Vishakhapatnam District Commission Holds SBI Liable For Issuing Credit Card And Deducting Unjustified Charges Without Account Holder's Consent

Brief Facts:

The Complainant held a salary account with the State Bank of India (“SBI”). Without her consent, she received a credit card through post. Upon querying, she was assured that no additional charges beyond an annual fee of Rs. 448/- would apply. Despite receiving the card, she never used it nor availed any credit. However, she discovered periodic deductions from her account. The Complainant claimed that she approached 'SBI Cards & Payment Services' multiple times, orally requesting reimbursement of these deductions, which were not positively addressed. Feeling aggrieved, the Complainant filed a consumer complaint in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-II, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh (“District Commission”) against SBI and SBI Cards & Payment Services.

In response, SBI Cards & Payment Services contended that the Complainant applied for the credit card voluntarily, submitted the KYC documents and opted for auto-debit authorization. According to it, monthly statements were regularly sent to her registered email which demonstrated her awareness of transactions and charges on the credit card. It further stated that the Complainant's card account was closed upon her request, with necessary reversals executed in May 2022.

SBI didn't appear before the District Commission for proceedings.

Observations by the District Commission:

The District Commission held the unilateral charges levied by SBI Cards & Payment Services without the Complainant's authorization, constituted a breach of trust. Despite the Complainant's authorization for debits from her savings account, SBI Cards & Payment Services irregularly deducted partial amounts. It held that this was not communicated to the Complainant in advance and resulted in the collection of fees exceeding the agreed-upon annual charges. Despite her attempts to communicate these discrepancies to SBI Cards & Payment Services, she received no timely response. Therefore, the District Commission held that the unwarranted levying of charges on an unused card and the subsequent collection from the Complainant's account amounted to clear deficiencies in service.

Consequently, the District Commission held that SBI Cards & Payment Services failed in its duty to safeguard the Complainant's account properly which led to these discrepancies and wrongful deductions from her savings account. It dismissed the complaint against SBI.

Therefore, the District Commission directed SBI Cards & Payment Services to pay a compensation of Rs. 10,000/- for deficiency of service and Rs. 5,000/- towards awarded costs to the Complainant.

Case Title: N. Sujatha V.L. vs SBI Cards & Payment Services Pvt. Ltd and Anr.

Case Number: 246/2022

Advocate for the Complainant: Sri G. Gayathri Dhana Lakshmi

Advocate for the Respondent: Sri D. Simhadry (for SBI Cards & Payments Services)

Date of Pronouncement: 31.05.2024