Tagged: Complaint

ATM :: Don’t worry about your low credit score

Adhil Shetty | Dec 19, 2016 | Deccan Herald

ATM
If you’re applying for a loan or a credit card, your lender would look into your credit history. A CIBIL score of 750 or more is considered desirable by most lenders. If you’ve been prompt in repaying your credit card bills and other loans, you should have a sturdy score.

But every now and then, people get a rude shock with their CIBIL score which prevents them from getting a loan product of their choosing. This means that their loan application may get rejected, or they may be offered a loan with a high interest rate.

Your CIBIL score could be low for broadly two reasons — Data in your CIBIL report is incorrect, and that you have defaulted on a loan or have been irregular with your repayments.

The first step towards ascertaining the details of your CIBIL report is to get a copy of it. You can do this for a fee of Rs 550 from the CIBIL website. Your report will be generated instantly and its details will be shared with you on your email.

Now, let’s dive deeper into these two issues.

Incorrect reporting of personal and credit history
*Check personal details: Your CIBIL report carries your personal details such as name, PAN number, contact information, employer’s address, employer information such as salary and occupation.

Next, it carries details of every credit card account or loan account you’ve opened with regulated entities such as banks and NBFCs. Any discrepancy in this data needs to be checked and challenged. Ascertain that the details in your report pertain to you and your own credit history. If you’ve mistakenly been assigned someone else’s credit history — especially an adverse credit history — your credit score would suffer.

*Check repayment details: Next in your report, go through the details of all the borrowing accounts you’ve opened: Credit cards, personal loans, home loans, car loans, etc. You also need to check the monthly repayment details of all these accounts. The CIBIL report would reflect any delays in repayments (as ‘days past due’), defaults, settlements, write-offs, value of collaterals offered, etc. Ascertain that all the details are correct and that these accounts actually belong to you. This data is reported to CIBIL by your lender. If any detail has been reported in a way that adversely impacts your borrowing history, your credit score would suffer.

*Raise a complaint: CIBIL allows you to challenge incorrect reporting through its website. You can also contact them through post. When you access the online copy of your report, you can go over your personal and financial details. Any details that you want to be corrected need to be reported to CIBIL, which will then contact your lending institution for amends. This process may take up to 30-45 days. If the lender accepts the corrections, they will reflect in your report. If the lender refuses to accept your corrections, you will have to get in touch with them directly. This is because CIBIL prepares your report from information received from your lender. Therefore, CIBIL cannot directly change the contents of your report.

Defaults, Delays In Repayments, Credit-Hungriness
If you have neglected repaying your loans, it would hurt your credit score hard. Let’s take a quick look at your options to address this problem:

*Repay loan balances on time: Whether you have loans or credit card dues, always aim to settle them as per your repayment plan. If there are difficulties in repayment, always keep your lender in the loop so that the lending terms may be made easier. With credit cards, always pay the full due amount rather than the minimum amount.

*Don’t be credit-hungry: Don’t apply for too many loans or credit cards, especially within a short time. With application, the lender will check your credit history. Too many queries into your credit history would reduce your credit score since you will be seen as a credit-hungry person. Also, having too many loans at the same time means you will have to manage several EMIs every month, which would adversely impact your liquidity and could lead to default.

*Increase credit limit on card: Try and spend no more than 20% of your credit card limit. For example, if your monthly spending limit is Rs 1,00,000, restrict your spending to Rs 20,000. It means that your credit utilisation ratio (CUR) is 20%, which is ideal. A frequently high CUR would portray you as being in constant need of short-term credit.

Asking your credit card provider to increase your spending limit, or having multiple credit cards, can help reduce your CUR. For example, your increased spending limit could be Rs 2,00,000, whereas your monthly spending is Rs 20,000, thus bringing your CUR to 10%. Also, if you have multiple credit cards, you could divide your spending between them, thus maintaining an optimum CUR on all cards rather than increasing the CUR on a single card.

*Don’t settle: If you’ve defaulted on your payments, your lender may offer you an option to ‘settle’ your loan. This means paying a percent of your principal and interest due, and considering the loan account closed. Taking this option would reflect in your CIBIL history and it would adversely impact your credit score. Any lenders you approach would see that you were unable to repay your loan. Therefore, do not take the settlement option if you can settle loans in full.

*Repay a mix of credit: You should have a history of repaying a mix of short-term or unsecured credit such as credit card balances and long-term or secured credit such as home loan. The timely repayment of a mix of credit instruments would reflect well on your credit history.

(The writer is CEO at http://www.BankBazaar.com)

Source: https://goo.gl/HlhFXw

ATM :: How to lodge a consumer complaint online

Different types of complaints can be filed depending on the specific issue, by visiting the concerned consumer court and submitting the necessary documents.
ET Bureau | 23 May 2016, 8:46 AM IST | Economic Times

ATM
If you, as a consumer, have any grievances about the quality of a brand, product or service, you can file a consumer complaint and seek redress. Different types of complaints can be filed depending on the specific issue, by visiting the concerned consumer court and submitting the necessary documents. Alternatively, you can also register a consumer complaint online through the following steps.

Website : The government runs a portal called the Consumer Online Resource and Empowerment Centre (core.nic.in). It is a com plaint and grievance redressal system run by the Consumer Co-ordination Council and supported by the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India.

Registration : To lodge a complaint, the consumer has to first register on the site. The online registration form has to be filled in with the name, email, address and phone number of the complainant, and an user id and password have to be created.

Lodging a complaint : A complaint can be filed against any registered brand or service provider. The online complaint system has a dropdown menu of sectors, seg ments and brands, which includes all brands registered with the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Process : The nature of the complaint, the details of any people involved and supporting documents can be attached to the online complaint. The consequences and relief sought can also be indicated

Status : Once submitted, complaints are assigned an electronically generated number. This can be used to track the status of the complaint until it is resolved.

Points to note : * Multiple complaints can be filed using the same log in credentials and can be tracked online. * The messages sent to the brand and consumer are also available for viewing to track progress. * Complaints can be filed in both Hindi and English.

(The content is courtesy Centre for Investment Education and Learning (CIEL). Contributions by Girija Gadre, Arti Bhargava and Labdhi Mehta.)

Source: http://goo.gl/Bgl6xC

NTH :: Consumer forum penalises HDFC Bank

HT Correspondent | Hindustan Times Chandigarh, September 29, 2014 | Last Updated: 23:39 IST(29/9/2014)

NTH

The District Consumer Disputes Redresssal Forum, Chandigarh, on Monday directed HDFC bank to pay Rs. 25,000 as compensation for deficient services.

In a complaint, Dinesh Batta, a resident of Sector 19, said he had an account with the HDFC bank and was operating a credit card issued by the bank.

He said in June 2013, an unauthorised transaction of Rs. 72,487 was performed using his credit card, following which he informed the bank.

Batta alleged that despite assurance of investigations into the case, no action was taken by the bank. After three months, when he contacted the bank to know the status of the investigation into his complaint, the bank had said his dispute form had been misplaced.

Denying any deficiency of services, HDFC Bank said the transaction was performed by an authorised person.

The bank said it was the duty of the complainant to take sufficient care that the card was not misused.The forum, presided over by PL Ahuja, said on September 24 that “the bank has not produced any copy of the detailed investigation allegedly made by them, in accordance with which, the bank reached at a finding that the disputed transaction was conducted by an authorised person. We are of the view that the omission on the part of bank to take prompt action on the card holder dispute form of the complainant and providing him the information and non-production of its investigation report point out the deficiency in service on the part of bank.”

The forum also directed the bank to pay Rs. 7,500 as litigation charges.

Source : http://goo.gl/wn4Uag

ATM :: Banking Ombudsman: Customer complaints on the rise, but 23% of them not maintainable

LN REVATHY | COIMBATORE, SEPT 12, 2014 | Hindu Business LIne

ATM

Technology seems both a boon and bane in banking. While customers are able to do their banking transactions 24×7, from the comfort of their home, anytime and anywhere, people also seem to be losing money because of technology, observed U Chiranjeevi, Banking Ombudsman, RBI, Chennai.

Speaking to Business Line on the sidelines of the Coimbatore edition of Reserve Bank of India Quiz (RBIQ), he said that the number of complaints pertaining to credit and ATM cards are on the rise.

”But 23 per cent of the complaints are not maintainable. People are not aware of the scheme,” he said and explained that the Banking Ombudsman office does not entertain complaints received through an advocate, forgery and frauds such as phishing attack or ending with other forums such as the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and commercial transactions.”

The complaint should be between the bank and the customer. And here too, we can take up the issue only if it is within this jurisdiction. For instance, if the complaint pertains to credit card transaction and the card holder’s billing address is elsewhere (some other state), then I cannot take the complaint. It has to be taken up in that geography,” Mr Chiranjeevi explained.

‘The Banking Ombudsman scheme should be strengthened; with customer protection gaining strength, there is pressure for expanding the scheme to other areas such as cooperative and regional rural banks as well,” he said.

The Ombudsman office though is facing manpower shortage. The staff strength according to Mr Chiranjeevi, has not been adequate to take care of the increasing number of complaints.

The office received 9,500 complaints last year, which is said to be 21 per cent higher than the numbers received the earlier fiscal.

With expanding branch network, financial inclusion initiatives and entry of new banks, the number of customer complaints is expected to go up.

The Banking Ombudsman however conceded that they have an institutional mechanism to resolve issues at the earliest. ”No complaint remains unresolved for more than 30 days,” he said.

Of the total, nearly 25 per cent are ATM-related complaints. Other issues that are causing lots of social problems pertain to loss of title deeds, auction of jewellery without notice and hidden charges, he said.

Though State Bank of India topped in the number of complaints followed by Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, Mr Chiranjeevi said ”just because the number of complaints is high, it is not negative. They have a huge network, customer base is large and are expanding. That these banks too are able to resolve the issues within the stipulated time should be appreciated.”

Source : http://goo.gl/wvRovd

Integra’s Take: You must first follow the published grievance procedure of your Bank, use the escalation matrix given by them and wait for their response to it before escalating the matter to Banking Ombudsman for effective complaint resolution.