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Customer unhappy over change of interest rate on loan

ZAHIR Hussain, an employee of the Rescue Department of the Dubai Civil Defence called up the Khaleej Times Hotline with a complaint against the RAK Bank.

According to him, he had taken a loan from the bank a year ago. “According to the agreement, the rate of interest was fixed at 8.5 per cent. However, a week ago, I got a letter from the bank which stated that the rate of interest had been increased to 11 per cent. But then, there is nothing mentioned in the agreement or the loan contract that the rate of interest can be increased,” he said.

Another caller, Cirsmoreno, a paramedical staff, also had a similar complaint against the RAK Bank. “All of a sudden, I got a letter from the bank last week notifying me about increase in interest rate from 8.5 per cent to 11 per cent. I took the loan last year, but then nothing is mentioned in the loan contract. I have no idea why the bank has done it?

Many of my friends have also received the same letters,” he said.

Reply

ZEYAD, a call centre agent (phone banking) of the RAK Bank, said that the bank was nowhere at fault in this.

“We are nowhere at fault. The customers had not read the contract in a proper way. According to the contract, the bank can very well change the rate of interest anytime. The bank has got the right to do it,” he said.

Bank fails to notify police

AMMIR S. Hameed complained about the Sharjah Police officers at the Sharjah International Airport, claiming that they had prevented him from travelling, as his name was in the blacklist of wanted people because he did not settle his dues with a bank. “I have paid off all my debts to the bank and cannot understand why the police stopped me at the airport.”

Reply

AN OFFICIAL from the Sharjah Police said that the officers at the airport were doing their job. “The bank was responsible for this mix-up because it was supposed to to send a letter to the police department stating that the client had settled his dues and thus request the police to remove his name from the blacklist. “If the bank had failed to follow this procedure, how would the police know that the problem between the bank and the creditor was solved?,” the official commented.

He explained that the banks’ representatives usually approach the police with a list of creditors’ names who fail to respond to the banks’ correspondences, and who fail to pay their dues on time. “When launching the complaints, bank representatives show the police cheques signed by these creditors as proof of their claims. In such cases, the Sharjah Police follows the normal legal procedures followed by all police departments in the world.

First, we search for the creditors and summon them to the police stations to get their statement on why they failed to settle the dues to their banks. If the police fails to locate a creditor, then his/her name is circulated to all ports to include in the lists,” the official clarified. “But as soon as a bank notifies the police about the settlement of the dues, the name of the creditor is immediately removed from the computer system.” The official observed that the creditor has the right to sue the bank for creating such a problem for him with the police and for affecting his reputation.

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