Case studies / AU Small Finance Bank / 2024
Card declined under an internal policy the bank would not spell out
Bank · Credit card application · credit-card application
- Complaint no.
- N202425016016337
- Against
- AU Small Finance Bank
- Filed
- 5 Nov 2024
- Closed
- 3 Dec 2024
- Time taken
- 28 days
- Scheme
- RB-IOS 2021
- Closure clause
- 16(1)(a) r/w 10(1)(a)
- Did it help?
- Partly helped
- Compensation
- None
What happened
A credit card application was declined by SMS on 18 October 2024 with the words "policy and eligibility norms are not met". I asked which norm, and went to the Ombudsman when I did not get an answer.
What I asked the Ombudsman for
The specific norm I had failed, and reconsideration.
What the entity said
The bank emailed a reason on 19 November 2024, two weeks after the Ombudsman complaint. It turned on an internal cap on how many active cards an applicant already holds.
What the Ombudsman decided
The relief sought related to the commercial judgement of the bank under its board-approved policy, so the complaint was not maintainable. The letter added that the Ombudsman does not recommend sanction of credit. Closed in 28 days.
Did the Ombudsman help?
Only indirectly. The reason arrived from the bank two weeks after I filed. The closure treated the whole complaint as a request for credit.
What I took from it
Again the reason arrived only after I complained to the RBI, and again I had asked for the wrong thing. The delay in giving a reason was the complaint to make.
Related complaints
- Application rejected for a credit score of "-1" when the real score was above 800 (IndusInd Bank, 2025) Compensation
- Card application declined with no reason given (HDFC Bank, 2024) Not maintainable
Summarised from the RBI closure letter and my own correspondence. Names of individuals, account numbers and reference numbers other than the complaint number have been removed.