In the Court of the
Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Unit -I, Kolkata,
8B, Nelie Sengupta Sarani, 4th Floor, Kolkata-700087.
CDF/Unit-I/Case No.305/2010
1) Sri Sanjay Kumar Ram,
26A, Hara Mohan Ghosh Lane,
P.S. Beliaghata, Kolkata-85. ---------- Complainant
---Versus---
1) ABN AMRO Bank (India) N.V.
Head office at Brady House, 14, Veer Nariman Road,
Fort, Mumbai – 400023. and
Kolkata Collection Deptt. at “Trinity Tower”
83, Topsia Road (South), 2nd Floor,
P.S. Topsia, Kolkata-46. ---------- Opposite Party
Present : Sri Sankar Nath Das, President.
Dr. Subir Kumar Chaudhuri, Member.
Order No. 24 Dated 21-05-2013.
The case of the complainant in short is that complainant at the insistence of the o.p. became subscriber in respect of Freedom credit card issued by the ABN AMRO Bank Ltd. having card no. 5415 3823 0966 1684 and ABN Gold Debit card bearing no.5318209600021102 with the o.p. but rarely used those cards for personal use.
Complainant after subscribing said cards often used to receive various type of promotional calls from the o.p. but never shown any interest in the same few years back on such one of the promotion al call on 31.12.04 the complainant was offered personal loan of Rs.4 lakhs and was intimated that there is no harm in opting for this personal loan which will though remained sanctioned in his name as cash credit type loan and for that the complainant is not required to pay any farthing till he withdraw the such amount. He was further assured that in the event he withdraws the amount he can repay the said amount in Easy Monthly Instalments with minimum interest thereon. Relying on in the version of said men and agent of the o.p. the complainant intimated that he will give a thought on the said offer but did not give his consent for the same.
Complainant found from the statement issued by o.p. that o.p. had arbitrarily and without any instruction from the complainant opened personal loan account no.9170905 and credited a sum of Rs.4 lakhs therein and of its own started debiting EMI of Rs.11,750/- obviously with interest month by month squaring off the alleged loan amount which was never withdrawn from the said account by the complainant and surprisingly even after set off entire amount alleged loan started debiting the said loan account with late fees and other charges etc.
In Feb. 2008 the complainant received a regd. letter dt.21.2.08 from o.p. and on perusal of same it transpired for the first time that o.p. is demanding Rs.1,33,379/- as outstanding towards the personal loan the complainant immediately lodged objection to the same and thereafter wrote letters dt.5.3.08 and 9.4.08 to o.p. but no reply was given for the same on the contrary the complaint and her family was harassed over phone as well as by the collecting agents. It is pertinent to mention that after receiving the said letter o.p. sent a team of so called collecting agent who threatened the complainant with dire consequence and compelled under force the complainant to issue three chqeues in March 2008 total amounting to Rs.32,250/- towards the alleged repayment of loan but as the complainant is middle class person working at a private commercial establishment at meager salary did not have ample fund in his bank, as result the said cheques were returned unpaid.
Complainant humbly submits that the o.p. with malafide intention or deliberately by adopting or unfair trade practice with intention to charge interest and other charges on alleged personal loan credited the sanction sum of Rs.4 lakhs without any instruction in personal loan account no.9170905 opened in the name of complainant and thereafter started debiting interest, late payment charges / penalties and asking complainant to pay the said amount without resolving dispute all these acts amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice adopted by o.p. Hence the case was filed by the complainant with the prayer contained in the petition of complaint.
O.p. had entered their appearance in this case by filing w/v and denied all the material allegations labeled against them and prayed for dismissal of the case. Ld. lawyer of o.p. in the course of argument submitted that the case has got no merit and the same is liable to be dismissed.
Decision with reasons:
We have gone through the pleadings of the parties, evidence and documents in particular and we find complainant at the insistence of the o.p. became subscriber in respect of Freedom credit card issued by the ABN AMRO Bank Ltd. having card no. 5415 3823 0966 1684 and ABN Gold Debit card bearing no.5318209600021102 with the o.p. but rarely used those cards for personal use.
We further find from the record that complainant after subscribing said cards often used to receive various type of promotional calls from the o.p. but never shown any interest in the same few years back on such one of the promotion al call on 31.12.04 the complainant was offered personal loan of Rs.4 lakhs and was intimated that there is no harm in opting for this personal loan which will though remained sanctioned in his name as cash credit type loan and for that the complainant is not required to pay any farthing till he withdraw the such amount. He was further assured that in the event he withdraws the amount he can repay the said amount in Easy Monthly Instalments with minimum interest thereon. Relying on in the version of said men and agent of the o.p. the complainant intimated that he will give a thought on the said offer but did not give his consent for the same.
It is seen from the record that complainant found from the statement issued by o.p. that o.p. had arbitrarily and without any instruction from the complainant opened personal loan account no.9170905 and credited a sum of Rs.4 lakhs therein and of its own started debiting EMI of Rs.11,750/- obviously with interest month by month squaring off the alleged loan amount which was never withdrawn from the said account by the complainant and surprisingly even after set off entire amount alleged loan started debiting the said loan account with late fees and other charges etc.
It transpires from the record that in Feb. 2008 the complainant received a regd. letter dt.21.2.08 from o.p. and on perusal of same it transpired for the first time that o.p. is demanding Rs.1,33,379/- as outstanding towards the personal loan the complainant immediately lodged objection to the same and thereafter wrote letters dt.5.3.08 and 9.4.08 to o.p. but no rely was given for the same on the contrary the complaint and her family was harassed over phone as well as by the collecting agents. It is pertinent to mention that after receiving the said letter o.p. sent a team of so called collecting agent who threatened the complainant with dire consequence and compelled under force the complainant to issue three chqeues in March 2008 total amounting to Rs.32,250/- towards the alleged repayment of loan but as the complainant is middle class person working at a private commercial establishment at meager salary did not have ample fund in his bank, as result the said cheques were returned unpaid.
It is also seen that complainant humbly submits that the o.p. with malafide intention or deliberately by adopting or unfair trade practice with intention to charge interest and other charges on alleged personal loan credited the sanction sum of Rs.4 lakhs without any instruction in personal loan account no.9170905 opened in the name of complainant and thereafter started debiting interest, late payment charges / penalties and asking complainant to pay the said amount without resolving dispute all these acts amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice adopted by o.p.
In view of the findings above and on perusal of the entire materials on record we find that o.p had sufficient deficiency in service being service provider to its consumer / complainant and complainant is entitled to relief.
Hence, ordered,
That the case is allowed on contest with cost against o.p. O.p. is directed to reverse Rs.6,48,750/- (Rupees six lakhs forty eight thousand seven hundred fifty) only from the personal loan account no.9170905 wrongly opened in the name of the complainant and is further directed to pay to the complainant compensation of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand) only for harassment and mental agony and litigation cost of Rs.5000/- (Rupees five thousand) only within 45 days from the date of communication of this order, i.d. an interest @ 10% p.a. shall accrue over the entire sum due to the credit of the complainant till full realization.
Supply certified copy of this order to the parties free of cost.
