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| Completion of Our Studies on Bank Service Charges and Challenges in Asset Transmission |
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| Dear Moneylifers, |
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| Greetings! I am delighted to tell you that we have completed our two, comprehensive, customer-centric research studies and are all set to launch them in the coming weeks. As many of you know, especially if you were part of the effort by participating in our surveys, the first examines a set of regularly used service charges imposed by banks on basic savings accounts; the second on examines the challenges faced by heirs and nominees in transmission of assets. |
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| If you are a Mumbaikar, please look out for invitation to the public launch of our report on ‘Benchmarking Reasonableness of Service Charges by Banks in India’, which was done by Prof. Ashish Das, from the Mathematics Department of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. The report on ‘Challenges in Transmission of Assets for Nominees and Heirs’ is jointly authored by Akshay Naik, our Project Director and Abhay Datar, who has been instrumental in helping hundreds of consumers with his knowledge and counselling. |
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| Study on Bank Charges |
 It may interest you to know that the last detailed study on bank service charges, supported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was in 2006-07. In 2009, Prof. Das did a specific study. RBI’s Department of Supervision is understood to have done a study in 2020-21.
Our objective in doing this study was to examine if banks follow RBI directions on 'reasonableness of charges' and put out data in the public domain, so that you as a customer can choose a bank that is best for you, or verify whether your bank is giving you the best rates for the services you use. |
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| Study on Challenges of Asset Transmission |
 The issue of unclaimed financial assets, estimated at around Rs 1 lakh crore, has been bothering us at Moneylife Foundation for a long time. We even have a case pending in the Supreme Court of India, thanks to the generous help from Senior Counsel Prashant Bhushan. There are many reasons why valuable assets and investments remains unclaimed and we have examined the reasons for this as well as the many challenges in claiming such assets by the rightful owners or their heirs. |
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| Our report aims also recommends ways to simplify processes and ease the friction faced by legal heirs. It is a long and slow battle, we hope you will read it and lend your voices to ensure that the new government, which takes charge after 4th June will pay attention to our needs. After all, this is legitimate, tax-paid money belonging to Indian citizens and it needs to be reunited with its rightful owners instead of staying impounded by various financial regulators and ministries. Any use of such funds for social activities or education can be from the residual money that still remains unclaimed. |
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| Highlights from our Counselling Sessions |
 Weekly counseling sessions conducted at our office in Prabhadevi, Mumbai, with domain experts Shirish Shanbhag (for housing society and property related matters) and Abhay Datar (for banking, insurance, medi-claim and consumer matters, continued this month with a strong impact this month. |
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| In a peculiar case of mis-selling and misrepresentation, a victim received a phone call purporting to be from his insurance provider. The caller claimed that a long-forgotten insurance policy had an unclaimed matured bonus. Intrigued, the victim followed the caller’s instructions, contacting the agent and subsequently a company “official”. Both parties corroborated the existence of the policy and the bonus, but with a crucial caveat – the bonus could only be accessed upon purchasing additional insurance policies. Despite having reservations, the victim, eager to claim the purported bonus, proceeded with the recommended new policies. Now, two years later, the promised bonus remains unclaimed and the premiums of two new policies have been deducted electronically. |
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| This scenario exemplifies a classic case of misrepresentation in the insurance industry. The initial call, as Mr Datar pointed out, was a deceptive tactic employed to pressure the victim into purchasing unnecessary policies. Furthermore, medical insurance policies do not carry any distributable bonus but offer additional cover for every claim-free period. Perhaps, the biggest mistake here was failing to obtain written confirmation of the bonus details from the insurer or the agent, before committing to the new policies. Ideally, there should have been email conversations or recordings made of phone calls for future reference. While the statue of limitations is not in favor of the victim in this case, they can still pursue a complaint with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) or the Insurance Ombudsman, outlining the alleged mis-selling and providing names and contact details of individuals involved. |
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 The lesson here, as always, is to be wary of unsolicited calls or emails promising windfalls in exchange for immediate action. Always verify the information directly with your insurance provider through established channels. It’s also important to read the fine print before purchasing any insurance product. Do not rely solely on verbal assurances. Finally, be sure to keep a detailed record of all communication with the insurer or the agent. This can prove to be useful when a dispute arises. |
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| In another case, a resident member of a housing society had stopped paying maintenance charges, following a dispute and disagreement over the charges levied. Rather than immediately writing a complaint to the managing committee to clarify and resolve the disputing charges, this member decided to protest by not paying any maintenance for 14 years. When the society finally labeled him as a defaulter and complained to the deputy registrar, he approached Mr Shanbhag for guidance. As was rightfully pointed out by Mr Shanbhag, there is no law that will protect you when you have willfully defaulted in paying the monthly or quarterly maintenance dues. The only solution available for him is to face the legal and financial consequences of being a defaulter for such a long period of time. |
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| If you have any similar concerns or queries and want to seek advice from our counselors, please call our office (022) 35131664 or 35036925 for an appointment. In case you are unable to meet our counselors in-person, you can still seek guidance from our legal helpline. Please also make an effort to visit and share the links to our website, where you can read more about cases of mis-selling, fraud alerts, consumer cases and also solutions to housing society problems. |
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| Join us on WhatsApp and Telegram |
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| We realise that most members find it easier to access information on WhatsApp/Telegram etc. If you are not already on our lists, please click on this link to join – https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=917045156415&text=Hi%21+Please+add+me+to+your+broadcast+ lists+and+make+me+a+member.&app_absent=0 and follow our Telegram channel here – https://telegram.me/moneylife_foundation. |
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| Check our Free Helplines and Guides or Templates as well as our YouTube Channel, where you will find a wide repository of videos on various topics. |
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| Video recordings of all our webinars are available on our YouTube channel and will come to your inbox regularly if you hit the subscribe button. But if you want to be notified about future events through our mailing list, you do need to be a member. |
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| Past Programmes |
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 This month, we had organised a special session with Yogesh Sapkale, deputy editor of Moneylife, exposing the deceptive tactics of common frauds and the steps one can take to stay safe. Among the topics discussed was the psychology behind common frauds, revealing how scammers exploit trust and urgency; recognising the tell-tale signs of a scam, from phishing mails to fake investment opportunities; and learning strategies to safeguard personal and financial information. If you missed this vital session, you can still watch the video recording which is available on our YouTube Channel. |
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| Moneylife TV & Helplines |
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| Financial Literacy Videos in Indian Languages: |
- Credit cards
- Online frauds
- Fallacy of gold loans and more in Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi and Tamil, all on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/moneylifetv).
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| Get guidance and counselling through our Legal Helpline or Credit Helpline. |
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| Sucheta Dalal |
| Founder-Trustee, Moneylife Foundation |
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| Trustees: TS Krishnamurthy, Walter Vieira, Sucheta Dalal, Debashis Basu. | | | | Moneylife Foundation is registered with the Charity Commissioner of Mumbai, is an Affiliate member of OECD's International Network on Financial Education, is a Supporter Member of Consumers International, Development Partner of Advocates for International Development (A4ID), and is a winner of the 10th MR Pai Memorial Award. | | |  | | | | Donations are eligible for tax benefits under Sec 80G of the Income Tax 1961 (50% tax exemption) and MLF is registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010. 80(G) Reg No: DIT(E)/MC/80G/685/2010-11 dated 7.2.11 effective 8.+9.2010 | FCRA Registration No: 08378138  | | | |
