This is just to bring to notice the difficulty I had to undergo when I tried to close my credit card.

1. As soon as I would tell that I want to cancel the card some verification would be done and then the call would be terminated.

2. If lucky to pass the first hurdle I would be asked the reason for termination- I would say I am moving out of the country, that would be taken as a request for an international credit card. Since my company would be providing me with one( and otherwise it should my discretion) they would tell me the benefit of their international credit card, and the call would come to an end again.

3. Next day onward I started getting calls for international credit card.

4. Finally some “holy soul” listened to my request and asked me to deposit Rs 3220 and my card will be closed at no extra charge. I asked him the nearest SCB branch and it was just two furlongs from my office.

5. It is not over yet… after making the cash payment up to the last rupee my request was still not processed.. Reason a charge of Rs 99 was making a cash payment.. add to that service charge and VAT and the outstanding amount became Rs. 108.16….. Rs 99 for making payment

6. Now for the actual reason why I decided to close my card.. As it turns out MANHATTAN also charges Rs. 250 If you draw cash instead of doing shopping. Wanting some urgent credit I wend to an SCB ATM and pressed for the amount which was 15000. The display clearly showed that I can draw upto a maximum of Rs. 20000. As it turned out to my bad luck the ATM had only 100 rupees notes so it could dispense only 4000 ( 40 notes) So how much is the cash advance charge I have to pay Rs 1000. Because it drew money four times 4k+4k+4k+3k. This doesn’t include the interest I had to pay while repaying it. Only because the ATM doesn’t have 500 rupee notes I had to pay Rs 1000 instead of Rs. 250 as cash advance charge.

It seems the manhattan people have some problem with cash, if you draw cash they charge you… if you deposit cash they charge you as well.. And the rules are updated only two days before you make the payment…

With an interest rate as high as 2.5 % pm which comes to 34.4% annually they still need to exploit innocent people through such arm twisting tactics..

Please be careful when taking credit card. My only suggestion to all those who love to swipe the card instead of carrying cash.