I got my bill for my Standard Chartered Bank MasterCard earlier than the usual. It's kinda odd because I normally receive the statement on the last week of each month. Anyway, as I was reviewing my bill earlier, I was taken aback by the late charges amounting to Php600 printed at the bottom part of the bill. I didn't go over my credit limit, fyi. I paid my bill on the due date itself which fell on a Friday, June 6. I paid through check. The check cleared on Wednesday, June 11. And just because the check cleared 3 days after, the bank is charging me late fees for it. This is totally unbelievable!
The date of payment should be equal to the date of deposit. The number of days it took my check (local check) to clear is way beyond my control. This pissed me off bigtime. I have not called customer service yet to file a complaint because I only realized that the bill came in late afternoon. At that time, I was asleep. I opened the mail at around 9:30pm and I was running late for work.
The reason I am fuming mad is because this incident has never happened to me before with my other credit cards. I usually pay 2 or 3 days before the due or on the due date itself, check or cash, it doesn't really matter except for this Standard Charted Bank MasterCard. I have never been remiss with my payments. The late fees on my bill is really unacceptable.
I'll call them later to request for a reversal and I don't want to hear their excuses about checks clearing after 3 banking days.
And I'm thinking about cancelling this card.
UPDATE:
I called customer service yesterday. The service rep told me that the reason I was charged late fees was because I paid in check on the due date itself. Next time, she said, I should pay 3 to 4 days before my due date. That is, if I decide to pay by check again. That is how their system works, she added. Nonetheless, she will request reversal of the fees on my account.
Good thing the late charges would be reversed but still, their system on how they calculate late fees is very unfair to the cardholder.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Questionable Charges on my Standard Chartered Bank Mastercard
Labels: Consumer alert, Money, Standard Chartered Bank late fees
Posted by Mari at 6/20/2008
9 comments:
The payment date should reflect the date when you went to the bank to make your payment. It should not be based on when the check cleared for that is way beyond your control.
This bank's policy of dating your payment based on the check clearing date is ridiculous and very unreasonable. Complain mightily to get those invalid late fee charges taken out of your statement.
Yes, seriously consider closing this account and persuade your friends not to patronize their card.
the policy is truly unreasonable. no wonder my friend transferred to another credit card company. she may have had bad experience with this bank as well.
i will definitely complain!
I agree. What they did to you is unfair. After all, you did pay before deadline.
actually, with some credit cards in the phils, if you read the fine print, it says payment has to be received by due date. i think this is really unfair! May disclaimer pa na kung weekend or holiday yung due date, it has to be received before then. in the US, it is the first banking day after the weekend/holiday. Unfair talaga! onli inda pilipins kasi they get away with it, because we don't complain, because we are non-confrontational.
so to this i say, 'You go girl!!!'
THe effective date is always the date of the transaction. That's ridiculous and I bet you this is one evil scheme banks do to get more money from unsuspecting customers. It's the way they design the computer application which is I'm sorry to say STUPID. I wouldn't trust my money with this bank :(
Yeah. Call and let's see what happens. Baka naman nagkaroon lang ng malfunction ang computer. My own experience is that if pay within three days after my payment is due, i still don't get financial charges.
Goodluck. Hope this ends happily, fairly.
I had a Standard card but never got to use it.
I worked in a credit card company and the policy will be based on the date of payment.
Call the customer service and they should reverse it.
em dy - truly unfair. if this is how their system works, they'll lose clients eventually.
megamomph - that is my contention! due date pero ang nirerecognise nila date na nagclear ang cheke. ang daya! pero, irereverse daw. i have to check next week.
BW - i am cancelling the card after they reverse the late fees. what they did i believe in an unfair business practice. tsk.
annamanila - no malfunction whatsoever. that is how their system works daw. don't use SCB anymore.
dyanie - should really be based on the date of payment. they will reverse it daw.
That is really unfair. The date of payment should be the date when they received the payment, reagrdless it if was cash or check. But I am surprised by all this. I used to pay my SCB card with a check on the due date but this has never happened to me. Also, I noticed that even if I paid in cash 1 or two days late, they didn't charge me for late payment. Nagbago na sila ng policy?
Post a Comment