Non Resident Indians (NRI’s) or any person from overseas sending money to India through a personal-cheque from his/her account (NRI account) in India should be aware of the number of cases where money sent gets lost to frauds. However re-covering the lost amount in transit in such cases is a time consuming process which involves investigation & correspondence back & forth from your residence (overseas)& bank offices in India. Unfortunately many Indian banks do not live up to their commitments and customer service. Hence not only the Non Resident Indians (who send money home) suffer but also their family members suffer a lot waiting for the funds to arrive. They are forced to spend endless hours to track the missing amount.
Fraudsters who are always on the look-out for some loopholes take the advantage to steal your money. Few things NRI’s can consider to protect their funds while transferring money to India-
It is always advisable to deal with reputed banks only. This is because many Indian banks fail to deal with customer service. Many banks spend hefty amounts on advertising to enroll new customers to open their bank accounts with their bank. But their customer service is not up to the mark.
When transferring money to India by cheque (drawn on your personal NRI accounts) mark the cheque as 'Account-Payable-Only'.
When your cheque is marked as 'Account-Payable-only' then nobody will be able to cash it over the counter like a bearer-cheque. This can protect you to a greater extent to track the account where your cheque is deposited.
BANKING OMBUDSMAN INDIA
The Indian Ombudsman scheme helps to resolve the customer complaints against their banks in an in-expensive & quick manner. You are not required to hire a lawyer to represent your case. You can simply file your complaints on the Internet. You can file a complaint with the- Banking Ombudsman by-
Writing on a plain paper.
You can also file an online form at https://secweb.rbi.org.in
You can also send an e-mail to the-Banking Ombudsman.
You can also fill a prescribed-form available with all the bank branches of India.
Your complaint should incorporate necessary information required for filing a complaint before the- Banking Ombudsman. It is always advised that a complainant should first attempt to find out a satisfactory solution directly with his/her bank by making a written re-presentation to the bank named in the complaint. This complaint should be made before expiry of a specified period which is 1 year after the cause of action has taken place.
Useful guidelines for transferring money to India-
While sending cheque by mails always use registered mail.
Send money via wire-transfer or transfer money-online to the account located in India. It is a onetime set-up & is very safe & convenient.
Send your money through Western Union.
Avoid sending money via money transfer agents offering home delivery at higher rates than bank rates. Such transactions are illegal in nature.
Tips when requesting customer service
Problems may arise sometimes as we all do mistakes. Don't let your temper loose & make threatening-calls or write threatening-letters. Instead focus over getting your problem resolved as soon as possible. This is because when you send threatening letters, these letters are not read by the computers but by human beings who may become aggravated & add up to your problem. Hence if your problem is not resolved in a reasonable time frame you can file a complaint with the-Banking Ombudsman.
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