With reference to the column in Times of India dated 8th July 2009 BANK TO PAY Rs 1 LAKH FOR OVERHAULING LOAN ACCOUNT which said that a Panchkula resident Mr Birbhan Goyal has faced the consequences of enhancement of interest on home loans by ICICI Bank and on approaching the Consumer Forum it has been decided and instructed the Bank to pay him a compensation of Rs1lakh and also to reduce the interest rates of existing customers to the same rate as for the new customers I too feel I am like Mr Goyal I had opted for a Home loan of Rs10 lakh in the year 2004 at the rate of 7.25 percent for 20 yrs as it was on floating and the rates kept on increasing first only the amount of EMI was getting affected but later on they started increasing the tenure I started at the EMI of Rs 7904 in 2004 and now the EMI is Rs10695 with 17 yrs of loan still left even after paying for more than 5 yrs Its only this year as Govt has asked to reduce the rates it has come down by 1 percent in past 1 yr otherwise if you go through my records till Aug 2008 it was showing a loan pending for 32 years after paying for 4 years The new rates are probably between 9 percent to 10 percent. If I go through the details of my principal and interest amount paid to the bank on last 5 yrs I found that Ive paid Rs 632979 to the bank and out of that only Rs 77923 has gone towards principal amount the remaining 55 lakhs is all for the interest I had spoken to the bank people number of times but all in vain After reading this column I saw a ray of hope that probably something can be done by you One important thing is that Ive taken the loan for my property at Zirakpur of which the address is mentioned above and my parents are putting up there whereas I have to leave that place because of my job requirement and I am located at Mysore currently and I can be contacted on my mobile 09916131339
Its due to the sudden and continuous increase in the amount of EMI Ive faced immense financial pressure to curtail my other basic expenses Because or salary packages do not increase with the same pace as the interest rates increase Till date my entire loan record is clean there have not been a single incidence of EMI bounce in order to maintain this I have to cut short my other expenses which has resulted in lot of mental agony and unhealthy atmosphere in my family
Firstly I want the current interest rate to come down to the prevailing market rates for new customers and reducing both the amount and tenure of EMI Secondly I want whatever Ive paid extra in the previous years after comparing those with the rates for new customer for those days whatever be the difference amount needs to be adjusted against my principal Thirdly after the fulfillment of above 2 points if something can be compensated for my mental agony I will be more than happy If this cannot happen its not an issue but the 2 points above should definitely show results