ICICI Bank Directed To Pay Rs 55,000 To Customer For Not Informing About Resetting Interest Rate On Home Loan
[ By Bobby Anthony ]The ICICI bank has been directed by a district consumer forum to pay Rs 55,000 to a consumer for failing to inform him about the resetting of the rate of interest on him home loan.The complainant had submitted that in 2006, he availed of a home loan of Rs 30 lakh, with a floating rate of interest from ICICI Bank located in Hyderabad’s financial district, in...
The ICICI bank has been directed by a district consumer forum to pay Rs 55,000 to a consumer for failing to inform him about the resetting of the rate of interest on him home loan.
The complainant had submitted that in 2006, he availed of a home loan of Rs 30 lakh, with a floating rate of interest from ICICI Bank located in Hyderabad’s financial district, in Gachibowli.
When his loan was sanctioned, the interest rate on it was 9.25% with a fixed equated monthly installment (EMI) of Rs 38,410, payable for 120 months.
Since he had been paying EMIs regularly, he was under the impression that the bank would stop collecting EMIs at the end of 120th month.
However, after he checked his bank statement, he noticed that he paid a total sum of Rs 49.73 lakh in 136 months.
He was shocked to notice that only Rs 17.93 lakh was deducted from the principal amount and outstanding payable amount was Rs 28.73 lakh. The rate of interest, displayed as 14.85% in loan account, was never agreed upon he stated and claimed that bank officials never informed him about the change in interest rate.
After he filed a complaint, bank representatives submitted that as the complainant agreed for floating interest rate, which is susceptible to change from time to time as mentioned in the loan agreement as well as sanction letter.
The bank also claimed that it had sent intimations periodically to the complainant whenever there was any change in the rate of interest, and that no excess EMIs had been collected by the bank.
It was noticed during the trial that although the bank claimed to have sent intimations to the complainant about change in rate of interest, it never filed any evidence to support that claim.
The consumer forum concluded that in the absence of any documentary proof of intimating the complainant whenever a change of interest rate occurred, it is difficult to believe the bank.
Accordingly, ICICI Bank was directed to pay the complainant.