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Citibank using goondas to recover dues
19th Feb 1999 prakash @ges.co.in
Recently there have been news in the press about the Police arresting extrortion peoplehired by Citibanl to recover credit card dues ! This is frightening ! If so called respectable companies can use strong arm tactics and not respect the law ! Have you heard of a Indian bank using such tactics ! What should we do ? Blacklist them or start a movement to press courts to restrain the bank from such actions and take punitive steps to punish the Citibank officials who think they are above the law ! Remember the Scam and the parlimentary hearings those days ! Will all those involved and affected by such dealings please revert Regards A Prakash
20th Feb 1999
P-S @giasmd01.vsnl.net.in
Although this protest seems to be of a good intention, still it only supports a bad precedent being set up by those who have not paid up the dues. I do not support any type of goondaism by any organisation / individual, but we should also remember that people who are being hounded out by the creditors are the same people who have defaulted atleast 3 times on their loan payments. When an individual can borrow without a second thought and with eager enthusiasam using the card or some other instrument (after all everytime one uses a credit card or an equivalent instrument, it is a borrowing), why cannot the same enthusiasm be shown when asked to repay the loan? If the lending institution fails to honour its commitments, the card users immediately shoot off a letter or protest against the services denied. But when the lending institution sends its bills, either the card holder ignores the bill or when the cardholder receives a call for payment, he/she is conveniently not in the seat. AND THIS FROM A PERSON WHO HAS A MINIMUM INCOME LIMIT WHICH IS THE MAIN CRITERIA WHEN ONE APPLIES FOR A CARD!!! Let us all first of all understand that there are no free lunches (to borrow a popular quote) and stop sympathising with those who deserve what they get for not paying their dues on time. I again reiterate that I am not supporting citibank or any other institution, but write this because I have seen many of my close friends and acquaintances close their business built up with honest labour because some so called "big", "rich", "influential" etc customers who took their goods never bothered to pay back. This post may invite views regarding the other faults of citibank or its likes , regarding interest rates on card payments, service, etc. But I have not brought it under purview as they are of a totally different nature from the topic being discussed. K N Srinivasan Udupa
20th Feb 1999
DEEPAK EXPORTS @del2.vsnl.net.in
One of my friends is in the head department for recoveries in Kotak Mahindra Finance and he says that it is a regular feature for their company ( Kotak Mahindra Finance ) to use such people for recoveries. I get to hear many interesting events of such type from him. Its a regular feature, you have people who would not pay unless you show them the fear of extortionists. Well any comments ? Deepak
20th Feb 1999
Manjeet Bhatia @megsinet.net
This is not new. I know that they were using these people for recovery since 1995 (atleast for their Car Loan Recovery). Well I agree that they are wrong but at the same time the people who enjoy the credit limits and deny to pay are also not right. Manjeet
20th Feb 1999
Harsh Javeri @iname.com
I may be wrong but you may be over-reacting. They resort to such tactics ONLY when the people have not paid their dues and have no intention of doing so and are avoiding the normal channels of collections. It is also done when all due actions have failed. Please understand that I have no connection with the bank. I know for a fact that this is used elsewhere - in non-banking business also. There have been cases where people are refusing to pay the installments to finance companies. There have been cases where people have not paid for 6-8 months and then they have been stopped on the road and the car has been taken away leaving them on the road. I think they deserve it.
20th Feb 1999
kauwa @giasdla.vsnl.net.in
Dear Friends,
I get lot's of Telemarketing's calls from Car Finance Companies, Credit
Cards Companies, etc. etc.
My opening line to them is are they Any way Connected to CITI Bank, if
an answer is an affirmative , I tell them CITI BANK is Black Listed in
my records. None of them have asked me , WHY ?, ANY
PROBLEMS, ANY REASON ? Nothing they simple hang up.
I believe that since they know what their parent Bank is upto !!! LOL
If any CITI BANK employee is an Subscriber to this mail, let me tell HIM
or HER the following facts. OR any one of you know ,any One in CITI Bank
forward him this message.
1. I had always paid my bills 100% at the end of the ending cycle.
( Never paid in parts or carry forward my Credit )
2. In my 4-5 years of a USAGE of their Card, twice or thrice my check
reached them late.
( Reasons being due to our ex prime minister Morarji Desai Death ,
you know the whole govt. machinery was on Long Extended holiday , Postal
Strike , third time I was out of Station , could not send them my
monthly check on time )
3. Due to my delay in payments, due to above reasons, they carry forward
my Outstanding and imposed an interest @ 4 % per month, i.e. 48 % per
annum, plus late payment charges.
4. After couple of reminders and a CONFIRMATION from their Chennai
Office, that for the 2 reasons cited above my interest charges and late
payment charges are being waived off, due to reasons beyond my control.
I kept on getting a Billing of these two charges for nearly a year.
Charges due to this reason was nearly Rs 4700/- only
5. After couple of months after paying all the Outstanding dues that
were sincerely dues payable to them, I stopped using their Card ,
6. 3 month later, one of their GOONDA, appears at my office, for
recovery.
7. After seeing my files and a CONFIRMATION from the CITI BANK office
he complements me and Say , Sorry Sir, your case is absolutely above
board, Let me Help you , You are one of the rare specimen who has paid
you bills on time, with 100% payment of the amount spend in a previous
month.
8. After some 10-15 days he appear again , and say that only a very
nominal amount is outstanding from your side, i.e. less than Rs 200/-
after rectification of bills, and here is a proper record for you.
9. I asked him what made him come to my office, to recover this small
amount. He said Sir, I felt my duty to inform you, that very small is
outstanding from your side, you can always pay in your Next bill. No
problems. He gave me proper record also.
10. Next day I get a letter from CITI BANK that my Credit Card account
has been closed.
11. I call up CITI BANK , ask a person why my account has been closed.
First he get a shock of his life that my account has been closed for
outstanding amount of only Rs xx.xx (
21st Feb 1999
Sudhir Gandotra @netshooter.com
When a rich/powerful man [or organization] takes law in his hands, it
seems to be OK. The rule is not same for a poor/powerless man [or
organization].
Is that what we call democracy ?
Is that what we call law ?
Peace, Force & Joy!
==============================================================
Sudhir Gandotra "mailto:[email protected]" ICQ-16733832
Phone : 91-11-5535770 / 5613992 / 98-101-20918
==============================================================
" India can be Different, if we are not Indifferent "
http://differentindia.org
!!! Treat Others As You Would Have Them Treat You !!!
Humanist Movement : http://humanistmovement.org
Humanist party : http://humanistparty.org
Humanist list:"mailto:[email protected]"
==============================================================
21st Feb 1999
PK Joseph @gto.net.om
Hi all inmates.
This is not a new thing and let be a lesson for everybody. My home state
Kerala, is famous for this. There and various finance companies for
automobile sector. They have permanent gangs to recover the vehicles with
fixed rates and incentives for fast recovery of the vehicles from owners
defaulted their payments. They even hijack the regular bus services and
taxis with passengers at knife points. They let the passengers and drivers
get off the vehicle.
Most of the cases appearing in the newspapers in Kerala as stealing of
vehicles are actually done by this recovery teams. Everybody is aware of
this but still goes to them for finance.
I some time tell my friends that this is one sector which creates
employment to youth with good physic but want to work only in the night.
In Cochin only there are more than 50 goonda gangs with more than 25
members for each gang.
The fees for a bus is 25000/-
Cars 10000/-
Autos 2500/- etc
+ incentives.
If you recall there was a Car company offering 1 month of free trial of
their car and if you decide to buy they will sell you a new car. The cars
were actually recovered cars from people defaulted their payments and
there were so many of them that the company found it difficult to park
these cars in safe places with guards and came with this novel idea of
giving free for one month trial to save their cost of keeping this cars
and generate sales. The City Bank and the financing companies are
glorified versions of old Pathan money lenders.
P.K.Joseph.
23rd Feb 1999
Bharathan @123india.com
Keeping this "Goonda" issue apart, how many of us have received good
service from these banks.
I have a Hong Kong Bank card, which was never accepted in any of the
online machine owned by citibank or other banks. (Is citibank doing it
purposefully?). There is always no problem with my credit limit the same
gets accepted in ATM's. Think of a situation where your card gets
"rejected" when you are with your friends. I made lot of calls to their
Chennai office and there was no response, so i stopped paying my money.
There was no response from them for 1 year - they stopped sending my
statements. After an year, a goonda came to my house and threatened me to
pay money. My father has some political contacts in Chennai and so he and
his employer were warned and sent away. Next day the bank manager came
running to my father apologizing for the issue.
My interest component was waived off and I paid the money which I owed
them.
The Question here is.
1. What would have happened if I were from a middle class family with no
support? 2. When the bank mamanger has time to come "running" to my
father's place, does he not have the time to check out queries? 3. Is
there any legal action possible against this people?
PS:
All of us understand that these people are not doing any "Service" to us
as the merchant of the shop pays 2.25% of the value of the goods to the
banks.
Thanks for reading
Bharathan
25th Feb 1999
sears @vsnl.com
This thing about Citibibank using Goondas - the issue shud b why the Bank
has to resort to such techniques if the customer is willing to make payments
in time - the Bank is not a charity institute and since our laws are not
strong and fast to protect the interest of the Bank they have to resort to
such things. If I cud afford to recover my many dues then I too wud resort
to this because when I give goods or services I expect to get my money when
it is due but I have had bad experiences in this. Everyone knows that
Citibank uses this technique nspite of that it has the largest subscribers
which shows that a genuine person shud hv no problems in dealing with them
if their intentions are to pay for what they have spent.
Regards
