Click to play videoNew Delhi: Forty-five-year-old Chandrashekhar Hegde is a worried man these days. An accountant by profession, Chadrashekhar always managed his money. Till the day he applied for a personal loan from a private bank.
Hegde couldn’t meet the recovery deadlines and now is a target of constant psychological harassment by recovery agents who call him at odd hours both at office as well as work.
"They threatened to beat me up, to take away my passport and to humiliate me in society,” he says.
If, like Chandrashekhar, you've got a loan or credit card debt you can't repay, you may be a defaulter. But you still have rights and don't have to put up with harassment.
Here are few ways to avoid a situation:
- You can turn away agents if they do not have proper identification.
- Insist on receiving calls only during working hours.
- Register a complaint with the local police if agents trespass.
- If the harassment continues, you can approach a consumer rights group or the RBI.
The RBI has a strict code of conduct for banks and their agents but senior lawyers say the code is a paper tiger.
"The laws exist, but they are not followed at all,” says advocate, Mumbai High Court, Ahmed Abdi.
Shocked by the suicide of borrower Prakash Sarvankar, the Maharashtra government is now talking tough.
"This is not the way. We will take again action not only against lower officials, but everyone invoved,” says State Home Minister, R R Patil.
But the best way to avoid this problem is to not borrow money if you can't afford to repay it.
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