Font Size 
Bank on them? Recovery agents turn extortion goons
Published on Thu, Sep 06, 2007 at 08:37, Updated on Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 18:30 in 
Tags: 
Related Stories
Staff strike at one oil firm ends, others to follow suit - Satyam: A new storm in India's cup of woes
- 'Govt, regulator ignored warning about Satyam'
- Maoists drag Bachchans into Pashupatinath row
- Clean up the terror camps: US lawmaker tells Pak
- Pak role in 26/11 attacks possible: Imran Khan
- US sees 26/11 as model for future terrorism
- India convinced of Pak army role in Mumbai attacks
- Noida rape: Boy confesses, Panchayat says not guilty
- Sanjay Dutt speaks like a politician, says no comments
Photogallery
 |  |
Mumbai: Correspondent Pranshi Sikka attended an interview in response to a routine advertisement in a newspaper calling collection agents for MNC bank.
And in the midst of the interview it became amply clear to him that the agency was into more than just reminding people of their dues.
Excerpt of the interview between the correspondent and the recovery agency owner:
Recovery agency owner: Have you ever been beaten up by anyone?
Correspondent: Generally I have been the one who has beaten up.
Recovery agency owner: But I hope you have abused lot of people. What would you do if the customer is not at home when you go to collect the payment?
Correspondent: I ask for the money to whoever is there or just wait till the borrower comes.
Recovery agency owner: If you had to wait for a long time then what would you do?
Correspondent: Then I would threaten that I would take away whatever I can lay my hands on.
With such credentials the job could not have been denied. And once inside, the correspondent saw how customers were harassed.
If a recovery agent would come home then the customers would go to the doctor. This was what the customers would be subjected to.
A spy camera recovered a scene of a recovery agent trying to procure money from a customer.
“Shut up you thief! You can't even make your payments on time. What will I take away? Come to my branch, I will show you. Say you do not want to make your payments. And not hat you had gone to the doctor for 15 minutes I wonder what you spent those 15 minutes doing! I wonder what you are up to with that doctor! Are you an LIC agent or what? Don't make me say further. Just shut up,” said the recovery agent.
“Even if the judicial process is a little slow then that does not a give a right to bank to have hooligans to collect the loan amounts and harass people,” says member, Nationall Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Rajyalakshmi Rao.
Abusive phone calls, persistent physical and emotional incursions and unprecedented trauma, some banks have woken up to the spate of criticism and resorted to regulatory intervention like these.
However, on the ground the menace of recovery agents continues the harassment.
| Ads by Google |
| Related Ads: | |
Read Comment | Post Comment
Good to hear from you all about this issue, in particular.
I am also sailing in the same boat.
I would like
Read Comment
Has anybody thought why Banks need collection agents ? If people are borrowing money why can not they repay interest/loan
Read Comment
Hi,
goondaism on recovery is one part. what about the penalty which they charge for failure of EMI.GE is famous for
Read Comment
Its good to raise Civic issues, but I believe a Lot have been Written and debated about this issues and
Read Comment
Yes the law should protect the customers. It is not just the bank I have also experienced the same with
Read Comment
Read more comment »