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Credit Card is a nuisance

Here's why Bharati P says that she will never ever possess credit cards:

An executive of HSBC bank forcibly issued a credit card last year. I did not use the same as I am against using a credit card and just kept the same with me as a show piece. After 2 months I received a call from HSBC saying that they would like to issue Tata AIG Insurance Policy and the premium would be only Rs.10 per month. In spite of refusing to opt for the policy, they sent a courier of the Insurance Co. regarding the terms and conditions. I did not reply to the same nor have I signed any papers regarding the policy.

Suddenly, in the next month I receive a statement showing premium paid by the Bank towards my insurance policy. I was surprised by this statement and immediately called up the helpline nos. of call centres. They very sweetly listened to all my grievances and promised that they would reverse the entry. I was relieved by this.

Again, to my surprise the next month I received a statement showing the last month's + the current month's premium paid by the bank to Tata AIG on my behalf for the insurance which I had never opted for. I started contacting the bank as well as the Insurance Co. over phone.

Each time they promised to reverse the entries and still nothing was done. Each month I am still receiving fresh statements from HSBC which includes premiums for each month + delayed payment charges + some surcharge etc. It is ridiculous and I am really surprised at the way such a bank is working with no communication from inter departments. Constantly I am corresponding through mails, letters, phone but it is of no use.

When I sent a mail to HSBC they asked me to get in touch with Tata AIG for cancellation of the policy. When I have never asked the Insurance Co. for any policy, why should I contact them? I have nothing to do with them. Till today, there is no satisfactory answer to my query. So, I have decided to ignore the statements sent by them to me. In future, I will never ever think of possessing any credit card.

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Reader invite: Dear reader do you have an opinion on the debit card vs credit card subject? What do you think is more convenient to use and what are the pros and cons of using each of them? Share your experiences of using credit cards and/ or debit cards with getahead@rediff.co.in, and we will feature the best entries right here.

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