I had taken a personal loan from Standard Chartered. The loan process started with the usual cold call from the tele calling executive. Considering I was getting more than 3 calls from different banks for personal loan, I was basically shopping for the best deal in terms of interest rate and processing fees. I haggled for lesser interest rate. I told them that I am sure that those guys would have access to my credit card spending and payment habits else they would have never called me with offer of upto 5 lakh loan!. I negotiated on interest rate, processing fees and pre-payment charges. I was asked for Id proof, salary slips and bank statement.(salary account was SBI)
Being in an IT firm back in Bangalore, the verification process did not take more than 7 days.
The only hitch was that they needed passbook entry Xerox copy. I had told them I did not have time to get the Xerox. I had given them netbanking statement which was not sufficient for thi purpose!. The executive himself went to the bank to get my passbook filled and obtain a xerox copy. The passbook was blank for one full year. Everything went smooth until signing the loan acceptance letter.
I noticed that the EMI date was kept at 1st(first) of every month. [only a bird brain(with due apologies to birds) can keep an EMI date at first of every month] I usually never let my bank account have more than 2K during the last 5 days as I move money in investments and have credit cards to take care of emergencies if any.
I naturally asked the guy to call his senior and get the changed date. I was told the date will be changed but I have to wait for another 5 days to get the loan as they cannot give loan before 20 days of the first EMI date. I agreed and then signed the paper along with a signature near the date field for later changes. I got my cheque and then I had to move to mohali unfortunately from bangalore. One more letter from the bank confirmed the date to be again 1st of every month, I realized that the change as not at all done.
With this started my email and telephonic correspondence with customer care guys. After 4-5 telephone conversations that too STD to bangalore, I was told to write a signed letter to Delhi mentioning the same. After a few days, I got an email saying I had to pay 5 days interest charge for moving my EMI date from 1st to 5th. I replied that it was not my mistake and asked them to deduct it from the salary of the back office guy who screwed it up. They sent my signed loan acceptance document saying I had signed for first of every month. I replied that I won’t pay extra charge and that they can have the date at first of every month. But I had also sent a very caustic reply saying that I will spread the word around among my techie friends that Standard Chartered did not care for its customers and that I will also cease to have any more relationship with the bank. I also told them that I will be canceling my credit card that I hold with them. I also replied that this was the last email in this connection and that they wont hear from me and nor they should contact me.
Surprisingly on 19th Feb(after two months!), I got an email from the customer service that the charges have been waived and that the EMI date has been moved to 5th of every month without charges.
Looks like standard chartered bank does indeed listen to customers though they take their own time to sort issues and need following up the same.
I was not expecting them to waive charges and move the EMI date as I had not taken care to insist on the new changed acceptance letter and I had no proof other than a sign near the date to prove that I had asked for the date change.
Thankfully, good sense must have prevailed in the customer care department.
I am happy and satisfied that they solved my issue. Hope StandardChartered serves other customers with the same diligence. I had replied to the recent email saying that I spread the word around that StandardChartered has solved my issue. And this is the way I am doing it.
Friends, advice on loan accounts based on my experience:
Read all lines carefully.
Understand all charges.
Ask questions.
Negotiate for the best deal in interest rate especially if you have a good credit history.
Keep track of all correspondence with time, date and name of the customer care executive.
Never forget to get a complaint number or something that can be tracked for the second call.
Talk to the big guy who most of time will not be in picture when in doubt. The person who talks to you first can never make decisions.
Persistence always pays. Never give up if you have been at the receiving end.
Be honest with the guys who call you during issue sorting. Always ask for a definite time frame. “as soon as possible” is not a time frame. Tomorrow, 48 hours etc are time frames.
Have email correspondence as soon as you complete the first telephone conversation. Repeat your complaint in the email. This way, you have a record of the issue in case you finally need to go to consumer court.(hopefully, it wont come to that)
Best Suggestion: Read MouthShut reviews. Learn from other’s mistake also. Life is too short do all mistakes over selves and learn from it. When it comes to money lending by institutes, most clients are uniquely treated though the basic guidelines for eligibility are same for all.
PS: this entry is from my dairy. I assume this will help atleast few readers to decide on personal loan from SCB