COMPLAINT FILED ON: 02.03.2010

DISPOSED ON: 04.02.2011

BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM AT BANGALORE (URBAN)

4^TH FEBRARY 2011

       PRESENT :-SRI. B.S.REDDY                PRESIDENT                        

                         SMT. M. YASHODHAMMA    MEMBER    

                         SRI.A.MUNIYAPPA               MEMBER              

O R D E R

SMT. M. YASHODHAMMA, MEMBER

This is a complaint filed u/s. 12 of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 by the complainant seeking initiation of action against the Opposite Party (herein after called as O.P) for recovery of Rs.62,000/- with cost and interest at the rate of 12% p.a. from the date of filing this complaint till realization on the allegations of deficiency in service.

2.      The brief averments made in the complaint are as follows:

          On 01.11.2007 complainant obtained credit card bearing No.433948885989255 from the OP with a credit limit of Rs.34,000/-. The outstanding balance standing in the said credit card as per the statement issued by OP in the month of November 19^th 2008 was Rs.13,509.71/-. OP has offered a loan of Rs.14,800/- to the complainant repayable in 24 EMI at the rate of Rs.790/- plus service tax as applicable.  OP is collecting the EMI amount of Rs.1,443/- from the complainant’s account through ECS from Syndicate Bank, Ramamurthi nagar, Bangalore; instead of Rs.790/- plus service tax of Rs.81.37= 878.38/-. OP has collected Rs.571.63/- excess amount. Complainant knowing this difference account paid a sum of Rs.12,680/- towards loan account; after the payment of 3 EMIs; on 19.02.2009 statement issued by OP. Complainant used credit card for the purpose of purchase of Rs.15,000/- on 02.03.2009 as showed in the statement dated 19.03.2009. Again OP offered the scheme that the outstanding balance of Rs13,661/- in the credit card will be converted into EMI scheme and the said amount is repayable in 12 monthly instalments. Complainant accepted the said offer. The total amount of loan is as follows: First Loan 14,800/- + Second loan 13,661/- =28,461. OP is sending monthly statement showing different amount as outstanding balance though complainant making payments through ECS clearance. Again OP offered the scheme of Barclay bank priority circle and taken Rs.4,000/- from his credit card and making charges of Rs.4,000/- as per annexure-E. Complainant requested OP several times to cancel the said scheme. OP is not agreeing to cancel and send the gift worth of Rs.350/- stating that the said gift is worth of Rs.2000/-. OP sending his men to the residence of the complainant, calling through phone and demanding same amount and threatening the complainant. OP has sent the overdue charges information to CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau of India) informing that the home loan has been rejected by SBI, Banaswadi Branch, Bangalore. Hence complainant has lost more than Rs.50,000/- towards plan approval, valuation of property, Legal opinion, etc. Copy of the letter dated 01.09.2009 is produced. Complainant made several requests to OP customer care but there was no response. Hence complainant felt deficiency in service against the OP. Under the circumstances he is advised to file this complaint for the necessary relief’s.

3.      On appearance OP filed version admitting the fact that OP gave the loan of Rs.14,800/- at the request of the complainant in his card account. The said loan was offered against the credit limit on a credit card. The loan EMI is directly charged to the complainant’s Barclays Credit card account and added along with other items on the credit card statement. Complainant has confused the issue of loan with ECS. Complainant requested for ECS system of payment on 30.10.2008 much before the loan was availed by him which was on 12.12.2008. The ECS opted by the complainant was for his outstanding on the card and not just for loan EMI. This is evident from the fact that ECS form was executed much before he applied for loan. Complainant opted for electronic clearing system for payment of outstanding on his credit card. Every month Rs.1,443/- was debited from the complainant’s account to the Barclays card account by ECS; out of this Rs.790/- plus service tax was the EMI for the loan and the balance was for outstanding on his credit card account. In case the outstanding on his credit account was less than Rs.1,443/- for that particular month; the excess amount paid by the complainant would be shown as a credit balance in the next month’s statement. In case the outstanding was more the complainant was required to pay same through some other means like cash, cheque etc., the complainant himself had opted for ECS facility. The copy of ECS enrollment form is produced. Therefore complainant has not lost any money and he has not paid any excess amount. Complainant was offered Barclay card priority circle Membership only after complainant’s consent was received on a recorded call after explaining him all benefits and charges.  Complainant has also received gift and vouchers for this membership and accepted the same.  OP denied that complainant requested OP to cancel his membership. OP denied that it is threatening the complainant to recover the amount by sending men to his residence or by calling him through phone.  A home loan requested by complainant was rejected by SBI for various reasons and not only because the OP sent the overdue charges information to CIBIL. It is clear that complainant is a habitual loan defaulter and has resorted to this complaint to avoid repayment and to harass OP. Among other grounds OP prayed for dismissal of the complaint.

4.      To substantiate the complaint averments complainant filed his affidavit evidence and produced copy of the letter dated 11.08.2007, 12.12.2008, copy of the statement for the period 18.10.2008 to 19.11.2008, copy of the statement for the period 19.12.2008 to 19.01.2009, 19.03.2009 to 18.04.2009, copy of the letter dated 05.07.2009, copy of the certificate issued by Anush and Manual support system Pvt. Ltd., return of proposal by SBI dated 01.09.2009, copy of the legal notice dated 22.04.2010. On behalf of the OP Sri. Pradnyesh Sabnis, legal counsel filed his affidavit evidence and produced copy of letter dated 21.06.2010 issued by R B Industries, transcript of the phone call between OP and complainant. Both parties submitted thier written arguments. Heard from complainant’s side. Taken as heard from OP side.

5.      From the above pleadings, the points now that arise for our consideration in this complaint are as under:

Point No. 1 :- Whether the complainant has Proved

                     the deficiency in service on the part of

                       the OP?

     Point No. 2 :- If so, whether the complainant is

                    entitled for the relief’s now claimed?

     Point No. 3 :- To what Order?

6.      We have gone through the pleadings of the parties, both affidavit and documentary evidence and the arguments advanced.  In view of the reasons given by us in the following paragraphs our findings on the above points are:

Point No.1:- In Negative

Point No.2:- Negative in part

Point No.3:- As per final Order.

R E A S O N S

7.      At the out set it is not in dispute that the on 01.11.2007 complainant obtained credit card bearing No.433948885989255 from the OP with a credit limit of Rs.34,000/-. In the month of November 2008 the balance outstanding in the said credit card is Rs.13,509.71/- as per the statement issued by OP. Further it is also not in dispute that when complainant availed 50% of the said credit limit OP has offered a scheme of converting the total amount of credit limit to 24 EMI as loan.  Complainant was making payment through ECS from his Syndicate Bank account regularly. Now it is the grievance of the complainant that OP is collecting excess amount of EMI and OP has offered membership of Barclay’s priority circle without proper communication and collected Rs.4,000/- from his credit card account and sending its men to residence of the complainant to collect the same inspite of his request to cancel the membership and to reverse the amount of membership charges OP has failed to cancel the same. Hence complainant approached this Forum.

8.      As against the case of the complainant; the defence of the OP is that apart from credit card OP gave the loan of Rs.14,800/- to the complainant in his card account against the credit limit.  The EMI is directly charged to the complainant Barclays credit card account along with other charges.  Complainant has confused the issue of loan with ECS.  The loan was availed by the complainant on 12.12.2008 but request for ECS payment was on 30.10.2008 much before the loan was availed by him.  The ECS opted for outstanding on the card not just for loan; EMI Rs.1443/- was debited from complainant account to the Barclays card account by ECS out of this Rs.790/- plus service tax was the EMI for the loan and balance was for outstanding on his credit card.  In case outstanding on his credit account was less then Rs.1443/- for that particular month, the excess amount paid by the complainant would be shown as credit balance in the next month’s statement. In case the outstanding was more, the complainant required to pay same through some other means like cash, cheque etc.,

9.      It is contended by the complainant that OP has promised to sent gift worth of Rs.2,000/- but supplied a watch worth of Rs.350/-. In support of its contention OP has produced a letter from M/s. R.B. Industries, stating the foce brand quartz analogue wrist watch being supplied to the complainant bears an MRP of Rs.2990/-. Hence there no is basis for the contention of the complainant; the same cannot be accepted.

10.    It is contended by the complainant that without proper communication and consent Barclays priority circle membership of the complainant is obtained by OP.  From the transcript of the phone call between the OP and the complainant it is clear that the complainant has given his consent and discussed in detail with customer care of OP. Hence there is no merit in the said contention. Further it is contended by the complainant that inspite of request to cancel the Barclays priority card OP has failed to cancel the same. In support of this contention there is no documents produced by the complainant. We have perused the affidavit evidence and documents produced by the both the parties. When once complainant has availed credit card and loans as per the terms of the card OP is entitled to levy service charges and interest on late payment fees, penalty etc., knowing very well complainant has availed the same. As complainant committed default in payment of over due charges; OP informed the same to CIBIL. Because of that complainant is unable to obtain house loan from SBI, Banaswadi branch, Bangalore. Complainant failed to establish that there is deficiency in service on the part of OP. Under these circumstances we are considered view that complainant failed to prove deficiency in service on the part of the OP.  The complaint is devoid of merits. Accordingly we proceed to pass the following:

          ORDER

The complaint is dismissed. Considering the nature of dispute there is no order as to costs.

(Dictated to the Stenographer and typed in the computer and transcribed by him verified and corrected, and then pronounced in the Open Court by us on this the 4^th day of February 2011.)

                                                  PRESIDENT

MEMBER                                          MEMBER             

gm.