Case Study 1: HDFC Bank Recovery
Mr.Kaushik Agarwal, about 18 months back had purchased 1 Tata Indigo, financed by HDFC bank. His EMI for this month (May’08) was bounced due to some reasons.
The recovery person called him on the 22nd May for the payment of the same. He was out of town at that moment so Mr.Kaushik had asked him to send someone to his office on the 24th to collect cash.
Now on 24th it slipped out of Kaushik’s mind that he had to pay cash to HDFC Bank and hence he did not withdraw any cash from the bank. As it was a Saturday so when the person came for collection, he requested him to come on Monday, as the bank was already closed for the day.
On this the person, who had called Kaushik earlier on the 22nd, called him again and started shouting at him and speaking in a very bad language. The person told Mr. Kaushik that they know his Residence addresses, so if he don’t pay them today they will come to his house and will insult him in neighborhood. The person also passed threat on him that if Kaushik don’t pay within 5 minutes it would be very bad for him. The person kept using foul words and shouting at him, until he disconnected the phone.
After this Kaushik had no option to go to his local police station and lodge a complaint against that person, and Mr. Kaushik have also decided to put a case against that person and HDFC bank in consumer court as well as civil court.
Kaushik has also posted a complaint with HDFC Grievance cell, docket no. TF22534017. Kaushik requests the concerned authority to take some action on this.
Case Study 2: ABC Bank Debt Recovery
ABC Bank had granted a personal loan of Rs. 60,000 to XY, a lower middle class individual, for consumption needs. The loan was to be repaid in installments by XY. The loan was without any tangible security and also without any third party guarantee. The borrower XY could not repay in time some installments and therefore the loan became overdue.
The ABC Bank gave XY’s Case to Z recovery agent, along with other overdue loans for recovery. The Z recovery agent called XY a couple of times and also visited him at his residence. As XY was not able to repay the amount in default, Z, used abusive and harsh languages in front on XY’s wife and daughters to make recovery. During one of the visits to XY’s house, Z and his colleagues took away forcibly some of the things that were available in XY’s house in front of his wife and daughters and also used threatening language for payment of the dues. XY felt very much humiliated and also depressed. Being unable to repay the dues. XY committed suicide. He left a suicide note, blaming Z for harassing him endlessly. He mentioned the abuses he had suffered at the hands of Z before his wife and daughters. He also mentioned the threat Z gave that he would suffer dire consequences if he failed to repay the overdue amount.
Following the suicide death of XY, the local police arrested Z and his colleagues (who used to accompany Z during his visits to XY’s house) on charges of abatement of suicide. A case was also filed against the ABC Bank, which had to pay an ex-gratia payment of Rs.20 lakhs to the deceased’s family. The incident has also been published in the press and has damaged the Bank’s reputation in public eye, at least for the time being.