Disappointed by BNI credit card

As a holder of BNI's MasterCard since 1998, I have never been late in making payments, nor have I ever breached the terms and conditions of this credit card. I was satisfied with the MasterCard service until August 2003, when the over-limit facility was halted.

I was even more disappointed when BNI launched a bonus program from April to July, during which I secured 2146 credit points. On July 24, I called BNI customer service to exchange these for the free annual fee bonus prize at 1000 points and other prizes (which I still have not received). To my surprise, however, my July-August bill still included an annual fee of Rp 120,000.

When I contacted the BNI card center on Aug. 27, I had to accept with frustration that the 1000-point program was valid for the Rp 95,000 annual fee only up to July 2003. In August, the fee had been raised to Rp 120,000, so I was asked to pay Rp 25,000 for the difference.

In this case, BNI has benefited at the expense of its customers. In actuality, the list of prizes for the bonus program failed to specify the amount of the annual fee and did not indicate any planned increase.

In order to avoid any other disadvantageous circumstances, I have decided to discontinue my BNI MasterCard.

SAMSI DARMAWAN Depok, West Java