Charged for use of ‘phantom’ credit card

PENANG: CHOONG WAN LING claims she has been issued fraudulent charges by a bank.

CHOONG, 34, from Penang, says she was shocked to discover she had received notices from the bank demanding an accumulated amount she supposedly owed from the use of a credit card such as late charges and finance interest, from November 2009 until January 2012.

The mortgage officer, however, claims she has been living in Australia for the past two years and only found out about the charges when she returned in December, last year.

She says her only credit card with the bank had been cancelled three years ago, where she had received a confirmation letter. She says she has not applied for another card since.

Upon a visit to the bank to clarify, she claims a bank officer confirmed the “new” card was neither activated nor received by anyone.

However, she says he advised her to pay the amount allegedly owed first, cancel the card and then request the bank to investigate.

If they find she is not at fault, the bank will refund her.

She says, “I made the full payment in January to stop further charges as I would be away from Malaysia for another year.”

So her “second” card was cancelled, with a confirmation letter but CHOONG exclaims the bank then stated it did not wish to investigate the matter.

“The collection staff was adamant that I did apply for a second card and that the charges were valid and therefore, would not be refunded by the bank. Why do I have to pay for a card I did not have or apply for?” she says.

THE bank’s service quality management head says the bank has contacted CHOONG on March 15.

“We have accordingly addressed CHOONG’s credit card-related matters and the matter is now resolved.

CHOONG confirms being contacted by the bank.

“They said they will refund me the money but they have not explained how this happened to begin with. I want to know whether they awarded me the card without my consent or whether a third party was responsible.”

She wants an apology letter with the full explanation.