their counter contended that the case is not maintainable either on fact or in the eye of law and likely to be dismissed.
More over this is a matter of record that as per card holder agreement there is an arbitration clause which stipulates that in all events of dispute / difference between the card holder and the SBI card as such this learned commission devoid of Jurisdiction to entertain the complaint petition. Denies almost all the allegation of the complaint, admitted the outstanding on 09.03.2022 accrued to Rs.4,463/- but states in case the payment are missed or outstanding on the card is received less than the total amount due then interest charges are applied on the balance amount this is also applicable on all the fresh charges incurred in the same month . The finance charged will be levied at 3.35% per month plus service tax as per applicable charges. The respondent no.2 and 3 were not in receipt of any manual payment from complainant hence auto-sweep (SSP) was activated as per authorization given by the complainant while applying the card and minimum due was deducted in each month . The SSP option states that in absence of the payment on the SBI card account for more than 3 days from payment due date card holder authorizes the OPS to debit the amount from their given Bank account at the time of card application. As such there is no deficiency of service on the part of the OP no 2 and 3 and the case is likely to be dismissed.
- Before adjudication of the case in hand it is better to frame certain issues for consideration and just decision of the case here emerges 4 issues which are as follows.
- Whether the case is maintainable for adjudication?
- Whether the SBI card and SBI are separate entity?
- Whether the complainant is aware all the rules and regulations before receiving the SBI card or any unfair and deceptive trade practice done by the OPS?
- Is there any deficiency on the part of the OPS which lead the complainant for compensation?
To meet issue no.1 regarding the maintainability of the case raised by OP no.2 and 3 C.P. Act 2019 is a benevolent Act, expand the door through the “Doctorine of choice” sec 100 of the C.P Act 2019 states . “The provisions of this act shall be in addition to and not in derogation to the provisions of any other law for the time being in force”. As such this commission has ample Jurisdiction to entertain the complaint, issue no.1 answered accordingly.
To meet the issue no.2 SBI card and payment service Ltd is a pure credit card company and payment solutions provider in India which provide credit card to the eligible consumer in India. SBI card was launched in October 1998 by State Bank of India Joint venture with GE capital In December 2017 State Bank of India and the Carlyle Group acquired capital stake in the company establishing it’s headquarter in Gurugaon Haryana / Delhi NCR and have branches in over 100 cities across India for the financial year quarter ending 30 September 2021 SBI card recorded a net profit of Rs. 345 crore and a total income of Rs.2,695 crore State Bank of India held 60% share in SBI card and payment service limited (SBICPSL) and 40% share in GE capital Business process management service limited (GECBPMSL) and later State bank of India increased it’s share to 74% and the Carlyle group invested 26% in both entities while replacing GE capital moreover in the Board of directors out of 9 directors SBI nominate 4 Board of director and the managing director. Ram Mohan Rao Amara presently place as director of SBI credit card who was the deputy Managing Director of SBI too the help of SBI card on 30th June 2021, more over the information received by the complainant from the central public information officer as Regional manager , RBO , Bolangir “that SBI card is a subsidiary of SBI, SBI card can work in the premises of all branches across India for their marketing and promotion and using the logo of SBI as a subsidiary’s of non-banking subsidiary” . The SBI is also the promoter of the SBI credit card. Therefore the plea taken by the OP no.1 that both are separate entity is absolutely wrong and baseless. Issue no.2 answered accordingly.
Regarding issue no.3 it is noteworthy to mention here that before application and allotment of credit card the complainant got the right to know the detail function of credit card, taking the advantage of the good will of SBI the SBI card issued to the account holder by pushing the customer to promote the business and made fool to the customer and looted the heard earned money by taking the authorization of the bank account for auto sweep ( auto debit system) now SSP. On good faith and trust the account holder traped by the dealing assistant.
The character of the credit card mentioned below :-
The card holder should be know first the billing cycle . This is the amount of time between monthly bill being due . by federal law due dates must not be the same date every month during your billing cycle you are allowed to change any sum up to you are allowed to change any sum up to your credit limit . so let us say that one did his credit card to pay for Rs.500/- worth of items during a billing cycle when the cycle ends the issuer will sent you a statement outlining where you issued the card how much you spent on each item the total of what you spent called the balance and how much you are expected to pay as minimum payment to keep the account in a good standing . If you were to send the issuer the entire balance of Rs.500/- you would not be charged any interest because you would have satisfied the debt within the free grace period ( which is your billing cycle) as soon as your payment is posted your credit line bounces back to full amount you are allowed to borrow in a case i.e 10,000/- to clarify more well sort of calculations get a little more complicated when you pay less than the full debt. That because interest fees will be added to any amount you roll over to the following month thus affecting your charging limit for example.
The credit limit is 10,000/-
Charge is 500/-
Make payment 300/-
Rs.2,000/- revolves on to next month’s assuring@ 20% interest rate then the total amount you can charge is (10,000-500+300+20% interest)
It is important to always know how much you have spent with the card because you want to be sure that you can repay the entire debt by the time you get your statement.
In the scenario Just described a few becks being added on does not seem like such big deal, But if you ran the card up to the maximum and always Just paid the minimum to repay. The extra finance fee would be around Rs.267 by the time you were at a zero balance. More over the auto debit payment initiate 3 days prior to due date of the statement and the auto debit payment which was initiated gets bounced due to insufficient fund. Hence as per the policy the incremental charges were levied, always the card holder pay total amount due as per monthly statement to avoid charges or have the option to pay at least minimum amount due to avoid late payment charges. In case the payments are missed on the card is received less than the total amount due then interest charges are applied on the balance amount. Here in this case the complainant only aware of the fact that a sum of Rs.499 will be deducted annually as fees is a wrong information given to the complainant. After the analysis of the above facts it is clear that OP no.1 issued credit card to the complainant without describing the advantage and disadvantage side of the credit card and also before taking the authorization for auto debit , auto sweep and SSP that if the complainant default in any sphere to maintain the standard of the credit card automatically maintain the balance by levied the fine or etc. as per the norms of credit card without the consent of the account holder. “ the SSP option states that in absence of the payment on SBI card amount for more than 3 days from payment due date”. As such the Ops should have elaborately convinced the complainant before issuing the credit card from SBI Branch. Why to promote business and marketing of SBI card the valuable customer of the bank should be suffer which is a deceptive and ufair trade practice amounts to deficiency in service.
To meet the issue no.4 it is pertinent to mention here that the complainant is in dark, he could not understand the procedure of maintaining a credit card. No literature regarding the function of the credit card in regional language provide to
the complainant. The dealing assistant OP no.1 who was unable to convince except the deduction of annual fee but able to persuade the complainant to push him to have a credit card. But when the complainant unable to tackle the situation and wants to withdraw the same and return it the OPS force to paid the outstanding dues otherwise the complainant bear more expenditures as such the act is arbitrary in nature and put the complainant in mental agony and financial loss with torture. More over the OPS violate the Interim order of this commission and deduct again and again shows the arbitrary nature of the Ops which amounts to contempt of court for dis obedience of order in toto the act of the Ops leads to deficiency of service towards the complainant.
More over the account no which reflected in page no.2 (reply on merits) in Para did not matches with the account reflected in the statement of account.
It is the prime duty of the Bank who is the safe custodian of the heard earned money of the customer to open all the information not to hide anything before entering to a new trend, as such we consider our view in favour of the complainant for compensation with the following directions.
ORDER
The Ops all are severally liable to pay a sum of Rs.7,018/- @ 9 % interest per annum within one month from the date of order.
Further the Ops are directed to pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- towards mental agony and Rs.2000/- towards litigation expenses within one month from
the date of order failing which the Ops should be paid the entire amount @ 12% interest per annum from the date of filing till the date of realization.
Further, the Ops are directed to issue a litreture of credit card bearing the function, advantage, disadvantage and maintainability of credit card in regional language before issuing a credit card to the account holder for awareness, failing which the Ops should paid Rs.1,00,000/- to the consumer welfare fund for public awareness.
No award as to cost.
PRONOUNCED IN THE OPEN COMMISSION TODAY I.E DATED 02th DAY OF April ’2024
