Late Payment Fee - Beware!!!

[curios_mind_huh]

I got my bill generated from SBI last month for a total of 3k due on 7th November. I had two cancelled orders from Amazon for which I received a refund of 18k on 19th October. I made another purchase for 12k to replace the cancelled order. Even after all of this, I still had 3k excess to my original credit limit.

I then raised a credit refund request with SBI on 24th October to refund the excess amount to my Savings account, which they did. But the problem is, I noticed a late payment fee charge on my SBI card yesterday. I didn't even get any sms/email about the charges (or) reminders to pay the bill. Worse yet, I didn't have anything pending because of the refund and they didn't have any qualms when I requested a excess refund. I have now raised a complaint with SBI, but not sure how this will turn out.

This even goes against the FAQs listed on their website:
"The card holder will get 2nd Nov statement showing Rs. 10,000 as total amount due. The customer receives a refund of Rs. 9400 for the transaction done in previous cycle from the merchant on 10th Nov. This refund amount will be adjusted against the total amount due. The cardholder needs to make payment against the outstanding on or before 22nd Nov, i.e. 20 days from the Statement Date, for any amount between the outstanding amount or Minimum Amount Due. Since credit amount arising out of refund is greater than Minimum Amount Due, the cardholder will not be charged with Late Payment Charge."

 

[D₹V]

I got my bill generated from SBI last month for a total of 3k due on 7th November. I had two cancelled orders from Amazon for which I received a refund of 18k on 19th October. I made another purchase for 12k to replace the cancelled order. Even after all of this, I still had 3k excess to my original credit limit.

I then raised a credit refund request with SBI on 24th October to refund the excess amount to my Savings account, which they did. But the problem is, I noticed a late payment fee charge on my SBI card yesterday. I didn't even get any sms/email about the charges (or) reminders to pay the bill. Worse yet, I didn't have anything pending because of the refund and they didn't have any qualms when I requested a excess refund. I have now raised a complaint with SBI, but not sure how this will turn out.

This even goes against the FAQs listed on their website:
"The card holder will get 2nd Nov statement showing Rs. 10,000 as total amount due. The customer receives a refund of Rs. 9400 for the transaction done in previous cycle from the merchant on 10th Nov. This refund amount will be adjusted against the total amount due. The cardholder needs to make payment against the outstanding on or before 22nd Nov, i.e. 20 days from the Statement Date, for any amount between the outstanding amount or Minimum Amount Due. Since credit amount arising out of refund is greater than Minimum Amount Due, the cardholder will not be charged with Late Payment Charge."

But you received refund on 19th October na?

While bill generated on 7th November.

 

[curios_mind_huh]

But you received refund on 19th October na?

While bill generated on 7th November.

Yes. I received the refund after the bill generation date before the due date.
SBI has now refunded the late fee without any question but did not provide any reason why it happened in the first place. Many people could be falling victim if they don't check their statement transaction by transaction.

 

[akshayhs]

Monitor your credit report for some months to be safe.

 

[Rkr]

Yes. I received the refund after the bill generation date before the due date.
SBI has now refunded the late fee without any question but did not provide any reason why it happened in the first place. Many people could be falling victim if they don't check their statement transaction by transaction.

Matter resolved na...Thanks for providing update here.

 

[curios_mind_huh]

Matter resolved na...Thanks for providing update here.

It is resolved. But it shouldn't have been an issue in the first place. I've escalated this further to Nodal Officer for the actual reason.

I normally pay credit card bills based on the Available Credit Limit. Once the Available credit limit is same as the original balance provided by bank after bill payment, I don't bother checking the generated bill. Won't even open the app unless I have any further transaction ( which won't be unless there is a sale offer with SBI card in my case ).

So, Imagine my case. I believe that I settled all my bills on October 2023 and moved on. SBI sneakily charges me late payment fee on November 2023 without any notification. I don't bother checking the generated statement on November 2023 since I haven't made any transactions on SBI card. SBI further puts a late payment fee on December 2023 for the incorrect late payment fee on November 2023. This will go on and on till I wake upto a huge surprise by either opening the Statement of my unused SBI credit card (or) check CIBIL score (which reflects data postponed by one month). At which point, it'll be a huge complication to get SBI to reverse all the charges and asking them to withdraw remarks from credit bureau.

 

[Rkr]

It is resolved. But it shouldn't have been an issue in the first place. I've escalated this further to Nodal Officer for the actual reason.

I normally pay credit card bills based on the Available Credit Limit. Once the Available credit limit is same as the original balance provided by bank after bill payment, I don't bother checking the generated bill. Won't even open the app unless I have any further transaction ( which won't be unless there is a sale offer with SBI card in my case ).

So, Imagine my case. I believe that I settled all my bills on October 2023 and moved on. SBI sneakily charges me late payment fee on November 2023 without any notification. I don't bother checking the generated statement on November 2023 since I haven't made any transactions on SBI card. SBI further puts a late payment fee on December 2023 for the incorrect late payment fee on November 2023. This will go on and on till I wake upto a huge surprise by either opening the Statement of my unused SBI credit card (or) check CIBIL score (which reflects data postponed by one month). At which point, it'll be a huge complication to get SBI to reverse all the charges and asking them to withdraw remarks from credit bureau.

Yes,You are true.Its unnecessarily headache to deal with.

 

[lucifer1728]

Yes. I received the refund after the bill generation date before the due date.
SBI has now refunded the late fee without any question but did not provide any reason why it happened in the first place. Many people could be falling victim if they don't check their statement transaction by transaction.

In SBI, refunds are not considered as payments. So whatever the bill is generated, one has to pay even he gets refund before the due date. This doesn't make much sense but this was their policy a year ago. Seems like they have changed it as per the FAQ quoted by you but still haven't made the appropriate tech changes.

 

[VISHESH_BANSAL]

I got my bill generated from SBI last month for a total of 3k due on 7th November. I had two cancelled orders from Amazon for which I received a refund of 18k on 19th October. I made another purchase for 12k to replace the cancelled order. Even after all of this, I still had 3k excess to my original credit limit.

I then raised a credit refund request with SBI on 24th October to refund the excess amount to my Savings account, which they did. But the problem is, I noticed a late payment fee charge on my SBI card yesterday. I didn't even get any sms/email about the charges (or) reminders to pay the bill. Worse yet, I didn't have anything pending because of the refund and they didn't have any qualms when I requested a excess refund. I have now raised a complaint with SBI, but not sure how this will turn out.

This even goes against the FAQs listed on their website:
"The card holder will get 2nd Nov statement showing Rs. 10,000 as total amount due. The customer receives a refund of Rs. 9400 for the transaction done in previous cycle from the merchant on 10th Nov. This refund amount will be adjusted against the total amount due. The cardholder needs to make payment against the outstanding on or before 22nd Nov, i.e. 20 days from the Statement Date, for any amount between the outstanding amount or Minimum Amount Due. Since credit amount arising out of refund is greater than Minimum Amount Due, the cardholder will not be charged with Late Payment Charge."

SBI considers refunds as Payments, I tested it myself but Do not now if there is glitch in system or SBI still not updated the system, one has to.pay minimum amount due to avioid late fee even if your current outstanding is zero or negative due to refunds/reversals.

But the way, Now SBI has Updated the App, now it cleary reflects the word "Paid" against the Total Amount Due.

So now we can check if SBI system marked the last statement as paid or not

 

[curios_mind_huh]

SBI considers refunds as Payments, I tested it myself but Do not now if there is glitch in system or SBI still not updated the system, one has to.pay minimum amount due to avioid late fee even if your current outstanding is zero or negative due to refunds/reversals.

But the way, Now SBI has Updated the App, now it cleary reflects the word "Paid" against the Total Amount Due.

So now we can check if SBI system marked the last statement as paid or not

I shouldn't have assumed SBI Nodal officers to read the actual complaint. They just reiterated the fact that fee was charged because I hadn't paid the minimum due and that they have already reversed the late payment fee, today. This is after quoting their own FAQ stating that in fact Refunds are considered payments.

I'm stating the same one more time with a reply to Nodal Officer. If they still don't understand English, I'll move to RBI ombudsman to actually get someone with a reading comprehension to look at the complaint and possibly fix a bug in their software system to make sure no one goes through this again.