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Union Bank of India - reputation and sign-up problems
Hi,
Has anyone had issues signing up to Union Bank of India at all? I was wanting to open a fixed rate savings account as recommended on MSE. I complete the form and hit the 'verify' email address. This is supposed to send an OTP to my email which I then enter on the site. However, the OTP never arrives…… I tried several times to no avail.
I contacted UBI they claimed technical problem their end, now resolved - please try again.
I tried again - no OTP. Contacted them again and received an email some time later - giving me an OTP in the email that would expire in 5 minutes. However, I didn't see the email until a few hours later. I tried anyway, but the OTP was invalid. I felt very uneasy about receiving an OTP in this way anyhow, as some human intervention was presumably involved in providing it to me.
My opinion of this institution is poor, based on my experience so far. Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue, and about opinions of this bank in general.
Thanks
Comments
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I've no experience with them myself, but have a look at these previous threads...
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cc123mm456 thanks for your assistance. I had tried a seach on UBI before I posted but was unable to find anything. The threads you uncovered have convinced me that this institution is certainly not a good home for my money and I'll be thinking again! So, many thanks.
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Be aware that MSE list best accounts based only on the savings rates on offer, not any customer service issues.
The ones at the top of the table change, but are usually a mix of fintech/app only providers,( often including a short term bonus and some restrictive T's & C's) and obscure foreign banks, often with suspect customer service.
I am generalising of course, and no doubt some that appear top of the league tables are fine.
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Bank is 75% owned by the Indian Govt. so should be sound.
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This isn't the issue with it, it's its lousy administration.
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Ever since the calamitous fallout from the BCCI banking scandal of the 1990s where a couple of my firm's clients incurred substantial loss of deposits, I have steered clear of all banks from the third world and emerging nations offering deposits accounts in the UK .
As regards a bank backed by the Indian government, that nation state would need to gain significantly more points on the international corruption index, for me to give it look - see below
I suspect vanishingly few people will know of or remember the Bank of Credit and Commerce International ( a UK regulated and licensed deposit taker), but the circumstances surrounding its demise made a deep and lasting impression on me, both professionally and personally. As a result I conduct a deep dive into a bank's ownership, balance sheet and business profit contributors before placing deposits.
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I suspect vanishingly few people will know of or remember the Bank of Credit and Commerce International ( a UK regulated and licensed deposit taker)
I remember their HQ on Marylebone Road, near the museums.
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If not BCCI, I expect quite a few will remember the Icelandic banks, and that Iceland decided not to honour its obligations to foreign depositors ( ).
I would not give any weight to foreign state backing of any bank. It simply isn't in their interests to shaft their own citizens by paying out sums to foreigners when there is a crisis at home.
Fortunately, UBI, along with other non-UK banks, is required to be a member of the FSCS, so there is reliable depositor protection for us. But the rate premium offered by UBI appears to be minuscule to non-existent, so there is little reason to put up with the downsides. And should such a bank fail, in the long term it will cost all of us to the extent the scheme had to repay depositors - that money will need to be recouped from the FSCS levy other financial institutions pay.
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Couldnt agree more.
None of these banks from lesser foreign states offer any kind of premium to their interest rate offerings to justify the risk of having to the fall back on FSCS for compensation.
Notwithstanding FSCS coverage, in my view not all banks are created equal which unfortunately seems to be the ethos amongst many savers. However MSE regularly featuring such banks in the top rates league table doesnt help, and seems to convey an impression of solidity to these savings institutions.
Interesting point about the fall of the Icelandic banks. I had an Icesave account for a few months prior to the failure of its parent company Landsbanki. I got out out around 3 weeks before the Landsbanki collaspe, the canary in the mine being the Lehman Brothers collapse weeks before.
Must confess, was somewhat surprised at the very large number of UK local authorities treasury operations who got caught out by the Icelandic bank collaspe, who apparently drew no conclusions from the contagion the Lehman Bros collaspe would cause internationally.
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I am old enough to remember Northern Rock, B & B, RBS, HBOS, the month long Natwest outage, the disastrous TSB system upgrade. And I am currently one of the many at the receiving end of HSBC’s dreadful cash ISA transfer processing. Bad management can happen in any country.
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