"Cashless" endangers the masses: HDFC Bank leads the way
Mumbai, 22nd December, 2016:
Think how dangerous cashless payment can be if you are a typical unwary customer. If you pay in cash, you have the assurance of knowing that nobody can reach
into your wallet and take an extra buck. But if you pay online, extra money can
be skimmed by your bank without your knowledge. Sanjeev Goel of Belapur, who runs a
coaching academy, read his
account
statement and found that HDFC Bank had repeatedly made deductions that he wasn't informed about, had not
permitted, and wasn't notified of by SMS alerts.
Sanjeev was charged Rs. 34.50 for each of the 32 times he paid
student's fees of Rs 3000/- to Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Sanjeev
immediately got an SMS alert for
debit of Rs 3000/- but not for
Rs 34.50. TISS denies deducting that amount, so clearly, HDFC deducted it.
For what? Authorized by whom?
Geetha Priya, Manager Correspondence
(PNO Desk) claimed
in an email: "We take this opportunity to reiterate that the surcharge information is available on
the TISS web portal.” But
step-by-step
analysis
of the portal transaction shows that the
information is not available on the TISS portal.
 |
| HDFC Bank managers enjoy discretionary power to (a) slap various charges on their customer (b) reverse the charges if confronted and questioned, and (c) "upgrade" or "downgrade" a customer's account by applying criteria that aren't disclosed to customers. |
"This is not the only issue with
HDFC Bank”, says Sanjeev.
“HDFC Bank has
been guilty of direct fraud. They
have levied charges for a 13-month prior transaction in my bank account, of Rs.
276 towards 'BC issuance charges'. When
you ask them to downgrade an account from AQB (Average Quarterly Balance) Rs. 40,000 to AQB Rs. 10,000, they say
'don't worry, we will ensure that no AQB charges will be levied, you don't need
to downgrade account', and then after 6 months, they levy the AQB charges. They charge for sending SMS for banking related
transactions, and this was never informed to us. Our account statement clearly shows 'charges towards sms'."
So, what ails HDFC Bank generally?
1) Marketers doing bankers' jobs. HDFC
Bank appears to be run
by marketing executives chasing sales targets rather than bankers following
regulations. Banking discipline and stewardship
of customers' wealth is compromised. Buck-passing and false verbal assurances
are normal. Employees frequently say things that they don't want to put in writing.
2) Abuse of discretionary powers,
carrot-and-stick approach with customers. HDFC Bank managers enjoy
discretionary power to (a) slap various charges on their customer (b) reverse the charges if confronted and
questioned, and (c)
"upgrade" or "downgrade" a customer's account by applying
criteria that aren't disclosed to customers. Generally, banking is governed by strict rules, regulations,
formats and criteria… but at HDFC
Bank, this isn’t the case.
3) Skimming of customers' accounts. Is
imposing unverifiable
charges to lakhs of customers HDFC
Bank's recipe for profitability? Only a few alert customers raise objections and have the charges reversed after weeks or months of
struggle; the vast majority may not even
notice. Is
this how the bank earns thousands of crore rupees as "other incomes",
"fees", "commissions", etc? HDFC Bank's latest annual
report says, "Other Income grew 19.5 per cent over that of the previous
year to INR 10,751.7 crore during the year ended March 31, 2016. The largest
component of Other Income was fees and commissions, which increased by 17.8 per
cent to INR 7,759 crore with the primary drivers being commissions on debit and
credit cards, transactional charges, fees on deposit accounts..." To the layman’s ears, this sounds
suspiciously like skimming of debit and cards, and deposit accounts.
Our
Prime Minister wants
the gullible and unschooled masses of India to rely heavily on such banks for day-to-day transactions.
Does he fully comprehend how this
can play out?
ISSUED IN PUBLIC INTEREST BY
Krishnaraj Rao
9821588114
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