May 07, 2009 05:58 PM
7467 Views
I opted for the Homesaver product of Standard Chartered bank in July 2002 and its interest rate was 1% costlier than the normal home loan . Once married to this bank, I realised as to what a mistake I have done by taking loan from this bank .
In past, I tried to switch out of this loan, but could not as preclosure letter always mentioned 2.81% of the sanctioned loan as penalty, as against other banks who just charge 2% of the outstanding principal .
Now, when I became eligible to switch on to other bank without paying any preclosure charges, you will not believe the harrasment, that I had to pass through with this bank: -
Preclosure letter issuance took 15 working days - which menas effectively - 3 weeks after request, after several follow-ups .
Suddenly, one fine day, I see that the available balance in my account becomes nill and my EMI is bounced . Can you belive this happening in your bank account - it happenned with me . Presumably some system/software upgradation was going on with the bank . Amount was so high that it gave me a lot of mental torture till I pursued with bank to clarify and then they reversed the EMI bounce charges .
I am net savvy and always believed in Netbanking, but believe me after this experience < I would urge all to maintain the good old passbooks .
They have some funny field - available balance, which you might think that it the balance in your account, but it is not like so, even the executives who are only 4 in entire NCR can also not make it out clearly, leaving everything on to their call center in Chennai .
I do not know, how much money I have lost after declaring to the bank, that I am switchover to ther bank .
I am still not sure, if this bank will finally close my loan account of time, even after paying the desired final preclosure payment or will drag so as to earn some more interest on these extra days .
I have opted for SBI Maxgain, and believe me, the expereince of getting this loan disbursed right from application stage takes about 60 days time inarranging documents, following up at various levels since there is no means of communication back from the bank - SBI . They should allot a unique application number and keep the customer updated on phone or sms, but the loan cell, which is only one in entire Delhi is loaded with requests and does not have sufficient staff to serve . I do not not know, how this product finally turns up, but so far even the experience with SBI has also been very tiring .
In this world of advertsining for Home Loans, policy makers forget the ground reality . Maybe this is the way things work here .
All the best and choose your product and the bank carefully before applying for any loan with them .
