Dear UCO Bank Head,

It is utterly depressing for me to write
you this email stating a complaint against the Branch Manager of Mulund (W)
branch situated at the following address - A-Block, Grd Floor, Anandi
Villa, Nr Heera Mongi Navneet Hospital, Ganesh Gawde Road, Mulund W, Mumbai
- 400080. Ph no - +(91)-(22)-25601176, 25903032.

The following is the detailed description of the incident.

I applied for a loan on the website on
July 16th for which I got a reply (check trail mail) from the Bank on July
17th which states agreement of sanctioning of the loan for Rs 3,20,000. I
collated all the documents mentioned in that email and downloaded the
application form which was sent with that email and visited the Castle
Mills, Thane(W) branch situated in Thane(W) on August 10, 2009 as mentioned
in the email to submit the documents.

After waiting for one hour at the branch,
MR PATIL (Loans/Insurance person) informed me that I need to go to the
Mulund(W) branch as I reside in Mulund(W) and they will help me with further
formalities of the loan.

I visited the Mulund(W) branch on July
12th 2009 at 12.45PM and met the Branch Manager and discussed my requirement
with him. To my utter disappointment, he informed me that I cannot apply for
a loan for Rs 3,20,000 without a collateral security. When I informed him
that your Bank’s website agrees to gives a loan upto Rs 4,00,000 without a
collateral security, the same policy should be followed by your branch.

He told me *“ Tum agar paise leke bhag
jooage to hum kya karenge”.* I answered him that it is still a punishable
offence as I will provide the Banks the PDC and if they are bounced, I can
be booked under Section 138 as per the Indian constitution. The police can
arrest me if a summon is issued. I am also giving a guarantor who is a co
applicant (my wife in this case) and I will not risk both of our
dignity/respect in the society and CIBIL rankings for such a small amount.

The Branch Managers next question was *“Mulund me itne
sare Banks hai, phir tumne UCO Bank me hi kyu aaye, jaao aur apni Bank se
loan lo”. *I am sure no company would want to recommend its prospective
clients to its competitors. I informed him that my current salary account is
with Kotak* *Mahindra Bank and they do not offer an education loan. However,
none of my answers were sounding interesting to him, and he asked me to
leave and get a collateral security. I do not have an issue with giving a
collateral security, however, the bank should not contradict its Bank policy
on the Internet/Phone Banking Helpline (18003450123) which states you can
get a loan without collateral security and the branch manager stating you
cannot. The Branch Manager repeated thrice that *“Bina security loan to dete
hai, lekin tum paise leke bhag gaye to kya”. *

* *It is very sad that at a time when the country should
give an opportunity to ambitious young individuals, there is such
discouragement faced at an institution which states itself as Government of
India Undertaking. And the outcome is that young professionals like me
either cannot grow in life from junior level positions, or have to face the
brunt of exorbitant interest rates charged by private Banks.

I am sure the Bank also wants to earn and grow its
potential by investing its customer savings and earning more interest from
the market, however, employees sitting a such an important position of a
Branch Manager are not contributing in improving the ratio of Interest
spread to the AWF(average working fund) of your bank when he could.

I am not sure if I will get redressal after writing his
email, may be there will be no action taken, but it is a killing feeling
today for someone who wants to stand on his own feet but cannot in this
country and I feel sorry for ambitions of young people who would be dying
everyday in Mumbai & India because of such decision makers holding important
positions in the country. But one thing that I am sure of, that one day when
I am somebody and when I have an opportunity to sow a seed of progress in
this country, I will not hind from it.

Attached is the snapshot of the website of UCO Bank
mentioning the loan details and following is the link for the same.

Regards,

A disappointed prospective customer.

9920290010, 67663 125