ICICI charge for change of HiSave linked account!

Dagobert

I just received an email, which I nearly mistook for a phishing attempt because it was sent to a mailing list of undisclosed recipients coming from UK Direct/IBG/IBANK/LONDON.

They are requesting a £1 cheque to change the linked account. Initially, I did not even link the email to me changing the linked account because I did this online about 4-5 weeks ago! I don't recall a warning that this would incur a fee.

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your request for a change in your HiSAVE linked account.

In order to process your request, we require a £1.00 cheque from the newly nominated linked account.

Kindly make this cheque payable in your name, followed by your 8 digit HISAVE account number and send it to the following address:

ICICI Bank UK Ltd,
21 Knightsbridge,
London,
SW1X 7LY.

Once we receive this cheque we will process your request to change your linked account.

Please ignore this mail if you have already sent the cheque to process your request. Should you have any queries, kindly telephone us on 08081314151. We will be glad to assist you further.

Regards,

HISAVE Team
ICICI Bank UK Ltd

I have changed the AA savings account's linked account numerous times and never had to pay for it.

ffacoffipawb

Dagobert wrote:

I just received an email, which I nearly mistook for a phishing attempt because it was sent to a mailing list of undisclosed recipients coming from UK Direct/IBG/IBANK/LONDON.

They are requesting a £1 cheque to change the linked account. Initially, I did not even link the email to me changing the linked account because I did this online about 4-5 weeks ago! I don't recall a warning that this would incur a fee.



I have changed the AA savings account's linked account numerous times and never had to pay for it.

I suspect that the £1 is to deposit in your account as proof of the new account, similar to the £x deposit cheque you sent in to open the account initially!

Dagobert

I just logged on to my HiSave account: indeed, the linked accuont had not been changed at the time.

I had tried to change it to my cahoot current account, for which I do not have a cheque book. It would appear that the linked account needs to be a cheque book account.

The other thought that had occurred to me was to open an ICICI current account solely for the purposes of managing the HiSave account. This would give greater flexibility when withdrawing the money and save a transfer when moving it to another savings account.

Any comments regarding their current account?

Dagobert

ffacoffipawb wrote:

I suspect that the £1 is to deposit in your account as proof of the new account, similar to the £x deposit cheque you sent in to open the account initially!

Yes, I presume this £1 cheque follows the same logic as the initial cheque deposit.

However, I have three savings accounts which are operated via a linked account, which can be changed online and free of charge: AA and Northern Rock; Bradford & Bingley allow you to nominate up to 3 current accounts without requesting a cheque for each one.

When changing the linked account on the AA website, a new Direct Debit guarantee is displayed and that's it. They carry out some checks online as you are changing the linked account: for instance, it is not possible to name a savings account. I would also assume that they check the account holder's name.

Therefore I guess the £1 cheque is more of a money-making scheme than a security issue.

Aark

The cheque was asked to be payable in your name, so it will just be deposited in your account. It is not a charge.

The last time I wanted to change the linked account with ING Direct, they did the same thing.

Dagobert

Aark wrote:

The cheque was asked to be payable in your name, so it will just be deposited in your account. It is not a charge.

How stupid of me to overlook this!

However, receiving the request for the cheque four weeks after changing the linked account is a bit much. Add another week till the change takes effect and the money is effectively locked in the account for over month!

It also means that current accounts without cheque-book (for example cahoot) are unsuitable as linked accounts for HiSave.

DocProc

Dagobert wrote:

I just received an email, which I nearly mistook for a phishing attempt because it was sent to a mailing list of undisclosed recipients coming from UK Direct/IBG/IBANK/LONDON.

They are requesting a £1 cheque to change the linked account. Initially, I did not even link the email to me changing the linked account because I did this online about 4-5 weeks ago!

I am absolutely amazed by this comment!

The HiSAVE account numbers are not at all secure. They are accessed by a mere 6 digit numerical password. The total number of possible combinations for such a password is merely 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 x 9 = 531,441

This is not very many combinations at all. In fact, the actual number is even less than that because there are rules about certain orders of sequence not being able to be used.

Surely, what we are actually reading is how an ICICI HiSAVE Internet savings bank account can surely be fairly easily accessed by a determined hacker Why? Because the account numbers and password access codes aren't too difficult or complex to crack. Indeed they are exceedingly simple.

Next we are reading how the funds in that account can be transferred out to a new Linked Account. This latter can be changed some 4 or 5 weeks before it is properly authenticated as being from the actual HiSave Account holder by proving that it comes from a UK current account in his or her name.

I know Halloween is coming up, but is this scary or wot?

Dagobert

DocProc wrote:

we are reading how the funds in that account can be transferred out to a new Linked Account. This latter can be changed some 4 or 5 weeks before it is properly authenticated as being from the actual HiSave Account holder by proving that it comes from a UK current account in his or her name.

About 4 or 5 weeks ago, I changed the linked account online. I never transferred any money to the new linked account. In fact, it would not have been possible. Yesterday, after having received this email, I logged in to my account and it still shows the old linked account.

What I am amazed about is the fact they they react to the change 4 weeks after the event! It's not really an instant access account if you can't operate it instantly.

Also, the fact that the email was not addressed to me personally but to a mailing list made me think it was a case of phishing.

I take your point regarding security. There are several other banks using a numerical access id, e.g. FirstDirect. But they also require you to enter 3 characters of an alphanumeric password.