HSBC asked to pay Rs 20 lakh for wrongly blacklisting customer
HYDERABAD: Castigating the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd (HSBC Bank) for its deficient services and negligent attitude towards its customers, the state consumer disputes redressal commission has directed the bank to pay an amount of Rs 20 lakh as compensation to a customer who suffered severe damages due to the unlawful functioning of the HSBC bank.
The state commission, comprising its president Justice D Appa Rao and member R L Narasimha Rao, delivered this verdict on Thursday after hearing a petition filed by one Anjoo Sharma, a resident of Hyderabad who charged the HSBC with an irresponsible functioning that damaged her reputation in the banking industry.
The case of the petitioner Anjoo Sharma is simple. She was holding two credit cards of HSBC with a credit limit of Rs 2 lakh each from 2002 to 2007. On January 5, 2007, she visited the bank and informed her wish to cancel both the credit cards. One Deepthi, who was working as the manager of the credit cards division of the bank, told Anjoo that it would be possible only if she clears all the outstanding dues as were lying on that date. She also informed the petitioner that the outstanding amounts on the two cards were Rs 1.88 lakh and Rs 2.08 lakh respectively. Anjoo made the payments on the spot vide cheques drawn on IDBI which were received and acknowledged by the bank.
Despite this, the petitioner received a statement after a few weeks from the bank asking her to pay Rs 9,000 more. When she contacted the credit cards manager Deepthi once again, she simply asked her call the customer care wing for knowing the status of her credit cards.
Annoyed by this, the petitioner on April 17, 2007 wrote a complaint to the associate vice president, customer services and personal finance wing describing the case. The associate vice president responded to her letter and assured that her two cards will be cancelled.
Anjoo thought that her problem was over and applied for a loan in HDFC bank. It was then that she received the shocking news that she was declared as an ‘International financial offender’ by credit rating agencies due to non payment of dues to a bank. However, in view of her status, the HDFC bank agreed to give her 50 per cent of the loan she applied for. Anjoo could not take the humiliation any more and contacted the HSBC through her advocate and verified the status of her two credit cards.
It was then that she was informed that her second credit card was not at all cancelled and it was still showing an outstanding of Rs.17,440. Not only this the HSBC informed this to credit rating agencies like Master Card Negative File (MCNF) and credit information bureau India Ltd (CIBIL) and had the petitioner blacklisted. After repeated correspondence through e mail, the HSBC on April 1, 2009 informed the petitioner that they were rectifying things. That did not happen and Anjoo filed the petition in the consumer commission and sought Rs 1 crore compensation and also the costs of this litigation. The commission heard both the sides and awarded compensation to the petitioner.
Justice Appa Rao, who wrote the judgment, clearly held that there is deficiency in the service rendered by HSBC which ‘had acted against the guidelines issued by the RBI and Banking Codes Standards board of India in regard to the code of bank’s commitment to customers’. The bank did not inform the customer before asking the credit rating agencies to blacklist her and brand her as a defaulter and an international economic offender, the judge said.
This is despite the petitioner clearing all her outstanding dues and the bank’s own staff certifying the same, he said. The bank not only failed to rectify its mistake but also flouted all the rules, regulations and the guidelines issued by RBI and Standards Board of India, the judge said and awarded the compensation to the petitioner.
