ICICI Bank

PierremontQuaker03

Hi, I'm being made redundant at work and getting a significant cash lump sum. If I manage to get a job, I am going to use the funds to completely renovate the house, so in the mean time I just want to get the best interest saving I can. The ICICI bank comes top of the list at 1.55% - however I went to see who owns it and its Indian and the ICICI CEO was sacked last year due to inappropriate behaviour. I know its protected by the UK Government, but not sure about this one. I think the next best is MARCUS, at 1.5% - any tthoughts on this?
PS I have maxed out my Santanders saving.

quirkydeptless

I used to have an ICICICICI savings account (not this one) a while back, but found it clumsy to operate.


I find the Marcus account is smooth to move money quickly in and out of, but I don't seem to be able to schedule withdrawals for future dates, which I sometimes like to do. It markets itself as "High Interest Savings", but come on, 1.5% is not exactly high


Depending on your tax situation (i.e. if you've gone well over the tax free savings interest buffer), NS&I Premium Bonds at a calculated rate of 1.4% Tax free can work out better than these, but note in effect you lose the first months interest as the money misses the draw for the first month, money flow is random, and it takes a few days following a draw to withdraw it, so depends on your circumstances.

Also, you can use current accounts like TSB (£1500 @ 5%), Nationwide (£2500 @ 5%) and Tesco (£6000 @ 3%) to give the interest rate a kick :money:

GDAS

A few days ago I opened my first savings account with ICICI having seen them offering an attractive (in terms of easy-access savings) rate of 1.55%. Their website is a bit clunky, and eventually I got to a stage where my account was almost open, and they told me the following, under "what happens next" (emboldening is mine):
We will open your HiSAVE - Bonus Saver Account and initiate a Direct Debit between your HiSAVE - Bonus Saver Account and your nominated linked account, which takes five working days
Once your Direct Debit is in place, we will communicate your confirmation number through an email and a letter. We will then initiate the funds transfer from your nominated linked account, which will take another five working days.

I found this extremely off-putting, and decided to try opening an account with the next highest rate provider in the MSE easy-access list, Marcus (part of US Goldman Sachs). Very user-friendly web-site, all up and running (including my first deposit) in a couple of days.

So I won't be going any further with ICICI.

polymaff

PierremontQuaker03 wrote: »

... The ICICI bank comes top of the list at 1.55% - however I went to see who owns it and its Indian and the ICICI CEO was sacked last year due to inappropriate behaviour.

"Goldman Sachs has sacked a senior male executive after two female colleagues allegedly complained about “aggressive and intimidating” behaviour, including threats to his pregnant boss"

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/sacked-goldman-s-exec-who-threatened-pregnant-boss-outside-bank-s-london-hq-a3809216.html


It happens.

PierremontQuaker03 wrote: »

PS I have maxed out my Santanders saving.

Interest-wise, you'll do better in either than in Santander, BTW.

Mr.Saver

If your home address has symbols (in my case, an apostrophe) in it, don't bother to try ICICI. I wasted 20 minutes and couldn't register on their website, only because their website doesn't like my home address.

Quasimodo41

I too have found ICICI very slow - I completed an application on 24 January, and today I received the email confirming the setup of my account - telling me that the direct debit of £1 to open the account would be taken in 2 working days (so, the middle of next week!)

My wife tried to open an account with them last weekend, and the web site rejected her application because the sort code for her bank (TSB) was "invalid" After spending an hour or more waiting to talk to a call centre operator, struggling with the Indian accent and sending lots of information by email about the failure process, she eventually received an email telling her that they would "update her on the resolution by February 2019". By contrast, when she went through the process to open a Marcus account with Goldman Sachs the account was up and running and she had made the first deposit within 15 minutes!
Based on that experience I think I shall ditch ICICI and open a Marcus account for myself; the only downside would be the lack of ability to schedule future-dated payments...
Q41

Marmaduke123

I too tried to open an account with ICICI, but gave up trying as the dreadful website repeatedly rejected phone numbers as not valid.

Marcus is no good for us, as we want a joint account which it doesn't offer. I've now opened an account with the Family Building Society, which suits us but won't suit everybody. Interest rate of 1.51%, easy access but minimum withdrawal of £100, minimum deposit of £15000, can only be funded until March 8th.

It's good for our funds from our Tesco online saver, where the bonus has finished. We may need quick access to some of this money, so it's ideal. Easy to set up, nice website

serg85

My Marcus application was instantly rejected despite seemingly good credit history and I work in a bank myself! Not sure how to follow up with them as no contacts are given and trying to apply again didn't work as it seems to have recognised my previous failed attempt. Have tried applying for ICICI from different PCs/browsers but it gets stuck at the review stage without allowing me to submit the application. Having read this thread, not sure ICICI is a good choice at least in terms of user experience. Has anyone tried Cynergy bank @1.5%?

UncleK

Forget ICICI - Cynergy are OK, IMHO

soulsaver

Marmaduke123 wrote: »

I too tried to open an account with ICICI, but gave up trying as the dreadful website repeatedly rejected phone numbers as not valid.

Marcus is no good for us, as we want a joint account which it doesn't offer. I've now opened an account with the Family Building Society, which suits us but won't suit everybody. Interest rate of 1.51%, easy access but minimum withdrawal of £100, minimum deposit of £15000, can only be funded until March 8th.

It's good for our funds from our Tesco online saver, where the bonus has finished. We may need quick access to some of this money, so it's ideal. Easy to set up, nice website

For info: You can always open the latest Tesco internet saver before/when your current bonus finishes; is available at 1.42% now (and has been for some time) and can be opened in a few clicks for current Tesco banking customers.

Quasimodo41

Fifteen days after I completed my application for an ICICI account, I received the email with my user number, sort code and account number. I sent a trial transfer of £1 from my current account, so I could check that I had set up the transfer to the correct sort code and account number, then tried to log on to my ICICI account. I was disappointed to find that I couldn't copy and paste the user number from the email to the login page, and even more disappointed to find that the on-screen keyboard which they recommend that I used to enter my password had a very peculiar layout - nothing like the QWERTYUIOP I'm used to. Eventually had to reset my password (itself a very convoluted process), and when I eventually managed to log on found that the £1 transfer didn't show up. Phoned ICICI and found that because I'd set up the transfer after 13.30 GMT it won't show on my account until the next working day - Monday! I decided to set up a Marcus account - sailed through that, sent off a trial transfer of £1, 10 minutes later it showed up, and followed that with the rest of the £15,000 I wanted to put in; another 10 minutes and there was my Marcus account with £15,000 in it! Once ICICI have condescended to admit to having received my trial transfer of £1, I shall close the account, and tell them why!


Q41