Page 83 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

24. A minor manipulating a loan

I t was a very hectic day for our loan officer on field duty. On return

from the field, he mentioned to me "A loan applicant looked like
'minor' but he insisted that he was over 18 years old. I have asked
him to bring date of birth certificate".

A 'minor' under the age of 18 is not granted a loan. If he is given a loan
even by mistake, it cannot be recovered from him unless he himself
decides to payback. A minor is not competent to make or sign a contract
as per Indian Contract Act 1872. Even the guarantor for a loan to a minor
is not liable as the contract with the minor itself is void from the very
beginning.

Next day, he brought the birth certificate issued by his school Head
Master. The date of birth mentioned was 16/02/1963 and this made him
19 years 1 month then, in March 1983. The loan officer was in disbelief
and handed the certificate to me for a relook. I looked at the handwritten
blanks of the certificate carefully and found that 16/09/1965 was altered
to read as 16/02/1963 by cleverly altering the month 9 to 2 and year 1963
to 1965 with the ink pen. But he could not alter the month (September)
to (February) and the year written in words.

We approached the Head Master to confirm the date of birth as per
school records. He pointed out that original certificate mentioned 16/09/
1965 and the change seems made later. Words make the issue clear. We
asked the applicant, "Who has suggested you to make this alteration?"
He named a defaulter borrower who was law college drop out. We
rejected his loan application without taking matter any further as we did

80 | A Banker down the Rabbit Hole