How One Man Beat A Bank By Rewriting The Fine Print
He then sued for $727,000
In 2008, Dmitry Agarkov was going through his junk mail and came across a decent credit card offer from Tinkoff Bank. At first, the Russian thought it was a good deal with 12.9% interest and decent credit limits. However, he soon changed his mind after reading the small print. Hidden in the small print was the real interest rate at the much higher 45%
Instead of just chucking the offer in a rubbish bin and getting on with his life, Dimitry Agarkov decided to have a bit of fun. It began as a joke, but it was to culminate in a court case worth $727,000.
The situation began with Agarkov getting unhappy with the terms and conditions
Agarkov thought the main problem was with the small print. So, he scanned the document and made a few important changes.
First, he lowered the interest rate to a much more preferable 0% rate. He altered the document to read that the customer “is not obliged to pay any fees and charges imposed by bank tariffs.” Hardly anyone likes a tariff.
Next, he included a clause to protect against changes. If they did change something, they would pay the customer (aka Agarkov) three million roubles—around $91,000 USD at the time. Additionally, if there were a cancellation, he would receive six million rubles (around $182,000).
Satisfied with his new terms, Agarkov printed the form, signed it, and sent it to the bank.
It worked, and he soon possessed one of the world’s best credit cards
Agarkov assumed his humorous form would be ignored, and he’d never hear back from the bank. He was wrong. A couple of days later, he received a signed and certified contract from Tinkoff Bank. He also received a brand new credit card with its superb terms and conditions.
Agarkov was overjoyed with his new card. He wasn’t a greedy man, and he didn’t buy anything expensive or lavish. He just got on with his life.
One day, a few years later, Agarkov was a tad late paying his bills, and Tinkoff Credit Services terminated his card and sued him for late charges and unpaid fees. They wanted $1363 from him.
Knowing what was in the contract, Agarkov took Tinkoff to court. His document, which had been signed by all parties, was the evidence.
Tinkoff Bank used the somewhat ironic argument (given their hidden interest rates) that they hadn’t actually read the small print. So, they wanted the contract invalidated as they had been unaware that changes had been made.
The judge was having none of it. He ruled that both parties signed the contract, and so it was therefore valid. Agarkov was ordered to pay what he owed the bank — about $600 — but he wouldn’t have to pay any of the added fees.
Agarkov had won. But that wasn’t enough.
Agarkov decides to countersue Tinkoff for $727,000
Agarkov’s counter-argument was that Tinkoff hadn’t honoured eight clauses in the agreement. Therefore, he should receive 24 million rubles ($727,000) in compensation. His legal team argued the initial cancellation of Agarkov’s card was illegal as he hadn’t been paid the six million roubles that were stipulated in the contract.
Tinkoff obviously disagreed and was happy to go to court. It stated that the case related to “a nonrecurrent technical issue.”
The situation escalated and received further attention when the bank’s chairman, Oleg Tinkov, went on Twitter (as it was then) and said:
“Nobody will win anything from us.”
So what happened?
As the saga dragged on, those involved started to realise that things were getting a bit daft and out of hand. Everyone involved just wanted the saga to end.
Eventually, both parties met behind closed doors and reached a settlement that was satisfactory to all. The amount wasn’t disclosed, but Agarkov immediately called off the case, and the bank was happy to end the attention.
Oliver Hughes, the president of Tinkoff Credit Systems, was quoted in Nasdaq.com, saying:
“The conflict is counterproductive, so we agreed to settle it by withdrawing our mutual complaints.”
As for Agarkov, he concluded:
“This started as a joke in 2008… but the joke has gone too far.”
I never knew about this, it's interesting and it also left me with new insight. Thank you for sharing.
I do have a personal question I would love to ask if you are okay with it. I left it in your inbox.