CHENNAI: A consumer court in the city directed the ABN AMRO bank to pay Rs 15,000 compensation to one of its customers for falsely charging his account with unnecessary dues on a loan already returned.
T Ramnath from Arumbakkam had been a ‘Smart Gold’ credit card holder with the bank since 2002. The card had a credit limit of Rs 2,50,000.
According to him, the bank offered, over the phone, an ‘Easy Pay’ loan of `1 lakh in 2005, which he could repay in instalments of ` 6,239 per month from one month to the date of issuance of the loan. He was also assured of processing fee waiver.
However, much to his shock, Ramnath received a statement demanding EMI within 23 days of the issuance of the loan. There was also an additional charge of Rs 100 as processing fee. When the complainant pointed out the mistake to the bank, it refused to consider his plea.
Unhappy with the service, Ramnath returned the entire amount of `1 lakh within two months and also received a receipt for the same.
That, however, did not end his ordeal. Despite returning the money, Ramnath continued to receive statements reflecting high and inflated amounts as due. He was also charged under random sections such as financial charge- retail, financial charge- cash, education cess and rate of interest charged for late payment.
All complaints to the bank fell on deaf ears, following which the complainant approached the consumer forum.
In response, the bank charged that the complainant had been highly irregular in his payments and the dues had over time resulted in the accrual of charges. In order to ensure payments, the bank had offered the complainant another option - to treat his card dues as a loan that could be repaid in monthly instalments.
The bank also denied they had offered to waive off the first month’s instalment or processing fees, and argued that the claim could not be taken into consideration as it was made orally.
But the District Consumer Redressal Forum, Chennai (South) pulled up the bank for converting the dues into loans without prior information. The forum also pointed out that there had been an error in calculating the balance due.
The forum, presided by S Pandian, directed the bank to pay `10,000 as compensation and `5000 towards litigation expenses.