A credit-card customer claimed that he was charged more than Rs 1,200 in late-payment fees and related charges after falling short of his Rs 10,649.46 bill by just 46 paise.
Dr Samir Kagalkar raised the issue on X, tagging HDFC Bank, and said he had paid Rs 10,649 against a total bill of Rs 10,649.46, leaving 46 paise unpaid.
According to Kagalkar, the small shortfall was followed by more than Rs 1,200 in late-payment charges and other related fees. The amount he claims was charged is more than 2,600 times the unpaid amount.
“You sent me a credit card bill for Rs 10,649.46. By error – I paid Rs 10,649/-00 (missing out 46 paise),” Kagalkar wrote on X.
“And you have slapped me with over INR 1200/- late payment charges etc for miss of 46 PAISE??” he added, asking the bank to reverse the charges.
Kagalkar also shared the reference number of his interaction with the bank’s customer-service team.
The post attracted attention online but has since been deleted.
HDFC Bank has subsequently issued a clarification on the matter, saying that credit card late payment and related charges are applied when the total amount due or the minimum amount due is not paid within the stipulated due date and subsequent grace period.
In its statement, HDFC Bank said, “We would like to clarify that credit card late payment and related charges are applied only when neither the total amount due nor the minimum amount due is paid within the stipulated due date and the subsequent grace period.”
The bank said that in this particular instance, “the customer’s payment was received after the grace period had lapsed”.
HDFC Bank added that the charges applied were in line with the applicable terms and conditions of the credit card.
The bank has, however, reversed the charges as a one-time goodwill gesture.
“We remain in touch with the customer and are happy to assist with any further clarification,” HDFC Bank said.
The 46-paise shortfall is notable because the RBI has instructions on rounding off transactions.
The central bank has said transactions should be rounded to the nearest rupee, with fractions of less than 50 paise ignored and fractions of 50 paise or more rounded up to the next rupee. Under that principle, Rs 10,649.46 would be rounded down to Rs 10,649, while Rs 10,649.50 would be rounded up to Rs 10,650.
However, the rounding-off instruction by itself does not establish that a credit-card bill with a 46-paise shortfall must automatically be treated as fully paid. The way a payment is credited to an individual card account, the outstanding amount recorded by the issuer and the calculation of any charges are separate issues.
The RBI has also laid down specific rules for late-payment charges on credit cards.
Under its directions, a card issuer can report an account as “past due” or levy late-payment charges only when the account remains past due for more than three days.
The RBI also says late-payment charges and other charges related to delayed payment should be levied only on the outstanding amount after the due date, rather than on the total amount due.
That means the exact details of Kagalkar’s account matter, including when his payment was credited, what amount the bank treated as outstanding and how the charges were calculated.
Kagalkar has asked HDFC Bank to reverse the charges and questioned why such a large amount was levied after the 46-paise shortfall.
“Do you care to have this reversed ASAP?” he wrote.
His post also prompted other users to share their experiences with credit-card charges.
One X user, Vegi Prasad, suggested that Kagalkar approach the RBI’s Banking Ombudsman if the issue was not resolved.
Another user, Pawan Kumar Das, claimed that he had faced a similar issue with an SBI credit card after seeking cancellation of the card.
These are individual accounts shared on social media and do not establish a broader pattern across .
For Kagalkar, the issue comes down to a tiny unpaid amount. He says he paid Rs 10,649 against a Rs 10,649.46 bill, leaving 46 paise outstanding, and was subsequently charged more than Rs 1,200 in late-payment and related charges.
HDFC Bank’s response, particularly its explanation of how the charges were calculated, would be important to establish exactly what happened in this case.