New Delhi: If any citizen in the country thinks that his bank has incorrectly imposed penal charges or penalties on his loan account then according to the Reserve Bank of India’s rules and guidelines governing the country’s banking system, he can file a complaint with the RBI ombudsman on the apex bank’s platform. Recently, a case has come up in which an aggrieved citizen had problem with the country’s largest private sector lender, the HDFC Bank. After month long grilling with the lender, he decided to approach RBI ombudsman. As a result, the RBI had found that the complainant was not at fault and HDFC Bank’s actions were unjust. The apex bank directed the lender to not only return the penalties levied but also give compensation to the aggrieved bank account holder. He eventually got total of Rs 69,000.

What was the whole dispute with HDFC Bank?

Atul Modani, Chartered Accountant, had two home loan accounts with HDFC Bank.  He had applied for putting off both these accounts. The lender levied Rs 59,000 foreclosure charges. He was convinced that the bank’s actions were against the terms and conditions of the contract of the loan accounts.   After month long grilling with the lender, he decided to approach RBI ombudsman. As a result, the apex abnk found that the complainee was not at fault and HDFC Bank’s actions were unjust. The  directed the lender to not only return the foreclosure charges  but also give compensation of Rs 10,000 to the aggrieved bank account holder.  

Below is his tweet regarding the same on his social media handle on ‘X’

#HDFCBank refunded Foreclosure charges of Rs 59000 on home loan when complaint was raised with RBI Ombudsman , it also awarded Rs 10000 as compensation to complainant who is a Chartered Accountant pic.twitter.com/oicVkSxyMz

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— Atul Modani (@atulmodani) September 23, 2024

Where to find complaint with RBI ombudsman?

Citizens should never accept any fees or charges if they feel they are being cheated. There is a system in place by India’s central bank to solve grievances. The RBI ombudsman is there for such incidents. If something like this happens with anybody, then, according to the rules, the citizen first file a complaint with the concerned bank. If the issue is not resolved with 30 days of filing complaint, then, he has all the right to approach RBI ombudsman.  The entire process is digital. He can file complaint at https://cms.rbi.org.in/cms/indexpage.html#eng.

The citizen also has the option of filing complaint physically at RBI’s office. Additionally, he is also allowed to file his complaint through post.