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Their service is appauling but so many people default on CC payments and thats what drives their "chase" in the first place - you can't make money off interest when people aren't paying it.

Hmmm dutch + UK = yikes!

Had the same experience.. ABN AMRO kept calling me even though Ive PAID OFF the balance. They had the gall to call my mother back home. When she told them I've paid it, they told her I'm lying! What gives?! Check your records! Someday they'd be sued.

ABN Amro really does suck. Alot of their employees lack basic customer service skills. I once tried to cancel my one of my ABN Amro credit cards. The service rep asked me a bunch of questions, asked for a passport copy and a copy of my employment contract which I provided. When i asked if the cancellation is now completed, she says.... "What? Who told you your card is being cancelled?" Pure genius, that lady was. Now, I will cancel both my credit cards, move my cash to another bank and the next time someone asks me which bank to go for, I'd suggest some other bank.

yeah i agree it is the worst bank ever!

1)When I first got my ATM card, it was delivered without a PIN. had to go to the branch to request one. Despite their claim that the PIN is already in the branch, I could only get it after 3 weeks (imagine how many times i had to visit the branch without luck)


2) Most beaureaucratic bank. My cheque bounced claiming the signature was different. On comparing my signature to the one stored on the system, I found it exactly the same. The incompetent clerk has said that there is a slight difference.

Hey. we are in the 21st century! I used this signature with other banks with no problems! what the hell is wrong with your system?
Because of their stupidity, I had to pay a fine of AED 500 to the benificiary for the bounced cheque. COme on guys!
IN addition, the benificiary was a well respected company, not an individual, one would not expect them to forge signature.



This bank does not deserve anyone's business.
Even with their offers( free wild wadi, free cinema etc..), I would not continue with them. There are other less horrible banks.

add my to the list guys...

ABN AMRO no way again.

Unfortunately, I had to take a personal loan followed by credit cards.

I had simply a nightmare with them (dont want to go in details) until I asked HSBC to buyout the loan from them. and cancel the cards for good

and guess what... after one year... I receive the bank statement asking to pay them the annual fees!!!!

I call them and inform the lady on the line that those cards got cancelled a year ago and I went by my self to the branch... cut the cards in half and signed all the cancellation papers as well. and finally (after one year) the cards where still active!!!!!!

useless bank indeed

ABN AMRO has a enviable reputation of cheating its Credit Card customers. I have a dispute with my credit card which I am still fighting for the past 3 months. I would suggest the following steps to resolve your disputes with this crooked bank:

1. Send an email or fax to the UAE Country Manager - Colin Macdonald explaining your dispute. He would most probably forward it to their "Service Quality Unit" who might call you to resolve the matter.

Most probably this should sort out the matter. If not, stop paying your monthly payments. They have no reason to settle if you continue to make timely payments. Most credit card companies only settle when they believe that if they don't make some kind of deal, they won't see a penny from you.

2. Meantime you can file a complaint against them with the UAE Central Bank [www(dot)centralbank(dot)ae/complaints/complaints.php]

3. Threaten them that you will write to Gulf News/Khaleej Times/7 Days newspapers

4. In case the above doesnt work, prepare yourself for legal action (although most probably wont come down to that)
You always want to have a paper trail:

Step 1: Visit their branch and ask the person you meet for their business card so you can send a courier. (They will certainly refuse and ask you to mail to their P.O.Box address! If you send to their P.O.Box there is no proof that sent them anything and they will simply deny receiving anything from you!)

Step 2: Note down their names from their badges, lookup their website for their branch address and send a letter to that person by courier. Even if it is a rough address, your courier company can still deliver as RBS is well known. For eg:
Mr.xxx,
ABN AMRO BANK CARDS DIVISION (ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND),
KHALID BIN WALEED STREET, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
TEL: +971-4-3512200
FAX: +971-4-3511555

Make sure you mention "to be delivered in person" and get signed acknowledgements. Your letter should clearly explain the dispute and how much you are willing to settle for. You still will not receive any reply from them.

Ignore threats. At some point, your account will be turned over to a collection agency that may call threatening to take legal action. Most agencies won't go to the effort and expense of actually filing a lawsuit. As per UAE law, if you want to sue someone for AED 10,000, you will have to first deposit AED 10,000 with the local courts. On top of that you will have to pay court fee and lawyer expenses and even then they cant be sure of recovering all their dues from you. So, they will not go to this step easily. Make an offer and expect that your first offer will be refused. Take your time. Dont show you are eager to settle. Every day you wait, your debt gets older and harder to collect, and your creditors are more likely to cut their losses. Banks are tough with those who want to pay and gentle with those who tell them to get lost! Tell them you are ready to fight it legally if they want to pursue this in that direction. Even if they bounce your security cheque, they cannot automatically arrest you. Read the interview with Colonel Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Head of the General Department of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at
[www(dot)xpress4me(dot)com/news/uae/dubai/20013055.html]

Hope this helps...if it does, tell me.

ABN AMRO/RBS are not only the worst in terms of customer care, but also in terms of ethics. I have had all of the following problems on 1 damn card:

First of all, I did the fatal mistake of applying for a credit card with ABN AMRO, mainly because the salesman was after my life and called me everyday to take it saying that it is free for life and low interest rates. Then I did an even worse thing by doing a balance transfer.

1. Flat rate trap

When I did the balance transfer, they quoted me a rate that seems quite low, so I thought I would consolidate my credit card bills all into one. The person on the phone told me it was a flat rate. Until recently, I didnt know what a 'flat rate' was. I'm an ex-Investment Banker but I have never come across this because in the developed world 'flat rate' interest calculation is banned and it is not taught in any business school nowadays. Due to the recent financial crisis, I thought it is better to not keep any credit card bills hanging around and I went to one of their branches to pay off the balance on my card. I was shocked to hear that I needed to pay more than the amount I borrowed to settle the account. And I have been paying the monthly payments regularly for the past 1 year.

Simply, the difference between this 'flat rate' and a 'declining balance' calculation are:

a. 'flat rate' is very misleading when compared to 'declining balance' as the effective rate on a 'flat rate' calculation is double the quoted rate.
b. even if you decide to prepay the loan, you still have to pay them the interest for the balance period in advance
c. And pay them a penalty for prepayment.
d. And it is prohibited in the U.A.E. as well!

Take a look at this webpage [en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Flat_rate_(finance)] for more details on 'flat rate' calculation.

You can refer to the UAE Central Bank's Circular No:12/93 Dated 23/2/1993 and Notice No.41/2001 Dated:28/01/2001

Also Notice No. 2149/2003 (www(dot)centralbank(dot)ae/pdf/notices/2149-2003(dot)pdf), point no. 2 “Interest rate to be listed in the table expressed as a percentage, and interest to be calculated on the reducing balance of the loan.

Response to the Consolidation inquiries on Circular 12/03 (www(dot)centralbank(dot)ae/Circulars/1263-93(dot)php) Under INTEREST RATES: Q 6.: Can banks use the reducing balance method only ?
Ans.: Yes, if the method is the same as the one highlighted in the Circular.

Flat rate calculation is allowed on some Shariah complaint loans, but these loans are all asset based. A Credit card loan is no way an asset based loan or shariah complaint.

2. Why 2 Credit cards?

I had applied for only 1 credit card, why the hell did they give me 2? The split the balance transfer into two and gave me two separate cards to help me. Why? Answer is simple, so they can charge you double the late fees/preclosure penalty fees/extortion fees and the like, although you asked for only one!

3. Misleading info

On top of the above, I did a third mistake of taking a 'Smart Cash' loan on my credit card (this was before I realised what a flat rate calculation was and I ran into dispute with them) This was done entirely on the phone. The sales rep simply quoted the interest rate and nothing else. She said it was 0.5% and so it is very cheap, you can simply use this to maintain your minimum balance on you checking account with any bank as this would be cheaper that paying the bank charges blah blah blah. There is nothing in writing for this contract. So when I went to pay this off together with the above balance transfer, they told me this was a flat rate calculation as well and I dont have the option to prepay it.

4. Loan sharking

Every time I was late by 1 or 2 days to pay your monthly credit card bills, I immediatly get a call from the Customer service personal who remind me I am late on my payment but they can reverse the late fees if I take a further loan. This is pure loan sharking trying to force customers into debt and it is illegal.

I hope enough people report this to the press or the UAE Central Bank and force them to take action against these guys. Those of you who are British should tell your government that their tax money could be used for more productive purposes than to bail out these crooks!

I recently visited a credit collection department in another bank to sell my product. i was shocked by the conversations i heard. sooo aggresive. i thaught never even i will touch a credit card. anyway these credit cpllection people just doing there job.

without going into details - I've actually got a letter of apology from ABn Amro bank for the shit they've put me through and after a police case was registered against them. Must be one of the very few to have such a letter. Should frame it up some day.

What did you do to get the apology letter? Did you get any threatening calls from collections which you reported to Police?

no threatening calls. They transferred a loan to my account when they took my application for a credit card . I didnt apply for any loan and they said that I had signed an application form for it.

So probably they faked my signature??? which is fraud. Police can easily detect it. They realized they screwed up and wanted to get it settled outside. And they got really scared when i called up their offices asking for full names of their management.

So all you guys - the solution to your problems: dont give in to their nonsense. Whatever your issue - late fees, settlements, etc, they cannot threaten you.

and remember one thing - banks record all conversations with customers. So if they are being abusive, you have full right to go the cops and the bank would be asked to reproduce the tapes.

hey by the way, everyone's roamign around with cool nokia/sony/other phones. all have a cool voice recording feature. try recording the conversations if its face to face.

Another piece of info for you guys having trouble with ABN's collection dept. threatening to bounce your security cheque:

A security cheque could not be the basis for a criminal charge. If a security cheque bounces, it will be heard by the Civil Court only, not criminal court! In other words, it is not a criminal offence. If a cheque was expressively made as security for performance of obligations or as a trust, and it bounces, then it is a commercial dispute only!

Firstly, before filing a case for bouncing cheques, the Police try to resolve it amicably between the parties. so, if you show that it is a security cheque and you were trying to resolve the issue with the bank, the Police would not interfere.

I was worked in dubai for 2 years due to some reason comany as terminated. so i came back to india. i have not paid credit card payment. anyone know what bank will take action on me. presently i am in india.

There is nothing they can do against you in India, although they have collection agents in India as well. Their claim cannot be enforced in India. If someone calls threatening to taken action, you can report them to the police. But if you come back to Dubai, they might have bounced your cheque and informed the UAE Immigration to arrest you on arrival.

sureshkumar wrote:I was worked in dubai for 2 years due to some reason comany as terminated. so i came back to india. i have not paid credit card payment. anyone know what bank will take action on me. presently i am in india.

You should arrange to pay your debt.

I had a Visa card with this lousy bank in 2001 for one year. I left Dubai at short notice for Canada in Feb 2002 and didnt have the time to cancel the card and settle the balance. By phone from Canada, I spoke with a woman in the cards div who asked me to mail the credit card with a letter giving my new address in Canada and asking the bank to cancel the card and ack. I mailed it under registered post. Meanwhile, I had asked a friend in Dubai to clear the balance payments in the card, so nothing was owed to the bank. I heard nothing from the bank about the cancellation or if any balance was due from me. I didnt even bother to call or write again.

Six years later in April 2008, I get a call from a collection agent in Sri Lanka saying I owed AED 30,000++ for unpaid balance. Why Sri Lanka, that was my original place of permanent residence, but not anymore. I am a Canadian now and do not live in Sri Lanka. Since then, these agents have been troubling my relatives in Sri Lanka stating that I owed money to the bank.

I have all the letters I wrote to the bank with postal registration slips and some receipts of payments I made on the balance (Some are missing, who keeps all the paid bills after 6 years). i tried calling the bank to speak to someone about this and yes, like everyone else gone through in this forum I was sent from pillar to post and got fed up and gave up.

How do I stop these collection agents in Sri Lanka troubling my relatives? Should I let them go to local cops and report these guys who walk in and walk out as they wish without any notice or respect and disturb my in laws?

ABN really sucks....never again

Iron Palm wrote:Another piece of info for you guys having trouble with ABN's collection dept. threatening to bounce your security cheque:

A security cheque could not be the basis for a criminal charge. If a security cheque bounces, it will be heard by the Civil Court only, not criminal court! In other words, it is not a criminal offence. If a cheque was expressively made as security for performance of obligations or as a trust, and it bounces, then it is a commercial dispute only!

Firstly, before filing a case for bouncing cheques, the Police try to resolve it amicably between the parties. so, if you show that it is a security cheque and you were trying to resolve the issue with the bank, the Police would not interfere.

This advice is dangerously wrong. ANY cheque that bounces in the UAE is a criminal matter if reported to the police. You WIll be arrested. You WILL go to jail and you WILL NOT leave the country until you have paid the debt. The UAE jails are full of people whose security cheques have been bounced by the bank.

I can travel to Other GCC countries except Dubai. Is there any problems ?

I WILL STRONGLY AGREE WITH YOU ALL

ABN AMRO NOW CALLED RBS IS THE MOST FUC**ING BANK I HAVE SEEN, IT NOT EVEN A BANK ITS KIND OF MAFIAS SITTING THERE TO THREATEN YOU, THEY DON'T KNOW THE WORDS,
POLITE
SERVICE
CUSTOMER CARE,

AND TRUST ME THEY ARE WORST THEN DOGS, FU**ing BAST**DS,


I WAS OUT OF COUNTRY FOR MY VACATION ONLY FOR 2 MONTHS AND I WAS OF COURSE DEPENDING ON MY CREDIT CARD FOR TRAVELING, WELL I HAD MADE MY MIN PAYMENTS BEFORE GOING AND I HARDLY HAD USED 15% OF MY CREDIT LIMIT, OBVIOUSLY IF I WAS OUT I DINT MAKE PAYMENTS FOR 2 MONTHS AND THIS FU**ERS BLOCKED MY CARDS,

I WAS A PLATINUM MEMBER AND HAVE BEEN USING THE SAME AND ONLY CARD FOR MORE THEN 4 YEARS, WHEN I CAME BACK I DID NOT MIND MAKING THE PAYMENT BUT Y DO THEY HAVE TO BLOCK IT?

AND ON TOP OF THAT WHEN I CALLED THEM THE THING THAT PISSED ME OFF WAS THE WAY THEY TALK BLOODY UNCULTURED BUGGERS.

SO I SAID FINE I WONT PAY DO WHAT EVER U WANT,

THEY KEPT ON CALLING ME AND EVERY TIME ITS A DIFFERENT PERSON BUT FROM THE SAME BAST**D FAMILY,
AFTER COUPLE OF CALLS ONE GUY TOLD ME TO MAKE SOME PAYMENT TO UNBLOCK THE CARDS BUT AFTER MAKING THE PAYMENT THE GUY COMPLETELY DISAGREED TO UNBLOCK IT, I ASKED HIM TO TRANSFER ME TO THE MANAGER, AND THE MANAGER WAS EVEN BIGGER BAST**D,

HE GOES Y WILL WE UN BLOCK,, U DINT MAKE FULL PAYMENT, U HAVE TO SETTLE THE WHOLE AMOUNT FIRST
I SAID -BUT YOUR GUY TOLD ME SO,,
HE GOES- WELL HE IS NEW AND HE DOSE NOT KNOW ANYTHING

WELL IF HE IS NEW THE Y THE F**K U HIRE HIM, N IF U HIRED THE FUC**R THEN AT LIST TRAIN HIM,,


MAN I TELL YOU
AGAIN FINALLY I RECEIVED A CALL TODAY AND WHEN I ASKED THE GUY TO SPEAK IN A POLITE WAY
HE GOES- WHAT DO U ANT ME TO SING A SONG FOR YOU


ISNT THERE A WAY TO LEGALLY SUE THIS FUC**RS?

hi all

now ok i had 2 credit cards from 2 banks and one of them was abn amro

and i have left uae from like 2 years now without payment

the thing is that ofcourse they but a ban on me on the airport


and i want to pay this money now in order to open the border for me i dont know the procedure and how to granty that they will withdrow there black list if i payed


can any body advice ?

Another retarded thing these idiots do is block your card without informing you, due to "suspected security breach". Its happened to me twice where I've travelled to Malaysia and Thailand for business where my card was blocked for use in these countries (without me knowing) so I turn up and am freaking stranded with minimal cash and relying on my cc for accomodation / transport costs. Took 4-6 calls to these idiots and around 3 days to unblock my card each time and they seriously could not care less that you are stranded somewhere with no means of paying for a roof over your head just cause they didn't have the courtesy to let you know your card won't work. Numpties... needless to say they don't get my business any longer and I make damn sure I let everyone I know what a bunch of unprofessional / dodgy / braindead wankers they really are. RBS - Royal Bull $hit.

Hi, i was working in dubai, lost my job few months now, in india.i have an unsettled credit card
need to know if im travelling to canada for a education and a new begining, can they hold anything against me?!

..

it reminded me this customer service:

I have no experience with ABN AMRO but would like to nominate Barclays for worst bank ever instead;
1. online banking system which has numerous bugs
2. irresponsive customer support and complaints division
3. they even charge for an ATM balance inquiry
4. a significant part of their staff has a very poor command of english
5. no credit facilities to speak of