Feeling frustrated with trying to resolve disputes through call centre executives, who sound like stuck records! This write up of mine will definitely generate some hope. The central bank of Indian banking system has made it mandatory for banks to put in place a mechanism to escalate unresolved complaints from a call centre regarding the credit cards to a higher authority. After going through the numerous complaints from cardholders, the Reserve Bank of India has conducted a study of the credit card operations in India keeping the nature of grievances received in mind. The study opened the path for a set of recommendations based on which RBI has issued fresh and affirmative directives to banks on their credit card operations.
One of the most important recommendations made by the study is that the banks should have a proper mechanism to escalate automatically unresolved complaints from a call centre to higher authorities. The escalation should be done in a faster manner if a higher level of intervention is required. This recommendation has been accepted by RBI and banks have been directed to put in place such an effective mechanism and inform the public about this through their own websites. Other customer friendly suggestions made to banks include installing closed circuit television camera’s at all ATMs to establish the identity of the person engaged in cash withdrawal. Security features such as photo credit cards and laminated signatures on them should be implemented to make the plastic money transactions more transparent.

Plastic money customers will now have the option of keeping their personal details confidential. The central bank has asked banks to seek explicit permission from their customers before sharing their information with other agencies for any purpose. The credit card companies also have to explain the implications of such information sharing.