BANK GRIEVANCES

REDRESSAL OF GRIEVANCES AGAINST BANKS-

vide http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/banking/finance/banking/how-to-redress-your-banking-grievances/articleshow/12723518.cms?curpg=2

Around 24% of complaints received by the Banking Ombudsman offices are about disputes related toplastic money.

According to the Annual Banking Ombudsman Report 2010-11, the typical complaints include excessive charges, non-dispensation of money from ATMs, unsolicited credit cards, mis-sold insurance policies, settlement offers conveyed over the phone and wrong debits. Even at ET, a sizeable number of readers' queries are related to ATMs, credit and debit cards. 

Disputes over wrong billing 

It is very important that you go through your credit card/bank account statements carefully every month. If you find any wrong entry, bring it to the card issuer's notice immediately. 

Typically, such bills state that the details will be considered correct unless the cardholder points out the discrepancies within 30 days. After all, you cannot wish away the dispute by avoiding the payment. If you do that, the interest and other penal charges will keep mounting, inflating your original outstanding amount. 

Touch base with the company the moment you find any discrepancy, and if you do not receive a satisfactory response, write to the grievance redressal officer, with the nodal officer as the final stop at the card-issuer level.

"If the bank is unable to provide a solution within 15 days, you can take your grievance to the Banking Ombudsman for a resolution," says Madan Mohan, chief counselor with the ICICI Bank-supported Disha Financial Counselling. 

Unsolicited cards 

The Banking Ombudsman report mentions a complaint where a senior citizen was upgraded to a 'platinum' card. The card holder had requested for the literature to examine the offer, and the bank sent the platinum card along with it. 

Later, he was billed an amount of 5,510.83, presumably the joining fee. Since he did not need the card, he requested the bank to cancel the same. 

However, the bank continued to demand the outstanding on the platinum card. After the Banking Ombudsman stepped in, the bank reversed the card fee as well as other associate financial charges in addition to converting the platinum card into a lifetime-free card and confirmed NIL outstanding on the card. 

Authorisation and settlement of loans over phone 

Ranjit Mehta, a 67-year-old pensioner, was offered a personal loan by his credit card company and he accepted it - all over the phone and e-mail. No documents, no agreements and no signatures. The trouble started once he closed the loan after two years.

"When I called them up and told them that I wanted to clear the loan, they were fine with it. They also told me that no interest would be charged. Later, they demanded money on the grounds that the loan was not foreclosed. They said I should have asked for foreclosure and paid a penalty of 3%." 

"The most important terms and conditions applicable to a loan product are mentioned in the sanction letter. In fact, it is obligatory on the part of the bank to give a sanction letter and get an acknowledgement from the applicant as a token of acceptance of the terms before disbursing the loan amount," points out VN Kulkarni, chief counsellor with the Bank of India-backed Abhay Credit Counselling Centre. 

In the absence of a written agreement, seek clarification from the bank and approach the Banking Ombudsman if the bank refuses to give you a fair treatment. Better still, avoid accepting such loan offers over the phone. 

Non-dispensation of money from ATM 

Complaints of account getting debited despite the ATM not dispensing the cash are not rare. However, it can be a hassle when banks refuse to acknowledge the error immediately. To deter banks from delaying reimbursing the customers, the RBI has issued a series of directives regarding this matter. 

Banks are required to pay a compensation of 100 per day to such customers if the bank fails to resolve the issue within seven days of the complaint being lodged. That is, provided you file the complaint within 30 days of the incomplete transaction. 

Adverse reporting to CIBIL 

The Banking Ombudsman report cites a resolved complaint where the bank reported the borrower as 'defaulter' with CIBIL in spite of full and final settlement. 

As a result of the adverse CIBIL report, due to the bank's error, the complainant could not obtain a home loan. Also, the bank did not respond to the complainant's enquiries. Ultimately, the Banking Ombudsman instructed the bank to rectify the mistake and compensate the customer. 

Remember, banks, as per their own code of commitment, are under obligation to update borrowers' records with credit information companies ( CIC) as soon as possible. 

The Code states that if the account of a borrower is regularised after having been in default, the information will be passed on to the CICs in the subsequent monthly report. Therefore, ensure that you don't back down if the bank refuses to set your repayment record straight. 

Finally, as is the case with all banking-related grievances, you can always knock on the doors of the Banking Ombudsman if you feel your complaint has not been addressed to your satisfaction.

20 April,2012

HOME LOANS- PENALTY FOR PRE PAYMENT 

Nov. 24, 2011 reported as under (vide http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/article2656235.ece)

NEW DELHI, NOV 24: 

State Bank of India has decided to abolish the pre-payment charges on home loans, giving some succour to borrowers who want to foreclose their accounts.

“We have decided to do away with the pre-payment charges on all kinds of housing loans with immediate effect,” a senior official of the bank told PTI.

The bank has been charging pre-payment penalties only on housing loans with floating interest rates taken before May 2011, the official said. It has been charging about 2 per cent of the outstanding amount as penalty if borrowers opted to foreclose their loans.

The decision from the largest lender will prompt other lenders to follow the suit.

….

It may be noted that the Reserve Bank has indicated that it would scrap pre-payment penalties charged by banks.

“It is proposed to implement the recommendations of the Damodaran Committee, on which a broad consensus has emerged, as also the action points which were identified by the IBA (Indian Banks’ Association) and BCSBI (Banking Codes and Standards Board of India) in the last Banking Ombudsmen conference,” RBI had said in its mid-year credit policy review.

Housing finance regulator National Housing Bank (NHB) has directed all the housing finance companies to desist from imposing a pre-payment penalty on home loan borrowers last month.

The levy of charge on borrowers for pre-closure of housing loans by housing finance companies has been considered further by the NHB in the light of subsequent developments and it has been decided that hereafter, housing finance companies should not charge a pre-payment levy or a penalty on pre-closure of housing loans, the regulator had said in a notification.

In addition, the NHB has also directed all the housing finance companies to have a uniform and not differential rates of interest for old and new borrowers that have the same credit or risk profile.

Pre-closure charge on housing loans set to go

October 28, 2011

vide http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/homes-and-gardens/article2576765.ece

The National Housing Bank has offered some consolation to home-loan customers through its October 19 directive to housing-finance companies that they should not impose a prepayment levy or penalty on pre-closure of housing loans.

Floating-rate loans can be pre-closed through money raised from any source, the directive says.

In the case of loans on fixed rates, the accounts can be closed using money raised by the borrower only from his or her own source — any source other than a loan from a bank, housing-finance company, non-banking finance company, or financial institution.

Some time ago, the RBI issued a directive to banks, as part of efforts to improve customer service, to stop levying pre-closure charges on home loans, though the Indian Banks' Association has argued against the move. The directive, applicable to home loans on floating rates, has brought bankers together against the move.

…..The bank also warned housing financial institutions against offering different floating rates to their old and new customers.

The directive said: “Several representations/complaints have been received by the National Housing Bank against such practice … It is accordingly advised that the HFCs [housing-finance companies] should ensure uniformity in rates on a floating-rate basis charged to their old and new customers with the same risk profile, irrespective of the time of entry of the borrowers in the market.”

The bank observed that charging a higher interest on earlier borrowers in relation to the new customers put the former at a disadvantage and the practice was discriminatory. For the growth of a healthy housing finance system, it was important that pricing of products be transparent and non-discriminatory.

WAKE UP CALL TO MILLIONAIRES. BILLIONAIRES AND POWERFUL MINORITY IN THE SOCIETY-

HIGLY AFFLUENT AND POWERFUL PEOPLE MAY BE FEELING VERY SMUG ABOUT THEIR UNLIMITED WEALTH AND POWER AND THE SUPER LUXURIES AT THEIR COMMAND, BUT LET THEM LEARN A LESSON, IF THEY HAVE NOT YET DONE SO, FROM FEW OF THE MANY EXAMPLES OF LAST DAYS OF THE COLONEL GADDAFI  OF LIBYA; SADAM  HUSSEIN OF IRAQ AND MANY OTHERS. THE WEALTH , LUXURIES AND POWER WHICH THEY HAD THEIR COMMAND WAS THOUSAND TIMES MORE THAN WHAT THE  ANYBODY CAN BOAST OF. PEOPLE WHO HAVE AMASSED UNLIMITED WEALTH AND POWER THINK THAT THEY ARE WISE AND THEIR FUTURE 10-20 GENERATIONS WILL ENJOY THE FRUITES OF THEIR ACCUMULATION. THINK AGAIN IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE ABOVE MENTIONED RECENT REAL CASES. NEWS PAPERS ARE REPLETE WITH CASES OF THEFT, CORRUPTION, RAPES, DACOITY, VIOLENCE, PETTY AND BIG CRIMES REPORTED ON DAILY BASIS. WOULD YOU WANT A SIMILAR END FOR YOURSELF OR SOMEONE OF YOUR KITH AND KIN FROM YOUR FUTURE GENERATIONS? THE DISPARITIES IN ALMOST ALL THE AREAS OF LIFE BETWEEN RICH AND POOR, THAT YOU PEOPLE HAVE JOINTLY AND SEVERALLY CREATED HAS REACHED DANGEROUS AND VOLATILE PROPORTION. THE VOLCANO MAY ERUPT WITHOUT NOTICE – WHETHER TODAY, TOMORROW OR MANY TOMORROWS HEREAFTER BUT ONE THING IS CERTAIN SOME OF YOUR OWN BLOOD WILL BE AFFECTED. IF ONE IS REALLY WISE, HE WILL ENSURE THAT THE DISPARITIES GET REDUCED AND THE DISCONTENT, FRUSTRATION AND THE ANGER SUBSIDES, NOT AS AN ALTRUISTIC MEASURE BUT FOR THE SAKE OF HIS OWN INTEREST AND SAFEGUARD. LEARN LESSONS FROM THE HISTORY. IT IS YOUR OWN FOOLISHNESS THAT HAS GENERATED REVOLUTIONS MOST OF WHICH HAVE BEEN BLOODY AND HORRIBLE. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION  CIRCULATING OVER EMAILS, ABOUT THE LAST DAYS OF 8 OF THE BILLIONAIRES, MAY SHAKE YOU TO WAKE UP.

IN 1923, EIGHT OF THE WEALTHIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD MET. THEIR COMBINED WEALTH,

 ESTIMATED, EXCEEDED THE WEALTH OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. THESE MEN KNEW HOW TO MAKE A LIVING AND ACCUMULATE WEALTH. 25 YEARS LATER.

1. PRESIDENT OF THE LARGEST STEEL COMPANY, CHARLES SCHWAB, DIED BANKRUPT.
2. PRESIDENT OF THE LARGEST GAS COMPANY, HOWARD HUBSON, WENT INSANE.
3. ONE OF THE GREATEST COMMODITY TRADERS, ARTHUR CUTTON, DIED INSOLVENT.
4. PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE, RICHARD WHITNEY, WAS SENT TO JAIL.

5. A MEMBER OF THE PRESIDENT’S CABINET, ALBERT FALL, WAS PARDONED FROM JAIL.

6. THE GREATEST “BEAR” ON WALL STREET, JESSIE LIVERMORE, COMMITTED SUICIDE.

7. PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST MONOPOLY, IVAR KRUEGER, COMMITTED SUICIDE.

8. PRESIDENT, BANK OF INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENT, LEON FRASER, COMMITTED SUICIDE.

WHAT WAS ONCE A MEANS OF LIVING WILL BECOME A MEANS OF DESTRUCTION.

SO TAKE A MOMENT AND ASK YOURSELF….HAS THE WATER ENTERED MY SHIP? ;) 

14th APRIL, 2012.

PREMJI BHANUSHALI

C-108, VISHNU RESIDENCY,

STREET NO.11, GANDHI NAGAR,

HYDERABAD 500 080.

GM AND BT SEEDS- DANGER SUPER DANGER.

GM FOODS AND GM COTTON- SEE THROUGH THE DEVIOUS MARKETING AND BRAIN WASHING ON MASSIVE SCALE BY THE CONCERNED MULTI NATIONAL COMPANIES. SPONSORED PROGRAMMES IN THE NAMES OF PRIVATE SECTOR AND PUBLIC SECTOR COMPANIES, EVEN SOME NGOs, AND TUTORED FARMERS TOO TO FURTHER BRAIN WASH. OUR COUNTRY IS EVER READY TO WELCOME SUCH MNCs IN THE NAME OF GLOBALISATION. USA PREACHING AND PRESSURISING INDIA FOR DECADES TO REDUCE SUBSIDIES TO POOR AND FARMERS AND THE MIDDLE CLASS, MAKE IMPORTS MORE LUCRATIVE HAS NOW TAKEN U TURN FOR THEMSELVES WHEN THE FIRE IS IN THEIR OWN BACKYARD.

GM – THE FULL FORM IS GENETICALLY MODIFIED. WHY? TO GAIN MONOPOLY ON SEEDS AND LONG ENDING PROFITEERING AND EXPLOITATION. THE FARMERS CANNOT REUSE THE SEEDS AS IN THE CASES OF NATURAL CROPS. BUT EVERY TIME OF THE NEW CROP, THEY HAVE TO CONTRACT TO BUY IT FROM THE MNC. FARMERS CONTRACTUALLY CANNOT REUSE SEEDS FROM THE CROP. (STORY OF HANDING OVER NATURAL WATER TO PRIVATE COMPANIES READ HUMAN VULTURES IS ANOTHER SCAM. GROUND WATER IS INCLUDED WITH RIVER WATER).

BT BRINJALS IS ONE SUCH GM FOOD.  SIMILARLY FOR OTHER FOODS LIKE MAIZE, RICE, WHEAT.

BT- FULL FORM IS " BACILLUR THURIGENESIS ". THIS BACTERIA PRODUCES POISON THAT KILLS CERTAIN SPECIFIC TYPE OF INSECTS (NOT ALL TYPES) THAT HARM CROPS.

SO THE SO CALLED SAFE BT- BRINJALS IS LACED WITH THE DNA OF THE ABOVE POISON PRODUCING BACTERIA. SO APPARENTLY THE BRINJAL CROP MAY BECOME LESS VULNERABLE TO THE CROP INSECTS BUT THE MAIN ISSUE IS WHETHER BRINJAL LACED WITH SUCH BACTERIA IN ITS DNA IS SAFE FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION????

IN AMERICA SUCH DNA MODIFIED CROPS ARE PERMITTED BUT THOSE CROPS ARE NOT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION BUT FOR ANIMAL CONSUMPTION (MAIZE, SOYABEAN).

(COURTESY GUJARAT SAMACHAR 27TH MAR 2012 ARTICLE BY URVISH KOTHARI)

MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL HEALTH, HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP GUIDANCE- malefemale.in website of Dr. Hansal Bhachech.Dr. Hansal Bhachech has created his website by name malefemale.in where anyone can post his / her problem, and Dr. Bhachech answers it in a practical way. Useful relationship guidance information for anyone to keep. Pass it on to friends. Full interview on  http://www.speakbindas.com/dr-hansal-bhachech-md-psychiatrist/ Dr. Hansal Bhachech is a well-known author, psychiatrist and relationship expert of India. He is M.D. in psychiatry with university first position. He is mental health adviser to Government of Gujarat. He is a popular column writer. His columns on Male-Female relationship are having a wide readership base across the globe. In his columns, he is giving guidance about emotional and psychological problems. He has written books on Male-Female relationships, mental disorders, stress and its management, drug addiction, Depression, Schizophrenia, Common sexual myths — etc. Various TV channels, radios, newspapers, and magazines are frequently interviewing him.

He has also produced audiotapes for mental relaxation, regulation of blood pressure and exam fear in students. He is an international speaker, who has delivered more than three hundred lectures all over the world on versatile subjects.

(source: malefemale.in)

11 April 2012.
Hotel Sun Rise in Alkapuri area, Sampatrao Colony, off R C Dutt Road, Vadodara city in Gujarat State (India).
We stayed there for one day in April, 2012. The room had lot of natural light and good view. A/c. was powerful, The room was L shaped and single sheet sofas were nicely placed near the big glass windows over looking the road. The curtains were thick. Beds comfortable. Hot and cold water was available.
Minus points were bathroom was too small. From the condition of dirt and dust in the room it was evident that regular upkeep and cleaning of the room and the bathroom, toilet was not done sincerely. Lack of proper effective supervision could be one of the reason for the above drawback. Food was not good but there are good eateries around nearby. But after I pointed out the unclean situation, the staff did a good job of cleaning.
The hotel could do more business with better and more investment of money, time and attention to the cleanliness aspects. Publicity in itself is not enough if not supported by the ground realities. In hospitality industry it is the repeat customers that increase the occupancy rates and add to the reputation by word of mouth which is equivalent to lakhs in publicity through various media.
So worth a visit. Contact details
Hotel Sunrise, 5, Sampatrao Colony, R C Dutt Road, Alkapuri, Vadodara - 390 007, State Gujarat, Country India. Ph/Fax 0265 2355401-501-701. Website -www.hotelsunrisevadodara.com, email- info@hotelsunrisevadodara.com

Shree Laxmi Stores (Ready made, dresses, sarrees)
The above store is situated on R C Dutt Road, Alkapuri, Vadodara (Baroda), Gujarat, India.
Prices and variety of ready made dresses, dress material seemed reasonable to us. But the salesman and bosses lacked politeness and humility. The owners seems to be from Rajasthan. As far as the merchandise is concerned , worth a look.

11th April, 2012
Multicuisine Restaurant in Akota, Vadodara (Baroda), Gujarat State, India
Recently we visited White Potato multicuisine eatery located in Akota, Vadodara. We ate south indian and north Indian chat followed by Gulab Jamun. All the items were first class, hot and very tasty, good cleanliness. Gulab Jamuns were hot and so soft and tasty. Would recommend this if you are looking for a eatery in Akota area.
Akota is about 3 km. from Alkapuri and both are good areas in the city of Vadodara (Baroda). White Potato the multicuisine food hotel is situated opposite Galleria Shopping Mall and Sir Sayaji Rao Nagar Gruh (good auditorium just about 9 months old).
Other air conditioned good eating houses serving Gujarati Thali in Alkapuri area  of Vadodara are
Sassomaa (off R C Dutt Road, Alkapuri.
Rasthaal ( a recent additon to the list of eateries) ,
Aamantran.
We ate Gujarati Thali at Sassomaa and were v happy. The cost was Rs. 150/- each unlimited thali- all items. Two sweets, 3 vegetales, liquid curd, hot phulka (thin wheat chappatis), Bajra Rotla with ghee and jaggery, two farsaans (namkeens) , rice.
Try for yourself.