Saurabh Bajaj
Mr. Rajeev Kumar, a Chartered Accountant, working with a leading Automobile company was worried about his insurance policy. He had bought an insurance-cum-investment plan from a company (say “K”) 3 years back with an annual premium of Rs. 24,000 p.a.
When he learnt that this plan is not going to help him for his future, he decided to surrender the plan. He had paid a premium of Rs. 72,000 in last 3 years. But to his great surprise, his total surrender value payable was just Rs. 33,000. He was shocked !! A loss of Rs. 39,000 in a “Guaranteed” product !! He was feeling cheated.
He decided to lodge a complaint with IRDA. He wrote a mail to IRDA with all the policy details.
Within few days, he received a call. The caller, Mr. Harish, claimed to be an IRDA executive and explained Mr. Rajeev that he will resolve his problem.
Mr. Harish told Rajeev that, all he needs to do is, transfer the money from company K to one of the three companies i.e. Company R, Company B and Company A. In fact, the way these options were told was also interesting. He said that Company R will pay 10% interest, Company B will pay 8.5% interest and Company A will pay 7.5% interest.
Like anyone else would do, Rajeev almost decided to go for Company R. However, some more sentences from Harish raised an alarm in Rajeev’s mind.
Harish said that these plans are exclusively in collaboration with IRDA. So you wont get these details on Company R’s website or their local office or from their local agent.
Rajeev realised that this doesn’t sound right. He immediately called up his financial advisor to find out if this was true. Not to his great surprise, he learnt that it was a fraud call. He immediately lodged an FIR against Harish for making a fraud call. Harish was also booked for using unauthorised sources to access Rajeev’s information from IRDA.
Rajeev’s prudence saved him. But being the favourite season of the mis-sellers, you are highly likely to receive such calls. Please bear following things in mind, when you receive any such call:
1. IRDA is Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. It never “suggests” or “recommends” any policy to policyholders.
2. Whatever money you have lost in one policy due to mis-selling, it is virtually impossible to recover it back. This is because, the policy document mentions that you have agreed to pay all those hefty charges and it bears your signature. Thus, you don’t really have a legal recourse to the money lost due to your ignorance.
3. Treat any such loss as a learning which will prevent you from making mistakes in future. But if you try to recover that loss, such fraud calls will lure you quickly.
4. Never ever mix investments and insurance. Buy only term plans for your life insurance needs. Look for pure investment products for your investment needs.
5. Don’t get trapped by the word “Guarantee”. Investors have a tendency to pour in all their money, the moment they hear the word “Guarantee”. Understand the intricacies before you invest.
6. Seek professional help to understand complicated products. Be willing to pay small professional fees than pay hefty hidden charges.
We look forward to your feedback and comments on the above article. Please feel free to contact us on [email protected] if you have any questions.
(The views mentioned in the article are personal opinion of the author)
Dear Mr. Girishkumar,
You may contact the banking ombudsman with the bank executives details.
If still no action, then you may contact consumer forum. Meanwhile, you may start spreading this awareness about the bank on social media so that others can be saved.
I have been receiving calls claimed to be from IRDA regarding my discontinued policy with Max Newyork.I discontinued a policy after paying one premium of Rs.50,000/-.I found there is no surrender value after one year and only 15k+ after two year. From the second year onwards many people called me and asked me why not you claiming bonus from the Insurer. You should get back your money you paid if you pay another two instalments.When I asked for a detailed email, they said they can not due that as they are IRDA persons. All the calls ended suddenly after my reply to their enquiry about my occupation, “I am Chartered Accountant”.It is clear that they want to cheat the common who are not aware of the Insurance and IRDA.
As per my view…IRDA is helping these fraudsters in the guise of regulating them.
Only after people become aware about their schemes of loot….IRDA come into picture and ban those schemes…..and makes way to other schemes for looting public afresh…
How IRDA allow such prooducts for sale? IRDA alone knows. That too private insurers make sizeable profit through such products.
One more FRAUD is running,
Like when we lodge complains on consumercomplaints.in/.
Some Fraudsters read our complaint and call us that they are from XYZ company executives and Demand our DEBIT/CREDIT Card number or Bank Detail for Refund.
Many consumer complaint website,forums,blog and also companies redressal forum have such loopholes. Fraudsters read our replies,comments on complaints and they get our MOBILE NUMBER by such websites and Blogs.
PLEASE BE AWARE when you registered your phone number on such forums.
Never put your phone number in replies comments.
one should go with LIC only
yes….OF COURSE…DO , INVEST ONLY WITH ACCREDITED INSTITUTIONS LIKE THE SBI LIFE ETC, WHERE THE TRUTH IS CLEAN, TERMS CLEAN, AND GUARANTEED RETURN EXISTS, AS DECLARED AT THE TIME OF APPLYING / JOINING….I HAD INVESTED SOME 7 YEARS BACK, RS. 15,000. WITH BAJA ALLIANCEINSURANCE, IN FEB 2007, ALAS, ….NO POICY, NO REPLY…NO MAN TO ATTEND A CALL, NO REPLY TO REPEATED EMAILS TO THEIR HO AT PUNE,….. ULTIMATELY I CCONTACTED THE COMPANY AFFAIRS DEPT TO GET SOLUTIONS, AND ONCE THE MONEY RECEIVED, THE INSURANCE POLICY TOO WAS NOT ISSUED…….I LOST A GOOD AMOUNT OF IS VALUE, WHEN I SECURED A RELIEF AT STRAINED EFFORTS…. DO NOT ACCEPT FREE OFFERS. BENEFITS ETC AS DECLARED FOR JOINING….AGENTS TOO CHEAT .raj..cochin..
This article is an eye opener for an individual who club both the Investment and Insurance based on the advise of your Investment Bankers too besides the representative of portfolio. I too have similar experience with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance GOLD taken in initial stage. My total investment for three years of INR 1,50,000 now stands at very low value. Of course I did not make ant complaint to IRDA.
You are absolutely right in advising to seek professional help rather than directly taking such investment -cum- insurance plans for longer period, earlier it was for five years and now for 10 years. On account of Insurance and administrative charges, huge sum of money is realized from the funds put up by the investor.
I ALSO ENDORSE YOUR VIEW OF SEEKING PROFESSIONAL ADVICE BEFORE INVESTING IN SUCH PLANS.
I have experience of fraud promise from axis bank executive. I had complained on axis bank website, with names of executives, and details about promises. Till date no actions are taken. Pl. let me know the exact procedure that how to fight against them.