Niraj who had room mates who had taken loans from different banks was consistently pestered with visits from a recovery agent. In spite of telling him that they had long since relocated, the recovery agent refused to take his word for it and claimed he was one of the defaulters and was pretending that he was not. You can imagine the exasperation Niraj felt. Well, this is a very simple form of harassment compared to the more horrific stories heard from some other customers. Recovery agents ring doorbells embarrass the bank customers who have defaulted payments before family members, colleagues and friends and sometimes are threatened with violence.
This often occurs because banks outsource the loan recovery jobs to collection agencies. While there are collection agencies which stress on being a professional outfit, screen their staff and recover loans without resorting to what is not permitted by law, most of them belong to an unorganized sector where staff screening does not happen and no stringent rules or training programs are implemented for the staff.
For some of you who might be facing such hassles, here are a few tips to help you on your way:
Never let a communication from your bank go unnoticed. Banks do block the use of a credit card when consumers default and many assume that to be the final action from the bank.
What happens is that, the pending amount and the interest levied on it keeps growing till it becomes quite a tidy sum, this is when the recovery agent enters the scene to collect the dues.
When such a scenario poised for dispute happens make an immediate complaint to the bank and get an acknowledgment for the complaint.
A call to customer care does not help you at this point unless you take care to get a reference number that you need to keep handy when you file the complaint for future reference.
Do file a complaint with the bank’s website, where there is provision for this.
When there is no response from the bank in a week or two, the next step would be to file a complaint with the banking ombudsman appointed by the RBI. You can do this at http://www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in.
This often solves the issue and relief measures take place immediately.
In case of situation where you are genuinely at default do take measures to rectify the situation. Make some payment towards the loan and provide additional security and interact with bank to make them reschedule your payments. Do not put yourself in a situation, where the bank reports your default to the credit bureau. You will find it very difficult to obtain a loan in future.
When you take the above mentioned measures the recovery agents cannot proceed any further with any form of bullying tactics.
It helps to bear in mind some of the rules IBA has put in place in such circumstances:
- The customer should be contacted ordinarily at the place of his/ her choice or at his/ her residence or even at the place of business/occupation between 7 am and 7 pm.
- Bank representatives should avoid inappropriate occasions such as bereavement in the family while making calls/visits to collect dues.
- The bank should ensure that all written and verbal communication with its borrowers is in simple business language and should adopt civil manners for interaction with borrowers.
- Written communications, telephonic reminders or visits by the banks’ representatives (including recovery agents) to the borrowers place or residence can be used as loan follow up measures. The bank will then give a written notice about any legal or other recovery measures including repossession of the security.
- The bank should be willing to consider handing over the property to the borrower any time after repossession and before concluding sale transaction of the property, provided the bank dues are cleared in full.
If recovery agents do not operate within the guidelines stated above, a consumer can take the following actions :
- If you receive abusive/threatening calls, record the call, making sure that the caller gives details like the bank s/he represents.
- Complain to the bank along with a full transcript of the call. If recovery agents harass physically, then describe each and every detail of the incident minutely in writing. Witnesses, apart from family, can also be quoted in the complaint.
- If the bank does not take any action within a month from the day you file the complaint, or rejects the complaint, or you are not satisfied with the action taken by the bank, file a complaint with the Banking Ombudsman or online at http://www.bankingombudsman.rbi.org.in.
- You should also file a police complaint along with the complaint filed with the Ombudsman.
Search
Social Bookmarking
i wrk for one of the reputed mnc bank and credit card company many times what happns is collection agent talk or behave very harshly and believe me even RBI can not even touch these banks as the contribution which they provide to the govt exchequers is so hefty tht even RBI would not want that hot money and if u were to believe me no one can do ne thng to ds banks
I had taken a personal loan from ICICI bank about a year back. Due to financial problems I was not able to continue with the repayment in full though I continued to make part repayments in tits and bits to the collection agents. I had spoken to them about re-writing the loan amount which they had promptly refused and when I met the bank they asked me to contact the call center and they asked me to contact the bank instead. This happened in Gurgaon wher I used to work for an MNC, however I have left that place and have tried to get the loan re-written so that I could continue with the payments without any success and I do not know if there is any legal actions that have been taken on me as I only get calls from collection agents stating that there is an arrest warrant in my and my families name. I am scared and do not really know what to do. When I approached the RBI Ombudsman in person, I was told that I have to contact the RBI Ombudsman where I have my billing address. I really don’t know what to do and I am scared that I will be put behind the bars or something untoward would happen to me or my family. Please advise.
@Sammy,
It is quite sad for everyone to hear about the tactics employed by collection agents. Hopefully the recent court rulings against the banks will stem the flow of such cases and encourage more consumers to fight back.
@Anirban,
You could narrate your entire experience as a complaint on the Consumer Online Resources & Empowerment website at http://core.nic.in/. I know of people who have received prompt response through this forum. However, there are also genuine cases when there has been no response. You could still give it a shot.
i had opted for ecs service from icici bank to pay my utility bills trough my credit card which i thought would save me a lot of time standing in queus ,but to my surprise after a few months i found my ofice telephone line cut for non payment of bill,i immediately checked my statement to find that it was paid to bsnl twice ,i approache the tel company showed them the statement and my bank passbook for which he said you will have to contact the bank ,and he said they had not received the money from the bank.i was shocked and went to the bank where i had to spend a long time waiting and finally the manager came and after hearing my story said sorry for the inconvienience and asked me to give him in writing which i did and said it would take some time for him to set things right .but nothing happened i had to pay my telephone bill for the third time and get it connected ,after a few months i get a call from the bank saying i had dues and i needed to sttle them immediately and started to get harrasment calls and i was worried and went to meet the person and settled the matter and had to pay ,he was in no mood of listening to my problem and said he can not do anything ,i had no choice but to settle the payment and after all this my name has been put in the default list
now i dont know if there is anything i should do ,if somebody has any suggestions or have gone through anything similar to this please suggest
Dear Rajesh
Waste no time in taking up the matter with Banking Ombudsman
Authorities with relevant documentary evidences in support of
your contention and ask for the credit of excessive amount
you paid in to your account forthwith alongwith interest
thereof.
Hope you will get justice.
All the Best
Dear sir,
I was the one of the card holder of CITI Bank for last 12 years. Recently I am suffuring a serious illnes and lost one of my kidney and all my source of income is closed, for that I became eregular for payment thatwise my out standing started genarated huge amount on account of late payment fees and interest. Then I have applied for settlement and bank has settled for Rs,60,000/- on 12 instalment against post dated cheques for said amount.After five instalment debited from my account which cheques I have given to them for said purpose I have came to know from my bank one of the cheques has debited from my account in the name of another card holder insted of my card cutting my card number and duplicate sign made by bank for rectification purpose whic is serious offence. I have bring the matter to the citibank thru email and no stisfectory reply I have received from CITI Bank. Then I take up this matter with KOLKATA TV our local Media and lodge a complain to our Local PS. Now I am waiting for justice. Please advise.
Please note alll the supporting evidence instruments with me.
Akhil Paul
9883092456
@Venky,
Really appreciate your effort in replying to Rajesh’s problem.
@Akhil,
I’d advise you to send a mail by post to the Citibank office rather than sending an e-mail. Send the same through registered post so that you have evidence of sending the same. In all probability, the Citibank customer support team would respond to your problem. For your reference, the Citibank address to which you must send your complaint is:
Citibank, N.A.
Mailroom
Shakti Towers
766, Anna Salai Post Office,
Chennai - 600 002.
Also, you may want to refer the following link:
Citibank India Grievance Redressal
sir,i got the credit card in sept 2006,as per bank they sended me statement on my office address,at that time i was working with sahara india media & entairtainment(bank send me statement on office address),as company gets lots of letters,i did,nt find my bank statement of 2-3 month,as i got call from bank ,i called up the executive for collection the amount.after that same thing is repating again,i din’nt got the statement,when i got the statement it was full of late fee & un-neccessary finencial charges,as i asked them to waived-off bank denied,till dated they made charges of 38284/- as i only spend 13-14 thousand.right now i am jobless(house wife) & 8 month pragnant,and my husband salary is not enough for paying this amount,as we are already paying 11000/- monthly installment for personal loan.bank recovery agent are continuously argue with us.as i am ready to pay them actual amount but they want complete money that 38284/-plz help us & suggest the need ful.
Sir,
I had taken an personal loan from IDBI,few years back and continued paying the emi for close to an year. The emi’s were being paid regularly and the second year the emi’s did not credit into the loan account due to change of bank and I forgot about the loan over a period of time due to an medical emergency which I was hospitalized for more than 2 months. Upon recovery I took up employment and recovered. Close to an year after the lapse of non payment ,the bank collection executives approached my home and threatned.Untill close to one year there was no communication from bank to me or to my email which was registerd.Currently I am abroad and as soon as I came to know of this I payed 100% of my outstanding and informed the bank that I shall continue the emi’s. Now,the bank is demanding an in appropiate amount from me to credit.
What should I do in this case?
Sir, yes sir! I’m agreeing with you, but I don’t think everybody do. You should not be so rude, it frightens of.
I have a loan from ICICI Bank and deposited 22 installments out of 36 but due to some problem I cant Deposit the rest installment. The recovery agent has inform me that we have arrest warrant against you and you have to deposit all amount today. I have reques them to dep[osit the amount in two installments but they reject this please tell me that without any legal notice how can arrest me any help about that because
Hey all of u people out there with outstanding loans which u are not able to pay for some reason or other, the best way to tackle these recovery agents is to get down to gundagardi yeah that’s right. i had taken loans from 4 different banks to start a business but i suffered very heavy loses and when these agents started pestering me for unpaid emi’s for the first couple of months i paid them by taking loans from different people and sources but eventually i decided enough is enough. i outright told the agents to do whatever they can do recover the loan i was even willing to thrash them up now its been some time since they have stopped coming to my place. please understand that this action was taken only when everything went above my head i.e. the kind of language these people used on phone especially they use females to harrass you so that you are not able to reply back in the same tone because of hesitation also the physical threats they were giving to my family when i was not home .
so be strong and stubborn no bank or person or their so called agents (whose only purpose to harras you is to complete there monthly targets and above so that they can take a beautifull salary home ) can harras u physical or mentally remember they are human to and you always reply in kind.
thanks