Troble with ICICI, what's next best?

Lavendyr

If you can set up a Direct Debit it should be fine to use.

Icesave offer both an ISA at 6.1% and an easy access saver at 6.3% - the latter was my suggestion for you.

Griffboy

Thanks guys! That looks like it went through without any problems. What's the fuss with HiSave?

steve_IOW

Griffboy wrote: »

Thanks guys! That looks like it went through without any problems. What's the fuss with HiSave?

Hi Griffboy,
Regarding ICICI you will find a few posts on here about people having problems, it could be because they are based in India, not sure.
But I had the same problems as yourself, regarding Identification, yes they wanted everything verified by a Dr/Solicitor/Policeman Etc Etc, I just gave up and went to Icesave, they accepted normal documents with no problems.
I've been very happy with their Exellent Service
Regards Steve;)

munk

I'm in the same boat as you griffboy, just registered for a hisave account and was sent an annoying email detailing the docs required:

Thank you for your application for a new HiSAVE account.

To proceed further, we request you to send us one item of certified
identity proof & one item of certified address proof for the following
applicant :

etc etc

I wonder if anyone has tried to register with ICICI using unverified photocopies of the required docs? Half tempted to try it... (edit: maybe not, just read some posts on here about ppl being declined even when they sent properly verified copies for inconsistencies in stuff like signatures not matching!)

I registered for an investment account at Hargreaves Lansdown investment brokers not long ago and they required proof of id/address but were ok with taking just an un-certified photocopy of driving license and a print out of a recent bank statement. I also managed to open a sainsburys account without proof of id as far as i remember, presumably they managed to check up automatically.

Also does anyone know if the reason icici couldn't verify my details was because I'm on he edited version of the electoral roll? I'm wondering if that's maybe why the credit checking agencies couldn't verify id/address, maybe they need access to the full electoral roll for that?

Should be in a thread on it's own I guess, thought I'd give it a pop here seeing as this is fresh

JohalaReewi

steve_IOW wrote: »

Yes I agree, I found Icesave a lot easier to deal with than ICICI, I had loads of problems with ICICI trying to open a account, but with Icesave it went very smoothly.;)

It was the other way round for me. Icesave wanted all sorts of ID which I sent and they never received so could I send it again (how?? it's lost in the post). Meanwhile after 2 months of hearing nothing from ICICI, I got an email saying my account was all set up and ready to use. No ID requested (apart from the £1 cheque). I also tried Sainsburys who wanted ID but didn't like what i had sent them and wanted some more. They were very choosy as to which ID they accepted. I did eventually satisfy them as to my identity by which time, they had reduced the interest rate to 6%.

shoi

Me too with ICICI
I sent them the documents all certified by a solicitor - still not good enough. (Mind you they just emailed me to say they hadn't received them but when I phoned they revised it to say (wrongly) that my solicitor hadn't said he was my solicitor.
If it's like this paying money in imagine what it would be like taking money out.
Give up

Sol00

I must be quite lucky. I opened an account with ICICI with no problems and transferring money is easy.

Is Firstsave not the best for interest at the moment?

dag_2

I'm currently in the process of trying to open a HiSAVE account too. I've received an email saying "congratulations your account is open", plus an email saying they've received the cheque and will contact me with my account details. The "congratulations your account is open" email came before the email about receiving the cheque.

The "congratulations" email also has a six-digit sort code and an eight-digit account number in it. Presumably that's a good sign that my account is likely to be open by now, yes? But I won't transfer money to those details just yet, on the off-chance that the email isn't actually from the bank.

I haven't yet received my password, though. The "congratulations" email came just under a week ago.

So I think I might apply for a FirstSave account too. Are they likely to be any quicker? But I suppose there's no reason not to apply for both accounts. My salary is still less than my rent, so my savings aren't going to last forever, so I really don't want to lose out on more interest than necessary.

I only made a small initial deposit with HiSAVE, though, because I didn't want to be stuck without my money while waiting for the account opening formalities to be completed. So the money that could be earning interest is still sitting in my current account.

Dan29

dag wrote: »

I haven't yet received my password, though.

I received mine by post today having had the two e-mails on Thursday.

dag_2

Well, to be fair to ICICI, I did look at the FAQ's just after posting here and moaning about it. And it does say that it normally takes seven working days, from the day that they receive your initial deposit, to receiving your password. I received my password today, so it was spot on.

The thing that annoys me most is that I didn't think to try to open a savings account with the bank my current account is with, while I was waiting for ICICI. So I've had tens of thousands of pounds sitting in my current account for three weeks, earning diddly squat interest. But when I bothered to look, it took only seconds to open a savings account with my bank. And then it took only seconds to transfer my money into the new account. And it pays 5.75AER! Okay, not as good as ICICI HiSAVE, but still better than a slap in the face, and certainly worth doing while waiting for the hoops to be jumped through on the higher interest accounts.

Fact is, the formalities for opening an account with an organisation you've never dealt with before always take longer than they do with organisations that you already hold accounts with. And it's foolish to forego the best interest you could be getting with your current bank while waiting to open the best-buy-table-topper account.

Still, I know now. My ICICI HiSAVE account is open now, so I've initiated a few low-value test transactions, just to see how long transfers take. I'll decide how much of the rest of the money to transfer in once these transactions have completed.