Bank faces higher penalty for delayed card closure

V.V. Venkatesh had a credit card issued by Standard Chartered Bank.

- JEHANGIR B GAI

He made a payment of t15,500 on August 27, 2010 and instructed the bank to close the credit card, which the bank also confirmed.After seven years, in 2018, the bank suddenly issued a notice claiming outstanding dues on the credit card. After a further lapse of three years, the bank issued another notice on December 25, 2020, demanding %33,83,173.12 as the pending amount. It followed this up with telephone calls and reminder notices dated June 15, 2022 and June 18, 2022, Venkatesh replied to all the legal notices, pointing out that the card had been closed after he had cleared all the dues. Yet the bank’s recovery agents, Shaha Finlease, kept harassing him with telephone calls demanding payment. Aggrieved, Venkatesh filed a complaint before the Additional District Consumer Commission for Benga-luru against the bank as well as the recovery agent, alleging deficiency in service and unfair trade practice. He stated that the bank had wrong