ICICI no good for Savings over £40k

rammster

stay away from ICICI, an appalling Indian bank, do yourself a favour. Being an MSE , I tried setting up an accout with them , no reponse since 10 months. The people that talk to you from the call center can't understand a word of english, its like talking to a dell service centre preson. I will keep away from ICICI if I were you.

Lowtrawler

Having successfully transferred most of my balance via CHAPS, I requested closure of the account last Monday (1st May). It is now 8th May and the account has not been closed. Their Terms & Conditions state that accounts can be closed by giving 1 business days notice. However, the FAQ's state that closure takes 7 - 8 working days.

I have used the e-mail system to pressure them into complying with their Terms & Conditions. While they have responded quickly to my e-mails, it has not resulted in any positive action.

If you intend closing your account, I would advise that you first transfer most of your balance out and then any delay in receiving the closure value should have minimal impact. Fortunately, the delay in achieving closure is not adversely impacting me because I don't require the funds for a few weeks.

In relation to my earlier post whereby one option for transferring sums greater than £40k out of the account was to close the account. Clearly, the delay in achieving account closure would negate this as an option. Consequently, you would need to insist on CHAPS (something you are not entitled to under the T's & C's and which may not be available) or you will need to make multiple BACS transfer requests - only 4 of which (max £40k) will be made at once with each subsequent transfer being delayed by up to 3/4 working days.

The message is now even clearer - until CHAPS is an official feature of the account - DO NOT PUT MORE THAN £40K INTO ICICI IF YOU MAY REQUIRE QUICK ACCESS.

Lowtrawler

Now 11 May and the account has still not been closed. I thought it worthwhile to provide a summary of do's and don'ts with regards to ICICI:

Opening an account

Do open an account with £1 before transferring in any additional funds. The account opening process can be lengthy and until open, you won't be earning interest on your initial deposit. Also, do test transfer a small sum into the account once open to ensure the link has been set-up properly. Don't transfer a large sum until you have tested the link. Don't be worried about the safety of your funds, ICICI are a financially stable, large bank.

Operating the Account

Don't setup regular transfers, these seem to be unreliable. Do initiate each transfer individually.
Don't put in more than £40k if you might require quick access to the funds. Do set-up accounts for you partner if you want to save more than £40k.
Do use the secure e-mail communication from within your account, they get back to you fairly quickly. Don't always take their first answer, special facilities can be provided on a one-off basis at their discretion but you will need to push to be informed of them eg. CHAPS.

Closing the Account

Do transfer as much of the balance as you can before requesting to close the account. I have now been waiting 8 working days and my account is not yet closed. Do provide a reason for closing your account when e-mailing your request, if you do not, they come back and ask for one, further delaying your account closure.

Rjohnmatt

Aha
I can see that its almost a year since I posted a warning on ICICI's customer service and its now taking a full year for ppl to slowly realise that slightly higher rates are not all that matters!!!

By its very nature Indian banks including the behemoths Citibank and ICICI have absolutely rubbish customer service which is why I have stayed clear!

Its typical crowd mentality to blindly rush for the highest savings percentage without looking at anything else.

What everyone needs to do is to look at it in real terms

A difference of say 0.4% in interest rates is worth only approximately half that, once tax has been factored in for a higher rate interest payer!

Is it really worth it for atrocious customer service!!

Forget the issue of customer service, once there is a dispute regarding eg funds being transferred out etc etc, it will take ages to sort out,if at all.

They have traditionally have a habit of totally ignoring letters/emails,so that issues drag on and on!

Limes

Rjohnmatt wrote:

Aha

By its very nature Indian banks including the behemoths Citibank and ICICI have absolutely rubbish customer service which is why I have stayed clear!

Rather curious about a couple of things. . . 1. Since when was Citibank Indian? And 2. what is meant by "By its very nature"?

Citigroup has a large presence in India through Citibank, granted, but they are not an Indian bank. The comment about "By its very nature" sounds a little too risky a statement to be making as well in regards to Indian banks. . . just a friendly caution about use of possibly inflammatory language!:D This thread was a discussion based on ICICI's performance and probably shouldn't become a general decrying of Indian banking - unless you can substantiate it. Anyway, I'll get out from under my halo now:A

masonic

Rjohnmatt wrote:

I can see that its almost a year since I posted a warning on ICICI's customer service and its now taking a full year for ppl to slowly realise that slightly higher rates are not all that matters!!!

Really? It seems to me that that there were lots of negative postings here in the beginning and those postings have been replaced with more and more positive comments.

Rjohnmatt wrote:

By its very nature Indian banks including the behemoths Citibank and ICICI have absolutely rubbish customer service which is why I have stayed clear!

I am interested in how you feel qualified to comment on the level of customer service provided Citibank/ICICI if you have 'stayed clear' of them.

Rjohnmatt wrote:

Forget the issue of customer service, once there is a dispute regarding eg funds being transferred out etc etc, it will take ages to sort out,if at all.

In that case, I'd say that they fit right in with most other banks. Just look through some of the complaints levelled against A&L, Abbey, Halifax etc etc.

Rjohnmatt wrote:

They have traditionally have a habit of totally ignoring letters/emails,so that issues drag on and on!

A habit, you say? For someone who has 'stayed clear' of ICICI, you seem to assert quite a lot of knowledge of their operations. Do you have anything to support your assertion that they have 'habit' of not answering correspondence, or do you think 'by its very nature' that would be the case in a bank like ICICI?

Lowtrawler

I'm a little surprised the thread has been hijacked in this way. I relayed a set of factual information and balanced it with what I hope is good advice when dealing with ICICI.

I found ICICI to be very prompt in dealing with e-mails, if not always accurate. I would not discourage people from using ICICI for amounts up to £40k but believe everyone should follow my list of Do's and Don'ts.

Judging by the feedback on moneysavingexpert, it is clear that ICICI has improved over the past year. It still has some way to go but shows signs of getting there. I think the main high street banks should keep a lookout over their shoulder in case ICICI overtakes them.

Rjohnmatt

masonic wrote:

Really? It seems to me that that there were lots of negative postings here in the beginning and those postings have been replaced with more and more positive comments.


I am interested in how you feel qualified to comment on the level of customer service provided Citibank/ICICI if you have 'stayed clear' of them.


In that case, I'd say that they fit right in with most other banks. Just look through some of the complaints levelled against A&L, Abbey, Halifax etc etc.


A habit, you say? For someone who has 'stayed clear' of ICICI, you seem to assert quite a lot of knowledge of their operations. Do you have anything to support your assertion that they have 'habit' of not answering correspondence, or do you think 'by its very nature' that would be the case in a bank like ICICI?

Thanks for that wonderful dissection of my statement must say I havent spent as much time on it myself!
Unfortunately I do have a job to do and so will not waste my time writing back.
But I will say that I have been a customer of ICICI and Citibank and at the same time am not one now-which would answer most of the questions you have raised!
That will also give you an idea of how "qualified" I am to speak about them,
Since you seem to have a lot of time try and figure out how that is possible, or better still look through all my previous posts!

Lowtrawler

I don't wish to raise an argument here but clearly one person's experience does not necessarily translate to everyone else. ICICI clearly have problems which is why myself and almost all other threads preach caution in dealing with them. Providing you take these precautions, you will limit any problems that may occur. I can see that ICICI have made improvements but these do not yet bring them to the same standard of service you might expect from a UK bank. Give them time and this will happen.

masonic

Rjohnmatt wrote:

Thanks for that wonderful dissection of my statement must say I havent spent as much time on it myself!
Unfortunately I do have a job to do and so will not waste my time writing back.
But I will say that I have been a customer of ICICI and Citibank and at the same time am not one now-which would answer most of the questions you have raised!
That will also give you an idea of how "qualified" I am to speak about them,
Since you seem to have a lot of time try and figure out how that is possible, or better still look through all my previous posts!

Since you seem a little concerned about the amount of time I'm spending on you, you will be relieved to know it took me about 5 minutes to write my last post. Thanks for confirming you have no interest in discussing the issues at hand. Whether you are an ex-customer or have 'steered clear' of ICICI as you said in your other post, all I can see is prejudice and sweeping generalisation - not the basis for rational discussion.