BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 21 of 2019
Date of Institution : 22.1.2019
Date of Decision : 25.07.2019.
Sudhir Kumar aged about 37 years son of Chanan Ram, resident of village Dhani Lakhji Tehsil Ellenabad, District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
- HDFC Bank Cards Division, Post Office No.8654 Thiruvanmiyur Chennai, 600041 through authorized person.
- HDFC Bank Branch Ellenabad, District Sirsa through Branch Manager ( At present Branch Manager Vishal Garg).
...…Opposite parties.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986.
Before: SH. R.L.AHUJA…………………………PRESIDENT
SH. ISSAM SINGH SAGWAL …… MEMBER.
SMT. SUKHDEEP KAUR………….MEMBER
Present: None for complainant.
Sh. S.L. Sachedeva, Advocate for opposite parties.
ORDER
The case of the complainant in brief is that complainant is having account bearing No.5010004940226 with the opposite party no.2 bank. That a credit card was given to him by the bank and it was told to him that for 50 days, he will not be charged any interest but just after the purchasing he received a call to deposit the amount and the caller told him to deposit minimum amount which he was regularly depositing. That thereafter when in year 2016 he could not deposit the money in time, he received a call from Credit Card department Gurgaon for depositing the money and he told them as and when amount will be available to him, he will deposit the same but they started giving filthy language to him and threatened to send criminal persons at his house, the call recording of which is available with him. That thereafter in year 2017 he was receiving calls from criminal persons through credit card department Gurgaon and they were giving threats to interfere in his personal life and started seeing the accounts of the persons to whom he made online payments and also started calling them and out of them one person namely Devkinandan contacted him and stated that he has received a call and he is telling about him that he has obtained a credit card, the monthly installment of which is Rs.3200/- but he is not position to pay the same and if he does not deposit the said amount, then the amount will be deducted from his account and that Sudhir has got added his account in his credit card account. It is further averred that there were money transactions between him and Devkinandan for 20 years as he is a farmer and Devkinandan is dealer of pesticide and now he has no faith upon him and does not give him pesticides on debt basis and says that he has done cheating with him. It is further averred that he approached Manager of the bank in this regard but he stated that he has no control over the same and the call is received from Gurgaon and he cannot help him. The Manager told him that as the call is received from Gurgaon from Credit card department so they can help him. That thereafter they also made call to one of his relative and defamed his personal image. It is further averred that in 2018 he could not pay the monthly installment and he had shown his inability in this regard to the Credit Card Caller but even then they used filthy language towards him and gave offer of card settle in order to escape himself from them. At that time, an amount of Rs.46,000/- was outstanding out of which he was asked to deposit Rs.36,600/- and he deposited the same in two installments and after that in his CIBIL account settlement was updated and by that time he was not aware about the negative effect of the settlement nor the same was disclosed by the bank to him. It is further averred that they were holding a KCC account and to close the same, they deposited the amount so that they can receive NOC and usually the NOC is received within 5 to 10 days but the bank did not give NOC to them and when he inquired about the same from the Manager, he told that there is some mistake in his account as installment of his credit card is due which is Rs.16,766/- and he has also obtained car loan and the amount of Rs.17000/- is outstanding. Then he showed the settlement letter and receipts of all deposited installments of the car loan upon which he told that there is system generated problem but when he asked him to rectify it, he became silent. It is further averred that he is an agriculturist and he has to sell his two and half acres of land after taking KCC loan and the registration date of sale deed was 28 April and NOC was issued after 30 days after his several rounds for which he was not at fault. That thereafter he inquired about misbehavior with him and he received a email ID of Adityapari @gmail.com upon which he sent the report in the entire matter and then he received a call from the bank and he narrated all the story to the caller upon which she disclosed that he can remove the settlement for which he has to deposit the outstanding amount of his credit card. That he deposited the additional amount of credit card in May and no amount was due of the credit card. That when he went to Punjab and Sind Bank for issuance of credit card, the Manager opened his CIBIL report which was showing card settlement which was negative thing for him and he told all the facts to the Manager that he has deposited entire amount. The Manager told him that he will give loan to him but he has to remove the settlement in CIBIL record. That then he went to Manger of HDFC Bank and he told that one time settlement is complete settlement and when he inquired from him that why they have got deposited an amount of Rs.16,766/- then he told him that this is tricks of the bank to take money from the customer and in this way the bank has committed cheating with him and till today even after passing of seven months, an amount of Rs.16,766/- is shown outstanding against him. That in this way, the bank has misbehaved with him, caused defamation to him and has caused mental harassment to him. Hence, this complaint.
2. On notice, opposite parties appeared and filed written statement taking certain preliminary objections and denied the contents of the complaint. It is submitted that bank has given the complainant waivers in the credit card account as well as the car loan account even after the fact that he defaulted in the payment of his EMIs/ card usage. It is further submitted that it is quite clear from the perusal of complaint that he himself committed default in repayment of credit card usage amount and requested the bank to waive off certain amount which the bank did as a favour but explained him the consequences of the settlement. The complainant insisted on the settlement and showed his inability in making the full payment of the credit card usage. The bank obliged the complainant and issued him the settlement letter showing the waiver as exception. As the complainant did settlement and have not paid the whole pending amount because of this reason CIBIL was showing the settlement. It is an admission on the part of complainant that he did not clear his whole pending credit card usage dues. After the settlement of the account and deposit of settlement amount information was sent to the CIBIL for updation of the customer payment details. Hence the entries in the record of CIBIL was entered accordingly. The ops have no role to play in the same. It is further submitted that ops have updated the record without any delay. As the complainant wanted the removal of entry of settlement in the record of CIBIL, hence he opted/ offered to make the payment of the amount waived of at the time of settlement. The complainant himself opted to pay the waiver amount in order to get his record updated and to nullify the effect of the settlement entry. Further as there is also an admission on the part of complainant that he has also availed a car loan from HDFC Bank, the perusal of the statement of account shows that he did not deposit the amount of installment of that loan also in time. In that loan account his installments were bounced and even the installment of December 2018 was also bounced as he failed to maintain the sufficient balance in his loan account. It is further submitted that complainant has given waivers in the car loan account as well which shows that bank was cooperative, sensitive to the financial conditions of the complainant and acted empathetically. Moreover, he has got the NOC on 18.5.2018 and shockingly and malafidely the complainant is suppressing this fact that he has made the payment of Rs.16,766 on 31.5.2018. NOC was given much prior to that. The bank has acted as quickly as possible even after the fact that it is a big financial institution who has internal challen of approvals etc. single individual can be fixed with liability of intention. It is further submitted that information of the loan account are shared on quarterly basis and as per the CIBIL his score is 756 which is a good score. His CIBIL record is not showing any settlement. It is further submitted that credit card account of the complainant has been closed since satisfied and is not showing any amount pending as alleged. That HDFC bank has no role to play in removal of the customer name from the records of CIBIL. Every credit institution has to be member of credit information company as stated in Section 15 of the Credit Information Companies Regulations, 2006. The Credit information collected, maintained and disseminated by the credit institution and the credit information company for seven years. On merits, all others contents of the complaint are also denied for want of knowledge and prayer for dismissal of complaint made.
3. The parties then led their respective evidence.
4. It is pertinent to mention here that when the case was fixed for evidence of ops, neither complainant nor anyone appeared on his behalf. Today also none appeared on behalf of complainant. However, as the complainant has placed on record his evidence and the ops have also led their evidence, therefore, we deem it proper to decide the case on merits instead of dismissing the complaint in default of appearance.
5. We have heard learned counsel for the ops and have perused the case file carefully.
6. The perusal of the record reveals that complainant in order to prove his case has furnished copy of no dues certificate dated 18.5.2018 Ex.C1, copy of pass book Ex.C2, copies of statements Ex.C3 , Ex.C4 and Ex.C5. On the other hand, ops have furnished affidavit of Sh. Mahender Sharma, Manager Law Ex.R1 in which he has deposed and reiterated all the averments of the written statement.
7. Admittedly, the complainant was holding a credit card from the ops which is being used by him and as per version of the ops, a handsome sum was due against the complainant which the complainant was not depositing and was regular defaulter in making installments as a result of which due intimation was given to the CIBIL record. But however, the perusal of the written reply of the ops reveals that ops had settled the account of the complainant and waived off some amount and issued no objection certificate. But however, the ops did not get the record of the CIBIL rectified.
8. The complainant has claimed compensation on account of defamation which he has faced due to his name figured in the list of defaulting persons of CIBIL record and has also claimed relief that his name should be deleted from the record of CIBIL. During the course of arguments, learned counsel for ops has stated at bar that nothing is due against the complainant and bank has never refused to get the record of the cibil rectified rather they have already sent information to the CIBIL for rectification of the record.
9. In view of above discussion, we allow this complaint and direct the opposite parties to get record of CIBIL of complainant rectified within 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order and we further direct the ops to pay a sum of Rs.5000/- in lumpsum as compensation to the complainant. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced in open Forum. Member Member President,
Dated:25.7.2019. District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forum, Sirsa.
