The ICICI Conundrum
--------------------
Well, I am faced with this big ethical question so putting this out there. You already know about the bosch case. But I never wrote about the ICICI case that I also filed.
Basically what happened is that I took a loan with ICICI and HDFC bank in early 2019. I mid 2019, I was again on my perennial trips to Oz. During this trip though, I failed to put enough money in my ICICI bank account and when the emi date was due, the EMI lapsed. The next thing that happened is the point of contention here. ICICI bank simply emptied my bank account without contacting me or letting me know with even a reminder that my emi was due or it had lapsed.. Usually this is not a big deal.. you just top up your account and move on.. but since I am what I am and what I have experienced is not quite the middle/worker class experience, I became paranoid when I saw that my bank account was empty. For about a day or two I was super paranoid and thinking that they hacked my bank accounts and had already setup cameras in my house. Somehow I reached out to Epping hospital near where I was staying at that time. The hospital emergency did a thorough test and let me sleep a bit in the emergency section itself and then let me go. But this hooked me on the Health system here and I was visited by a mental health team a duo of caring people. Initially I was scared again that they were tracking me but later on talking to them i realised that they were social minded people who were trying to see if I was alright. Well, anyway thats another story. But then I got angry that this was due to ICICI so i just waited.
Finally a debt person contacted me on whatsapp and asked me why I had not paid my dues. I took the opportunity to ask him why they emptied my bank account. He prompty produced a printout of all my EMI payments and without remorse said that they had ''received payment from me for the last emi''... I begged to differ, I never made a payment, they took it without my permission and knowledge. I switched to email for communications so I could keep track of the conversation. This was escalated to the another person and he promptly said on email that the loan agreement said that the bank had the right to put a lien on any deposits that I had with the bank. I googled lien and it did not mean that they can take my money. Moreover, he just scanned two or three lines which used the word lien and sent that section alone to me and did not send me the loan agreement. I tried to get the loan agreement that I signed repeatedly and they would not give it.
The next thing that happened was horrendous.. Since i was asking questions, these goons sent some more goons to my house in triplicane. They talked to my uncle and my father and left. I was speechless. This was like.. I, the bank, can do what I want.. so shut up and pay. same attitude as Bosch when I initially disagreed to stay in office for more that 8.5 hours. which escalated in different directions. But thats another story.
So, the above happened and this table tennis game escalated with both me and the bank sending each other legal notices and finally this case is going to come up for hearing.
But the problem and dilemma I am faced with is because, right now I am stuck in a bit of financially strict times and I was forced to use ICICI bank credit card. Now the card is almost maxed and I am trying to make repayments. Still not overdue.. mind you.. but i am managing the payments.
So, now that I am using ICICI bank credit card.. should I continue with the case??
What to do..