1) claim of bank is barred by limitation .
2) refuse to make payment ask bank to take legal proceedings as they so desire .
3) record the threats . lodge police complaint of criminal intimidation against bank recovery agents
ICICI bank - harassment over personal loan after 6 years
Need help please. I had paid off my 2 personals loan with ICICI back in Oct/Nov 2009 by cash. (Remaining balance was approximately Rs.20,000 Rs.8,000) I did not have a checkbook handy so I paid cash as the ICICI representative gave me a receipt. I assumed that my loans were paid off in full. If the payment was not cleared/credited to my account I wasn't notified of it to the email address I gave to the bank. 4 months ago I got such a call telling me that I am a defaulter and I owe the bank Rs.134,000 and Rs.24,000 respectively for both loans. A collection agent came to my house 2 days ago for the payment. I told them that I had paid off the loans but the collection agent was extremely rude and insisted that I make a payment. Unfortunately I don't have the receipt I had paid years ago and I thought it was paid. When I asked why I wasn't contacted all these years the only response I get is that they are contacting me for the last 4 months so that should be good enough. I asked for proof of communication to my email address (my official email address was valid till July 2011) but they have refused to provide any more documents. They just gave me a statement which shows an escalated amount because of all the interest added. I got a call today as well asking me to make a payment. I denied responsibility of the loan. Again I asked for proof of communication to my email address to which the agent was very rude and insisted that I am a defaulter. I told him that I would like to write to the ICICI Consumer Office to clarify this but he said that me writing anywhere or involving a lawyer isn't going to help me. He refused to give me his ID number of his office address. The Collection agent's name is Ananth Ram - Phone number [deleted]. His manager's name is Nageshwar Rao. Please help me. All suggestions are appreciated. Thank you.
Asked 9 years ago in Business Law
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5 Answers
1. Nothing to worry as this is the standard ploy of the NBFC to cheat customer.
2. I may infor that your dues, if any, has become stale which can not be lawfully claimed anymore . This is called time barred debt. Just make sure you do not make any written admissions of your past debt.
3. As regards threats you may lodge complaint with police against criminal intimidation and even file case on that issue.
1. The collection agents have no authority of law to collect loan. You should brazenly tell them to do whatever they can to get the money back.
2. The Supreme Court has on many occasions come down heavily on the practice of employing collection agents. You can lodge a complaint for criminal intimidation against the agent if he contacts you again.
3. If you have a valid receipt of the repayment of loan it would qualify as evidence of repayment of loan.
4. If a lawyer's notice is issued to you then put it up before your lawyer to answer it.
The collection agent cannot be rude or take law in his own hands in the name of recovery of loan. Moreover the loan seems to be barred by limitation hence the recovery cannot be enforced through law as well. The Supreme court instruction is very clear that the bankers or financiers cannot take law in their hands in the name of recovery and they have to adopt the legal procedure or observe due process o law for recovery. Any excesses by the recovery agent may be made as a complaint with the local police and the agents can be taken into task besides a legal notice through your lawyer can be issued to them show causing reasons for their excesses in the name of recovery. You can lodge a complaint on the individual name itself with the police station in your jurisdiction.
1. If you claim that you have repaid the entire dues to the Bank, you should have taken No-Due Certificate from the lending Bank as a standard procedure to close loan account,
2. You have not collected any No-Due Certificate. Moreover, you have also lost the receipts you are claiming that the said collection agent had issued to you,
3. You shall have to prove with evidence that you have repaid the entire loan otherwise you will be treated as a defaulter,
4. Your claim that the Bank has not reminded you about the outstanding is no ground for claiming that you have paid the outstanding in its entirity.
