Credit card holders angry, but helpless

Credit card holders angry, but helpless

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Wahyu, an employee with a foreign finance company, shared his
bitter experience with a credit card issued by a local private
bank.

He smelled something funny when his credit card bill reached
Rp 10 million (about US$1,050) earlier this year.

"I usually spend between Rp 5 to Rp 7 million a month as I use
my credit card to pay utility bills, the internet provider as
well as for monthly shopping or other expenses," said Wahyu, who
had never collected his receipts when he used his credit card for
shopping or other purposes.

Realizing that he had no evidence to prove his allegation that
the bank was quite obviously embezzling his money, Wahyu stayed
silent. But, since then, he has collected "a bag of receipts" and
never fails to collect one after using the card.

In February, the receipts revealed that he only spent Rp 5.8
million while his credit card bill reached Rp 11 million.

He went to the bank and filed a complaint, which was completed
with copies of the evidence. The bank promised to investigate
his case. But, two months later, Wahyu was informed that there
was no fraud involving his credit card.

"They suggested that it might have been used to purchase
something over the Internet, which I strongly denied as I have
never done that. I asked them to look into other reasons, but
they did nothing," he said.

Wahyu closed his account after he paid his obligation to the
bank. He then decided to use his other credit card, which is
from a proper foreign bank.

"I did not report the local bank to the police as it would
have taken more time and cost me more money (in police bribes to
get them to do anything). I need a credit card, but in fact, I
feel powerless if I am confronted with a such case," he said,
while adding that he had never been overcharged by the foreign
bank.

Another person, Mrs. Sunarto -- not her real name --
complained about the aggressive sales pitches for credit cards
after his son, a 21-year-old university student who has yet to
get a job, filled in an application and got one without her
permission.

"How could they issue a credit card to my son, who has no job?
How did they think he was going to pay for it?" she said.

Mrs. Sunarto said that her son got the credit card, which was
issued by a foreign bank, while he was shopping at a mall.

"They supposedly examine their would-be clients' financial
background or something, I thought," she lamented.

Mrs. Sunarto, who has one credit card, found out about her
son's credit card after two men, said to be representing the
bank, came to the house to collect her son's debt.

As she insisted that the bank should not have issued a credit
card to her son, the men threatened to report the boy to the
police.

"So, of course I paid up Rp 2.5 million they wanted. It had
not been paid for over six months. I did not want any trouble,"
she said, adding that she would not give her son any "pocket
money" for six months as a form of punishment.

The various problems of credit card usage in this country also
has a fallout effect on some non-holders.

Mrs. Makruf, a 70-year-old landlady, was threatened by debt
collectors recently.

Last month, several men -- wearing black attire with metal
accessories -- banged on the door of her house at midnight to
collect the debt of her son-in-law, who had moved out of the
house a year earlier.

When her housemaid told them that, the men began using vile,
swear words and continued to bang on the door, demanding that she
give them his new address.

One of the tenants of her house later threatened to call the
police if the men did not stop leave. So they eventually left
after that. Before leaving, they left a letter from the bank and
damaged a potted plant outside the house.

The next day, the landlady called the bank to protest about
the midnight disturbance -- and a series of telephone threats
from debt collectors claiming to represent the bank before the
incident.

The bank, however, did not respond to her protests.

"I have nothing to do with my son-in-law's debt. He is a
grown man. Why should I be humiliated?" complained the widow.