Man writes his own terms for credit card, bank accidentally approves it

Score one for the little (Russian) guy.

Dmitry Argarkov put a few revisions in his credit card application:

Zero percent interest.

No fees.

No credit limit.

Then he sent it to Tinkoff Credit Systems. They approved it and sent Argarkov a card.

But they hadn’t read the fine print.

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images

Oleg Tinkov, founder of Tinkoff Credit Systems.

The 42-year-old man from Voronezh, near the Ukraine border, put in some other nuggets: The bank would pay him 6 million rubles ($ 182,231) if it closed Argarkov’s account; if the bank did not honor his rules, Argarkov would fine it 3 million rubles ($ 91,115).

“He could afford to buy an island somewhere in Malaysia, and the bank would have to pay for it by law,” said Argarov’s attorney, Dmitry Mikhalevich, according to the Russian news site Kommersant.

A judge sided with Argarkov this week and said the amended contract was legally valid because the financial institution had approved it.

Tinkoff had tried to close the credit card account and had sued Argarkov over unpaid fees and charges.

The judge ruled he only had to pay the outstanding balance from purchases made with the card.

“They signed the documents without looking. They said what usually their borrowers say in court: ‘We have not read it,’’’ the lawyer said.

Argarkov has in turn sued the bank, saying it owes him 24 million rubles ($ 728,924) for not honoring the contract

Bank founder Oleg Tinkov tweeted Argarkov won’t get any money, but will get “4 years in prison for fraud.”