Hi everyone,
Posting here because I’m honestly exhausted and feeling completely helpless.
This is about the Central Sector Interest Subsidy (CSIS) scheme on my education loan and my bank’s refusal to give me the benefit, even though I should be eligible. The bank has been dodging, lying about “trying to contact me”, and basically doing everything possible to avoid giving me what I’m entitled to under the scheme.
So I went to the RBI Ombudsman.
- I raised the complaint in August 2025, after I realised the bank had not given me CSIS at all.
- The Ombudsman emailed me on 18.03.2026 with the bank’s version and asked for my comments.
- I replied on 20.03.2026 within time.
- Then they emailed again on 23.04.2026 asking for some documents: ITR for FY 2019–20 and reason for delay in raising the complaint.
- I replied within their timeline and sent whatever I could, explaining my situation.
Now, after all that, they have sent me a closure email saying:
- I “have not submitted” my reply or provided the documents within the mentioned timeline.
- So they are closing my complaint as non-maintainable under Clause 16(1)(a) / 10(2)(e) of the RB-IOS 2021.
This is simply not true. I did reply. I took the time, wrote everything clearly, and sent it properly. I also genuinely believed this was finally moving in the right direction after months of stress. And then they just close it saying I never responded.
On top of that, they add the usual line that the RB-IOS is only an “alternate grievance redressal mechanism” and proceedings are “summary in nature”, so basically they’re done with it now.
I called customer care and they just told me to “send another email”. I did that around two weeks ago and there has been no response.
At this point:
- The bank has denied me CSIS and lied about contacting me.
- The RBI Ombudsman has wrongly recorded that I did not respond and has closed the case.
- I’m stuck in the middle, with no clarity on next steps and no money that should have been mine as per the scheme.
I’m not from a very privileged background, this money actually matters to me. It’s extremely frustrating to feel like both the bank and RBI can just shrug this off and move on, while I’m left with the loss.
My questions:
- Is there any way to challenge or reopen a complaint that’s been closed by the RBI Ombudsman on the wrong grounds (i.e., they say I didn’t respond, but I did)?
- Can I file a review / appeal / representation to a higher authority in RBI, or do I need to go straight to a consumer court / civil court now?
- Is it helpful to file an RTI to RBI asking for:
- Copies of all emails/communications on my complaint
- Internal noting or reasons for classifying it as “non-maintainable”?
- Should I consider sending a legal notice to the bank first and then going to a consumer forum?
Thanks in advance to anyone who reads this and responds. I just feel completely stuck right now and don’t want to give up on something that is rightfully mine. Till now I've been using AI/GPT to help me with the process but going forward I'll need actual advice from people.