Cardholders complain most on hiring of inhumane debt collectors
Cardholders complain most on hiring of inhumane debt collectors
JAKARTA (JP): Some of you may have had wonderful experiences
since getting your first credit card. You get bonuses or
discounts when you use the cards in purchasing various items.
Some of you may also have had other "wonderful" things happen,
such as double or triple billing charge statements,
misscalculation and facing inhumane debt collectors.
The number of credit-card holders in Indonesia has increased
significantly in recent years. Visa International, the world's
leading credit-card brand, for instance, booked 4.3 million cards
in the country as at the end of June, 2001.
The growth, however, is also followed by continuous complaints
from credit-card holders.
An executive at the Indonesia Consumer Foundation (YLKI) Donny
Lanazura told The Jakarta Post that there were always complaints
from credit-card holders.
"Most of the complaints focus on the issuers, merchants and
transactions or billing statements," he said.
Indeed, many local newspapers regularly publish statements
from banks (credit-card issuers), apologizing for unfriendly
practices by their staff, saying that they never meant to
terrorize their subscribers by sending debt collectors, for
instance.
Just as an example, a reply from the head of a bank's customer
relations department in a readers's column of a daily newspaper
in Jakarta reads, "We settled the complaint long before the
customer sent the letter to this paper. We have always tried to
improve our services, blah blah blah."
Well, that could be another gimmick from the issuer to
maintain its image because who wants to be blamed for bad
services?
A head of customer service at a private bank admitted that
such cases also occurred at his bank. "It's common that a
customer sends a letter to a newspaper which is published after
the problems had already been settled," he said.
As seen from the "letters to the editors" of some leading
newspapers in the country, many people complain about some banks
or credit-card issuers for poor services and information.
In accordance with Donny's statement, most of the complaints
in the media relate to fantastic interest rates, uncivilized debt
collectors, sophisticated bureaucratic, unfriendly customer
service personnel, puzzling unanswered telephone calls and
impolite promoting/marketing measures.
Donny said it was understandable if banks try to get as many
new customers as possible. "But they should also be very
selective in getting new customers. For instance, they should
really know the monthly salaries or income of the prospective
credit-card holders, otherwise problems in billing will occur."
On the other hand, customers should also be very careful in
selecting credit-card, studying carefully the offered interest
rates and credit limit.
"There have been many complaints that some credit-card issuers
offer free joining or membership fees, but at the same time they
raise the interest rates without a formal notification to the
customers," he said.
When the customers find out the conditions and refuse to pay
the monthly charge, the issuers then send debt collectors.
"Sometimes a issuer can hire more than one debt collector from
different parties and each of them forced the debt-ridden
customers to pay by different methods," he said.
He said such incidents have happened, as there were no firm
directions from the government.
"In the case of interest rates, for example, the central bank,
Bank Indonesia, should set a range of figures, so that credit-
card issuers cannot set whatever they based on their own
interests," he said.
He said there should also be a ruling to regulate the use of
debt collectors in dealing the bad credit-card payment.
Problems
Complaints usually occur due to the cardholders' poor
knowledge in using their credit cards. But many merchants also
have limited facilities to serve credit-card holders. It's very
common in Indonesia that customers are forced to pay a surcharge
of about 3 percent when using credit cards. Another problem that
also arises is that some tellers do not even know the difference
between debit cards and credit cards.
Potential problems beyond the credit card services control is
loss or theft.
Helen, an Indonesian working in Britain, said that she was on
vacation in Jakarta a couple of months ago when her credit-card
issuer called her from London.
"A staffer at the bank wanted to confirm whether I was in Hong
Kong and had used my credit card in a jewelry store. I said no as
I was never in Hong Kong. To my surprise, the staffer said that
someone in Hong Kong was using my credit card, which I had not
lost," she said.
She learned later that credit cards were easily cloned for
crimes.
"Fortunately I got a very good bank which wanted confirmation
from me for the purchase I never made," she said.
Collection?
In this changing world, more people are fond of using
practical things. When cash is considered to be easily stolen, a
credit card is regarded as more secure as it uses signatures and/
or pictures.
With more and more people carrying credit cards, banks and the
issuers are being criticized as they are providing tempting
offers of credit that could encourage consumerism and draw more
people into debt-related troubles.
While it might be true that some people tend to have a
snobbish attitude, that they do not really comprehend how banks
work and they can be lured into debt by the easy way to obtain
loans,in the end, they are left tearing their hair out trying to
meet the installments..
Donny said that when someone falls behind in his or her
repayments over a long period, most creditors most likely have to
deal with debt collectors and that delinquent repayments will
cause bad credit reports later.
People should really know what kind of credit card they can
hold or control. Otherwise, they will have troubles instead of
services. This is what should be improved by the issuers;
detailed information, not only promotion and marketing, he said.
People should also remember what kind of cardholder they are.
Do they tends to pay off the entire balance at the end of every
month? Or are they likely to make only minimal payments?
Those who want to pay the entire balance at the end of each
month will not need a card with a low interest rate because they
probably won't have to pay any finance charges anyway. Instead,
search out credit-card companies that charge no or very low
annual fees.
Those tending to carry an outstanding balance on their credit
card from month to month, look for card issuers who charge low
interest rates.
So be smart in selecting and using those thin plastic cards.
Hopefully they can be really wonderful and offer many wonders,
but don't make them your life as they can become problems. (I.
Christianto)