Can a bank declare a customer loan defaulter when there is an active e-mandate

2 years ago

Can a bank declare a customer loan defaulter when there is an active e-mandate to autodebit the EMI from another bank is in place? In this case the outstanding on credit card was restructured by online application through the bank's website in December 2020 and the same was approved by the bank in late December 2020. Creation of e-mandate for the restructured EMI was part of the restructure application. Additionally the bank sent another e-mandate request form which was again filled in and submitted and this was made active sometime in late January 2021, an SMS from the payee bank was received in this regard intimating me that the e-mandate is active for the EMI amount favouring the credit card issuing bank. NO EMI got deducted since the creation of e-mandate between January and June 2021. In January the bank requested to pay through netbanking citing that it takes at least 30 days to activate e-mandate. In February, to utter surprise, the bank called me and said due to technical issue the EMI can not be autodebited and I again had to pay through netbanking. In March I sent a letter to the collection manager of the bank and asked him why EMI is not getting deducted through this e-mandate? Also in this email I requested them to get the EMI payment through this e-mandate OR cancel the E-mandate. No answer received. Sent a complaint to the Nodal Officer but again no reply received within 30 days. In the meantime, the bank started sending me emails and SMSs first, then continuous calls, and finally one visited to my residence and created a chaos and refused to leave for about 4 hours on Sunday afternoon and he was demanding cash payment for about one-third of the total three months' outstanding which I did not pay. Specifically for April, May, and June EMI I did not pay. Now, the bank is stating that I am a loan defaulter because of not paying the EMIs!! My query is, is this bank right from strictly legal perspective that I am a loan payment defaulter despite an active e=mandate to autodebit the EMI is in place? The e-mandate is still active to date and they have most recently email-ed me a legal notice through their inhouse legal dept. what should I do now?