Unsolicited Credit Card: What Should You Do If A Credit Card Is Issued Without Your Consent? EXPLAINED

The Reserve Bank Of India in its FAQs on Master Direction (MD) - Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2022 mentions all the details of credit and debit cards --unsolicited issued, card fee, loan rights among others. What should a customer do if he/she has been issued a credit card without his/her consent? Read on.

A credit card is a credit facility offered by a bank or credit card providers that comes with a pre-approved credit limit. You can buy things, do online transactions and repay the money with interest each month. You might not use your credit card for a long time for any number of reasons. 

However, if it so happens that you have been issued a credit card by the bank without your consent the RBI has laid down guidelines to protect your interest.

RBI Rule On Unsolicited Credit Cards

In its Master Direction (MD) - Credit Card and Debit Card 2024, the RBI has mentioned that Card issuers must seek explicit consent from the customer before issuing the same. 

RBI said, card issuers are prohibited from issuing unsolicited credit cards and are required to seek prior and explicit consent from the customer before issuing a card. 

What To Do If You Recieve Credit Card Without Your Consent?

However, if the customer receives an unsolicited card, he/she should refrain from activating or providing consent for activation of card through OTP or any other means. If no consent is received for activating the card, the card-issuer is required to close the credit card account without any cost to the customer within seven working days from the date of seeking confirmation from the customer and shall also intimate the customer that the credit card account has been closed. 

Complaint For Unsolicited Credit Cards

Subsequent to receiving the intimation from the card-issuer that the card account has been closed, the customer shall destroy the card. Further, the customer may file a complaint with the card-issuer against the issuance of unsolicited card and escalate it to the RBI Ombudsman as per Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, said the RBI.