HDFC Bank to sell home-loans through customer-friendly web

MUMBAI: Home-loan products have long been sold through the abused tactic of unsolicited calls, but in a sign of change, private lender HDFC Bank will soon be acquiring customers through an interactive web chat where the customer wilfully logs on for details.

"We see the cold-calling method (unsolicited calls) going off, especially considering the way the regulation is headed. Web is the future -- it is non-invasive, gets the really interested people and also allows the customer a record through histories," said the bank's Senior Vice-President, Unsecured Loans Business, Sanjai Raina.

HDFC Bank has firmed-up plans to start selling group company HDFC's home-loans from later this month through web chat before the kick-off of the Diwali celebrations and a pilot for the same is already on, he added.

Web chat, Raina said, is a more transparent medium and there will be no mis-selling.

For the last six-months, HDFC Bank has been selling personal loans through the web chat option as a pilot and already one per cent of its Rs 400 crore sales has happened through web chats.

"We are confident of taking it to three per cent in six months and to five per cent in a year's time," he said.

For availing a home-loan, anybody can log on to HDFC Bank's designated web page, fill in details like amount required and salary drawn after which he chats with a sales representative.