ICICI - withdraw early access on new accounts

skiman1

Just got this from them - looks like no chance of getting at your Money for the entire term now for new accounts - a bit worrying.

We are writing to let you know that with effect from December 24, 2008 the HiSAVE Fixed Rate Account - with early access, product has been withdrawn.

All existing HiSAVE Fixed Rate Accounts - with early access, will continue to be valid until the maturity date.

If you have applied previously for a HiSAVE Fixed Rate Account - with early access, you will be able to invest your funds, subject to your account being opened successfully.

All HiSAVE Fixed Rate Accounts - with early access, opened with the auto renewal option as 'Yes' will automatically change to non-renewal mode from February 01, 2009 and the maturity amount will be credited to your HiSAVE Savings account or your nominated linked current account.

We recommend that you go through the revised HiSAVE Fixed Rate Account terms & conditions on our website www.icicibank.co.uk.

If you have any queries, please write to us at [EMAIL="ukdirect@icicibank.com"]ukdirect@icicibank.com[/EMAIL] or call at 08081 31 41 51 (free phone) and we will be glad to assist you.

jamesd

They have experienced runs on some branches in India. There could be more. The ability to withdraw early means that they can't trust that the money will be there if there's a potential run on the bank. So it would contribute to their instability risk.

Switching to non-renewing mode so that the money doesn't change from accessible to inaccessible is them clearly doing the right thing for existing savers.

It'll mean that they lose some deposits but the gain in certainty is apparently one that they judge is worth having.

LongTermLurker

By offering early access, they were giving you something that other banks didn't - the norm is for you to stick to the fixed term that defines 2/3 of the name. Now they're following the norm; nothing to be worried about in and of itself. If you already have an deposit in place, you aren't affected.

gory_harbour

Is a monthly hisave account affected by these changes ?--or as it has been in operation for some time will it continue as before ?

agsnu

gory_harbour wrote: »

Is a monthly hisave account affected by these changes ?--or as it has been in operation for some time will it continue as before ?

What's a monthly HiSave account?

LongTermLurker

I think that's just a normal savings account (not FTD) with a regular "money pull" set up each month. If that's right then you won't be affected. The only accounts affected are the Fixed Term Deposits where you get a better rate for agreeing to leave your money for a year. They offer(ed) 2 types of FTDs, one where you could get your money out early if you wanted to and one where you couldn't.