I wasn't aware that HDFC Bank Home Loans were different from HDFC Limited Home Loans. I visited HDFC Noida (The one with red hoardings and all that) perhaps in early February and said that I needed a housing loan. I was immediately referred to a sales representative who invited me into a nice meeting room and offered coffee and tea. The gentleman (Devender) was very friendly and gave me suggestions about what kind of apartment I should be looking for, this being my first home bought with my own salary. He wrote down the list of documents that I would need to submit to obtain the loan. I even looked for alternate options based on his suggestions but didn't find anything worthwhile. The next weekend, I arranged for the necessary documents and visited the place. The same gentleman was there and he verified everything and collected them. The address and job verification took place without much hassles. A couple of days later I was sent a mail stating that my loan had been approved and I needed to submit a bunch of documents for them to disburse the loan. Vinay Bhatia (Dunno who he was) had emailed me confirming the same. He had called me when I was on the road and I couldn't answer the phone. I have a neat voicemail announcement on my phone, but he seemed to ignore that and simply disconnected without leaving a message. I called the number back and requested knowing the purpose of the call. He stated it was regarding the loan that I applied. I had in the meanwhile gotten calls from several sales agents (associated with the builder) who said they called from various banks about my loan when I had never applied for one. So I presumed it may have been a call from one of those clowns and demanded to know where he called from. He bluntly and rudely asked "How many banks have you applied for loans from?" God! That was a simple question man! You don't have to be rude about that. Perhaps it was a stupid question, but I am your customer am I not? That gave me my first impression of the fact that HDFC Ltd. imagines that it gives away government grants to poor people and not treating its customers as its customers. Anyway, he then sent me a mail notifying me about the same and I was asked to talk to Ms. Neetu Chadha on XYZ numbers. Being able to talk to her was it appeared aiming for the moon because she was the branch manager. After several failed phone call attempts, I emailed Vinay stating I needed to know what documents I needed to deposit. No response!
I got calls from two people at two different occasions who didn't know anything and simply said they needed the documents for disbursement of the loan. I asked repeatedly "Goddammit, what documents do you guys need? I do not have anything from the builder apart from the proof of advance payment." She repeated "Sir, we need the original documents". There wasn't any logic in yell at a person with a low IQ and I said "Alright, I would submit those. Thank you for calling me!". I visited the branch once again and an employee told me to note down a set of documents that I needed to bring. I visited the builder the next weekend and got the necessary papers and returned back to them on Monday afternoon at 2:00 PM. Who in the world knew that HDFC worked half a day on Mondays? I only got to meet a sales agent who hinted that this specific construction company had some issues regarding GDA attestation. I panicked! Hah! There comes the end of my dreams. He later said he was in a hurry to rush back home and referred me to one Vijay Negi from whom I was supposed to collect the receipt of depositing the documents. This guy was busy talking (probably to his girlfriend) on his cell phone and least interested in talking to me. I requested that he give me a photocopy of those documents because, I couldn't get them copied in my hurry to come to HDFC Ltd office. He said that he didn't have the time to do it and he had to go home as well! I attempted persuading him to spend ten minutes in helping me. But he stated it was in the first place not his job at all. No comments!
A couple of days later the same sales representative who aided me in the beginning told me that I had to pay an additional sum to the builder. This was because as per the Financier - Buyer agreement, I had to pay my complete share of money apart from what was being financed. This was essential even though my due date of next payment to the builder was quite a long while later. I agreed. Managed to scrape out some finances from everywhere and paid off the builder. I emailed the concerned person (whom I was asked to email) stating that I would pay a XXX sum to the builder and agree to a part disbursement of the loan. I rechecked with the builder's office if it was alright if HDFC said they would not pay out the entire loan amount and only a part of it now and the rest later even though my next due amount was higher than that. He told me not to worry about the Financier's policies and it was something to settle between the builder and Financier. Nice! I was called by HDFC customer care representatives who insisted that I approach HDFC with the requisite proofs that were demanded before the 31st or the loan would get cancelled! The original sales person also called me up and stated the same. Probably they had some monthly closures of some kind and the more disbursals they added to their credit, the better would be their career graph I believe. I wasn't aware of that at that time. Behold! I go to my office and saw a mail saying that HDFC has prepared a disbursement cheque which could be collected on XX date. I was thankful that the ordeal finally got over. I was wrong...
I was called by HDFC and asked to bring another NoC certificate of some kind (I wasn't told this ever before). So, again I approached the builders office (located at a good 50Kms from my residence. 50 Kms is not a big deal of travel in NCR for those who know it) and got the same. I visited HDFC on the 31st of March and waited for over 4 hours before my name was called out. I was told that all the bank staff were on a picnic for "lunch time". Could at least a few of the staff not attend to customers as a backup for a while? Anyway, the person whom I dealt with was specked, thin and unbelievably rude. He looked too young to be a creepy person. He looked at things and said that the NoC certificate had a one liner that was not fully acceptable. I argued that it didn't deny what we really looked for. He got angry and yelled that these could lead to legal complexities etc etc. I had to relent and returned back. It was sort of summer time by then and I was all fatigued and tired. I simply left the place. I informed Devender what had happened. I approached the builder's office the next day (ah! like I said another pilgrimage trip - the distance I mean). I informed them about the error and the lady told me that she would get it rectified and courier it the next day. I informed Devender about what had passed. He demanded to know why I didn't call him immediately. He said that he would himself collect the necessary papers from the builder. I got another mail a couple of days later with a disbursement appointment with HDFC a couple of days later. I visited them again. After another similar wait for 3 hours, I got to speak with a nice gentleman. The crowd on that day seemed a lot. A giantess with specs had taken over the reception, thereby helping in reducing the time taken in referring the person to a customer care officer. She was herself a customer care desk employee and quickly eliminated every customer who had approached with petty queries or issues. (How? Yell at them and make them understand how stupid they were. - "Sir! This is not our fault. You need to read the terms and conditions and the schedule of charges before blindly accusing anyone.") Anyway, I finally got to sit with a customer care desk agent - Dipankar. He was a pleasant gentleman. Re-verified the documents and got me to sign at several places and gave me the DD. Hurray! I almost got up from my seat and he said "Hey! Is it tower 3 or tower 2? I said I wasn't sure and to check the builder's documents. He said it was Tower 3 and the Home Loan Agreement got misprinted as "Tower 2". He checked with his colleague if it was possible to alter it quickly. By then the giantess had occupied her seat, the desk beside Dipankar. She dialed a few numbers and said that it wasn't. He apologized and asked me to return the next day at 6PM and directly approach his seat without going through the "token" ordeal. On my way back, the giantess called me up and said that my "Demand Letter from Builder" stated that they needed a full and final payment in September but that never implied that the builder needed 85% of the loan amount right away. I told her that we needed to look into their brochure which explained the schedule of charges. She replied that she had already spoken to the manager from the builder's office who had given his consent to payment in September only. I demanded knowing whom it was she spoke to. She said she didn't remember and told me to talk to them. She said I didn't have to worry about coming the next day because the loan could not be disbursed. What a nightmare man! Can't they verify things and inform the customers instead of getting them to visit the branch so many times? HDFC itself was around 20 Kms from my residence.
I was almost in a position to give up at that point of time. I didn't feel like calling or begging from anyone anymore and thought I would answer when I get called. A few days later I was called by the builder and the next installment was demanded from me. I informed the person that their demanded letter asked me to pay in September. She said that it was impossible. I scanned the copy I had with me and emailed it to her with the information that Surbhi (the person at the builder's office I had been dealing with) had agreed when I pointed out that the due date stated September. The next day Surbhi called me up and said that it was a mistake and she would send me another one. I called Devendra back and asked him how to proceed. He said "well, they are supposed to give some papers. Once that is deposited, the loan would get disbursed.". I asked if it was enough if I gave the demand letter alone or if anything else was pending.
"Not just the demand letter. The construction company had re modified their floor plan and did not get the attestation from Ghaziabad Development Authority."
What??? Wasn't HDFC aware of that when they sent me these letters and emails sanctioning my loan? I called up Surbhi again and asked what it was all about. She told me not to worry about that and it would just be a matter of a few days before they got the necessary papers. I called after a few days and after a few more. I only got the answer that it would be a couple of more days. Then I simply visited the construction office so that I could meet the sales manager. I asked him what was going on. He assured me that it was only a simple task and owing to the elections, the GDA officials were all really busy. Once the elections were over, it was supposed to get done in a jiffy. I called up Surbhi after the elections got over and this time she make me speak to her boss. This gentleman was the Vice-President of the company. He told me that I didn't have to worry about anything. It was expected to take about a month to get the necessary attestations. I told him about my concern that my loan approval may time out and I might be asked to apply all over again. He said that they probably might only charge me a penalty of a few thousand rupees which the builder would bear. He gave me his email address to contact him directly in case of any concerns.
I waited a while and then I was sent a text message that the Authority Sanction has been obtained by the builder. I contacted Devendra and after going through a bit of mess and another miserable wait at HDFC Limited, I was able to submit the request for loan disbursal. I had to get the demand letter remade by the builder with the rectified dates.
Finally I got a partial disbursement cheque issued by HDFC after another wait on another appointed date. My god! Was I dreaming?
I still am waiting for the final allotment of the house and am wondering if it is worth approaching HDFC again or try hard and scrape out every bit of investment made by me and payout the last bit myself.
