Hi! I am into an incident with HDFC Credit Cards, New Delhi. About four-five months ago they called me and said that I had an outstanding of Rs. 3,80,000 (inclusive of penalty and interest) on a credit card that they had issued in 2006. I did have a credit card from them but I surely did not use it. Upon asking as to why they had taken so long to inform me about this, they said that they had been sending letters to me on my residential address. I told them that I had vacated that residence in 2006 end and had shifted somewhere else and by end of 2007 I had shifted to Mumbai. I also asked them why this default in payment not affect my getting an HDFC Reglia credit card in 2011 with more than 4 lacs credit limit and why was I not shown as a defaulter in CIBIL. I aslo asked them to send a copy of the statements so I could know where I had used this credit card. They had no answers for this, till I got a call this morning from a clerk in Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.

This clerk informed me that it was a pre-litigation call and gave me the number of the advocate who had filed this case against me urging me to get details from him. He told me that an arrest warrant would be issued against my name by a magistrate if I do no initiate an out of court settlement. Upon calling the advocate, he said that he had sent three legal notices to the address that I lived in 2006, and on the non-reciept of these notices he had initiated this process of filing the case. He completely ignored my plea for a copy of these notices to be sent to me via email. Instead continued to tell me, that I had time till Monday afternoon to make a settlement with the HDFC Credit Card Relationship Manager so an NOC copy could be forwarded to him.

Now, I find this quite suspect as I called up the clerk in Tis Hazari Court and asked him for his room number so I could meet him personally, he banged the phone on me. The advocate was asked by my friend in Delhi, pretending he was a lawyer, to give his address so he could meet him and negotiate an amount. The man again kept the phone down, telling him he would call back.

Despite, I am a little scared if this case could be true. However, they also tell me that post three years such disputes are not allowed in court. So are these guys just recovery agents threatening or is there more to it.

Would be grateful for some good advice.

Thank you!