A significant number of former Citibank customers who migrated to Axis Bank have reported erroneous charges on their accounts, sparking widespread dissatisfaction and potential legal action. These customers have been charged excessive funds under the guise of debit interest and GST.
Upon being informed of the situation, Axis Bank attributed the charges to alleged defaults on previous payments while the customers were still with Citibank. However, this was not indicated on any previous bills, and now customers face inflated sums due to compounded interest despite having no previous outstanding. Although the bank has admitted its mistake and claims to have reversed the charges, they have not been deducted from the current outstanding balances, leaving customers compelled to pay the entire amount. Failure to do so could result in further interest and tax penalties and potentially damage their credit score.
Urdhvi Shah, a school teacher, said, “I've never missed a payment. This isn’t about being unable to pay Rs5800; it’s about what’s morally and ethically correct. Why should I pay in advance towards a future bill, when I should enjoy interest-free credit for 50 days? They could have charged me Rs5,80,000 and expected me to pay. What then —break into my savings?”
She added, “In four years with Citibank, I never had to check my statements. However, due to a bad experience with Axis Bank seven to eight years ago, I was vigilant this time. I have been following up with the bank since July 27, 2024, via calls, visits to the various branches, tweets and emails including to the CEO Amitabh Chaudhary but I haven’t heard back from them. I hope more customers come forward and do not dismiss this as a small amount. This is not small. Customers lose interest in their savings while Axis Bank illegally amasses funds. How can a bank of Axis’ stature do this? And why should customers take the hit for no fault of theirs?”
Shah further added that on March 1, 2023, Axis Bank took over the retail banking sector from CITIbank, with all CITI customers and employees migrated by July 15, 2024. Axis had ample time to resolve any technical issues, yet failed to do so. They acquired customers from a far superior bank, Citi, which had 2.5 million retail customers as of March 2022. Assuming half of these customers, around 1.25 million, had their July statements generated by Axis and were charged excessive fees, the bank potentially profited significantly.
“For example, if each customer was overcharged by Rs1000, that amounts to Rs1,250,000,000. Adding Axis’s base customers to this mix could make for a compelling Netflix docuseries on one of the biggest scams in history. It’s baffling that institutions like Harvard Business School and IIM Ahmedabad are focusing on the dabbawalas instead,” Shah added.
