Should You Trust ICICI Bank?

ParkMcArthur

Having compared Top Savings Accounts on MSE and seeing that ICICI Bank were offering a competitive 1.65% on an easy access savings account, on 15 January 2016 I decided to open an account with this Bank.

At the time, the crucial factor for me was that this bank were covered by the FSA and, should anything untoward happen, my money would be redeemable, up to the current set limit. MSE notes gave no other warning, but they should have.

Having been a saver for many decades, I have never had such difficulty and incompetence displayed by any other savings institution opening up a savings account. I have, so far, been able to deposit £1 in the account with another £99 being lost in the ether for days. Still not accountable for, I will be contacting ICICI to find out what has happened and will be closing the account (despite the competitive interest) as soon as possible. I won't go into the unsent e-mails, unsent details or misinformation one is given when opening the account but, suffice it to say that, in my mind, it is worth eschewing whatever interest rate this bank pays for peace of mind.

Having relied on MSE for years, I'm frankly disappointed. Disappointed that a warning was not displayed as to the conduct of this bank and the fact that they are notoriously bad and the complaints about them go back for years.

Despite having a presence in the UK, it appears that ICICI Bank do not comply with the UK Banking Code, which sets minimum standards for customer service. As mentioned before, there is a load of anecdotal evidence when Googling for reviews that customers are still struggling to receive passwords, to have money transfers happen on time and of people generally tearing their hair out trying to get their savings sorted.



As long ago as 2006 another well-known money advice site stated: "In short, despite the good rate and the fact that others recommend ICICI Bank purely on their high rate (which is undoubtedly a 'best buy'), we're not comfortable recommending that our readers put their hard-earned cash somewhere that so many others are frustrated with. Many readers have told us that they've opened an account, only to close it down a month later having lost a month's interest because it's taken so long to get the account organised."


This is the unfortunate situation I find myself in. Disgusted and exasperated with ICICI's service I will now be closing the account. But, of course, this is not without a price. When recommended the rate was 1.65%, with I believe, the nearest competitive one running at around 1.45%. In the circumstances, and if I had been provided with the knowledge of the ICICI (non)customer service, I would have taken the lower rate (which I believe was with Paragon) but this is no longer available and I will have to accept a much lower rate of around 1.2% scrabbling around for anything else.


I'm not very happy. In these extreme circumstances, I do think it responsible of MSE to run the same Customer Service warning as other sites, so potential investors can make up their mind with full knowledge.


I list some of the customer complaints (copied from the other site) about ICICI Bank for others who might be contemplating an investment.


"I am utterly exasperated trying to access my own money." A Robinson 2013


"I was shocked to find that when I logged into my account that nothing was there." ICICI Customer 2013


"Missing £500 for a month." P Malcolm 2012


etc. etc. I think it the responsibility of MSE to, just as they do with the FSA limits on funds put a footnote for this disreputable bank.

masonic

I used ICICI in the past and I can't say I really had any complaints. I didn't post any positive views anywhere to counterbalance the negative views you have found - most satisfied customers don't, so there is no way of knowing whether such a customer services warning is really justifiable.

But 1.65% is not really that competitive unless you have already filled all of the available current accounts paying 5%, 4% and 3%, and also the regular savers offering 6%, 5% and 4%.

eskbanker

ParkMcArthur wrote: »

I think it the responsibility of MSE to, just as they do with the FSA limits on funds put a footnote for this disreputable bank.

I disagree - for one thing the FSCS protection is far more important than fluffy customer service opinions, but fundamentally it is the reader's responsibility to do their own research before making any commitment.

You'll see at the foot of this page and every other one the statement that "This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service."

Your view that this bank is disreputable is just an opinion and just because it may be shared by many others doesn't make it a fact, despite your assertion ("the fact that they are notoriously bad"). If you search for such subjective opinions on any bank you'll be able to find plenty of similar comments to those you've included, but if you wish to give them some weight then obviously it would have made more sense to have done such research before going with ICICI.

talexuser

Sorry for your troubles, but I also opened the 1.65% ICICI with no troubles last year, already having the various current accounts. Perhaps because I'm electronically verified easily? but deposits go smoothly and appear virtually instantaneously, and withdrawals appear in my bank on the same or next day.

If you have proof they have failed a specific clause in the UK Banking Code you should go through the official complaints procedure and perhaps get some compensation?

ERICS_MUM

For me the only criterion I would insist on before I placed my money with a foreign bank is that it would be protected by the FSCS (assuming that the initial appeal was a good interest rate).

joe134

used them for years, and thinking of using this a/c as all others are full.
when I can log in, think they locked me out through lack of use, my fault,.
never any problems, apart from original id problems, 15 years ago.
only branch miles away.
better then a lot of high street names.

bowlhead99

eskbanker wrote: »

always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service."

Your view that this bank is disreputable is just an opinion and just because it may be shared by many others doesn't make it a fact, despite your assertion ("the fact that they are notoriously bad"). If you search for such subjective opinions on any bank you'll be able to find plenty of similar comments to those you've included, but if you wish to give them some weight then obviously it would have made more sense to have done such research before going with ICICI.

Exactly, this is money saving expert, not "subjectively, the top levels of service expert".

If you want subjective assessments of service quality, you could pay your £10.75 every month to Which (or a pound for a one-month trial) and find out that ICICI doesn't have a particularly great score for customer service, and see a list of other products with better customer scores, which may or may not have better rates.

So, perhaps you are "relying on MSE for years" for the wrong things. But having been using this site for years, presumably you could have easily visited the forum and searched for subjective opinions, complaints and compliments in respect of the new bank you were considering using.

joe134

just looked, it's no longer available.:( seems it was popular.

VT82

To be fair to the OP, I had to do mandatory training on Conduct Risk at work this morning, and it turns out that providing effective customer service that does not unduly obstruct customers from being able to transact on their accounts IS actually a proper regulatory requirement for banks, not just a 'nice to have'.

There has been a lot of smoke about ICICI on the boards at various points. If the regulator went in and had a good look around and found fire when it came to them having insufficient controls in place to sort out their customer service, ICICI could be slapped with a big fine just because of failing to provide an acceptable customer journey.

Whether MSE should be responsible for providing warnings about historic poor customer service is another matter, but they have done it in the past for Broadband providers at the very least.