Credit Card Billing Rules

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently released new guidelines about Debit and Credit Card issuance. The new rules announced on Apr 21, 2022 mainly focus on the closure of the Credit Cards, different billing issues and so on. All the provisions related to Credit Cards under RBI will be applied to each scheduled bank and non-banking financial company that operate in the country. The new Credit Card rules will come into effect from Jul 1, 2022.

If you have a Credit Card currently or are planning to apply for credit card online, you need to know the following facts about the new rules.

Billing cycle as per the new Credit Card rule:

The billing cycle refers to the time frame whereby Credit Card bills are generated. The billing cycle tends to start from the 11th of the last month till the 10th of the current month in case the Credit Card Statement gets generated on the 10th of each month.

• Zero delays in the billing statement.

A card issuer has to make sure that the statements/bills are delivered, e-mailed immediately and the customer gets ample number of days (minimum a fortnight) to pay up before the banks charge interest, as per the Master Direction from RBI.

AS per RBI’s directions, the aim is to avoid constant complaints about late invoices. A Card issuer might ask to issue account statements and bills through Mobile or Internet Banking upon receiving the customer’s informed authorisation. A Card issuer has to implement the system to make sure that the customer gets the statement for Credit Card payment.

• A reply should be sent to the cardholder within a month from the complaint date.

A Card issuer has to verify that incorrect bills are not made and distributed to the customers. In case a customer objects to any bill, the respective Card issuer will need to offer proper explanations. If relevant, they might need to provide documentary evidence to the customer within thirty days from the date of complaint. There should be no discrepancy regarding Credit Card bill payments.

• Zero charges until the dispute is completely resolved.

All the transactions that are disputed by the cardholder as fraud will not get charged until the issues regarding the Credit Card payment online are resolved completely.

• Option to alter the billing cycle.

For every Credit Card that is issued, a Card issuer does not follow a set billing cycle. So, with the aim to ensure flexibility in this matter, a cardholder will get a one-time option to alter the Credit Card billing cycle as per his/her preference.

• The refund amount is adjusted as per the payment due.

Payments not made for all credit amounts that originate from reversed, failed and refunded transactions before the payment due dates will get adjusted with the “payment due” and reported to the cardholders.

• A Cardholder’s approval is necessary to increase credit limits beyond a specific extent.

A Card issuer must get the consent of the Cardholder to increase the credit limit of the Card that is beyond a specific limit. The cut-off limit is set at 1% or Rs 5000, whichever is lower. This is applicable in case of reversed or refunded transactions for which the cardholders have already made payments.

The Card issuer has to request permission through SMS or e-mail, within a week of the credit transaction. For more information about ICICI Bank Credit Cards or the new rules, get in touch with a Bank representative right away.