Interest Charges REVERSED!

Before our US trip, I settled all our credit card bills para wala na akong iisipin na bayarin. So those credit cards without statement of account (SOA), I called their hotline to know the payment amount due and paid it immediately.

All the while I thought everything is okay already until the day I went back to the office after our vacation. There are a lot of mails in my desk. I opened them one by one until I came across my Standard Chartered Credit Card SOA.

To my surprise, the payment amount due said by the voice prompt during my phone inquiry differs from the SOA. Nawindang talaga ako because I know that I'll incur interest charges which I am allergic at, that is 3.5% interest per month ha which is 42% interest per annum. So I immediately called the bank's hotline and inquired how much the interest is, explained the reason why the amount was not paid and requested for the complete reversal.

I explained to them that I want to settle my credit card bill before I go to the US. And since I have not yet received the SOA, I just inquired through their hotline the payment amount due. And yes, I'm aware that there is a transaction that is not yet paid but I thought that it is still floating since what was said in the voice prompt is just a partial amount. Masunurin lang naman ako so I paid the amount that was said by the voice prompt. I even told them to trace my credit card history that I never failed to pay my bills. In fact, I pay my bills in full and in advance (kasi nga takot ako sa utang). Aside from that, I told the agent that I'll pay the unpaid amount immediately that day to prove them that I'm in good faith when I setttled my credit card bill last month.

After my explanation and request, the call center agent told me that she noted that I'll pay that day. She even instructed me to pay in cash in Standard Chartered Bank so that the payment will be posted within 24 hours. She then told me to call the following day to request for the reversal and informed me that there is no assurance that my request will be granted.

The following day, I requested for complete reversal of the interest. At first, the call center agent told me that he cannot grant my request. I protested because that is the first time it happened to me and I'm not an irresponsible credit card holder. So he let me on hold again. Then again, he said that the interest cannot be reversed since the system won't allow him to. Siyempre, I didn't agree. I told him na masama sa loob ko na magbayad ng interest since I know that I'm a responsible person and in the first place may fault din sila na misleading yung voice prompt nila (FYI: At Standard Chartered Bank, you should make separate inquiries for outstanding balances of the principal and supplementary card). I told them that I have other credit cards with supplementary also that when I inquire about my payment amount due, the whole payment amount due is given to me unlike theirs. I even told him na may higher person/authority (whatever you call them) na pwede magreverse ng payment sa system. "Alam ko yan, impossibleng walang pwedeng makagawa niyan. We have a systems development company", I told the call center agent.

He let me on hold again...After a few seconds, he told me that he already addressed my concern and forwarded it to the higher person. He told me to call after 3 to 5 banking days to know the status of my request.

After 3 days, I called again their hotline. And good news, they reversed the interest that they charged me. So thank you Standard Chartered Bank kahit pinahirapan niyo ako ng bonggang bongga. =)

Lesson I learned: Since I know how much I owe the credit card company (I'm so OC that I list all my credit card purchases), I will pay it all even if some transactions are still floating to prevent this kind of problem.