I am being asked to go from one place to the other without any resolution for my case with Mashreq Bank. I have two credit cards with them – a Platinum and a Titanium, to which I was regularly making payments, including for credit shield.
I switched my job and joined a new employer in October 2014 and everything was going great (work-wise) when suddenly, the company decided to close their operations in the UAE at the end of January 2015. Exactly a week from the date of the announcement, I went to a Mashreq Bank branch and submitted all the required documents for the credit shield claim, due to involuntary job loss, and a few weeks later, I got a call and was asked to visit their branch to complete the process. There, they asked me for more documents, which I provided as requested, but they rejected my claim, saying that I lost my job while being within three months of probation. So I went and got them the confirmation letter from my office, because a few days before the announcement was made, I was given the confirmation.
Since then, I haven’t received a single call or email from Mashreq Bank, but from my end, I visited their office several times and sent several emails and there was not a single update on my credit shield claim status. During my several visits, either I was told that the person who was handling my credit shield claim was in training, or he was on emergency leave and no one else from the same department was able to help me, because they couldn’t find my information in the system. When the person came back from emergency leave, I was asked for the documents once again, which indicated that my documents, given earlier, were either lost or misplaced. After giving him all the documents again, I was told that they had rejected my claim, as apparently, I had lost my job while in a three-month probation period. I reminded him that I had given him my confirmation letter. I was asked to wait for a few days and then a few days later, was told that it would be difficult to get a claim from the insurance company as it had already been over 30 days, because it was April 2015 already. I told them this was not my fault, and I was assured that it would be taken care of.
Even after this, until November 2015, I sent another couple of emails, but there was no response, and now, after a full year has passed, in November 2016, I got an email from them, saying I have to settle the full amount because they blacklisted me at the Central Bank and the Etihad Credit Bureau. I went to meet with them and they asked me to settle the full amount. When I asked what happened to the credit shield claim, the reply I got was that it was rejected because I did not complete six months in my job, which is outrageous, because even on Mashreq Bank’s own website, in the terms and conditions of the credit shield claim, it is stated: “Involuntary Loss of Employment which starts within 90 days of the Commencement Date”.
They are not ready to accept this. I have logged the complaint with the insurance authority and the Central Bank and they keep rejecting my complaint, saying that it is out of their scope. Mashreq Bank knows that it is their mistake and now, I am being forced to overlook the credit shield claim that was not processed by them, even though I made regular payments towards it. Instead, they are informing me of rules that are not mentioned anywhere on their website.
I request Gulf News’ intervention in this issue.
From Mr Junaid Khalid
Dubai
The management of Mashreq Bank responds:
Thank you for raising Mr Khalid’s concern to us.
We have reviewed his concern in detail and had once again escalated his issue to the Insurance company with the documentation provided by Mr Khalid.
We are glad to inform you that on an exceptional basis, the insurance claim has been approved purely on compassionate grounds.
While the formalities with the insurance company would take some time, due to their procedures, we have informed Mr Khalid that we are following up and would require a week’s time to settle the cards. Mr Khalid has been contacted and informed the same and he is satisfied with the resolution.
We would like to thank Gulf News in serving our community and for bringing customer’s issues to our notice.
Mr Khalid responds:
I did get a call a couple of days ago and was told that Mashreq Bank will waive off all the charges on both of my cards and that it will take them a week to sort out the paperwork and so, they would let me know once everything is ready. I also asked them to sort out my credit score with the Etihad Credit Bureau, which was messed up, because of these two cards. They assured me that it would also be done at their end in a week’s time.
I really appreciate the effort and intervention of Gulf News, because of which, a case that has been pending for more than one year is now being looked at and resolved by Mashreq Bank. I am very thankful.
(Process initiation: December 6. Response from organisation: December 11. Process completion: December 29.)
Editor’s note: Do you have similar issues that you would like to raise with us? You can write to us at readers@gulfnews.com.
