Credit Cards are not only unsafe in hands of strangers but also in the hands of its owner. The banks aggressively push it through their DSA (Direct Sales Agents). The DSA chase the customers without telling them about the fine prints.
I can quote two examples from my personal experiences. ABNAMRO contacted me through their DSA and said that I am being gifted a lifetime Gold card by virtue of my having a fixed deposit (FD) with them. The FD was of 7% and their new advertised rates were 8%. The trap was that they were asking me to sign a legal document declaring that I will not redeem the FD for the lifetime!
Similarly HDFC bank approached me through their DSA claiming that I am being “gifted” a lifetime free card. On my repeated explicit queries about any hidden gotchas, they did not tell me that there was a one time fee of RS 2000! When I read the form I was signing and asked about the fee, the executive said that I can ignore it. When I requested for a written document confirming a waiver of the one time fee, the execute beat a hasty retreat.
Then I had an American Express card, which I found useless because, those days there were hardly any establishments accepting it in India (most still don't accept it even today!). Their statements came delayed as they came from Australia! So, I canceled it and at the time of cancellation there were no overdue or due balance. After accepting cancellation an executive called and requested me to withdraw the cancellation. I answered to her in negative and also sent a FAX to the effect. However, after 3 to 4 years I received a letter saying that I owed them renewal fee. This fee was applied after I had canceled the Card! After many pestering calls, I decided to pay the ransom for peace as fighting a case would have cost me much more. I paid under protest and am yet to receive a receipt! Fortunately I paid by Cheque, although they were insisting on cash!
The Card companies provide a useful service, but they should stop fleecing and conning their customers. Also, they should introduce PKI based digital signature or Smart Card based transaction to reduce and eliminate frauds.
