Silly transaction

After much running around, customer pays off 10-paise to bank, with a cheque

Silly transaction

After much running around, customer pays off 10-paise to bank, with a cheque

HSBC Bank has violated an RBI guideline and forced a customer to send them a cheque for 10 paise to settle a credit card bill.

Divige Satish, a journalist who lives in Delhi, issued a cheque for 10 paise, and is relieved that he has received a nil-balance statement.

An RBI guideline says any transaction below 50 paise should be rounded off to zero. Anything above 50 paise should be rounded off to Re 1.

Shivakumar S, a bank officer, said, "This is a clear lapse. They should have rounded it off to zero."

He described the expense of sending the bill to the customer and making the collection as "a national waste".

"They forced the customer to issue a cheque for 10 paise when the cost of a cheque comes to about Rs 2," he said.

C V Giddappa, General Secretary, Credit Card Holders' Association of India, said, "According to RBI guidelines, paise need not be mentioned on cheques."

He said Satish could file a complaint with the banking ombudsman and claim compensation.

"I remember a case in 2004 when an ICICI Bank customer ignored three paise and sent a cheque for the remaining amount, but in the next bill he was penalised and asked to pay Rs 150," Giddappa recalled. "Later it reached Rs 4,000... we call that the magic of mathematics!"

The bank later withdrew the demand, he said.

The bill

Satish was surprised to get a bill for 10 paise, and was confused how to pay such a small amount. MiD DAY had published a story on his plight on October 16. "If I had paid by cash, I would have had to pay Rs 200 as transaction fee, and, moreover, 10 paise coins are not in circulation," he told MiD DAY.

He is glad that the cheque for 10 paise has been debited from his account. But he is intrigued by changes in his credit limit. "It has come down from Rs 60,000 to Rs 24,000, and the cash limit from
Rs 24,000 to Rs 9,600."

He suspects they are penalising him for taking his case to MiD DAY.

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