Fair Practice Code
Introduction
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines companies were advised to adhere to the instructions related to Fair Practices Code given in the chapter VII of the RBI Master Direction (Reserve Bank of India (Non-Banking Financial Company – Scale Based Regulation) Directions, 2023) RBI/ DoR /2023-24/106 DoR.FIN.REC.No.45/03.10.119/2023-24 dated October 19, 2023 (Updated as on November 10, 2023) with RBI Master Direction RBI/DNBR/2016-17/45 Master Direction DNBR. PD. 008/03.10.119/2016-17 - Non-Banking Financial Company - Systemically Important Non-Deposit taking Company and Deposit taking Company (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2016 dated September 01, 2016 and amendments thereafter.
This Fair Practices Code lays down transparent and clear guidelines regarding the transactions of the company with its borrowers, co-applicants and guarantors (collectively referred to as "borrower" or "applicant" in the rest of this document, as the context requires). This Policy is applicable for all lending products offered by Setia Auto Finance Pvt Ltd hereinafter referred as "Company.
The code also places a robust mechanism for Customer Grievance Redressal. Through this code the company aims to adhere to the regulatory guidelines prescribed by the regulator from time-to-time.
Applications for loans and their processing
The loan application forms shall include relevant/ necessary information which affects the borrower's interest to bring fair practice and transparency.
This form shall indicate the documents required to be submitted by the borrower along with the application form.
Communication with the borrower shall take place in a language that can easily be understood by the borrower or in the vernacular language.
After the receipt of the application form from the borrower, an acknowledgment receipt indicating the period within which the loan applications will be disposed of, shall be handed over to the borrower.
If any additional details/ documents are required, the same shall be intimated to the borrowers.
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Loan appraisal and terms and conditions
The Company, upon approval of the loan, shall convey the applicant through a sanction letter cum agreement or otherwise indicating the amount of loan, annualized rate of interest applicable and method of application thereof, along with the terms and conditions.
The sanction letter shall be delivered in writing to the borrower in a language easily understandable by him or vernacular language and an accepted copy of the terms & conditions through the borrower shall be maintained on record.
Penal interest charged for the late repayment of instalments shall be displayed in bold in the loan agreement.
The Company shall furnish a copy of the loan agreement, in vernacular or language understandable to the borrower, along with all the enclosures quoted in the loan agreement to the borrowers.
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Disbursement of loans and changes in terms and conditions
In the event of any alteration/ modification in the terms & conditions such as interest rates, disbursement schedules, prepayment charges, service charges etc., a notice/ intimation shall be provided to the borrower in vernacular language or any language as understood by him.
Any modifications in charges and interest rates shall be effected only prospectively and a suitable condition/ clause in this regard shall be incorporated in the loan agreement.
Post-disbursement supervision of all the loans shall be as per the normal business practice, terms of sanction and guidelines issued by the RBI from time-to-time.
The decision to accelerate/recall performance or payment under the agreement shall only be carried out in accordance with the loan agreement.
All securities pertaining to the loan would be released on receipt of full and final payment of the outstanding amount of loans, subject to any legitimate right or lien, and set-off for any other claim that the company may have against the borrowers. If such right of set-off is to be exercised, the borrower shall be given notice about the same within 30 days from the clearance of all dues, with full particulars about the remaining claims and the conditions under which the company is entitled to retain the securities until the relevant claim is settled / paid.
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General
There shall not be any interference in borrower's affairs except for reasons mentioned in the loan agreement's terms & conditions unless any new information, which the borrower has not disclosed earlier, has been noticed by the company.
If the company is in receipt of a request from the borrower for transferring his loan account, the objection or consent for the same shall be forwarded within 21 days' from the date of receipt of such request. Any such transfer shall be in accordance with the transparent contractual terms in consonance with law.
The company shall not resort to undue harassment i.e., use of the muscle power for
the recovery of the loans, persistently bothering borrowers at very odd timings etc., for recovery of loans and such behaviour is also against the company's code of conduct.
Ongoing training to all the staff members who communicate with the clients shall be imparted to ensure that they behave with the customers in an appropriate manner.
The company shall not charge foreclosure charges/ pre-payment penalties on any floating rate term loan sanctioned for purposes other than business to individual borrowers.
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Repossession of vehicles financed by the Company
The Company has included the repossession clause in the loan agreement with the borrower that would be legally enforceable.
To ensure transparency, the terms and conditions of the contract/loan agreement will include provisions regarding:
1. Notice period before taking possession;
2. Circumstances under which the notice period can be waived;
3. The procedure for taking possession of the security;
4. A provision regarding final chance to be given to the borrower for repayment of loan before the sale / auction of the asset.
5. The procedure for giving repossession to the borrower and
6. The procedure for sale / auction of the property.
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Interest Charged from Borrowers
To ensure that there the Customers are not charged excessive interest rate and charges on loans and advances by the Company, the Board of the Company has adopted a Policy for determining Interest Rates, Processing and Other Charges "Interest Rate Policy" and the same has been put up on Company's web-site www.setiafinance.com
The information published in the website or otherwise published shall be updated whenever there is a change in the rates of interest.
Suitable internal procedures and principles in determining processing, interest rates, and the other charges shall be followed in line along with the accepted company strategies from time-to- time.
Decision to give the loan as well as the rate of interest that is applicable to each loan account shall be assessed on the case-to-case basis, according to multiple factors like repayment capacity and borrower profile, kind of asset that is being financed, past repayment track record if any, other financial commitments of the borrower, loan's tenure, security of loan as represented by underlying assets, payment's mode, loan-to value ratio, the asset's end-use, geography/location of borrower et
The rate of interest shall be annualised rate so that the borrower is aware of the exact rates that would be charged to the account.
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Lending against collateral of Gold Jewellery
Presently the Company is not engaged in the business of the lending against gold jewellery, hence code associated to this business shall be approved as well as adopted as and when the decision is taken for entering the mentioned kind of business.
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Review
The Company shall abide by this Fair Practices Code following the spirit of the Code and in the manner it may be applicable to its business.
The Company shall put the above Fair Practices Code outlined hereinabove on its web site, for the information of various stakeholders. The Company would also review and refine the Code, as may be required periodically –based on its own experience and fresh guidelines, if any, to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India in this regard.
GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL MECHANISM
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Introduction
This document lays down a clear and transparent mechanism which aims at minimizing the instances of Customer complaints and grievances by providing proper service and having a comprehensive review mechanism to ensure prompt redressal of the same. The company will lay stress on improving its Customer service continuously in order to achieve high Customer satisfaction.
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Guiding Principles
The company aims to provide best customer service and is consistently striving on creating a robust and efficient customer service platform.
Under normal circumstances, the Customer complaints may arise due to:
Inadequate functions/arrangements/services made available to the Customers or gaps in standards of services expected and actual services provided.
Attitudinal aspects in dealing with the Customers.
In case any of these circumstances is encountered by the Customer, the Customer has a right to register a complaint with the Bank. The complaint may be given in writing, orally or over telephone. In case the complaint is not resolved within the given time, or if the Customer is not satisfied with the resolution, the Customer can approach the Banking Ombudsman or any relevant higher authority for grievance redressal.
Any complaint forwarded to the company from an outsourced vendor/ lodged by the customer regarding an outsourced vendor shall be handled in accordance with the terms of this policy document.
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Registration of Grievances/ Complaints
If the customers have any issues or wish to register a complaint or grievance, they can reach us through any of the following channels:
STEP 1: Channel of Complaint Registration
1) Branch
Customer shall contact to any branch for any grievance where the Branch Manager shall be the first point of communication with the customer,
2) Customer Care Centre
The customer can also call to the centralized customer care team on 0141-2366208/09. The Branch, on behalf of customer can also communicate the same to the centralized customer care.
Contact details of centralized customer care desk is also displayed in each branch office.
3) Write to us
The customer can also communicate with us by emailing us on care@setiafinance.com or raising their concern on our website at https://www.setiafinance.com/customer-grievance.html
STEP 2: Escalation Mechanism
Resolution in Step 1 not as per your expectations | In case the dispute/complaint is not redressed within fifteen days | In case the dispute/complaint is not redressed within one month |
First Level | Second Level | Third Level (Appeal to RBI) |
Mr. Sunil kumar, Grievance Redressal Officer, E Mail:sunil.kumar@setiafinance.in Office: 0141-2366208 | Mr. Amit Mathur, E-Mail: accounts@setiafinance.com Office: 0141-2366230 | General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Rambagh circle, Tonk road, Jaipur -302004 Portal to lodge complaints: |