Citibank ING (Malaysia) Credit Shield Premier A Scam?

Hubby received a telesales call in mid-2012, and after hearing out the offer, hubby agreed to sign up for a totally free Credit Shield Insurance Plan offered by ING insurance company in collaboration with Citibank Credit Card (Malaysia).

The terms he was told (and double confirmed in that phone call) is that he doesn't need to pay a single cent if he has no credit card outstanding balance every month. He was sent a terms and conditions booklet in the mail and kept it, did not think too much about it.

Anyway, come August, the statement reflected a 21bucks charge for Credit Shield insurance premium. He double checked with the terms and conditions and the previous months for any outstanding balance and confirmed that he has paid up all his credit card outstanding balance IN FULL every month. The Credit Shield premium was first reflected as 0bucks in July statement. The deal was he is given free insurance as a reward for paying his credit card balance in full every month. No extra charges for the insurance coverage.

He called Citibank and was told that the insurance plan is only free the first month and will be charged a nominal fee based on subsequent months' outstanding balance of credit spent every month. Hubby was livid and pointed out there is no mention of that clause in the written agreement he received. However, the customer service person finally said they will refund the 21bucks and asked hubby to email or fax to request for a termination of the insurance coverage. He claimed that it is ING's fault for changing the clause. Oh, well, then it is their fault for overlooking that change!

Anyway, just a rant because this is the second Citibank Credit Card issue hubby encountered so far. At least this time, the result seems amicable. Keep it up, Citibank!