[srishiva]

Two of my friends took home loan from SBI. They had to go through a lot of "we require that, we require this" kind of thing for a month before the loan was approved.
Compared to this I got home loan from a private bank where they came to my office to get all the papers and was approved in a week.

There are some things for which private banks are good at if you don't default. If they do something wrong, you can go and even shout at them. Try that with PSU banks.

[menonrajesh]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Two of my friends took home loan from SBI. They had to go through a lot of "we require that, we require this" kind of thing for a month before the loan was approved.
Compared to this I got home loan from a private bank where they came to my office to get all the papers and was approved in a week.

Yes, we will have to agree that MNC banks provide door-step banking facilities even, compared to Nationalised Banks. But we effectively pay for all these 'value-added' services one way or other.

I am the director of a small IT firm in Bangalore, which is purely an offshore development center and so, get a lot of foreign Inward remittances. We had been banking with HSBC for initial 2 years and are now banking with a Nationalised Bank. The reason for me to change our banker was not primarily because of the exorbitant amount of 'service charges' HSBC came up with during their tenure, but because of the way they managed our account and our banking relationship. I can vouch that, as someone has already rightly put, these guys speak well and dress well, but don't do the banking operations as they project, atleast in my experience.

I agree, Nationalised banks are not upto the scale of these guys in terms of banking technologies and facilities offered(they are catching up for sure, of late). But they don't charge you a hefty premium for any facilities. HSBC charges 25000/- per quarter as minimum balance which is way too high to justify the scope of services they offer. Their penalties are way too stringent. Over and above I just hate the attitide of the bank in question. Everytime I approached the bank to receive a cold response on various issues we faced with them. I don't want to list down various factors that initiated my decision to leave them, but I have to say here that I did get proposals from different banks, MNC's and Nationalised ones, and it was easy at that time to choose a nationalised bank from the lot, since I had already dealt with HSBC.

I would like to reiterate here that I have expressed here what can be considered as my personal experience and opinion. I hope it would be entertained in the right sense, not offending anyone / organisation.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by LLL

other side of the coin - my friend got the credit card from SBI, it would get declined wherever he tried to use it. He tried calling SBI call center and as usual they had no clue. They ended up sending him a new card which finally started working. So not all is hunky dory.

My 2 other experiences with SBI -

1. Went to Malviya nagar branch in Delhi to open a new account. Form clearly said i only needed address proof and govt id OR Nomiation from existing account holder. Despite having both govt id and address proof, i was told to get a nomination. When i got the nomination, i was told i couldnt open an account as i didnt live in the jurisdiction of their branch.

2. I went to Noida Sec-2 branch which is walking distance from my office. Same thing - was told i cant open the account there as i didnt live in their jusridiction. IMagine in this age if internet banking......

So not all is hunky dory with SBI or other govt banks like OBC.

my experience with OBC - i have an acct in mumbai with them. Wanted to open an acct in delhi so i thought i will get it transferred to delhi. OBC told me i will have to close that account myself and they will open a new account for me. WTH, why would i open an account with them if i wanted to open a new account?

Compare this with HDFC - they told me to give them a letter, they will themselves work with mumbai branch and close the account there and open a new one here. Just 1 visit and all work was taken care of.

SBI credit card stuff is a joint venture with GE Capital .GE capital does all the management not SBI. now you know why the service is like that

opening A/c they do have respective jurisdictions but they open a/c if one wants it. they may be circumspect due to recent govt orders with respect to
KYC rules. i have opened an a/c in wilson garden for my brother when he stays at a place 16 km away. he did not even visited the branch. i did every thing on authorization. nomination form existing customer is a must even if one has govt id. some one has mislead you.
you need not close the a/c. just give passbook and check book with letter to the branch where you want it to be shifted. they do the rest. that is the procedure. i did it several times. my father did it so many times every time he is transferred from one village to another .one need not close the a/c

[rkg]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Two of my friends took home loan from SBI. They had to go through a lot of "we require that, we require this" kind of thing for a month before the loan was approved.
Compared to this I got home loan from a private bank where they came to my office to get all the papers and was approved in a week.

There are some things for which private banks are good at if you don't default. If they do something wrong, you can go and even shout at them. Try that with PSU banks.

main reason is private banks outsource this agents who gets commission based on the loan amount disbursed. where as there is no such provision in govt banks to hire agents ( either to get loans or to recover loans ... read goons)

private sector banks have better options for recovery of loans in case it goes sticky but for psu banks if the loan gets sticky it is big process to recover. so no one want to take risk. try a psu bank to buy property from urban development authority. they are as fast as private sector banks

[LLL]

Originally Posted by rkg

you need not close the a/c. just give passbook and check book with letter to the branch where you want it to be shifted. they do the rest. that is the procedure. i did it several times. my father did it so many times every time he is transferred from one village to another .one need not close the a/c

yep, but this was the branch manager himself telling me that cant close the account from there. Just wanted to point out that not all PSU banks have changed. Even with better ones like SBI there are branches right here in heart of south delhi where branch managers are fooling people.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

I'd rather take my loan from a bank that handles the foundational finance of my country than some foreign bank that's doing me a favour.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

minister of this country (and all other ministers) draws his salary from an SBI central government account.

I'm no finance and banking wizard, but that seems like pretty basic foundational stuff to me.

Originally Posted by narayan

sam - a lot of things u mentioned on the govt a/cs are true - but my point is that does not equate to holding the fundamentals of the economy....

I couldn't agree with you more. Obviously there is a clear and massive difference between foundational finance and holding the fundamentals of economy. I am sure you would understand this difference, being a banker.

When the local policeman and postman withdraw their salary (and eventually their pension) from SBI, that is foundational finance. Finance at the root level.
It has nothing to do with holding the fundamentals of economy.

Foundational is lowest. Load-bearing. Underlying.

Fundamental is the crucial core. Around which the whole economy is based.

I'll repeat myself.
SBI handles the foundational finance of this country.

It is a clear statement that does not insinuate that SBI is better or worse than the institutions that run the economy of India.

I simply state that I'd rather deal with a bank that handles the foundational finance of my country.

[narayan]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

I couldn't agree with you more. Obviously there is a clear and massive difference between foundational finance and holding the fundamentals of economy. I am sure you would understand this difference, being a banker.

When the local policeman and postman withdraw their salary (and eventually their pension) from SBI, that is foundational finance. Finance at the root level.
It has nothing to do with holding the fundamentals of economy.

Foundational is lowest. Load-bearing. Underlying.

Fundamental is the crucial core. Around which the whole economy is based.

I'll repeat myself.
SBI handles the foundational finance of this country.

It is a clear statement that does not insinuate that SBI is better or worse than the institutions that run the economy of India.

I simply state that I'd rather deal with a bank that handles the foundational finance of my country.

sam- u defently know ur way with words...anyway one fact that i would put in here is that ALL GOVT depts are mandated to have their bank a/cs with SBI...


any other bank whether nationalised or private or foreign would just simply love to have this piece of business. !!! so taking finance to the policeman or postman is more by mandate and less by will or anything else

[sqwall]

Yes there will always be two sides to this debate.
I am of the opinion that the PSU banks are constantly improving and will remain to be the smart choice for the average Indian.

I have seen people singing the private bank tune till they become wise.

In the end the choice is yours.

[tsk1979]

I would rather have 2 additional week of running around to get documents and stuff to get the loan than have somebody beat me up or murder me because the bank muggled up some paperwork.
I guess some headache in the initial period of the banking is okay provided the rest of the experience is trouble free.

[extreme_torque]

Being the son of an Officer in SBI, I know how far they have come from the early days and how seriously they take customer satisfaction now a days. You will find a SBI ATM almost anywhere not just swanky markets, but also rural area's... if I am not wrong they have the largest network of ATM's in India, besides the interest rates are the lowest in the market.

[canonball]

Hi All,

Thsi thread is really great I have been contemplating going to SBI.

What are the best rates going around these days for a car loan. Multinational Banks are quoting 12% or so for 36 months and above, some PSU banks I checked with are offering 10.5%. So what is the best rate anybody has got so far, and which bank was it?

cheers
Nikhil

[rkg]

i went to abn amro to prepay home loan( part payment) for my brother.this was my experience with MNC bank
when i called their call center i was told we have to give an application along with check then only they will accept it. plain check will not do
i went to their branch at residency road. there they told me home loan section shifted to vittal mallya road. i have to go there. they don't accept check here but they are ready to accept cash.
so i went to UB city in vittal mallya road
i was told there i have to fill in specific proforma and they do not accept what i have brought. i saw what is there in the proforma- they want name, loan a/c number, check number and option ( reduce tenor or EMI). i have pointed out i have all that in the letter i got from my brother. they said NO it has to be in their form in the same order and format and it has to be signed by my brother only. i can not sign on his behalf
Imagine a bank refusing to accept Check payment. this is when they call you day and night offering loan on phone/net/sleep sending pre approved loans with out application. insistence on customer signature for deposits by check
then i asked can we send it by email. BIG NO. it has to be by person only. then i requested can they send their guy to collect from my office-- again BIG NO. we don't send our guys for this.we send them if we are giving you loan not to collect prepayment.
this kind of rules are not there in rule bound, slow moving PSU banks. any one can deposit check in any a/c provided he should mention his/her name in deposit slip.
some one earlier said in this forum that MNC banks are faster, no procedures etc etc.
biggest surprise is i was not allowed to meet any officer( i do not know who is officer who is clerk in these MNC banks as every body was given fancy designations) i have to deal with receptionist only
what i feel all this was intended to prevent a person from pre paying the loan. they know very well many people do not have time to physically go there and do. even if some one has he was discouraged by there forms. copy of the forms or the procedure is not available on the net . HOW CONVENIENT
this shows who is who and what they are.
i never faced such problems with SBI or even with ICICI. whenever i make pre payment they accept it immediately, no forms, and it is deducted immediately.
here great ABN AMRO with international standards of service wants 4-5 days to process it.

[spadival]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Being the son of an Officer in SBI, I know how far they have come from the early days and how seriously they take customer satisfaction now a days. You will find a SBI ATM almost anywhere not just swanky markets, but also rural area's... if I am not wrong they have the largest network of ATM's in India, besides the interest rates are the lowest in the market.

Thats the best thing about SBI.. You will find their ATM in the most unlikely of places.. I use my ICICI card to withdraw cash tho