I had an auto loan from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s (ADCB) Dubai branch in 2009. Due to company restructuring, I was laid off from the company in which, I worked.
Since I lost my job and had to provide for my family, I decided to go to the bank. I explained all the details to them, and provided them with my termination papers. They told me to surrender my car against the due amount and to leave the country, since I was unemployed at the time.
After a few years, I returned to the UAE and gained employment. I opened a salary account with ADCB. They told me I had Dh9,000 due against my auto loan and I would have to clear it before opening the account. I explained all the details to them again. But there were no calls from them, and no replies to my emails, for a long time.
In 2016, debt collection agents began calling me up and asking me to pay Dh12,958 for my auto loan.
Now, I do not have any documents related to the loan and have misplaced so many documents due to the fact that I have moved homes to many different places in this duration. When I asked the bank for related documents, and asked how the amount had become so huge, there was no answer and they were not ready to provide any reference.
I request Gulf News to bring this issue to the notice of the ADCB collections department, and provide a solution to clear this issue as soon as possible.
From Mr Aswin Satheesh Kumar
Sharjah
The management of ADCB responds:
Thank you for your cooperation and communication with us in the endeavour to best serve our customers and resolve their issues.
Customer satisfaction is at the very top of our agenda, which is why we have an established Service Quality Unit that is dedicated to handling all customer enquiries and complaints. While we cannot comment on specific customer cases, we do take finding a solution for our customers very seriously and approach every situation with the best interest of the customer in mind.
With reference to Mr Aswin’s issue, please be advised that our Quality Unit has investigated the matter and confirmed that according to the Bank’s policy, once the customer becomes unable to repay the dues of his auto loan, he may voluntarily surrender the vehicle, which is the mortgaged asset of the bank by providing consent to dispose the asset and repay the outstanding liability. As per process, once the vehicle is sold through auction, the sale proceeds of the car have to be credited to the auto loan account and if there is remaining balance or linked liabilities, the customer should settle, including the auction charges. This was exactly the case of Mr Aswin, hence we have contacted the customer and explained this to him and agreed to settle the loan outstanding. The case is closed now.
We continually urge all customers to contact our Service Quality Unit 24/7 by phone, email or web, should they need any further clarification regarding their issues.
We would like to thank you for bringing this issue to our attention and hence giving us the opportunity to further our servicing to our valued customers.
(Process initiation: August 8. Response from organisation: August 28. Process completion: September 11.)
