As per extant guidelines Reserve Bank of India (RBI), all NBFCs should ensure that a suitable mechanism exists for receiving and addressing complaints from its customers with specific emphasis on resolving such complaints fairly and expeditiously regardless of the source of the complaints. Accordingly, the Company proposes to adopt this Policy.
This Grievance Redressal Policy (the “Policy”) has been made as per RBI/DNBR/2016-17/45 Master Direction DNBR.PD.008/03.10.119/2016-17 dated September 1, 2016 as applicable to NBFC-ND-SI issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Since RBI would issue circulars and instructions on an on-going basis, any subsequent amendment to the above circular would update in the Policy accordingly.
This Policy applies to all products offered by the Company and to all Customer interactions.
Brief description of the Policy
The policy framework lays down requirements related to grievance assessment, registration of complaints, escalation of complaints, redressal, resolution of complaints and periodic review of records.
Objective of the Code
The purpose of the policy is to ensure that:
- All customers are always treated fairly and without bias.
- All issues raised by customers are dealt with promptly and on time.
- Customers are made completely aware of their rights so that they can opt for alternative remedies if they are not fully satisfied with the response or resolution
Principles of Grievance Redressal
- Customers will be provided with information on how to raise their grievances over phone, on website or through any other means.
- The process to raise a complaint / escalation / grievance would involve only relevant investigative questions without any kind of hassle to the customer.
- Resolutions would follow the simple principle of ensuring an effective resolution. The responses would be consistent with RBI guidelines at all times as applicable to mitigate impact on customer on account of the grievance.
- The Company is committed to remain quick and consistent at all times in providing necessary information or process requested by the customer.
Responsibilities of Board
- To lay down the appropriate grievance redressal mechanism within the organization which ensures that all disputes arising out of the decisions of Company functionaries are heard and disposed of at least at the next higher level.
- Periodically review the functioning of the grievance redressal mechanism at various levels of management.
- Review of consolidated report of such periodic reviews as shall be submitted to the Board at regular intervals, as may be prescribed by it and calibration of this Policy.
Registration of complaints
The Company shall enable registration of complaints by Customers through multiple channels. The various channels available to customers are as follows:
- Website: Online through the links indicated below or by directly contacting the Grievance Redressal Officer. https://friendloan.in/
- E-mail: Customers can send an email for redressal of issues to email id grievance@friendloan.in
- In Person: Registered / Corporate / Administrative Offices: Customers can speak to the officials-in-charge at the Company’s offices for resolution of their issues or register their grievances at the Office Complaints Register.
- Grievance Redressal Officer: Customers can reach out directly to the Grievance Redressal officer over phone and/or email which is provided in the below section.
Recording and tracking of Complaints
- TAll the complaints received by the Company must be recorded and tracked for end-to-end resolution
- Complaint MIS is published to the management on a monthly basis
Resolution of Complaints
The department and business heads are responsible jointly and severally for resolution provided by their teams and for the closure of customer issues.
Time frame for response
The turn-around time for responding to a complaint is as follows:
- Normal cases (other than the one mentioned below): 10 working days for normal cases
- Fraud cases, Legal cases, and cases that need retrieval of documents and exceptionally old records: 15 working days
- EMI-related cases: 20 working day
- Cases involving 3rd party (other Banks or financial institutions or dealership or if customer out of the country): 30 working days
- For all the complaints received from the regulator, timelines, as mandated by respective regulator, will be adhered to
If any case needs additional time, the Company will inform the customer/regulator requirement of additional time with expected timelines for resolution of the issue.
Resolution and Escalation of complaints
Level 1:
The customer may register his/her query/ complaint to the Company which shall be addressed to the Grievance Redressal Officer in connection with any matter pertaining to business practices, lending decisions, credit management, recovery, and complaints relating to updation / alteration of credit information. For the benefit of our customers, the contact details of the official who will deal with all grievances of customers in regard to their transactions with the Company are given below:
- Name: Rajesh P
- Phone: +91 70102 49180
- Whatsapp: +91 70102 49180
- Address: #Bascon Futura SV IT Park, 12th Floor, New No 10/2, Old No 56L, Venkeanarayana Road, T.Nagar, Chennai – 600017, Tamilnadu, India.
- Email: grievance@friendloan.in
(Between 10:00 am and 06:00 pm, from Monday to Saturday except on public and banking holidays).
In case the complaint is not resolved within the given time or if the customer is not satisfied with the solution provided through above channels, the customer may approach the following escalation channel with the reference of earlier communication:
Level 2:
Escalation to the Director at the following email id: vijay@friendloan.in
The response will be provided within 15 working days.
In case the complaint is not resolved within the given time or if the customer is not satisfied with the solution provided through the above channels, and the Customer is not willing to wait in case the Company requires more time to find a Resolution the customer may approach the following escalation channel with the reference of earlier communication:
Level 3:
If a customer is not satisfied with the resolution provided through various channels or if the complaint/dispute is not redressed within a period of one working month / any time specified in this policy above, the customer may appeal to Officer-in-Charge of the Regional Office of Department of Non-Banking Supervision of RBI under whose jurisdiction the Registered Office of the Company falls.
The details of DoS (NBFC) is as given below:
General Manager
Reserve Bank of India,
Department of Non Banking Supervision,
Fort Glacis, Rajaji Salai, Chennai — 600 001
Tel. No. 044 2539 3406, Fax No. 044 -2539 3797
E-mail id: dnbschennai@rbi.org.in
The details of various contact points for the grievance redressal mechanism shall be published on the website for the benefit of the customers.
Review
A review of compliance with this Policy and the functioning of the grievance redressal mechanism would be done by the Management regularly.