CONSUMER COURTS

ICICI Bank fined Rs 50,000

Chandigarh, December 12
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I has slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on ICICI Bank for illegally raising foreclosure charges, prepayment charges of Rs 5,00,825 from a resident of Sector 11, who foreclosed the loan in view of the higher rate of interest.

The district forum-I comprising president PD Goel and members, Rajinder Singh Gill and Madanjit Kaur Sahota, also directed the respondents to pay Rs 25,000 as costs of litigation to complainants.

The complainants, Yash Paul Singla and others, submitted that in August 2007, they availed a loan of Rs 1.70 crore from the opposite party against a shop-cum-office in Sector 26, Chandigarh, at an interest of 13.5 per cent per annum and paid Rs 95,506 as processing fee. A total of Rs 75 lakh were disbursed in September 2007, while the balance was disbursed in June 2008 due to which the installment was increased from Rs 1,38,487 to Rs 3,22,078 per month.

They alleged that the opposite party without their consent enhanced the rate of interest from 13.5 per cent to 14.5 per cent per annum on July 8, 2008, which was again increased to 15 per cent. It has been averred that on their persistent requests, the opposite parties decreased the rate of interest by 0.5 per cent in January 2009 and 0.25 per cent in August, 2009. They said the opposite parties were now charging 14.25 per cent per annum, whereas other financial institutions are charging 12 to 13 per cent interest. Ultimately, they decided to foreclose the loan and the opposite party charged prepayment penalty of Rs 5,00,825 on the principal outstanding amount, which is illegal and arbitrary and the same was not refunded to them despite their repeated requests and visits.