ICICI 7.2% is NOT available any more

vinylmike

Earlier today I went to the ICICI website and saw the ad on their first page that says 7.2% apply now. I pressed the button and applied. An hour later I got an email that said, thanks for applying - it will take us 2 days to check your details, then we will tell you what to do. I realise that their rate will change in On wednesday so I phoned them to make sure that I would be getting the 7.2% rate and was told told to read the small print in the terms and conditions - the account is only opened when they have received my cheque and it has cleared. So there is no chance of this happening by Wednesday. I spoke to a supervisor and pointed out that I think this is misleading advertising, that nobody applying today can get 7.2%. All he could say was, if I was an existing customer it might be possible, but for new customers it was not. So beware, do not bother wasting any time applying, by the time they clear you cheque you will be locked into an account at a lower rate.

eeja

Ok folks , if you are interested in depositing £ funds for 12 months with ICICI at the very highest rate and have one hundred percent safety : you can get currently 7.75/7.80 percent interest , ten percent more interest than ICICI in the UK , a rate which we are now informed is withdrawn
AND IN ADDITION your money is safer than in the UK as your deposit will be guaranteed by the Triple AAA rated government of the REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE .
Don't all rush or pass the word around too freely as your interest payment will not be reported to the UK tax authorities (as it would have to be in the Isle of Man/Channel Isles under the EU Savings Directive if you are an EU resident ).
NB No I do not work for ICICI but am a genuine saver .

LongTermLurker

I don't know about the guarantee, but everyone has a legal obligation to declare income earned for tax purposes, so whether there's a witholding tax or not, a 40% tax payer has to pay 40% tax or risk a fine or imprisonment. I would not be surprised if Singapore have an agreement with the UK tax office to identify British depositors.

Most people will weigh the extra fraction of a percent against the inconvenience of dealing with a country several timezones away and decide whether it's worth it based on that. Personally, I don't.

jingle68

vinylmike wrote: »

Earlier today I went to the ICICI website and saw the ad on their first page that says 7.2% apply now. I pressed the button and applied. An hour later I got an email that said, thanks for applying - it will take us 2 days to check your details, then we will tell you what to do. I realise that their rate will change in On wednesday so I phoned them to make sure that I would be getting the 7.2% rate and was told told to read the small print in the terms and conditions - the account is only opened when they have received my cheque and it has cleared. So there is no chance of this happening by Wednesday. I spoke to a supervisor and pointed out that I think this is misleading advertising, that nobody applying today can get 7.2%. All he could say was, if I was an existing customer it might be possible, but for new customers it was not. So beware, do not bother wasting any time applying, by the time they clear you cheque you will be locked into an account at a lower rate.

no disrespect but the ICICI 7.2% rate has been around for a while now & its well documented that its being reduced this week, you should have checked out the T&C's for opening an account sooner instead of leaving it so late.

sorry,the above made me sound like a !!!!, i went on the info below from the ICICI site before i opened my account earlier this year, it takes approx 9 days to open an account.

5. How long does each of the account opening steps take?
Step 1: Submission of Account Opening - Day X
Step 2: Receipt of Email with Application Status - Day X+1
Step 3: Receipt of deposit cheque - Day Y
Step 4: Receipt of Email with Login ID - Day Y+1
Step 5: Cheque Cleared - Day Y+5
Step 6: Receipt of Password by customer - Day Y+9

eeja

LongTermLurker wrote: »

I don't know about the guarantee, but everyone has a legal obligation to declare income earned for tax purposes, so whether there's a witholding tax or not, a 40% tax payer has to pay 40% tax or risk a fine or imprisonment. I would not be surprised if Singapore have an agreement with the UK tax office to identify British depositors.

Most people will weigh the extra fraction of a percent against the inconvenience of dealing with a country several timezones away and decide whether it's worth it based on that. Personally, I don't.

May I just correct a few inaccuracies. As most depositors in the IOM and Channel Isles know, UK tax is not payable/paid on ones interest when its earned. That is why all the banks in these places offer the deferred interest payment option !
Secondly this forum as so many UK fora is open to everyone in the whole world....unlike the BBC who only allow UK residents to access their i-player , other people being blocked. Millions of us UK expats and non residents read this forum and we are not liable to tax on our UK income.
No .fyi should it be of interest .both Singapore and HK have banking secrecy
laws to protect the confidentiality of their customers

scruffyone

I applied to ICICI for 7.2 rate on Saturday 25 October after phoning to confirm that I would receive this rate. I was told that if the application was in and accepted before the rate changed I would be eligible. My email arrived 28 October but as I had not received anything through the post I phoned again only to be told that I would not get the 7.2 rate as my cheque could not be cleared in time. Each time I phoned the initial message stated that the call was being recorded so I can prove that the staff member told me that I would qualify for the higher rate. Had I sent my cheque in without checking I would have received a lower interest rate and not been able to get my money out for a year. I would call this more than unfair trading, at the very least it is misleading. Don't touch ICICI.

isofa

eeja is cross-posting this information regarding the offshore ICICI account all over the forum - which is against this site's T+Cs and forum policy.

Couple of example threads with discussions:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1247487

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1226857

Considering ICICI bank is currently rated BBB- by Fitch, it wouldn't be my first port of call. (The same rating B+B had before it was bailed out by the government via Santander.)

UK on-shore residents must declare off-shore interest by law.

Only UK ex pats or off-shorers don't have to.

eeja

This section was a REPLY to the posting concerning the ICICI rate no longer being available. As many readers would not read the reply it was logical and sensible to inform readers of a best buy savings product in that other section.
If such cross posting breaches the rules in this case, which I doubt as it was a separately worded thread not a copy then logically isofa's cross reading must also infringe the rules !
Anyhow its clear isofa never bothered to read the postings about which he complained or would know that the rating of ICICI does not matter a toss...it can be a Triple DDD . The point mentioned was that any deposit made would enjoy tbe unconditional Triple AAA rating guarantee from the Government of Singapore .
As for his statement that all interest has to be declared he clearly is unaware of the defered interest option offered by most non UK British Isles banks including Nationwide. Interest can be rolled up indefinitely without paying tax and need not be declared in this case . In fact tax may never have to be paid should the a/c holder become non resident at a future date and have the rolled up interest credited/paid when no longer UK resident.

dancingdandare

As for his statement that all interest has to be declared he clearly is unaware of the defered interest option offered by most non UK British Isles banks including Nationwide. Interest can be rolled up indefinitely without paying tax and need not be declared in this case . In fact tax may never have to be paid should the a/c holder become non resident at a future date and have the rolled up interest credited/paid when no longer UK resident.

I am already a non resident for tax reasons, as i am not in the country more than 91 days a year and i work abroad. My understanding was if i go over the 5500k allowance (i think it is something like that) then i have to pay 20% tax on interest above that amount per financial year. Or is it different if the account is offshore...can someone help me, confused.....Thanks

Jonbvn

dancingdandare wrote: »

I am already a non resident for tax reasons, as i am not in the country more than 91 days a year and i work abroad. My understanding was if i go over the 5500k allowance (i think it is something like that) then i have to pay 20% tax on interest above that amount per financial year. Or is it different if the account is offshore...can someone help me, confused.....Thanks

You should not have to pay any UK tax on interest. Even if your bank is in the UK, you can complete a form (can't remember number - not R85) to get your interest gross, although some banks may not accept it. However, if you reside inside the EU, you may beliable for tax under the EU savings directive.

isofa

eeja wrote: »

This section was a REPLY to the posting concerning the ICICI rate no longer being available. As many readers would not read the reply it was logical and sensible to inform readers of a best buy savings product in that other section.
If such cross posting breaches the rules in this case, which I doubt as it was a separately worded thread not a copy then logically isofa's cross reading must also infringe the rules !
Anyhow its clear isofa never bothered to read the postings about which he complained or would know that the rating of ICICI does not matter a toss...it can be a Triple DDD . The point mentioned was that any deposit made would enjoy tbe unconditional Triple AAA rating guarantee from the Government of Singapore .
As for his statement that all interest has to be declared he clearly is unaware of the defered interest option offered by most non UK British Isles banks including Nationwide. Interest can be rolled up indefinitely without paying tax and need not be declared in this case . In fact tax may never have to be paid should the a/c holder become non resident at a future date and have the rolled up interest credited/paid when no longer UK resident.

Your posts are virtually all the same.

1. You are correct and giving fair information for ex-pats and off-shore residents - but you need to make that point clear, as a huge proportion of this site is read by onshore UK residents. Check the stats and page impressions for this site, and where traffic originates from.

2. In one post you actively encouraged people not to declare tax.

3. I'm well aware of deferred interest. But at some point, unless you do become a non-resident, you'll have to declare it. HMRC will be notified of accounts and it's clear to see they will monitor this in the future, having lost millions of pounds of revenue.

4. For many UK residents investing off-shore is bad news. Let alone wanting in these times to support our own economy rather than another country's.

5. The rating does matter - so we'll have to agree to differ. If ICICI did collapse, do you think the UK savers would be the first to get their money back from Sinagpore? I suggest you look at history, and the recent mess with missing money from Kaupthing, or Icesave and these with UK protection. Let alone the poor people that might lose all their money in IOM, and Gurnsey with actual off-shore accounts. You cannot predict what an Eastern company (with parent in India) would do.
(Iceland said they would paid the first 16K-ish if Icesave collapsed, but now they can't so the UK government are bailing them out.)

6. Investors are pulling out of ICICI because of the rating, and that can't be good for the bank in general, plenty of reports on money sites, FT etc. regarding this.