Credit Card Mandate - Fair Practice Code

1. In the Code, 'you' denotes the credit-card customer and 'we' ICICI Bank Limited as the card issuer. The standards of the Code are governed by the four key commitments detailed in Section 2.
   Unless stated otherwise, all parts if this Code apply to all our credit-card products and services, whether are provided across the counter, over the phone, on the Internet or by any other method.


2. Key Commitments
   We promise to
   
   2.1 Act fairly and reasonably in all our dealings with you by:
   • Making sure our products and services meet relevant laws and regulations ensuring that our dealings with you will rest on ethical principles of integrity and transparency.
   • Not engaging in any unlawful or unethical consumer practice.

   Credit Card is a plastic card with a credit facility, which allows you to pay for goods and Services and or to withdraw cash..

   
   

   2.2 Explain the following information in simple language to help you understand:

   • What are the benefits to you
   • How you can avail of the benefits
   • What are their financial implications
   • Whom you can contact to address your queries and how

   2.3 Deal quickly and effectively with your queries and complaints by:

   • Offering channels for you to route your queries
   • listening to you patiently
   • accepting our mistakes, if any
   • correcting mistakes / implementing changes to your address
   • communicating our response to you promptly
   • telling you how to take your complaint forward if you are not satisfied with the response
3. Information (To help you to choose products and services, which meet your needs)
   
   

   3.1 Before you become a credit card customer, we will

   • Give you information explaining the key features of our credit-card products including the applicable fees and charges.
   • Advise you what information/documentation we need from you to enable us to issue a credit card to you. We will also advise you what documentation we need from you with respect to your identity, address, employment, etc. and any other document (e.g. PAN details) that may be stipulated by statutory authorities, in order to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
   • If we deem necessary, verify the details indicated by you in your credit-card application by contacting you at your residence and/or business telephone numbers and/or physically visiting your residence and/or business addresses through agencies appointed by us for the purpose 



3.2 When you apply for a credit card, we will explain the relevant terms and conditions such as fees and interest charges, billing and payment, renewal and termination procedures and any other information that you may require to operate the card.




3.3 We will advise you of our targeted turnaround time when you avail of / apply for a product /service.




3.4 We will send you along with your first credit card, a service guide / member booklet giving detailed terms and conditions, interest and charges applicable and other relevant information with respect to usage of your credit card.




3.5 We will advise you our contact details such as contact telephone numbers, postal address and website/e-mail address to enable you to contact us whenever you need to.




3.6 If you do not recognize a transaction that appears on your credit-card statement, we will give you more details if you ask us. In some cases, we may need you to give us confirmation or evidence that you have not authorised the transaction.




3.7 We will inform you, through the service guide / member booklet of the losses on your account that you may be liable for if your card is lost/misused.

 

4. Tariff (Fees/Charges/Interest)
   
   

   4.1 You will get our schedule of common fees and charges (including rates of interest)

   • In our application form
   • By referring to the service guide/member booklet
   • By calling up customer service members
   • By visiting out website
   • By asking our designated staff. 

4.2 When you become a customer, we will provide you information on the rates of interest applicable on your credit card and we will charge them to your credit card account, if applicable.




4.3 If you ask us, we will explain how we apply interest to your account.




4.4 When we change our tariff (rate of interest, other fees/charges) on our credit-card products, we will update the information on our telephone helpline/web site, and we will inform you through your monthly statement.

5. Marketing Ethics
   
   

   5.1 Field Personnel

   • Our sales representatives will identify themselves when they approach you for selling card products.
   • We have prescribed a code of conduct for our Direct Selling Agents (DSAs) whose services we may avail to make our credit-card products available to our customers. The code of conduct is available at our web site.
   • In the event of receipt of any complaint from you that our representative has engaged in any improper conduct, we shall take appropriate steps to redress the complaint. 

   5.2 Telemarketing

   • If our tele-marketing staff/agents contact you on the phone for selling any of our credit-card products or with any cross-sell offer, the caller will identify himself/herself and inform you that he/she is calling on our behalf.
   • Our tele-marketing agents will not call those customers who have registered with us in the "Do Not Call” registry.
6. Issuance of Credit Card/PIN



6.1 We will dispatch your credit card through courier / post, only to the mailing address indicated by you. Alternatively, we will deliver your credit card to our branch that maintains your banking account(s) under intimation to you. You may collect it from them by showing proper proof of your identity.

6.2 We may also issue deactivated credit card if we consider your profile appropriate for issuing credit card and each deactivated card will become active only after your acceptance of the card.

6.3 Your PIN (personal identification number) when allotted will be sent to you separately.



7. Account Operations
   Credit Card statements



7.1 To help you manage your credit-card account and check details of purchases / cash drawings using your credit card, we will offer you a facility to receive credit-card transaction details either via monthly statement by post or through the Internet. Your credit-card statement will be dispatched to you on a predetermined date of every month that will be notified to you.




7.2 In the event of your non-receipt of this information, we request you to get in touch with us so that we can arrange to re-send the details to enable you to make the payment and highlight exception, if any, in a timely manner.




7.3 We will let you know / notify changes in fees and charges and terms and conditions. Normally, changes (other than in rates of interest and as a result of regulatory requirements) will be made only with prospective effect, giving notice of at least one month.




7.4 Your signature on the charge slip is not mandatory. The fact that the card is present at the point of sale (POS) during the transaction is construed as a genuine transaction.




Protecting your account.

7.5 We will advise you what you can do to prevent your credit card from misuse.




7.6 In the event your credit card has been lost or stolen or that someone else has come to know your PIN or other security information, we will require you to notify us and take immediate steps to prevent these from being misused, subject to the regulations and law in force.

Processing activities at ICICI Bank

7.7 We may allow processing of credit-card-related activities including operations and cross-selling to third party agencies that we consider appropriate for these purposes.




8. Confidentiality of Account Details
   

   8.1 We will treat all your information as private and confidential (even when you are no longer a customer). We will not reveal transaction details of your accounts to a third party, including entities or groups, other than in the following four exceptional cases when we are allowed to do it:

   • If we have to give the information by law
   • If there is a duty toward the public to reveal the information
   • If our interests require us to give the information (e.g, to prevent fraud) but we will not use this as a reason for giving information about you or your accounts (including your name and address) to anyone else, including the other companies of our group, for the purpose of marketing.
   • If you ask us to reveal the information, or if we have your permission to provide such information to our group entities, associate entities or companies with whom we may have tie-up arrangements for providing other financial service products.
9. Collection of dues

Our bank's policy on collection of dues is built on courtesy, fair treatment and persuasion. We believe in fostering customer confidence and long-term relationships. Our staff or any person authorised to represent us in collection of dues and/or repossession of a security will identify himself/herself and interact with you in a civil manner. We will provide you with all the information regarding dues and will give you sufficient notice for their payment. Our staff/agencies are governed by the Model Code for Collection of Dues and Repossession of Security of the Indian Banks' Association.



10. Redressal of Grievances
    
    

    10.1 Redressal of your complaints internally

    • We have a Grievance Redressal Cell/Department/Centre within the organization. If you want to make a complaint, we will tell you how to do this and what to do if you are not happy with the outcome. Our staff will help you with any queries you have.
    • Our complaint-handling procedure is displayed at our website. The timeframe for responding to your complaints and the escalation process etc. are also displayed at the website.



Redressal of your complaints externally - Banking Ombudsman Service and Other Avenues

If you do not get a satisfactory response from us within 60 days of lodging a complaint with us and you wish to pursue other avenues for redressal, you may approach the Banking Ombudsman appointed by Reserve Bank of India under Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2002.



11. Termination of Credit Card

11.1 You may terminate your credit card by giving notice to us and by following the procedure laid down by us in our service guide / member booklet after clearing outstanding dues, if any.

11.2 We may terminate your credit card, if in our understanding you are in breach of the cardholder agreement.



12. 12. Feedback and Suggestions

Please provide your feedback on our services. Your suggestions are most welcome, and will help us to improve our services.

 DSA Code of Conduct