A woman has asked the Kisumu Lands and Environment Court to stop Barclays Bank from selling her home to recover a Sh2.5 million loan given to her in 2005.
The woman argues she had cleared the loan with the bank.
Maryanne Nyamogo Omamo on Thursday told Justice Murigi Kibunja that the bank did not inform her of changes in their banking systems that saw loan accounts changed with an unsettled balances.
Barclays Bank migrated their systems on July 16, 2010.
She said the bank sent her a statement that showed she had cleared the loan, without informing her that the notice meant Barclays was migrating her account.
The bank, she said therefore, did not have grounds for claiming that she had defaulted in repaying the loan.
She petitioned the court to bar Barclays Bank from auctioning her Sh7.8 million home in Dunga beach to recover over Sh1 million the bank says has accrued from pursuing what remained of the loan.
She also told the court that although she received statements on the repayment of the loan sent to her via post, she did not receive notices from the bank demanding repayments.
She told the court that the statutory fees and penalties the bank was demanding were not made part of the loan as should have been the case.
The Reproductive Health lecturer at Kenya Methodist University in her submission petitioned the court to settle the matter with the cost of hiring a lawyer pushed to the bank.
During cross-examination, the bank, through its lawyer claimed that Dr Omamo had defaulted in repaying the loan, attracting charges that were incurred in pursuing her to repay.
The lawyer, Mr Kaniari (other name un-availed by time of story publication) said communications to Dr Omamo on the loan were made through the same postal address as were the bank statements, and therefore were assumed to have reached her.
Barclays Bank’s Accounts Operation Officer Nkurumah Oduor could not shed light on whether or not Dr Omamo was directly informed of the systems migration.
He however, told the court that the communication was published in the dailies.
Dr Omamo moved to court in 2011 after learning of intentions by the bank to sell her home, at a value of Sh3.5 million.
She obtained an injunction stopping the auction until the case is heard and determined.
The case will be mentioned on July 12.