Banking & Financial Rights

An unauthorized transaction you never made or approved.

RBI's circular on customer liability caps your loss based on how fast you report: zero liability if reported within 3 working days (and you weren't at fault), limited liability for 4–7 days, and full liability beyond that unless the bank itself was negligent.

1. Report to your bank immediately — call, SMS, app, or branch. The protective clock starts from when the bank is notified, not when you noticed.
2. File a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) or call 1930 — many banks/cyber cells can freeze or reverse transactions if reported within hours.
3. Get an acknowledgment and complaint reference number from your bank.
4. If unresolved in 30 days, or you're unsatisfied, escalate to the RBI Ombudsman.

Harassment, threats, odd-hour calls or visits, or public shaming over a loan default.

RBI's Fair Practices Code bars threats, intimidation, contact outside 8am–7pm, and publicly shaming a borrower (e.g. informing neighbours or an employer).

1. Document the harassment — calls, messages, visits, with dates and times.
2. File a written complaint with the bank/NBFC's Grievance Redressal Officer.
3. If unresolved in 30 days, escalate to the RBI Ombudsman.
4. For genuine threats or intimidation, you can also file a police complaint — this can amount to a criminal offence.

A failed UPI/card transaction where the money was debited but never reversed.

1. Raise a formal complaint with the bank's grievance cell — RBI's Turn Around Time framework requires resolution within a fixed number of days, often with automatic compensation for delay.
2. If unresolved, escalate to the RBI Ombudsman.

An error or possible identity issue in your credit history.

1. Get your free credit report from the credit bureau (CIBIL, Experian, Equifax, or CRIF).
2. Raise a dispute directly with the bureau — they must investigate with the reporting bank within 30 days.
3. If unresolved, escalate to the relevant RBI Ombudsman scheme.

Often triggered by a KYC lapse, an automated fraud-flag false positive, or a law-enforcement freeze request on a linked case.

1. Ask your branch/bank in writing for the exact reason — banks are required to inform you when an account is frozen and why.
2. If it's a KYC issue, complete the pending KYC update immediately — this is the most common, fastest-to-fix cause.
3. If it's due to a fraud investigation or a police/court freeze request unrelated to you personally (e.g. a scammer briefly routed money through your account), you may need a No Objection Certificate from the investigating agency to unfreeze it — a lawyer or the DLSA (15100) can help move this faster.
4. If the bank is simply unresponsive with no valid reason given, file a written complaint and escalate to the RBI Ombudsman after 30 days.

Unauthorised digital lending apps that harvest your phone's contacts and photos, then threaten and shame you (and people in your contact list) over inflated or fabricated dues.

RBI's Digital Lending Guidelines require that only RBI-regulated entities (banks/NBFCs) or their properly disclosed Lending Service Providers can lend digitally — an app outside that list is operating illegally, and threats/harassment/unauthorised data access are separately criminal offences under BNS and the IT Act.

1. Stop all communication with the app/agent — do not pay under threat, which often escalates rather than ends the harassment.
2. Take screenshots of every threatening message/call as evidence.
3. Report immediately at cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 — this is now a well-recognised, actively pursued fraud pattern.
4. File a police complaint for criminal intimidation and harassment (BNS Sec. 351) alongside the cybercrime report.
5. Revoke the app's contacts/photos/storage permissions immediately, and uninstall it.