[Resolved]  ICICI — Immoral/Unethical Home Loan practices adopted by ICICI Bank.

This is to bring to your attention the various unethical practices within ICICI Bank. The Bank is defrauding customers and using unethical means to generate revenue in the form on interest through Home Loans.

Based on media reports, we understand that the Bank had offered only specific customers a scheme for reduction in the interest rates. This reduction could be availed by the customer paying a switch fee of 0.50% and the loan would bear an interest rate of 9.75%. I visited the ICICI Home Finance – Borivali Branch on April 12, 2009 and was informed that the scheme of ‘Preferential interest rates’ was in place only till end of March 2009. As per the current interest rate Scheme in place for Home Loan customers. The existing customers can switch to new rates by paying a switch fee of 1.75%. The prevailing rates were :

Upto 20 lacs : 9.75%
Above 20 to 30 lacs : 10%
Above 30 lacs : 11.50%

We would like to obtain clarification/compensation from ICICI Bank on the following questions :

1. There was no official communication sent by the Bank through any medium to its customers. No communication was received either through internet, branch network, individual letters, mobile SMS. We as customers feel cheated with the discriminating policies adopted by the bank. The Bank is not following ethical Banking and Fair Trade Practices by not treating all customers at par.

2. We enquired whether there was any official correspondence with the Branch for charging the revised rate of interest. However we were not provided any such correspondence. (As informed the instructions were received via internal email. Further details of the email was not provided to us inspite of requests). Again all changes of rates are required to be made only through official internal banking circulars. However there was no such evidence provided to the customers who are affected by the change in the interest rates.

3. There have been repeated changes to the CRR/SLR rates over the past year by the RBI. However this benefit has not been passed on to the existing customers within ICICI who are still paying very high rates of interest as compared to the market peers. Hence the Bank has cheated the customers by charging them increased rate of interest and made the customers bear the brunt in this recessionary environment.

4. The Bank has also discriminated in respect of treatment between old and new customers. It is indeed interesting to seek an explanation why new customers are given lower rates of interest, whereas the benefits are not passed on to existing floating rate customers.

5. In addition to all these, the Bank is keen to pocket an extravagant amount of 2% of the loan + Service Tax thereon as Loan Prepayment charges in the event o[censored]s trying to move our loan to a more better efficient financial institution.

6. Bank staff are not cooperative in answering questions with regards to the policies adopted by the bank. There is no information about where and to reach a banking ombudsman/Consumer Court in case of queries.

We would request you to look into the unethical banking practices being followed and obtain a suitable clarification on behalf of all the customers of ICICI Bank. Also it is important to bring this to light to the various ICICI Bank customers who are not aware of this discriminatory practice.


Thanking You,


Ashwinkumar Kuckian
Loan Account No :NHNMU[protected]