RBI pulls up banks on credit card transparency issue

The Reserve Bank of India has come down on banks and financial
institutions for the lack of transparency in credit card operations,
especially in charging interest rates and levying other fees on
customers.

Despite the issue of comprehensive instructions to banks, the RBI and the
Banking Ombudsmen continue to receive numerous complaints from credit
card holders regarding the credit card operations of the banks,
especially with regard to excessive finance charges, issuance of
unsolicited credit cards, unsolicited insurance policies and recovery of
premium charges, charging of annual fee in spite of being offered as
‘free’ cards, issuance of loans over phone, disputes over wrong billing,
settlement offers conveyed telephonically, non-settlement of insurance
claims after the demise of the card holder, offensive calls, difficulty
in accessing the credit card issuers and the poor response from the call
centres, the RBI said.