State Bank Of India [SBI] — malpractice by sbi

Address: New Delhi, Delhi

Dear sir,

Car loan account no: [protected]: requesting intervention and fair resolution for malpractices perpetrated by loan officer and branch manager of sbi, najafgarh road, new delhi

In august 2012, we were guided by the mahindra and mahindra dealership (Sri durga automobiles at moti nagar) to avail of a car loan from the najafgarh road branch of sbi. My wife and i met the loan officer ms. Renu garg at the branch and explained to her that we needed a loan of rs.11, 00, 000/- for a term of three years and that we were prepared to pay an emi of approximately rs.35, 000/-. However, ms. Renu insisted that we take a tenor of 7 years and a lower emi as our children were growing up and we should plan for contingencies etc. With our income at the time, we could easily afford a shorter tenor and insisted on the same. She finally gave us the below detailed terms for the loan:

Loan amount: rs. 11, 00, 000/- (Rupees eleven lakhs only)
Tenor: 60 months
Roi: 11.25%
Emi: rs. 22, 431/-

We found the terms to be reasonable and ms. Renu filled the emi amount as rs. 22, 431/- per month in the ecs documents and asked me to get the document endorsed from hdfc bank so this amount could be deducted from my salary account with hdfc bank as per the loan tenor of 60 months. During my visit to the hdfc bank, the branch manager of my home branch (Where my salary account exists) offered me a preferential rate of interest towards buying xuv500 as before endorsing the ecs document he wanted me to take the loan from their branch, however, on seeing the emi offered by sbi he said this is the best offer that i could get on the emi for 5 years (60 months). I came back to the sbi branch and narrated the incidence in verbatim; on knowing this discussion, the sbi branch loan officer rather proudly remarked that sbi was indeed the bank that offered the best emi and that i should not consider any other bank’s offer for the car loan. I was assured and there was no reason to doubt sbi loan officer’s claim.

However, after getting the ecs document endorsed by hdfc bank and returning to the sbi branch, i was surprised to see the loan agreement document stating a different loan tenor and emi amount. Ms. Renu vehemently insisted that we sign the loan agreement bearing tenor of 84 months and emi amount of rs. 18, 980/- as getting the loan agreement printed again would lead to a further delay of 2-4 days in the loan getting disbursed to the mahindra and mahindra dealership (Sri durga automobiles). She assured us that the records in the system would reflect a loan period of 60 months and that the emi of rs. 22, 431/- as per the ecs documents signed by us stands validated.

She justified the disparate terms mentioned in the loan agreement by insisting that:

ø it was only a formality and nothing to worry about
ø that the seven years mentioned in the loan agreement were not binding as our loan would anyways be completely paid up within 60 months
ø that she and the branch manager were available to resolve any issues should they arise in the future (Her exact words were, hum yahaan kisliye baithe hain?)

With this reassurance provided, we signed the documents as advised by her.

On apr 24, 2018, when we went to collect the noc from the branch, we were told that the emi of rs. 22, 431/- that we had been paying was short, and that we still owed the bank approximately rs.1.27 lakh along with interest for the short payment. To my amazement the same was neither shared with me nor was i ever informed in any communication from the bank until that day.

Needless to say, this was shocking and extremely disappointing for us as we had never expected a bank of sbi’s stature to make such absurd claims.

Even more disturbing was the fact that both, the branch manager, mr. K. K. Gupta as well as the loan officer ms. Renu who had processed our loan in 2012, had been transferred and completely denied any wrong-doing.

The present branch manager, mr. S. N. Mishra did not even want to hear or understand and be part of the issue, let alone resolve it. He refused to provide any information for escalation of this matter and only relented by telling us that we could meet the regional manager whose office was on the first floor, when we informed him that we would record and narrate his abhorrent behaviour to higher ups.in fact, he got more violent and said that do whatever you want to do, we are a government bank and you cannot touch us.

It pains me as a just and lawful taxpayer to state here that the least he could have done is listened to us instead of shouting at us and we could have reached a sensible and reasonable resolution, but in his words “the matter could not be resolved without you paying the balance reflecting in the loan account”.

Sir, we request your immediate intervention so that the coercive and dubious methods being employed by some of your staff members to meet targets and earn promotions are stopped and customers are not penalised for trusting the officials of this honourable bank.

We have no other choice but to believe that the modus operandi of ms. Renu was to offer terms such that we do not consider taking a loan from hdfc bank where she knew i had my salary account and was getting a preferential rate of interest. Her intention was to somehow disburse the loan and do the paperwork in a manner that later allows the bank to hold us at ransom. She was very well aware that by the time we would come to collect the noc she would be transferred and unaccountable.

Sir, we have never defaulted on a single instalment and were perfectly capable of paying the rightful emi. There was never any question of paying a lesser amount and the figure written on the ecs was not conjured by me – it was exactly as advised by the bank.

Accordingly, we are not convinced that we should pay an amount of rs.1.27 lakhs whether it is deemed a human error on the bank’s part or a clear case of gross malpractice.

Also, our repeated requests of getting a copy of the ecs mandate that we had got endorsed from hdfc bank and submitted to the branch in 2012, to the present branch manager (Right from the time we met with him in person on apr 24th, 2018) have gone in vain.

It is highly shameful and regrettable how being a customer of top most nationalised bank in india viz. State bank of india, i am made to suffer for no fault of mine. We request your kind intervention for a fair investigation and speedy resolution of this matter.

Without prejudice, i am within my right to take this matter to the appropriate legal forum if i do not receive a satisfactory resolution of this issue in my favour within 2 weeks. Please expedite this resolution as i need the noc to sell my vehicle which bears the hypothecation to sbi on my current registration certificate.

Thanking you,


Manish mehrotra & ranjana mehrotra
Mobile: +91-[protected]