ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company told to pay Rs 90,372

Chandigarh, December 16
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I, while rejecting the claim of a Sector-8 resident over the foreclosure amount charged by ICICI Bank, has directed ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company to pay Rs 90,372 along with 12 per cent interest per annum from the date of filing of the complaint till its realisation.
The forum, comprising president PD Goel and member Madanjit Kaur Sahota, also directed the insurance company to pay Rs 10,000 as costs of litigation to the complainant.
The complainant, Japji Kaur Cheema, had submitted that she had taken a housing loan of Rs 1,02,68,000 from ICICI Bank and was issued a life insurance policy by ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. as part of the loan agreement against one-time premium of Rs 2.68 lakh.
Later, a sum of Rs 19,474 was refunded to her out of the paid premium. She decided to foreclose the loan but the bank charged Rs 2,30,227 as prepayment/foreclosure charges from her, which was paid under protest as there was no clause in the loan agreement with regard to it.
She further averred that she surrendered the insurance policy with the request to the bank to refund the amount of premium but despite her repeated requests, only Rs 1,49,605 was refunded.
The bank, while taking some preliminary objections, said as per the agreement, they were supposed to charge 2 per cent amount as the foreclosure charges.
The insurance company denied that it was mandatory to obtain the insurance policy. It has been stated as per the terms and conditions of the insurance policy, if there is full repayment of the loan, then the policy holder is entitled to the surrender value, it claimed.
In the present case, after surrender of the insurance policy, the amount of Rs 1,49,505 was credited to the account of the complainant.
It was further pleaded that the complainant enjoyed the life cover till the policy was cancelled.
The forum, while giving relief to the bank observed that the insurance company had not produced on record any terms and conditions of the insurance policy that in case of full repayment of the loan, the policyholder was entitled to the surrender value.