I had taken a loan from Bank of Baroda for a sum of 3.3 lakhs in 2007 at 12.35% interest. EMI agreed was 5800 but I end up getting a job which paid only 10k per month. So I was unable to pay the EMI amount. My father passed away in 2009 making me the sole bread winner for my family putting more strain on my finances. I talked to the branch manager and he asked me deposit whatever amount I could even if it was 2-3k. I started repaying the amount whatever I could.
With my luck and job changing in 2006-07 I started paying 7k each month to repay the loan quickly. Still the 5yrs tenure of the loan had expired last year.
The bank said the loan had been renewed and I should keep paying the EMI. By this year I was able to increase my EMI payments to 9k each month. Now I have received a notice from the bank saying I owe them some unpaid EMI and there was a fine of 1.68 lakhs on me. This amount is more than the 50% of the loan itself.
In the meantime, I have never received any monthly statements, information or calls that I was falling behind my EMIs and need to pay. This has come as complete surprise. I called the bank to provide me an email statement copy cause I am working in Bangalore to which they replied they can't do that as they are in a rural area. I tried calling the customer care and I was told "mode of operation" was blocked on the account - I needed to get in touch with my rural area branch if I needed to change/request a statement. I raised the issue via the greivance redressal on their website and yet to receive any information back for last 3 days.
The bank has given me 10 days to pay the fine or else they will be taking legal action against me. What steps can I take if the 10 days lapses due to bank's failure to provide me the info?
