HDFC Bank Auto Loans under RBI scanner for tagging GPS with car loans

Carpainter · 24th June 2021, 00:51

Being a former toiler of the banking industry I can safely say that all the banks be it PSU or private, indulge in various malpractices and cross selling (read mis selling) of third party products like life insurance, general insurance, health insurance (part of general insurance) and even mutual funds/demat accounts. In this hdfc case the only difference is it was a non financial product. I hope RBI will become more vigilant one day and stop cross selling of financial products as well.

Regarding the question of the bank safeguarding their asset by using trackers to prevent NPA, all I can say is I don't think they have or ever will use it to track those cars in case of a default. It was all just a push selling to earn extra commission. And no, the employees dealing with the customers are not the only one involved in it. These arrangements are made at top level and the branch level people are just pawns to carry out the instructions they receive for some paltry gains while the main benefits go to the top bosses sitting at the headquarters. One last word of advice is whenever going in for any banking arrangement, apply the same due diligence as you would have if you're buying any other product i.e. do read the fine prints and never take anything at face value and you'll be safe.

NoLurkerForLong · 24th June 2021, 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by kinetic

This approach will open up a pandora's box of issues. As someone who lives in a developed country (If we can still call America that), I can confirm that none of my vehicles have ever been GPS tagged by any lender, nor have I heard of this practice being legal....

Agree its illegal for private parties, strange things have happened when LE is involved.

Here is a case where cops installed an unmarked GPS tracker and had the gall to charge the man for theft when he removed it from his own vehicle.

https://www.wired.com/story/man-char...cker-from-car/

AZT · 24th June 2021, 15:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

I view RBI's approach to be counter productive in an economy that abounds in loan defaults, non-performing assets

I think this is more about the bank charging you for the GPS saying it's mandatory and not so much the device itself. Bank was free to pay for it from own pockets. This was a plain misselling scam.

Quote:

The private lender had pushed auto loan customers to buy the devices for ₹18,000 to ₹19,500 made by mumbai based Trackpoing GPS

https://www.livemint.com/companies/n...900265716.html

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...r-5587151.html

chef-de-jeep · 24th June 2021, 21:34

Finally HDFC did make it to the news. I always thought it was only me who got on the wrong side of the bank. We were operating a current account with the bank and we duly closed it by the due process and a letter to close the account was also given as told by the bank manager. The Bank manager possibly does not close it and a year later we needed yet another account and when approached,we were offered to operate the same account. We were clearly told that some penalty charges might come in and they would reverse it. As usual delay tactics played and the manager gets transferred.New manager refuses to entertain the issue and is cool about closing the account.

When the famous customer service is approached with the issue, out of spite the bank manager writes a fake review for us( hospitality industry is a sitting duck for all this). Fortunately the restaurant was closed at the time due to covid. Of course he got a nasty reply back and a piece of advice- to atleast change his name while posting(ther after he deletes the review since we informed another manager from the bank). Without a single call customer service closes the issue despite screen shots of the same shared with them. All of them hand in glove. Needless to say even the complaint to the RBI ombudsmen was closed without any inquiry. The only icing to the whole story was the manager posted yet another fake review with a changed name( as we suggested to him). The language used was exactly the same, must be short of words in his vocab to make it sound different.

anjan_c2007 · 27th June 2021, 19:01

A good redressal for such illegal, unfair and compulsory selling of non financial appendages with the financial component or service asked for, will be by lodging a complaint with the respective ombudsman of the concerned bank. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made it mandatory for all scheduled banks (incl private) to have ombudsman/ ombudsmen appointed for the purpose. Usually, this officer holds a senior post in the respective bank and doubles up as an ombudsman.

Like for instance, if such a complaint has to be lodged with the HDFC Bank Ombudsman, one can peruse this link below to email his or her complaint, with relevant documents as proof. The Ombudsman of your particular territory (state/ zone) as listed needs to be checked. The email id and office address are given in the link. The mail needs to list the grievance with all particulars, names and designations of the persons at the particular Branch of the bank with all supporting documents.

https://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/ne...udsman-details

As per the RBI guidelines, this person has to be given a period of 30 days to reply to your grievance. They usually reply but the grievance is either not at all resolved or not fully/ only partly addressed. Thereafter, with screenshot of this Ombudsman's mail and all relevant documents as asked for by the RBI, after a lapse of 30 days, a complaint can be lodged with the RBI Ombudsman. Here there is action that is often against the respective bank, with a RBI direction to resolve the grievance within a time limit. The link for lodging a complaint with the RBI is provided below. Earlier, they used to have email addresses of Zonal RBI Ombudsmen. Now the link has provision and space for stating the grievance and send all required and relevant supporting documents as attachment/s.

https://cms.rbi.org.in/cms/IndexPage...indexpage.aspx

The Non- Banking Finance Companies (NBFC) also have Ombudsman/ Ombudsmen as per RBI guidelines and a similar approach can be adapted to file a complaint there: wait 30 days and then approach the RBI Ombudsman.

To talk about practicality, many of us are in a hurry to get the loan from such sources sanctioned, rush to the showroom and get the new car. If he or she is a teambhpian, in many cases we see a review.

But if such a malpractice has occurred, the complaint needs to be filed without wasting time, to facilitate the information about such a shady deal reaching the regulator, viz. the RBI.

This malpractice by the HDFC Bank was going on since 2014 and only in 2020 the lid blew off, when RBI came into the scene. Its hence a foregone conclusion that no affected customer had approached the RBI till 2020, when a whistleblower did a good job with the revelations.

avira_tk · 27th June 2021, 19:19

The issue here is the bank selling a non financial products, they're not allowed to do so. The GPS was a trinket from some obscure brand, it was not a tracking device as some members are suggesting. These huckster thrive on lying by omission to score a commission.

The ad spend had certainly paid off, the news is buried on page 8 of most papers.

24th June 2021, 00:51	#31
Carpainter BHPian Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Kolkata Posts: 688 Thanked: 1,153 Times	Re: HDFC Bank Auto Loans under RBI scanner for tagging GPS with car loans Being a former toiler of the banking industry I can safely say that all the banks be it PSU or private, indulge in various malpractices and cross selling (read mis selling) of third party products like life insurance, general insurance, health insurance (part of general insurance) and even mutual funds/demat accounts. In this hdfc case the only difference is it was a non financial product. I hope RBI will become more vigilant one day and stop cross selling of financial products as well. Regarding the question of the bank safeguarding their asset by using trackers to prevent NPA, all I can say is I don't think they have or ever will use it to track those cars in case of a default. It was all just a push selling to earn extra commission. And no, the employees dealing with the customers are not the only one involved in it. These arrangements are made at top level and the branch level people are just pawns to carry out the instructions they receive for some paltry gains while the main benefits go to the top bosses sitting at the headquarters. One last word of advice is whenever going in for any banking arrangement, apply the same due diligence as you would have if you're buying any other product i.e. do read the fine prints and never take anything at face value and you'll be safe. Last edited by Carpainter : 24th June 2021 at 00:57. Reason: Spelling correction
	(2) Thanks

24th June 2021, 21:34	#34
chef-de-jeep BHPian Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: mumbai/mangalor Posts: 47 Thanked: 84 Times	Re: HDFC Bank Auto Loans under RBI scanner for tagging GPS with car loans Finally HDFC did make it to the news. I always thought it was only me who got on the wrong side of the bank. We were operating a current account with the bank and we duly closed it by the due process and a letter to close the account was also given as told by the bank manager. The Bank manager possibly does not close it and a year later we needed yet another account and when approached,we were offered to operate the same account. We were clearly told that some penalty charges might come in and they would reverse it. As usual delay tactics played and the manager gets transferred.New manager refuses to entertain the issue and is cool about closing the account. When the famous customer service is approached with the issue, out of spite the bank manager writes a fake review for us( hospitality industry is a sitting duck for all this). Fortunately the restaurant was closed at the time due to covid. Of course he got a nasty reply back and a piece of advice- to atleast change his name while posting(ther after he deletes the review since we informed another manager from the bank). Without a single call customer service closes the issue despite screen shots of the same shared with them. All of them hand in glove. Needless to say even the complaint to the RBI ombudsmen was closed without any inquiry. The only icing to the whole story was the manager posted yet another fake review with a changed name( as we suggested to him). The language used was exactly the same, must be short of words in his vocab to make it sound different.
	(1) Thanks

27th June 2021, 19:01	#35
anjan_c2007 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: India Posts: 8,324 Thanked: 20,627 Times View My Garage	Re: HDFC Bank Auto Loans under RBI scanner for tagging GPS with car loans A good redressal for such illegal, unfair and compulsory selling of non financial appendages with the financial component or service asked for, will be by lodging a complaint with the respective ombudsman of the concerned bank. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made it mandatory for all scheduled banks (incl private) to have ombudsman/ ombudsmen appointed for the purpose. Usually, this officer holds a senior post in the respective bank and doubles up as an ombudsman. Like for instance, if such a complaint has to be lodged with the HDFC Bank Ombudsman, one can peruse this link below to email his or her complaint, with relevant documents as proof. The Ombudsman of your particular territory (state/ zone) as listed needs to be checked. The email id and office address are given in the link. The mail needs to list the grievance with all particulars, names and designations of the persons at the particular Branch of the bank with all supporting documents. https://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/ne...udsman-details As per the RBI guidelines, this person has to be given a period of 30 days to reply to your grievance. They usually reply but the grievance is either not at all resolved or not fully/ only partly addressed. Thereafter, with screenshot of this Ombudsman's mail and all relevant documents as asked for by the RBI, after a lapse of 30 days, a complaint can be lodged with the RBI Ombudsman. Here there is action that is often against the respective bank, with a RBI direction to resolve the grievance within a time limit. The link for lodging a complaint with the RBI is provided below. Earlier, they used to have email addresses of Zonal RBI Ombudsmen. Now the link has provision and space for stating the grievance and send all required and relevant supporting documents as attachment/s. https://cms.rbi.org.in/cms/IndexPage...indexpage.aspx The Non- Banking Finance Companies (NBFC) also have Ombudsman/ Ombudsmen as per RBI guidelines and a similar approach can be adapted to file a complaint there: wait 30 days and then approach the RBI Ombudsman. To talk about practicality, many of us are in a hurry to get the loan from such sources sanctioned, rush to the showroom and get the new car. If he or she is a teambhpian, in many cases we see a review. But if such a malpractice has occurred, the complaint needs to be filed without wasting time, to facilitate the information about such a shady deal reaching the regulator, viz. the RBI. This malpractice by the HDFC Bank was going on since 2014 and only in 2020 the lid blew off, when RBI came into the scene. Its hence a foregone conclusion that no affected customer had approached the RBI till 2020, when a whistleblower did a good job with the revelations. Last edited by anjan_c2007 : 27th June 2021 at 19:15.
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27th June 2021, 19:19	#36
avira_tk Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,339 Thanked: 3,069 Times	Re: HDFC Bank Auto Loans under RBI scanner for tagging GPS with car loans The issue here is the bank selling a non financial products, they're not allowed to do so. The GPS was a trinket from some obscure brand, it was not a tracking device as some members are suggesting. These huckster thrive on lying by omission to score a commission. The ad spend had certainly paid off, the news is buried on page 8 of most papers.
	() Thanks