Consumer forum orders bank to pay compensation to complainant

The Dharwad District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has imposed a fine on a bank for issuing three credit cards to a customer instead of one.

Kishore Desai of Hubballi approached the HDFC Bank branch at Deshpande Nagar in Hubballi, requesting the issuance of a single credit card.

However, instead of issuing one credit card, the bank issued three credit cards to the complainant and repeatedly pressured him to pay service charges and other expenses related to all the three cards.

He approached the forum saying that he needed only one credit card and that his requests to cancel others was not heeded. Since the bank did not take any corrective steps, he contended that this amounted to deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act.

After a detailed hearing of the case, Commission Chairman Ishappa Bhute and member Vishalakshi Bolashetty observed that the complainant obtained a credit card from the bank and was indeed a customer of the bank.

However, when only one credit card was requested, issuing three credit cards instead of one, purely for the bank’s own benefit, is held to be wrong. The Commission ruled that such conduct, driven solely by profit motive, constitutes deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act.

The Commission further noted that the two additional credit cards were issued in the complainant’s name and that demanding payment of service charges and other expenses amounting to ₹72,328 in connection with those two cards is an unfair trade practice.

Considering the inconvenience and mental agony suffered by the complainant, the Commission directed HDFC Credit Card Company/Bank to pay ₹50,000 as compensation and ₹2,000 towards litigation expenses to the complainant.

The Commission directed the bank to immediately cancel the remaining two credit cards. The bank was also instructed not to recover ₹72,328 related to those two cards.