This appeal is filed by the defendant.

2. The parties are referred to by their rank before the trial court for the sake of convenience.

3. The plaintiff is said to be a body corporate constituted under the Banking Companies (Acquisition & Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, having its Head Office at Bangalore. It is said to have a credit card division, known as Cancard Division, with its Head office also at Bangalore.

The defendant was said to be a credit card holder of the plaintiff and was issued a Cancard – Visa card, at Cochin. The card was issued against his application dated 16.10.1998. The application was said to have been forwarded to the plaintiff at Bangalore. The defendant’s membership was said to have been accepted and he was issued the card bearing no.4543 6330 1053 2574. The same was said to have been issued on 31.10.1998 and was valid till 31.10.2001. It was claimed that the defendant was not only bound by the terms and conditions then existing, but also any changes that could be made.

The defendant was bound to make payments of the amounts that fell due on the card, within 15 days of sending the monthly statement, sent every 20th of each month. It was claim