CONSUMER IS THE KING

By Sanchit on Saturday, October 25, 2008

Filed Under:

Ever felt cheated by a company or person but dont know what to do? Thought many times of going to consumer court but dont know your rights? From this day I will be posting judgements from various solved cases so that everyone gets the idea how consumer friendly the courts are and can exercise their rights when needed.




Overcharging: Bank to pay borrower Rs 2L

Chandigarh: UT consumer forum directed ICICI Bank Limited to pay Rs two lakh as compensation to Surinder Singh, a Sector 38 resident, who alleged that the bank was overcharging him under different heads. The forum also directed the bank to shell out Rs 11,000 as litigation cost and to credit Rs 33,000 in Singh’s account along with overhauling his loan accounts.

Allured by a scheme floated by the bank, 60-year-old Singh, who is a partner of Surindra Vision & Surindra Radios Private Limited got sanctioned a home loan of Rs one crore in August 2005. The bank allegedly raised the interest against the agreed rate of 9% to 9.5% pa and then to 10.50% without his knowledge. However, during the increased need of business, the complainant got another home loan.

In May 2007, the bank informed him that his one EMI cheque had bounced. On enquiring, Singh was told that EMIs for both loans were revised due to increase in rate of interest as per RBI notification but the copy of such a notification was not supplied to him despite several requests. Beside this, the bank also took overdraft and cheque bouncing charges. Therefore, alleging that overcharging of amount from him on different heads is a deficiency in service, Singh moved a complaint in consumer court. Denying allegations ICICI Bank Limited pleaded that administrative charges are non-refundable as they are spent on disbursement of loan. It further added that since Singh’s cheque bounced, the amount was charged as per the terms and conditions.