Morena in the Chamber of Deputies presented an initiative so that credit or debit card users can request their cancellation within a maximum period of three business days without costs, commissions, penalties or excessive procedures.
It also proposes that the issuance of cards without the express consent of users or delivered through misleading advertising be recognized as void and that banks be forced to reimburse undue charges.
The proposal, published yesterday in the Parliamentary Gazettehighlights that card users face a double problem: first, because the majority of financial and commercial entities require unnecessary procedures, ambiguous requirements or generate unjustified delays to cancel them, and secondly, the issuance of cards without express request from people.
“In both cases, the fundamental principle that every contract requires a free and conscious expression of will is weakened. Whether by making exit (cancellation) difficult or by forcing entry, the user’s contractual autonomy is unduly restricted,” said the coordinator of the bench, Ricardo Monreal Ávila.
He highlighted that the cancellation depends, in many cases, on in-person procedures in the branches and that there is active resistance from the banks to process the cancellation of plastics.
He said that unsolicited cards are a problem that can even be linked to fraud or identity theft. He added that banks and even department stores offer cards without sufficient information and “at the mercy of unclear procedures or involved in other promotions.”