A Bandra Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered a bank to pay Rs. 5 lakhs in compensation to its Navi Mumbai-based customer for erroneously putting his name in a defaulter list with a credit information company CIBIL, due to which he was denied a home loan from another bank.
The Commission said the bank’s action was such that it had violated his civil rights and hence it is responsible to pay him compensation. Nerul resident Alok Agarwal had stated in his complaint that he was using two credit cards of Standard Chartered Bank in the early 2000’s which were life-time free. The bank, however, started making phone calls and demanding yearly fees and hence he had stopped using them. In 2010, he tried to avail a loan from another bank for buying a home, but that bank rejected his application and informed him that his CIBIL report was adverse. He enquired with the CIBIL and was told that Standard Chartered Bank had shown him as a defaulter for the two credit cards - with over Rs. 1 lakh pending. Agarwal inquired with the bank and was informed that there is no money due to it on his part that it will update CIBIL.
The complainant stated that due to the bank’s error he lost Rs. 1,71,000 he paid a broker for the home deal and had difficulty availing an education loan for his daughter.
The bank in its defence told the Commission that the credit card accounts were not free of cost and had a yearly fee, which being unpaid by Agarwal, it had levied those charges.
The Commission opined that though the complainant had stopped using the credit card in 2003, the yearly fees pending are shown between 2003 and 2010. In this period, it said, there is no evidence that the complainant was asked for the amount.
It said that there is carelessness seen in the service of the bank. “If there is one-day delay in paying credit card dues, banks charge interest. If the amount is not paid, then however genuine the reason for the default be, to take action on a customer, a bank like the opposite party, does not hesitate. For no fault of the customer, when he is shown as a defaulter with CIBIL, for that the bank alone is responsible.” it stated. The Commission added that the complainant’s credibility in the market was decided from the record and that another bank denied him a loan, cannot be neglected. Even if the mistake was from one side, the complainant suffered financial and mental agony due to it and held that the bank had engaged in unfair trade practice.
