GOLD AUCTIONED DESPITE BORROWER NOT RECEIVING NOTICE
The complainant had pledged gold ornaments to get an agricultural loan payable after one year. Since the borrower did not turn up after one year for renewal or closure/ servicing the loan, the bank auctioned the gold after sending him a notice. The bank reported to the banking ombudsman that the gold was auctioned after serving notice to the complainant in advance. Based on this, the ombudsman closed the case.
In the appeal, the Appellate Authority (AA) observed that the notice, although sent by the bank ten days before auctioning, was returned un-served by the post office since the door was locked. In fact, the branch admitted to having received the notice back from the post office before auctioning the gold. But it went on with the auctioning programme. Since the auctioning was done without information to the customer, the AA directed the bank to return the auctioned gold to the customer by crediting the difference between the market value and the auctioned value. In addition, the customer was given a compensation of Rs 5,000 also.
FRIVOLOUS COMPLAINT:
A borrower with overdraft facility alleged that the bank was charging excessive rate of interest (higher than their agreed rate) and submitted a purportedly tampered copy of a loan agreement without any authentication by the bank officials, in his support.
The bank submitted a copy of the sanction letter and the original loan agreement duly signed by both the parties, revealing the actual terms and conditions. The complaint was treated as frivolous/vexatious in nature and the bank was advised to take appropriate action against the complainant, after proper investigation.
LOSS OF ORIGINAL TITLE DEED OF PROPERTY MORTGAGED WITH THE BANK:
A customer took a home loan and original title deed of his residential property was mortgaged with the bank. The loan was fully repaid, however the bank did not return the original title deed. The bank stated that title deed was not traceable. The banking ombudsman observed that the bank's action of misplacing the title deed had resulted in permanent defects in the documents of title and it amounted to negligence and violation of BCSBI Code by the bank.
Therefore, the ombudsman directed the bank to arrange for a duplicate set of title deed duly certified by the Registrar and also issue a certificate under its letter head to the complainant stating that the property documents citing full details of all lost documents at its hand and that the certified copy may be construed as the original. The bank was also directed to issue an advertisement in a prominent local newspaper regarding loss of original documents and pay compensation of Rs 20,000 to the complainant.
(Source: Annual report of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme.)
This is the Fifteenth in the series on redressal of customer grievances by the Banking Ombudsman being carried in these columns.
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