Home Loan: Bank did not provide papers even after loan repayment? You will get Rs 5000 per day

Home Loan: The greatest peace of life comes when the burden of home loan is completely lifted from the head. Most people breathe a sigh of relief after paying their last EMI. They feel that now their bank accounts are settled. But actually, even after paying off the entire loan amount, there is a very important task left. That task is to safely retrieve the original documents of your property from the bank. It often happens that even after weeks or months of loan completion, banks do not return their original house documents to customers. Customers have to make a trip to the bank to get their property papers back. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken very strict measures to end this problem. The new rules have brought great relief to common consumers.

What is RBI’s 30 day rule?

As per Reserve Bank guidelines, the process does not end with full repayment of the loan amount. RBI has set clear deadlines for banks. According to the new rule, when a customer repays his loan in full, the bank will have to return all original documents of his property within 30 days. In addition, the bank charges registered on that property shall also be immediately removed from the relevant registry.

These rules will be applicable from December 1, 2023 in all cases where banks or financial institutions hold the customer’s property paper as mortgage. These rules are fully applicable to all commercial banks as well as non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). In the approval letter itself, the bank has to give information about where the papers will be returned after the completion of the loan. Customers can collect their documents from the loan branch or any other designated office as per their convenience.

If the rules are broken, the bank will have to pay heavy compensation

If the bank is unable to return your documents within the stipulated time limit of 30 days, it will have to pay a heavy price for this mistake. There are clear instructions from the RBI that after the lapse of 30 days, the bank has to pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 to the customer for each day of delay. That is, if the bank delays for 10 days in returning the paper, it has to transfer Rs 50,000 directly to your account.

Not only this, the bank has to tell the customer in clear terms why there is a delay in returning the paper. This rule completely restricts the arbitrariness of banks. It will directly benefit the customers who were troubled in getting the papers due to bank delay.

What is the bank’s responsibility if the paper is lost?

There are many reports that the customer’s house papers are lost or damaged due to the negligence of the bank. In case of loss of your original documents kept in the custody of the bank, the entire responsibility will be with the bank. In such a situation, the bank itself has to come forward and arrange to get the duplicate or certified copy made for the customer. Any expenses incurred in this entire process will be directly borne by the bank.

However, in such difficult situations, the bank is given an additional time of 30 days to produce the papers. That means the bank will have a total of 60 days to issue the duplicate paper. If the bank fails to provide the paper even after 60 days, a penalty of Rs 5,000 per day will be triggered which will be directly passed on to the customer.

In case of non-hearing, customers should file their complaint here.

If you don’t get the property papers even after 30 days of loan settlement, you should take a systematic approach. First give a written complaint to your bank. You can ask for a written proof of your loan closure from the bank. Also ask the reason for the delay in writing.

Even after this, if the bank does not respond, you can present your views in their grievance redressal mechanism. When your problem is not resolved at the bank level even after a long time, you can file your complaint directly with the RBI Ombudsman (Banking Ombudsman). To strengthen your case, always keep a written record of your correspondence with the bank.