Privacy Policy

CUSTOMER RIGHTS POLICY 2020

Customer protection is an integral aspect of financial inclusion. The following comprehensive Customer Rights Policy based on domestic experience and global best practices is brought out to enhance such protection. The Policy enshrines basic rights of the customers of the Banks regulated by the Reserve Bank of India. It spells out the rights of the customer and also the responsibilities of the Bank. The Policy applies to all products and services offered by the Bank or its agents, whether provided across the counter, over phone, by post, through interactive electronic devices, on internet or by any other method.

1. Right to Fair Treatment

Both the customer and the financial services provider have a right to be treated with courtesy. The customer should not be unfairly discriminated against on grounds such as gender, age, religion, caste and physical ability when offering and delivering financial products.

In pursuance of the above Right, Bank will –

• Promote good and fair Banking practices by setting minimum standards in all dealings with the customers.
• Promote a fair and equitable relationship between the Bank and the customer.
• Train Bank staff attending to the customers, adequately and appropriately.
• Ensure that staff members attend to customers and their business promptly and courteously.
• Treat all customers fairly and not discriminate against any customer on grounds such as gender, age, religion, caste, literacy, economic status physical ability, etc. Bank may, however, have special schemes or products which are specifically designed for members of a target market group or may use defensible, commercially acceptable economic rationale for customer differentiation. Such schemes / products will not tantamount to unfair discrimination.
• Ensure that the products and services offered are in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
• While it shall be the endeavor of the Bank to provide their customers with hassle free services and fair treatment, Bank would expect their customers to behave courteously and honestly in their dealings with the Bank.
• It shall also be the Bank's endeavor to encourage their customers to approach the Bank's internal grievance redressal machinery and approach alternate fora after exhausting all their remedies under Bank's internal grievance mechanism.

2. Right to Transparency, Fair and Honest Dealing

The financial services provider should make every effort to ensure that the contracts or agreements it frames are transparent, easily understood by, and well communicated to the common person. The product's price, the associated risks, the terms and conditions that govern use over the product's life cycle and the responsibilities of the customer and financial service provider, should be clearly disclosed.

In pursuance of the above Right, the Bank will -

• i) Ensure complete transparency so that the customer can have a better understanding of what he or she can reasonably / fairly expect from the Bank.
• ii) Ensure that the Bank's dealings with the customer rest on ethical principles of equity, integrity and transparency.
• iii) Provide customers with clear information about its products and services, terms and conditions, and the interest rates / service charges in simple and easily understandable language.
• iv) Ensure that all terms and conditions are fair and set out the respective rights, liabilities and obligations clearly and as far as possible in plain and simple vernacular.
• v) Most Important Terms and Conditions (MITC) associated with the product or service will be clearly brought to the notice of the customer through Bank's website, welcome kits and sanction letters as applicable.
• vi) Provide information on interest rates, fees and charges either on the Notice Board in the Branches or website or through help-lines or help-desk.
• vii) Display the tariff Schedule on Bank's website and a copy of it will be made available at every Branch on demand from the customer.
• viii) Give details, in their Tariff Schedule, of all charges, if any, applicable to the products and services chosen by customer.
• ix) Inform the customer of any change in the terms and conditions through a letter or Statement of Account, SMS or email or on Bank's website www.uttarakhandgraminbank.com at least one month prior to the revised terms becoming effective.
• x) Ensure that such changes are made only with prospective effect after giving notice of one month.
• xi) Provide information about the penalties leviable in case of non-observance / breach of any of the terms and conditions governing the product / services chosen by the customer.
• xii) Display on Bank's website the Banks' Policies on Deposits, Cheque Collection, Grievance Redressal, Compensation and Collection of Dues and Security Repossession.
• xiii) Make every effort to ensure that staff dealing in a particular product is properly trained to provide relevant information to customers fully, correctly and honestly.
• xiv) Ensure to communicate to the applicant within a reasonable time period about the acceptance / non-acceptance of applications submitted for availing a product / service.
• xv) Communicate unambiguously information about discontinuation of products, relocation of offices, changes in working hours, change in telephone numbers, and closure of any office or Branch — with advance notice of at least 30 days.
• xvi) Advise the customer at the time of selling the product of the rights and obligations embedded in law and/or Banking regulation.
• xvii) Not terminate a customer relationship without giving reasonable or contractual prior notice to the customer.
• xviii) Ensure that all marketing and promotional materials are clear and not misleading and as far as possible in regional language pertaining to the region/area.
• xix) Not threaten the customer with physical harm, exert influence or engage in behavior that would reasonably be construed as unwarranted harassment.
• xx) Ensure that the fees and charges on products / services and its structure are not unreasonable to the customer.

3. Right to Suitability

The products offered should be appropriate to the needs of the customer and based on an assessment of the customer's financial circumstances and understanding.

In pursuance of the above Right, the Bank will -

• i) Ensure that it has a Board approved policy for assessing suitability of products for customers prior to sale of third party products.
• ii) Endeavour to make sure that the product or service sold or offered is appropriate to the customer's needs.
• iii) Sell third party products only if it is authorized to do so, after putting in place a Board approved policy for marketing and distributing third party financial products.
• iv) Not compel a customer to subscribe to any third party products as a quid-pro-quo for any service availed from the Bank.
• v) Ensure that the products being sold or service being offered, including third party products, are in accordance with extant rules and regulations.
• vi) Inform the customer about his responsibility to promptly and honestly provide all relevant and reasonable information that is sought by Bank to enable them to determine the suitability of the product to the customer.

4. Right to Privacy

Customers' personal information should be kept confidential unless they have offered specific consent to the financial services provider or such information is required to be provided under the law or it is provided for a mandated business purpose (for example, to credit information companies). Customers have the right to protection from all kinds of communications, electronic or otherwise, which infringe upon their privacy.

In pursuance of the above Right, Bank will -

• i) Treat customer's personal information as private and confidential, and, as a general rule, not disclose such information to any other individual/institutions unless:
  • The customer has authorized such disclosure explicitly in writing
  • Disclosure is compelled by law/regulation
  • Bank has a duty to the public to disclose i.e. in public interest
  • Bank has to protect its interests through disclosure
  • It is for a regulatory mandated business purpose such as disclosure of default to credit information companies or debt collection agencies
• ii) Ensure that such likely mandated disclosures are communicated immediately after such disclosure to the customer in writing.
• iii) Shall not use or share customer's personal information for marketing purpose, unless the customer has specifically authorized it.
• iv) Shall adhere to Law and regulation on Right to privacy including Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010 issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, while communicating with customers.

5. Right to Grievance Redressal and Compensation

The customer has a right to hold the financial services provider accountable for the products offered and to have a clear and easy way to have any valid grievance redressed. The provider should also facilitate redressal of grievances stemming from its sale of third party products. The financial services provider must communicate its policy for compensating mistakes, lapses in conduct, as well as non-performance or delays in performance.

In pursuance of the above Right, Bank will –

• Deal sympathetically and expeditiously with all things that go wrong.
• Correct mistakes promptly.
• Cancel any charge that has been applied wrongly and by mistake.

The Bank will also –

• i) Place in public domain its Customer Grievance Redressal Policy, including the grievance redressal procedure available for the customer.
• ii) Place in public domain the compensation policy for delays / lapses in conducting / settling customer transactions.
• iii) Ensure to have a robust and responsive grievance redressal procedure and clearly indicate the grievance resolution authority who shall be approached by the customer.
• iv) Make grievance redressal mechanism easily accessible to customers.
• v) Advise the customer about how to make a complaint, to whom such a complaint is to be made, when to expect a reply and what to do if the customer is not satisfied with the outcome.
• vi) Display name, address and contact details of the Grievance Redressal Authority / Nodal Officer at the web-site. The time limit for resolution of complaints will also be clearly displayed / accessible on the web-site.
• vii) Inform the complainant of the option to escalate his complaint to the Banking Ombudsman if the complaint is not redressed within the pre-set time.
• viii) Place in public domain information about Banking Ombudsman Scheme.
• ix) Display at customer contact points the name and contact details of the Banking Ombudsman under whose jurisdiction the Bank's Branch falls.

Further, the Bank will -

• i) Acknowledge all formal complaints (including complaints lodged through electronic means) within three working days and work to resolve it within a reasonable period, not exceeding 21 days. The 21 days period will be reckoned after all the necessary information sought from the customer is received.
• ii) Provide aggrieved customers with the details of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme for resolution of a complaint if the customer is not satisfied with the resolution of a dispute, or with the outcome of a dispute handling process.

In addition, the Bank will clearly spell out, at the time of establishing a customer relationship, the liability for losses, as well as the rights and responsibilities of all parties, in the event of products not performing as per specifications or things going wrong. However, the Bank will not be liable for any losses caused by extraneous circumstances that are beyond its reasonable control (such as market changes, performance of the product due to market variables, etc.)