Query Corner: Banking & Finance

I had taken a loan against National Savings Certificates (NSC), which were under lien and discharged in bank’s favour. It was in the bank’s custody. The date of maturity of NSCs was March 31, 2008, but the bank sent the same to post office for redemption after seven months. The bank continued to charge interest on my loan account during this period. Had it been redeemed on the maturity date, my loan account would have been closed in March 2008. Can I get a reimbursement of the interest debited by the bank due to its delayed action? Please advise.

Laxmi Devi Agarwal

Clearly, it is a mistake on the part of the bank. The bank has to not only refund interest charged to your account, but also pay compensation towards further expenses, if any, incurred by you while attempting to get this matter resolved. Please take up the matter with the bank’s nodal officer.

I have taken a housing loan of Rs 24.8 lakh from SBI in November 2008 under the MaxGain Scheme. I had put surplus money in my MaxGain account since it is an overdraft home loan account. I have paid my EMIs regularly. Despite my net withdrawals from this OD A/C are lower than deposits, the principal loan outstanding is around Rs 25.1 lakh. According to the bank, the withdrawals exceed deposits (which is not allowed, since this is a home loan account). Please advise.

Dhiraj Gupta

The loan is granted as an overdraft facility with the added flexibility for you to operate your home loan account like your savings bank or current account. MaxGain is a credit line account with fixed EMI, consisting of two components — interest and principal. Both these components vary depending on the amount borrowed in the previous month. If you deposit the money in the MaxGain account, in the sub-sequent month, your interest component will decrease and the principal will go up, resulting in shorter duration of repayment. You can ask the authorities to give a statement of account/spread sheet to know whether their version is correct or not.

Can a bank levy charges for updating the passbook at non-home branches. If yes, what is the prescribed amount?

Jagadish Aradhya

Service charges levied by banks for various services rendered to their clients vary as per the bank. You need to go through the website of the bank that is levying such charges for the updation of passbook at non-home branches. Certain banks introduced this charge in 2008. In case of some banks, the charge for updating the passbook at a branch other than the home branch is Rs 10.

(By VN Kulkarni, chief counsellor, Abhay Credit Counselling Centre
Email to etquerybkg@indiatimes.com)