Misled into 12L InCred loan through false assurances by agent, what legal remedies do I have urgently?
I urgently need legal advice regarding what appears to be serious fraud or misrepresentation during a personal loan process involving InCred Finance.
I was looking for a personal loan and got a call from a woman named Mamta Vind yesterday. She claimed she was from ICICI Bank and asked if I wanted a personal loan. I told her I did want one but ICICI had already rejected me last month because my company is LLP and not Pvt Ltd. She said she could arrange it through InCred Finance.
I told her that Tata Capital was already offering me 3.5L for 2 years at 14 percent and I had already begun the process there, but I only wanted a loan if I could get around 11 to 12 percent interest. She said she could arrange that.
She asked me for my recent light bill which I provided. After that she said I would receive a call from someone named Vishal from the credit team and specifically told me not to mention the 3.5L amount to him otherwise he would not approve the loan. She told me that he would mention 12L during the process and I should proceed with it because after approval she would get the amount reduced officially.
Vishal then contacted me and guided me step by step through the application process on the InCred app while staying on call with me. When we reached the sanction details, it showed 12L at 14.99 percent for 5 years. I immediately objected and told him I did not want to proceed because this looked suspicious. Mamta had earlier told me that approval had to happen on a higher amount otherwise the interest rate would not reduce later.
Around the same time, Tata Capital called me back and changed their earlier offer. They now said they would only give 2L and that too with an additional insurance cost of around 30K. I rejected that offer.
After this, Mamta kept repeatedly calling me. I finally answered and she asked why I rejected the InCred offer with Vishal. She repeatedly assured me that she would handle everything and kept saying that I would definitely receive 3.5L only at the agreed lower interest rate after processing. I repeatedly confirmed with her if she was absolutely sure and she kept assuring me. She even said that if I was uncomfortable she could send me her ID proof, but she never actually sent any ID.
Because of these repeated assurances, I trusted her and continued the process. I again repeatedly confirmed whether I would definitely receive only 3.5L and she said yes.
In the evening I completed the remaining address verification process through the app and Vishal again guided me through the sanction process over call. Later he called me regarding disbursement. I immediately contacted Mamta and informed her that Vishal was saying that 12L at 14.99 percent for 5 years was being disbursed and that the money would arrive in the next few hours.
She again told me not to worry and assured me that 12L would not actually remain with me. She said that even in the worst case, if 12L got credited, she would definitely send me an official email by around 11 AM next morning containing the corrected loan details and an official link through which I could return the remaining amount and retain only the agreed 3.5L loan at around 11 percent for 2 years.
The next morning I reminded her about the email. She then changed her stance and said that the email would come from the credit office because she herself did not have authority. She kept asking me to wait.
When no email came till afternoon, I kept calling her again and again. She continued assuring me that the email would come. Then she suddenly suggested another arrangement which sounded extremely suspicious. She said one of her friends needed 8.5L and suggested that I transfer that amount to him, saying he would pay EMIs accordingly so that my loan would effectively work according to my preferred terms.
I immediately refused and clearly told her I would not participate in anything unofficial or illegal. She repeatedly pressured me and kept saying there was no issue because she would even send me his documents for safety. I again refused and said everything must happen legally through official email communication only.
After that, I texted her saying that if I did not receive the official reversal email within 30 minutes, I would contact InCred head office directly for reversal of the entire loan. She simply replied okay.
I then contacted InCred head office, explained everything in detail, and filed complaints through both call and email. I have also filed a complaint on the Cyber Crime portal.
InCred support has currently told me that they will investigate the matter and may take up to 21 days to process reversal details or provide resolution. I am extremely worried because I never intended to take a 12L loan for 5 years at 14.99 percent and only proceeded because of repeated assurances and representations made during the process.
I have preserved chats, screenshots, call logs, sanction details, and other evidence.
My questions are:
Does this amount to fraud or misrepresentation legally?
Should I immediately send a legal notice?
Should I escalate directly to RBI Ombudsman now or wait?
How do I best protect myself from EMIs, penalties, or legal consequences while this is under investigation?
What immediate legal steps should I take next?
I am under severe financial and mental stress due to this situation and would genuinely appreciate guidance from anyone experienced in such matters
Rewritten using ChatGPT