Habib Bank, You Seriously Need to Start Behaving with Customers

I didn’t know before today that commercial banks in Pakistan can literally threat you, let alone the misbehaving part.

Even if you are a three years old customer, who has paid every credit card bill in last 40 months before the due date, I didn’t know they can call you in – shout at you, threat you, humiliate you and what not.

I had this HBL Credit card, I was founding member, which means I was using their credit card since their service started.

This month I didn’t pay my bill; that was mainly due to a fact that I had lost my credit card and I was in process of getting a replacement, which was likely to reach me in a week or so. So for the first time in my life, I took this bill casually and thought of paying it next month (just like we sometimes do with electricity or PTCL bills)

So here’s the timeline, just to let you know how pathetic a bank service can go:

• Bill’s due date was 22nd July 2011 and amount was Rs. 8,800
• I didn’t pay the bill, as mentioned above (this is only the second time in my three years plus relation with HBL that I couldn’t pay my bill before the due date)
• I get a call on July 27th 2011 about payment – I thanked him for reminding and told him that I plan to pay the bill next month.
• I get another call the following day (from same guy), and he said this:
• When are you paying bill (Dude I told you, I am not planning to pay this month)
• You must pay the bill, there’s a procedure to follow – we can’t spare you even for a week, or tell me your address so we may collect the card – I was like, Hey man, you have my address, be my guest – come and collect your card.
• Next thing he said was shocking: “Pay the bill or we will tell your father about this” #WTF?

I didn’t have in my wildest dreams that a bank can go to this level. I wonder, if they do such things to other customers too? If they do – it’s disgusting, highly offensive and ill-mannered.

Habib Bank, claimed as the largest bank of Pakistan, it’s time for you to do little schooling and learn manners before you get kicked by every customer.

And by the way once you are done with learning manners, there are terms called “Professionalism”, “Customer Profiling” that you must get familiar with.

This makes me realize that Telecom sector is far better than others!

P.S. There’s no blog on banking in Pakistan, so I had to paste it here. Sorry if it interrupted your usual sense of reading.

Update:

Thanks to Sam, one of ProPakistani reader, there’s a SBP rule according to which banks can’t harass their customers for payment collection, here’s the link: http://www.sbp.org.pk/psd/2009/Anexx/Anexx-C1.pdf

It says:

Banks/DFIs must ensure that their recovery/collection officers should not resort to any verbal or physical harassment of the delinquent Credit Card holder, their family members, referees and friends during recovery/collection efforts. Recovery/Collection officers should also not humiliate publicly or in private or intrude the privacy of the Credit Card holder’s family members, referees and friends.