ICICI or IceSave for monthly interest?

jamescredmond

DocProc wrote:

I would now urgently like to see some acknowledgement or admittance from ICICI Bank UK Ltd that the HiSAVE web site has some problems and that matters are in hand as a matter of some urgency to rectify them.

It is my opinion that when we don't see such an admittance or any communication about the HiSAVE web site problem from ICICI Bank Ltd themselves, well, this in itself creates an indirect communication of.....

Well, take your pick from some or all the following:

The HiSAVE web site is quite OK and functioning at as a good a standard as we, the management, hold as being satisfactory.

We, the management, are not aware of any problems. Period.

Our CS Staff have not passed on to us any negative information about the web site problems and we have not seen any of them for ourselves.

Can you tell that we, the management, don't do tests on our flakey web site?

For all you, the customers, know, the web site isn't properly secure either!

Indeed, in the absence of this acknowledgement and announcement, I have to date reduced the balance of one of my accounts down to almost zero and halved the balance in another. My wife has similarly halved the balance amount with her account.

If matters have not improved by the end of this week then, 'We will be outa there completely!'

Our removal of funds from this bank is not merely to go to a different bank with a higher rate of interest. We are generally concerned about our funds being in an internet bank, which has a flakey web site and does nothing about it.

At this level of competence, one day is going to come for sure, when we are not going to able to get at our funds!

if milarky is right and landsbanki choose to baton down the hatches, the investor will rightly feel he/she has been led up the old garden path.
for all of that, it is probably a better option than icici. the negligence you outline doesn't fill me with confidence. I can't blame you for wondering 'what next?'

EagerLearner

:think: Hmmmmm - time for me to think about things - I have not had bad service to date, I would only move for the interest rate really. I'm such a tart

[Deleted User]

EagerLearner wrote:

I have not had bad service to date, I would only move for the interest rate really.

That's all very well, as long as you are actually receiving the interest. There are two other threads concerning interest payments (or lack of) from ICICI.

1) Missing October receipts.
2) Interest received but paid nett instead of gross, for non-taxpayers.

You cannot spend 'notional' interest, and you should not have to chase it up, as that offsets any comparative advantage.

DocProc

I personally don't have any problem with ICICI paying me all the interest Iam due and allowing me to transfer largish amounts of money both in and out.

However currently, I am not at all impressed with their 'flakey' HiSAVE web site. I am not going to wait for too long before saying 'enough is enough' because of it. This is because I am not a fool and I am not going to put myself into a position where I have funds in an Internet savings bank, which cannot maintain its web site properly and furthermore, refuses to acknowledge this problem to either its staff or its customers.

As a bank ICICI are doing very well indeed and growing very fast. Just look at its share price on the link below and read a few of the latest News articles.

I will be patient with them for a while and I do think we should all bear with them for a little while until some of the dust from, for example, the following reorganisation, settles down a bit.

From the 'News section at http://www.myiris.com/shares/company/chartShow.php?cSelect=2&icode=ICICIBCO

ICICI Bank elevates 11 general managers
Source: IRIS NEWS DIGEST (03 November 2006)

ICICI Bank has reshuffled its senior managers, following the retirement of joint MD, Lalita Gupte and the elevation of V Vaidyanathan as executive director, reports Economic Times.

The bank has elevated 11 general managers as senior general managers. The bank has also made changes in its international banking operations, dividing it into three regions, Europe, Middle East and rest of Asia.

New senior general managers are Anup Bagchi, who will head international retail product group and private banking; KM Jayarao will head credit risk management and credit mid-office and Kalpesh Kikani will head corporate products and investment banking group.

Mohit Batra will head global project finance group; Prashant Purker is the head of global principal investments and trading group and structural rate-risk management group, whereas Rajeev Sabharwal will head retail asset products group, Shilpa Kumar will head global markets group and Vijay Chandok will be heading the small enterprises group.

As part of the restructuring in the international banking group, other senior general managers who have been appointed are Nimesh Shah, who will head Middle East and Africa, Suvek Nambiar, who will head Asia, and Sonjoy Chatterjee, who will head Europe, North America and Russia. The regional heads will report to Chanda Kochhar.

Sandeep Batra will move from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance to ICICI Bank as senior general manager to head compliance group. Mr Chatterjee will also focus on a group of corporate clients, with significant international presence and/or international investment plans. This will be identified by Ms Kochhar.

The bank has also rejigged portfolios of some of its GMs, especially on the retail side; Madhivanan B, who was in retail asset product group, will now head customer service and phone banking group. Maninder Juneja, earlier head of mortgages, will now head liabilities and Sachin Khandelwal, who used to head auto business, will now head the cards business.

Mr Vaidyanathan will continue to be responsible for retail banking and report to KV kamath, MD and CEO. Following Ms Gupte`s retirement, the bank has assigned Chanda Kochhar, deputy MD, responsibility for international banking.

Four other senior general managers have also been elevated. Madhabi Puri-Buch, now in charge of operations and certain key corporate functions, will be the group corporate brand officer; CFO Vishakha Mulye will be the group CFO, while K Ramkumar will be the group chief human resource officer and Pravin Vohra will be group chief technology officer.

Bisoy

Deleted_User wrote:

As per my post on another thread and their FAQ No 41

'We guarantee that the gross interest rate will be at least 0.25% above the Bank of England Base Rate, until 31st December 2007. During this guarantee period we promise to implement any applicable increase in our rates within thirty business days of an increase in the Bank of England Base Rate.'

i.e strictly speaking they would be within their rights to pay 5% atm, with a base rate of 4.75%, rather than the current 5.15% gross aer.

FWIW I have shipped out of ICICI, and not just for interest rate reasons....

I just need to make some correction found on their website.

" ICESAVE guarantee that their gross AER paid on all amounts to exceed the BOE Base Rate by at least .25% until 1 Oct. 2009 and thereafter not to be lower than BOE Base rate until 1 Oct. 2011."

[Deleted User]

Bisoy wrote:

I just need to make some correction found on their website.

" ICESAVE guarantee that their gross AER paid on all amounts to exceed the BOE Base Rate by at least .25% until 1 Oct. 2009 and thereafter not to be lower than BOE Base rate until 1 Oct. 2011."

I am not sure what needs to be corrected. My quote refers to ICICI's terms, not ICESAVE.

Bisoy

Stuster my apologies I was misreading your post I thought I was reading the guarantee from ICESAVE.;)

Milarky

jamescredmond wrote:

if milarky is right and landsbanki choose to baton down the hatches, the investor will rightly feel he/she has been led up the old garden path.
for all of that, it is probably a better option than icici. the negligence you outline doesn't fill me with confidence. I can't blame you for wondering 'what next?'

I was just making the point that by positioning themselves where they have, 0.2% above the level they have to be at (5.00%), then Icesave has to rise rates in repsonse to the BOE increase expected in November. If they only increased rates by 0.05% (i.e to 5.25%) this month however that would leave them having to match any further rises in the BOE (which are now expected) in full. That looks 'asymmetric' so that a more likely option is to raise rates by more than the minimum required but less than the BOE each time that a rise occurs (It's what ING did - albeit they did not have a rate guarantee). So that that's 0.2% this time (raising the 'min' next increase from 0.05% to 0.1%) and 0.1% next time - if they judge the BOE won't put up rates anymore - 0.2% otherwise (which raises the next 'min' rise from 0.15% to 0.2%)

So I'd hazard that they currently plan to go

5.2% -> 5.4% -> 5.5% (if BOE rates peak at 5.25%)

But since that appears unlikely they would go

5.2% -> 5.4% -> 5.6% -> 5.8% (with BOE rates peaking at 5.5%)

And finally

5.2% -> 5.4% -> 5.6% -> 5.8% -> 6.0% (with BOE rates peaking at 5.75%)

steve1905

I have made a transfer from my icici account to my linked account (Lloyds Tsb). Once the funds show on my account, does it mean I can transfer it out straight away or do I have to wait for them to be cleared?

Nospamninja

Hi, I agree with Hugeass, just had a nightmare with ICICI trying to get money in and transfering out. Had to close my account in the end , even that did not go as planned AND they dont reply to emails AND you cannot print off their reply if they do. AND when I phoned them they gave me details of someone elses account.

DONT GO NEAR ICICI.........