Refund & Cancellation Policy

HelpBank.in is a dedicated crowdfunding and social-support platform operated as a programme of Mahananda Social Welfare Foundation, a non-profit organization registered in India. This Refund & Cancellation Policy outlines the strict legal and operational standards governing contributions, payments, cancellations, and refund evaluations across our platform.

By accessing HelpBank.in, initiating a contribution, or utilizing any of our services, donors, beneficiaries, fundraisers, and visitors expressly acknowledge and agree to be bound by the terms detailed herein.

1. Nature of HelpBank.in

HelpBank.in operates as an online crowdfunding, donation aggregation, and social-enablement platform connecting verified social causes, individuals in distress, non-profit initiatives, and emergency campaigns with compassionate donors and institutional contributors.

Eligible causes and campaign categories facilitated on HelpBank.in include, but are not limited to:

• Food & Nutrition: Hunger relief, community kitchens, food grain distribution, and emergency ration drives.
• Health & Medical Emergencies: Surgeries, critical care, organ transplants, cancer therapies, and medical equipment.
• Education: Academic tuition, scholarship programs, books, digital learning tools, and school kits.
• Women Empowerment: Vocational skills training, self-help groups, micro-livelihoods, and safe shelter assistance.
• Farmers Support: Agricultural relief, seeds, irrigation toolkits, and crisis assistance for farming families.
• Startups & Micro-enterprises: Grassroots entrepreneurship, artisan support, and seed equipment grants.
• Business Restructuring: Livelihood rehabilitation, micro-vendor revival, and economic recovery support.
• Family Support: Emergency financial relief for families facing sudden loss of breadwinner or severe adversity.
• Senior Citizens: Geriatric care, old-age home support, elder healthcare, and assistive living aids.
• School & College Infrastructure: Classroom construction, sanitation blocks, labs, and educational facilities.
• Social Welfare: Poverty alleviation, orphan care, destitute rehabilitation, and social security initiatives.
• Religious & Community Welfare: Faith-based community service, heritage preservation, and public welfare utilities.
• Animal Care: Veterinary treatment, stray feeding, animal shelters, and rescue operations.
• Environmental Conservation: Afforestation, clean energy, waste management, and climate sustainability.
• Child Welfare & Protection: Child nutrition, protection from abuse, foster care, and special needs care.
• Community Development: Rural electrification, potable drinking water, sanitation, and village road repair.
• COVID Recovery & Disaster Relief: Post-pandemic recovery, flood relief, earthquake rehabilitation, and crisis response.
• Other Lawful Causes: Any other genuine, legal, and public-interest charitable cause recognized under Indian law.

2. Donations Are Generally Non-Refundable

All contributions made through HelpBank.in are voluntary philanthropic donations intended for immediate charitable aid, crisis relief, and social assistance. Because funds are rapidly committed to hospital accounts, vendors, or verified beneficiaries to save lives and alleviate distress, donations are generally non-refundable once successfully processed.

Donors are strongly advised to thoroughly review campaign narratives, target amounts, beneficiary profiles, and contribution figures before completing any transaction.

3. When a Refund May Be Considered

Notwithstanding the general non-refundable policy, HelpBank.in may, in its sole discretion and following rigorous internal audit, review and consider a refund request under the following specific circumstances:

4. Change of Mind

Donors cannot cancel a completed donation or request a refund simply because they changed their mind, experienced second thoughts, altered their personal budget, or changed their subjective opinion regarding the campaign, beneficiary, or cause. Crowdfunding relies on firm, dependable commitments to execute time-critical humanitarian operations.

5. Campaign Cancellation by Fundraiser

A campaign creator or beneficiary may request the premature closure or cancellation of their campaign under exceptional conditions (such as the beneficiary securing alternative institutional funding or an unexpected alteration in medical needs).

If a campaign is cancelled by the fundraiser before funds are disbursed, HelpBank.in reserves the right to either refund the contributions to the respective donors (subject to applicable gateway handling deductions) or, with donor consent, reallocate the funds to an equivalent urgent welfare campaign or our General Relief Fund.

6. Campaign Suspension or Removal by HelpBank.in

HelpBank.in maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards fraudulent documentation, unethical practices, and policy breaches. We reserve the absolute right to suspend, terminate, or remove any campaign at any time without prior notice if there is reasonable suspicion of identity theft, forged medical paperwork, legal disputes, or regulatory violations.

In such events, any undisbursed funds held in escrow or gateway settlement accounts will be frozen pending formal investigation and, where legally permissible and appropriate, refunded to donors or dealt with in accordance with lawful directives.

7. Failed or Unsuccessful Payments

If an amount is debited from your bank account or payment card but the transaction registers as “Failed” or “Pending” on the HelpBank.in platform, the transaction has not reached our operational account.

In most instances, such debits are automatically reversed by your issuing bank or payment gateway within 3 to 7 working days through standard inter-bank clearing cycles. If the reversal does not occur within this window, please reach out to your banking branch with the banking reference number (RRN/UTR) or contact our support desk for reconciliation support.

8. Payment Gateway and Bank Charges

All electronic donations on HelpBank.in are routed through secure, RBI-authorized third-party payment aggregators (such as Razorpay, UPI switches, and banking networks).

When a refund is approved under discretionary circumstances (other than direct platform technical error), any non-recoverable payment gateway charges, merchant processing fees, or banking surcharges (typically 1.5% to 3%) may be deducted from the total refunded amount as permitted under applicable industry guidelines.

9. Refund Processing Time

Upon receiving a complete refund request with all mandatory supporting documents, HelpBank.in's compliance and finance team will conduct a thorough audit.

• Review & Approval Window: 3 to 5 business days from the receipt of written communication.
• Gateway Disbursement Timeline: 5 to 7 additional business days for the funds to reflect back in the original source payment instrument (bank account, credit/debit card, or UPI VPA), subject to standard banking clearing schedules.

10. How to Request a Refund

Eligible refund requests must be submitted in writing by the donor within 7 calendar days of the transaction date. Requests must be sent from the registered email ID to support@helpbank.in containing the following mandatory details:

• Full Name of the Donor
• Registered Email Address and Mobile Number
• Exact Donation Amount (in INR)
• Date and Time of Transaction
• Campaign Title / Beneficiary Name / Campaign URL
• Transaction ID / Order ID / Payment Gateway Reference Number
• Detailed explanation of the reason for requesting a refund
• Supporting documentation (e.g., bank statement excerpt showing duplicate debit, error screenshot)

11. Fraud and Unauthorized Transactions

HelpBank.in employs advanced security controls to safeguard transaction integrity. If you notice any unauthorized charge originating from HelpBank.in on your payment instrument:

• Immediately notify your card issuer or bank to freeze the instrument and dispute the unauthorized charge.
• Report the incident to the official National Cyber Crime Portal at cybercrime.gov.in or your nearest cyber police station.
• Email our compliance desk at support@helpbank.in with the formal cyber complaint acknowledgement so that we can immediately freeze relevant transaction proceeds and assist investigating authorities.

12. Refunds for Incorrect Donation Amount

If a donor makes a genuine typographical error while entering the donation amount (e.g., entering ₹50,000 instead of ₹5,000), the donor must notify HelpBank.in immediately within 24 to 48 hours of the transaction.

If the funds have not yet been disbursed to the beneficiary or hospital vendor, HelpBank.in will review the request and, upon verification, process a partial refund for the excess amount or adjust the transaction accordingly.

13. Fund Utilization and Refunds

HelpBank.in operates on an emergency-first, rapid-disbursement model. In urgent medical campaigns, cancer interventions, and critical disaster responses, contributions are disbursed directly to hospital corporate accounts, pharmaceutical vendors, or diagnostic facilities within hours of receipt.

Once funds have been formally transferred, committed, or utilized for medical procedures, medications, or life-saving supplies, no refund can be granted under any circumstance, as the physical financial asset has already been consumed for the direct social purpose.

14. Unsuccessful Fundraising Campaigns

Crowdfunding campaigns on HelpBank.in operate under a flexible social assistance structure. Even if a campaign does not achieve 100% of its target goal, all verified funds collected are disbursed to assist the beneficiary towards partial medical bills, treatment sessions, rehabilitation, or educational fees.

The failure of a campaign to reach its total goal does not entitle donors to a refund, because partial contributions still provide vital, tangible relief to the beneficiary in need.

15. Refunds and Tax Benefits

Eligible donations made to Mahananda Social Welfare Foundation may qualify for tax deductions under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (where applicable).

In the event that any donation is refunded or reversed for any reason:

• Any 80G Tax Exemption Certificate, donation receipt, or Form 10BE acknowledgement issued for the refunded transaction shall stand immediately CANCELLED, NULL, AND VOID.
• It is strictly unlawful to claim tax deductions or present cancelled certificates before the Income Tax Department.
• HelpBank.in will update its statutory audit filings, donor registers, and regulatory logs to reflect the cancellation.

16. Cancellation of User Account

Registered donors, fundraisers, and volunteers may request the deactivation or cancellation of their HelpBank.in user account at any time by contacting our support team.

Cancellation of a user account does not retroactively cancel past voluntary donations, nor does it result in the deletion of historical financial audit logs that HelpBank.in is statutorily required to preserve under Indian accounting, NGO compliance, and taxation laws.

17. Changes to a Campaign

Fundraisers and medical teams may periodically post updates, revise cost estimates based on clinical progress, adjust target timelines, or modify treatment strategies. Non-material changes, medical protocol modifications, or target duration extensions made in good faith do not qualify a donor for a refund, provided the core beneficiary and cause remain authentic.

18. Exceptional Circumstances

The Board of Trustees and the Executive Governance Committee of Mahananda Social Welfare Foundation reserve the discretionary authority to evaluate rare, exceptional, or compassionate scenarios on a case-by-case basis. Any one-off accommodation granted under exceptional circumstances shall not constitute a waiver of this policy or establish a binding precedent for future cases.

19. No Guaranteed Refund

Except as explicitly provided under Section 3 or required by mandatory Indian legislation, HelpBank.in does not guarantee, warrant, or represent that any refund request will be approved. All refund determinations made by HelpBank.in following due inquiry are final and legally binding.

20. Contact for Refund and Cancellation

For any questions, refund reviews, payment reconciliations, or cancellation notices, please contact our dedicated donor support and compliance desk:

21. Changes to This Policy

HelpBank.in reserves the right to revise, update, or modify this Refund & Cancellation Policy at any time without prior individual notice to reflect changes in regulatory directives, payment infrastructure, or operational protocols. Any updates become effective immediately upon posting on this URL with the updated revision date. Donors are encouraged to review this policy periodically.

22. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

This policy, along with all transactions, disputes, refund claims, and legal interpretations arising out of or in connection with HelpBank.in, shall be governed by, construed, and enforced strictly in accordance with the laws of the Republic of India.

The competent courts and tribunals located in Pune, Maharashtra, India shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all claims, suits, or proceedings arising under or related to this policy.