INTRODUCTION

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines on Fair Practices Code for Non- Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) vide Reserve Bank of India Circular no. DNBR (PD) CC.No.054/03.10.119/2015-16 dated July 01, 2015, thereby laying down standards for fair business and corporate practices while dealing with their customers. This Fair Practice Code is aimed to provide to all the stake holders, especially customers effective overview of practices followed by the company in respect of the financial facilities and services offered by the company to its customers.

Finwizz Retail Finance Private Limited (Finwizz) hereby furnishes the Fair Practices Code (FPC) based on the guidelines issued by RBI. The Company shall also make appropriate modifications in the FPC from time to time to confirm the standards that may be prescribed by RBI. The Fair Practices Code, as adopted herein below, is in conformity with the Guidelines on Fair Practices Code for NBFCs as contained in the aforesaid RBI Circulars.

The Company’s business will be conducted in accordance with prevailing statutory and regulatory requirements, with due focus on efficiency, customer-orientation and corporate governance principles. In addition, the Company will adhere to the Fair Practices Code in its functioning, the key elements of which are as follows:

PURPOSE

The Company has put in place the FPC with an endeavour to achieve synchronization of best practices when the Company is dealing with its stakeholders such as customers, employees, vendors, etc. The Company’s Fair lending practices shall apply across all aspects of its operations including marketing, loan origination, processing, and servicing and collection activities. The Company’s commitment to the FPC would be demonstrated in terms of employee accountability, monitoring and auditing programs, training and technology.

The Company’s Board of Directors and the management are responsible for establishing practices designed to ensure that its operations reflect a strong commitment to fair lending and that all employees are aware of that commitment.

DEFINITIONS

• “Board” means Board of Directors of the Company.
• “Company” means Finwizz Retail Finance Private Limited.
• “Directors” means individual Director or Directors on the Board of the Company.
• “FPC” means Fair Practice Code.

LOAN APPLICATIONS AND PROCESSING THERE OF:

• Loan Application Forms will be made available to the prospective borrowers.
• Loan documentation set will, inter alia, include the broad features and the terms and conditions governing the loan which would include necessary information, which affects the interest of the borrower, so that a meaningful comparison with the terms and conditions offered by other NBFCs can be made thereby helping the borrower in making an informed decision. The said Form shall also specify the documents required to be submitted by the borrowers
• The Company has system of giving acknowledgement for receipt of all loan applications.
• All the loan applications shall be disposed of within a period of 90 days from the date of receipt of duly completed Loan Application Forms together with the requisite documents and subject to receipt of all documents complying with prevailing rules and regulations by the borrower.
• All communications to the borrower shall be in vernacular language or a language as understood by the Borrower.

LOAN APPRAISAL AND TERMS/CONDITIONS:

• The Company shall consider all the loan applications keeping in mind the risk-based assessment procedures adopted by it
• The Company, before sanctioning the loan, would assess the ability of the borrowers to repay the loan and thereby approving the same on merit basis.
• The grant of the loan shall be communicated to the borrowers in writing in a vernacular language or a language as understood by borrower by means of a Sanction Letter or otherwise, the amount of loan approved along with the terms and conditions, including the annualized rate of interest and method of application thereof.
• The penal interest charged for late repayment will be mentioned in bold in the loan agreement.
• The borrowers shall give their acknowledgement in writing in token of their acceptance of terms and conditions governing the loan.
• A copy of the loan documents including loan agreement and annexures thereof shall be made available to the borrower.
• If the Company cannot provide the loan to the customer, it shall communicate in writing the reason (s) for rejection thereof.

DISBURSEMENT OF LOAN AND CHANGE IN TERMS & CONDITIONS:

• Disbursement of amount of loans sanctioned may be made available to the borrowers on demand subject to completion of all formalities including execution of loan documents.
• The Company shall give notice to all its borrowers in vernacular language or a language understood by the Borrower of any change in the terms and conditions – including disbursement schedule, interest rates, service charges, prepayment charges etc.
• The Company shall also ensure that changes in interest rates and charges are affected only prospectively. A suitable provision in this regard is incorporated in the loan agreement.

POST DISBURSEMENT SUPERVISION:

• The decision, if any, of the Company to recall/accelerate payment or performance of loan shall be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Loan Agreement.
• The Company shall give reasonable time to the borrowers before recall the loan or asking for accelerating the payment or performance subject to the terms and conditions contained in the Loan Agreement and other related documents.
• The Company shall release all securities on repayment of its full dues or on realization of the outstanding amount of loan subject to any legitimate right or lien for any other claim the Company may have against its borrowers. If such right of set off is to be exercised, the borrower shall be given notice about the same with full particulars about the remaining claims and the conditions under which the Company is entitled to retain the securities till the relevant claim is settled/ paid.

OTHER GENERAL PROVISIONS:

• The Company will refrain from interference in the affairs of the borrower except for the purposes provided for in the terms and conditions of the loan agreement (unless new information, not earlier disclosed by the customer, has come to the notice of the Company).
• The Company will not discriminate loan applications based on grounds of gender, caste and religion.
• In case of receipt of request from the borrower for transfer of borrower account, the consent or otherwise – i.e., objection of the Company, if any – shall be conveyed to the borrower within 21 days from the date of receipt of any request. Such transfer shall be as per transparent contractual terms in consonance with law.
• In the matter of recovery of loans, our Company staff is adequately trained to deal with customers and shall not resort to any harassment – such as persistently bothering the borrowers at odd hours, use of muscle power for recovery of loans, etc.
• The Company has laid down appropriate internal principles and procedure in determining interest rates, processing fees and other charges. The Company has adopted an Interest rate policy taking into account relevant factors such as cost of funds, margin, risk premium etc. to determine the rate of interest to be charged on annualised basis for loans and advances and same is disclosed to the borrower in the loan application form and the sanction letter and also provided on the website of the Company
• The rate of interest and the approach for gradations of risk and rationale for charging different rate of interest to different categories of customers shall be disclosed in the loan application form and communicated explicitly in the sanction letter.