Good News for Credit Card Holders

Wonderful news for credit card holders.

Today in KL (9 June 2009), the High Court ruled the maximum that can be charged to a credit cardholder who has lost his/her credit card is RM200.

The gist of the case.

Diana Chee Vun Hsia discovered her credit cards were missing a day after they were stolen. She then reported it to the issuing banks.

However, Citibank informed her that RM1,851 had been charged the day it was stolen and that, according to company policy, she was deemed liable for the full amount because she did not report the card stolen within one hour.

She took Citibank to court to challenge this policy late last year.

Today, the High Court found in her favour when it said that, according to Bank Negara guidelines, the maximum that can be charged to the cardholder by credit card companies after a card is stolen is RM200, regardless of any company policies regarding elapsed time or amount.

Justice Datuk Mohamed Apandi Ali said that the Bank Negara guidelines “have the force of law.” – Bernama.

This caveat of RM200 as the maximum liability for loss of cards has apparently been on Bank Negara's website for a long time but credit card companies ignored it and preferred to stick to their own inhouse policies.

So, credit card companies-please play fair from now on!