Forum orders it to pay Rs25,000 to consumer who dropped them in ATM for credit card bill.
Failure of the ICICI Bank to clear cheques drawn by Pune resident Sagar Shinde, towards his credit card payment, proved costly for the bank as the consumers’ forum fined it Rs25,000.
Shinde, in his complaint dated August 2009, stated he had dropped two cheques as payment for his two credit cards at the ICICI Bank’s ATM in Vimannagar on September 18, 2008.
However, only one of his cheques was cleared. In his complaint, Shinde said repeated enquiries with the bank proved futile.
Meanwhile, due to non-payment of dues to the tune of Rs2,234.45 Shinde started getting calls from recovery agents of the bank. When he contacted the bank for advice, he was asked to stop payment of the cheque that was not cleared.
Shinde incurred a cost of Rs199 as transaction charges for the process. Also, due to non-payment of the dues, the bank blocked his cards and reported him to the regulatory authority, which hurt his credit limit, Shinde claimed.
The consumers’ forum, consisting of chairman, Anjali Deshmukh and member, SK Kapse, in their observations pulled up the bank for failure to clear the cheques dropped on the same day. The forum observed that the bank could not prove that Shinde had not dropped both cheques on the same day.
Also, the calls made to Shinde by the recovery agents and bank employees, according to the forum, caused physical and mental stress to him.
In case Shinde’s name has been sent to the SEBI, it would prove detrimental for him in getting loans in the future. It is the observation of the forum that it was a serious lapse on the part of the bank, that it failed to clear both cheques dropped on the same day.
The following turn of events, which made Shinde pay a late fee and also putting his account on hold were also lapses, which the bank is guilty of, the forum observed.
After hearing both sides, the forum ordered the bank to revert the late fee and other charges slapped on Shinde and to revoke the complaint made by the bank against him to SEBI.
Also, it ordered the bank to pay Shinde Rs 25,000 as compensation and Rs 1,000 as litigation charges to Shinde.
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