ICICI Make your account dormant, but do not tell you!

StevieJ

Just checked mine says user ID expired, I think I only left £1 in the minimum, still mine though

tuggy12

Looks like the rules are a bit different for HiSave online accounts:

"6.18 If there is no transaction initiated by you or if your HiSAVE Savings Account is unused, for two years, we treat it as 'dormant' and restrict access
to it. However, you will be able to activate your HiSAVE Savings Account by following the dormant account activation process which is available
on request from us. Please ask us if you would like more information on dormant accounts. In any event the money in the dormant account will
always remain your property, no matter how many years have passed.

6.19 Please note that if you do not use your HiSAVE Savings Account internet banking password for a period of 6 successive months your password
will expire and you will not be able to use the internet banking facility of your HiSAVE Savings Account. In such a case, please contact our
Customer Service Center to place a request for new password. You may also request for the password online using the 'Forgot/Reissue Password'

option on the login screen of our internet banking facility. The password will be sent to your registered address within 7 business days."

lisyloo

Thanks for the warning.
I think ICICI are a bit of a pain.

alehandro_2

I agree with powerRIP. I have been saving with ICICI for almost 2 years now and have not had any such problems till now. These rules are made for the safety of our own accounts and unless they are too archaic, which they are not, I dont think we should crib so much. If we dont like something we should be constructive and give them feedback so that they can improve. If they improve - good - if they dont thats when we should decide to move out. Plus if they offer good interest rate, thats what matters the most for me.

cashbackproblems

I have also been using icici since 2005 and never once had a problem and as mentioned above with the hi save account which is the ONLINE ACCOUNT you only need a new password to reactivate which they send out asap.

Plus theres no harm in just puting money in and out once a yr to stop it becoming dormant.

dogesme

lisyloo wrote: »

Thanks for the warning.
I think ICICI are a bit of a pain.

Yesterday I attempted to create an ICICI hi-save account online. It would have been for a 2 year fixed rate product. Part of the application process was a requirement to complete a direct debit form instructing my bank to make payments to ICICI. I didn't see any reason for that and didn't receive a satisfactory answer over the telephone so I decided not to proceed with the application

KingL

It's pretty standard practice to have direct debits in place between online savings accounts and the current accounts that are used to fund them/receive maturity payments/interest payments etc..

dogesme

KingL wrote: »

It's pretty standard practice to have direct debits in place between online savings accounts and the current accounts that are used to fund them/receive maturity payments/interest payments etc..

Thanks but I still don't see why I should give my bank instructions to make payments to ICICI Ltd. Unless, that is, that the ICICI bank would take my original invesment in that manner. I wanted to send a cheque but didn't get as far as funding the investment. The representative on the telephone (sounded as if she was speaking from some far off land) was unable to put my mind at rest on this aspect of the matter.

Stompa

KingL wrote: »

It's pretty standard practice to have direct debits in place between online savings accounts and the current accounts that are used to fund them/receive maturity payments/interest payments etc..

Indeed, M&S required the same from me when I opened a 3 year fixed rate cash ISA.

KingL

dogesme wrote: »

Thanks but I still don't see why I should give my bank instructions to make payments to ICICI Ltd. Unless, that is, that the ICICI bank would take my original invesment in that manner. I wanted to send a cheque but didn't get as far as funding the investment. The representative on the telephone (sounded as if she was speaking from some far off land) was unable to put my mind at rest on this aspect of the matter.

At some point you will want to withdraw your funds and/or interest.

The only way to withdraw funds from an ICICI online account is to send it to your linked external current account.

Presumably that is why they require you to have a linked external account.

To establish the link, it is necessary to set up a direct debit.

It takes 10 working days to set up a direct debit. Presumably, the reason they want to to set it up on account application is to prevent people from forgetting/not bothering and then getting stroppy when their term-account matures and they can't get at their money for another 2 weeks. (As an aside, many banks will also want to see a cheque from you as part of their identity-check requirements).



Generally, the bulk banks are able to offer good interest rates because they have standardised procedures and systems that let them keep their costs low. Part of this is having this simple 1 to 1 electronic relationship between your ICICI account and your external current account.


Again, it's common to set up a DD to the name of the institution, rather than to your own name. Monies would be redirected to your ICICI account by your ICICI account number having being set up in the comments field (or some other look-up process). You can be pretty sure that a bank regulated under the UK Financial Services Authority isn't going to start hoovering money out of your current account with a different bank. Or if they did, there would be repercussions for them and protection for you.


As an aside, many people here have 'accidently' benefitted from having an inward electronic link into their ICICI account (e.g. when interest rates started plummeting and they wanted to squirrel away more of their savings in ICICI fixes in a matter of a hours, before rates fell further).


Of course, it's your call where you put your money, but ICICI's MO here is pretty standard. Presumably you were attracted by the interest rates - are you sure you're not inadvertantly cutting off your nose to spite your face?