ICICI goons thrash loan defaulters friend

ananthkamath · 29th March 2007, 18:11

it is likely that this issue, like all issues, will create public furore for a few days and then die a natural death. customer empowerment is still in its infancy in india and i dont see it growing up unless ALL customers decide to do something about it. Dont see that happening in the near future.

zaphod · 29th March 2007, 18:33

I have an account with both ICICI and HDFC - while I haven't noticed anything irregular in my statements with ICICI, I did have trouble accessing the ICICIdirect website - it just refused to show my portfolio.

As for HDFC, I was in Madurai and sent in a cheque for my card - the cheque happened to bounce - I immediately issued another - somehow they tacked on a couple of grand as charges.....
(Funny - They were giving me a credit limit of 3L - I asked them to reduce it not more than 50k - they could at least have been a bit forgiving....)

I got accounts in these banks as they seem to have the most ATM's around - but now I'm thinking of closing these accounts and opening one in either UTI, Kotak or HSBC.

Talking about HSBC, when I was studying in the UK, I had a HSBC CCaccount (a master and a visa on one account) - before coming, I called up trheir helpine, told them to cancel and cut up my cards and burnt them - I also paid the amount due by rounding off the figure in their favour - 18p extra)

APparently the great system they're running has decided that since the balance does not read 0.00, there is a need to send me a statement every month by first class postage to inform me that I have a few pence in credit...

On Topic : Such incidents have happened a number of times with teh courts also taking a serious view - I think that the 'Ford Pinto' effect is in the minds of these banks - It's cheaper to continue this way, get the goods back and it's still cheaper to pay off in that smaaaall number of cases which go to court.

zaphod

spadival · 29th March 2007, 19:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by zaphod

Talking about HSBC, when I was studying in the UK, I had a HSBC CCaccount (a master and a visa on one account) - before coming, I called up trheir helpine, told them to cancel and cut up my cards and burnt them - I also paid the amount due by rounding off the figure in their favour - 18p extra)

zaphod

I had a similar case. I had an HSBC card in UK which expired after I came back to India. I had updated my Indian address on the their internet banking site. Once the card expired, they sent me a letter saying they cant deliver the re-issued card to India because of import restrictions.

A year passed by and one fine day, they charged card protection insurance of 20 pounds on the card and started sending me letters week after week, all the way from UK to India, asking me to pay.

I waited for a sufficient period so that I had enough "imported" paper for the raddiwala

and then quietly sent them a stinker via their banking site, asking them how they can charge card protection insurance on a card that they didnt even deliver to me in the first place

. The card is cancelled and all dues waived off without a word.

greatmana2000 · 29th March 2007, 19:13

I have an ongoing issue with HSBC . Those guys charge 3 % interest . This 3% initself is tricky . I thought i was being charged 3% simple interest but ,it seems that the bank is charging me 3% compounded interest .

Plus , on top of that they are charging me a penalty and also some service charges .

I told the bank ,I wouldnt be able to pay and even asked them to move the courts ,but ,now they have taken a softer stand on the issue and they want me to pay whatever i have spent .

The point is does RBI allow 3% compound interest ?Are these banks at fault or is the RBI at fault for not imposing proper rules ?

3% compound interest makes it much more than wat a money lender chanrges .

Any idea as to where we can get the RBI rules and guidelines online ?

greatmana2000 · 29th March 2007, 19:57

found this link .. seems to be very useful

finneyp · 29th March 2007, 20:21

Better to avoid Citibank, ICICI and HDFC!
Heard lotz of bad stories from customers of these Banks!
I too had a nightmare with HDFC Credit Cards - Statements was never sent, pathetic Customer Support, no Online facility etc. It sucks!

Had a excellent service from HSBC Credit Cards.
Am happy with UTI Bank too for the Savings Account.

Samurai · 29th March 2007, 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by finneyp

I too had a nightmare with HDFC Credit Cards - Statements was never sent, pathetic Customer Support, no Online facility etc. It sucks!

What are you talking man, I have HDFC card for 3 years, I view my statement, and pay my bill online.

finneyp · 29th March 2007, 22:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai

What are you talking man, I have HDFC card for 3 years, I view my statement, and pay my bill online.

You mean Debit Card or Credit Card?
Debit Card - Savings Account - ofcourse they have Net Banking!
Credit Card - Atleast a year back, when I cancelled my Credit Card, they didn't have Online facility.

Samurai · 29th March 2007, 22:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by finneyp

Credit Card - Atleast a year back, when I cancelled my Credit Card, they didn't have Online facility.

Ofcourse credit card, they had it all the time since 2004.

tsk1979 · 29th March 2007, 23:37

I too pay and view my bills online on my HDFC bank credit card.

sumantab20 · 30th March 2007, 00:02

ICICI is a thief...... Govt Approved legal thieves who actually make money by doing all sort of illegal things. Whenever you make any transaction of 50k and above the 90% of the time its in suspense account. They have made millions of profit using the cash of suspense account.

They are the 1st to provide you the loan...quickest of all banks while giving you loans but when there is a prob, they are the laziest in the world.

If you make any delay in payment or through their own faults, then a fine is charged against you. But, when its their fault and you dont get the money credited for months, all you get is an apology letter which attimes is not given and funny part...u r running for your own money to be credited on your own account.

ICICI banks suspense account is really of great suspense. No one knows how they operate that special account. You will ALWAYS FIND THAT MONEY IS DEBITED FROM OTHER BANKS AND HALTS AT THIS SUSPENSE account !!!!!!!!!!!

And also the best in hiring goons. But, their a trick to smack their goons too. Go to any of the night clubs / disc and hire some bouncer from their and direct them to their collection department manager. Beat the manager till he begs with an apology letter written with his own blood then ICICI will really know how much pain it is in defying " Hum hai na" slogan

. They should know the publics voice "Hum tere baap hai "

Cheerz

esteem_lover · 30th March 2007, 00:36

Some banks are nice for some folks & the same banks aren't nice enough for other folks, so it is best not to compare. generally speaking, one rule applies for all these private banks. loot the unaware customer & maintain decorum with the talkative, knowing customer. it all depends on the customer profile & there are many kinds of profile, trust me.

@samurai... you dont have to print screen & put up for us to beleive what you are saying. you are a mod & we respect you & will certainly take your word.

nik1982 · 30th March 2007, 00:44

deplorable! and we are supposedly the largest democracy in the world.

Zappo · 30th March 2007, 01:39

Well... I am not saying that ICICI and other such private banks are not to be blamed for all the fiascos they create. However I think most of the problems happen because of poorly developed software, bad business logic framing and lackaidasical staff who lack the skills of basic application of mind.

Take these three personal experiences of mine.

1> I have multiple ICICI accounts in various cities. Recently when I wanted to register for InstaAlerts (SMSs) I realised that my cell no. can not be registered because it is already registered with another account (of course my other account). The call center girl deadpanned saying I need to provide a unique phone no. for each of my accounts. Essentially meaning I need to take a new connection with each of my accounts! What a screwed up business logic!

1> Now, they are changing the regular debit cards with grid based ones. They sent (separate) mails in Jan that they will send me the replacement cards for my accounts latest by March.

Recently I woke up to the fact that I have not recieved the cards for two of my accounts. So I tried calling up the customer care. Realised that my existing cards are now "partially" blocked and will be disfunctional by March end as they have issued me a new card. I should get it activated immediately. Of course I never recieved them. After lot of follow ups I realized for one of the accounts they never even generated the card though the system says so! However they dealt with that promptly. Problem is with the other account. The card is untraceable... sometimes they say it is with ICICI bank and they will dispatch it again to me as it came back undelivered. Some other times they say it is with BlueDart and they are yet to get it back. This circus is going on since last 1 month almost. In the meantime my card has been deactivated for all the online transactions...

2> The card that I recieved for one of my accounts took a lot of time to come. The reason as I ultimately discovered is first the card was generated in Mumbai. Then they couriered it through BlueDart to RPC chennai of all places. From there they again couriered it via TNT to Regional Office in Hyderabad. They then local couriered it to a nearest branch in Hyderabad. The branch then again couriered it to my address. Go figure!

Now does all that sound like a bank that is out to screw you out of your money? To me it sounds like they are screwing themselves out of some pretty penny. Instead of sending it directly to me they probably paid a small fortune in courier charges while taking my card on a free India tour!!!

I think all these show how careless and lackaidasical they are. In turn that hurts the customers as well. Anyhow big ventures like ICICI can not grow with explicit baniya policies... they will get snuffed out. It has more to do with lack of proper processes.

finneyp · 30th March 2007, 02:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

one rule applies for all these private banks. loot the unaware customer & maintain decorum with the talkative, knowing customer.

Thatz absolutely right!

29th March 2007, 18:11	#31
ananthkamath Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Mangalore Posts: 1,209 Thanked: 80 Times View My Garage	it is likely that this issue, like all issues, will create public furore for a few days and then die a natural death. customer empowerment is still in its infancy in india and i dont see it growing up unless ALL customers decide to do something about it. Dont see that happening in the near future.
	() Thanks

29th March 2007, 18:33	#32
zaphod BHPian Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: NO IDeA/Madurai Posts: 236 Thanked: 4 Times	I have an account with both ICICI and HDFC - while I haven't noticed anything irregular in my statements with ICICI, I did have trouble accessing the ICICIdirect website - it just refused to show my portfolio. As for HDFC, I was in Madurai and sent in a cheque for my card - the cheque happened to bounce - I immediately issued another - somehow they tacked on a couple of grand as charges..... (Funny - They were giving me a credit limit of 3L - I asked them to reduce it not more than 50k - they could at least have been a bit forgiving....) I got accounts in these banks as they seem to have the most ATM's around - but now I'm thinking of closing these accounts and opening one in either UTI, Kotak or HSBC. Talking about HSBC, when I was studying in the UK, I had a HSBC CCaccount (a master and a visa on one account) - before coming, I called up trheir helpine, told them to cancel and cut up my cards and burnt them - I also paid the amount due by rounding off the figure in their favour - 18p extra) APparently the great system they're running has decided that since the balance does not read 0.00, there is a need to send me a statement every month by first class postage to inform me that I have a few pence in credit... On Topic : Such incidents have happened a number of times with teh courts also taking a serious view - I think that the 'Ford Pinto' effect is in the minds of these banks - It's cheaper to continue this way, get the goods back and it's still cheaper to pay off in that smaaaall number of cases which go to court. zaphod
	() Thanks

29th March 2007, 19:13	#34
greatmana2000 BANNED Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: chennai Posts: 703 Thanked: 58 Times	I have an ongoing issue with HSBC . Those guys charge 3 % interest . This 3% initself is tricky . I thought i was being charged 3% simple interest but ,it seems that the bank is charging me 3% compounded interest . Plus , on top of that they are charging me a penalty and also some service charges . I told the bank ,I wouldnt be able to pay and even asked them to move the courts ,but ,now they have taken a softer stand on the issue and they want me to pay whatever i have spent . The point is does RBI allow 3% compound interest ?Are these banks at fault or is the RBI at fault for not imposing proper rules ? 3% compound interest makes it much more than wat a money lender chanrges . Any idea as to where we can get the RBI rules and guidelines online ?
	() Thanks

29th March 2007, 19:57	#35
greatmana2000 BANNED Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: chennai Posts: 703 Thanked: 58 Times	http://creditcardvictims.org/page/interestrate found this link .. seems to be very useful
	() Thanks

29th March 2007, 20:21	#36
finneyp Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,716 Thanked: 319 Times View My Garage	Better to avoid Citibank, ICICI and HDFC! Heard lotz of bad stories from customers of these Banks! I too had a nightmare with HDFC Credit Cards - Statements was never sent, pathetic Customer Support, no Online facility etc. It sucks! Had a excellent service from HSBC Credit Cards. Am happy with UTI Bank too for the Savings Account.
	() Thanks

29th March 2007, 23:37	#40
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,717 Thanked: 22,825 Times View My Garage	I too pay and view my bills online on my HDFC bank credit card.
	() Thanks

30th March 2007, 00:02	#41
sumantab20 Newbie Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Delhi Posts: 20 Thanked: 9 Times	ICICI is a thief...... Govt Approved legal thieves who actually make money by doing all sort of illegal things. Whenever you make any transaction of 50k and above the 90% of the time its in suspense account. They have made millions of profit using the cash of suspense account. They are the 1st to provide you the loan...quickest of all banks while giving you loans but when there is a prob, they are the laziest in the world. If you make any delay in payment or through their own faults, then a fine is charged against you. But, when its their fault and you dont get the money credited for months, all you get is an apology letter which attimes is not given and funny part...u r running for your own money to be credited on your own account. ICICI banks suspense account is really of great suspense. No one knows how they operate that special account. You will ALWAYS FIND THAT MONEY IS DEBITED FROM OTHER BANKS AND HALTS AT THIS SUSPENSE account !!!!!!!!!!! And also the best in hiring goons. But, their a trick to smack their goons too. Go to any of the night clubs / disc and hire some bouncer from their and direct them to their collection department manager. Beat the manager till he begs with an apology letter written with his own blood then ICICI will really know how much pain it is in defying " Hum hai na" slogan . They should know the publics voice "Hum tere baap hai " Cheerz
	() Thanks

30th March 2007, 00:36	#42
esteem_lover Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Madras/Py Posts: 7,556 Thanked: 502 Times View My Garage	Some banks are nice for some folks & the same banks aren't nice enough for other folks, so it is best not to compare. generally speaking, one rule applies for all these private banks. loot the unaware customer & maintain decorum with the talkative, knowing customer. it all depends on the customer profile & there are many kinds of profile, trust me. @samurai... you dont have to print screen & put up for us to beleive what you are saying. you are a mod & we respect you & will certainly take your word. Last edited by esteem_lover : 30th March 2007 at 00:38.
	() Thanks

30th March 2007, 00:44	#43
nik1982 BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: MUMBAI Posts: 90 Thanked: 2 Times	deplorable! and we are supposedly the largest democracy in the world.
	() Thanks

30th March 2007, 01:39	#44
Zappo Team-BHP Support Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 5,922 Thanked: 2,696 Times	Well... I am not saying that ICICI and other such private banks are not to be blamed for all the fiascos they create. However I think most of the problems happen because of poorly developed software, bad business logic framing and lackaidasical staff who lack the skills of basic application of mind. Take these three personal experiences of mine. 1> I have multiple ICICI accounts in various cities. Recently when I wanted to register for InstaAlerts (SMSs) I realised that my cell no. can not be registered because it is already registered with another account (of course my other account). The call center girl deadpanned saying I need to provide a unique phone no. for each of my accounts. Essentially meaning I need to take a new connection with each of my accounts! What a screwed up business logic! 1> Now, they are changing the regular debit cards with grid based ones. They sent (separate) mails in Jan that they will send me the replacement cards for my accounts latest by March. Recently I woke up to the fact that I have not recieved the cards for two of my accounts. So I tried calling up the customer care. Realised that my existing cards are now "partially" blocked and will be disfunctional by March end as they have issued me a new card. I should get it activated immediately. Of course I never recieved them. After lot of follow ups I realized for one of the accounts they never even generated the card though the system says so! However they dealt with that promptly. Problem is with the other account. The card is untraceable... sometimes they say it is with ICICI bank and they will dispatch it again to me as it came back undelivered. Some other times they say it is with BlueDart and they are yet to get it back. This circus is going on since last 1 month almost. In the meantime my card has been deactivated for all the online transactions... 2> The card that I recieved for one of my accounts took a lot of time to come. The reason as I ultimately discovered is first the card was generated in Mumbai. Then they couriered it through BlueDart to RPC chennai of all places. From there they again couriered it via TNT to Regional Office in Hyderabad. They then local couriered it to a nearest branch in Hyderabad. The branch then again couriered it to my address. Go figure! Now does all that sound like a bank that is out to screw you out of your money? To me it sounds like they are screwing themselves out of some pretty penny. Instead of sending it directly to me they probably paid a small fortune in courier charges while taking my card on a free India tour!!! I think all these show how careless and lackaidasical they are. In turn that hurts the customers as well. Anyhow big ventures like ICICI can not grow with explicit baniya policies... they will get snuffed out. It has more to do with lack of proper processes.
	() Thanks