[carboy]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

^^^Ah ok. Well, I guess I'v always been using a at par cheque then.

On every Par cheque, it would be written "Payable at Par". Otherwise it's not a par cheque.

Originally Posted by Raccoon

That reminds me - I'v not visited my branch for eons... or maybe never! On rare ocasions I'v visited other branches to deposit cash, attestation, etc. But never my own.

Well, my HDFC Branch is around 150 kms away. My ICICI & Citibank branch are 700 kms away.

[gururaj r]

Originally Posted by carboy

On every Par cheque, it would be written "Payable at Par". Otherwise it's not a par cheque.




Well, my HDFC Branch is around 150 kms away. My ICICI & Citibank branch are 700 kms away.

Nowadays AT PAR need not be written. If one notices in the white band in any cheque, the first six digits is for instrument number. The next nine digit is as follows:

first three digits is for the place - this would tally with the PIN Code . 400 for Mumbai, 560 for Bangalore, 600 for Chennai etc. The next three digit is for the Bank . 002 for SBI, 013 Bank of India, 229 for ICICI Bank and so on. The next three digits is for the respective branch of the Bank. RBI during the process of clearing identifies the Bank and Branch with this MICR code. The next two digits is 10 for SB, 11 for CA, 13 for OD, 16 for DD, 29 for AT PAR Pay Order/warrant and so on.

Nowadays, the first three digit is mentioned as 000 by different or most banks (for DD it is compulsory) automatically denoting that the cheque can be processed at any of their branches or at centres notified.

This is also the reason why one is requested not to write in the white band since this interfers with the reading of the machine while processing in clearing.

At Delhi and Chennai cheque truncation has been introduced in which only the image of the cheque travels across banks for clearance.

[faustus77]

Raccoon
Hi
Just call up your home branch(the branch address is written on your cheque book)and ask.
All branches of HDFC have a customer relation office.
Regards

[Raccoon]

^^^Just checked - my chequebook does not contain the branch phone number. It has been my experience that Phonebankers don't give out branch phone numbers. And can't reach a phone banker even if they did. Cul de sac.

No issues. Let them loose business. Not stuck without them.

[Raccoon]

Finally got a call back from them. She said the trigger point for the Sweep-in is zero. That means, one would end up paying penalty charges for not maintaining 10k Average Quarterly Balance; unless you keep checking and manually and then manually transfer funds somehow, when required.

Instead of a solution this and other issues, and given my long association with them, they were more interested in selling more products, etc. Guess I'll just move out...

[rohan_iitr]

I tried opening a fixed deposit though SBI net banking, but got error message that mode of account is not set and I need to contact the branch.

I have viewing as well as transaction priviledge on the SBI net banking account. I am able to transfer funds to other accounts.

Anyone who has faced a similar problem ?

Rohan

[rohan_iitr]

I am facing a stange problem with my S/B account in SBI.

I have a S/B account in SBI branch A. My wife has another S/B account in SBI branch B. Both branches located in Bangalore.

Last week I deposited 2 cheques in branch B (dropped in the drop box). One cheque was meant to be deposited in my account in branch A and another cheque was meant to be deposited in my wife's account in branch B.

After few days, I noticed that both the cheques have been deposited in my wife's account in branch B. I am 100% sure that I have mentioned the correct name, account number, branch number etc on the cheques as well as the pay-in slips. I used separate pay-in slips for the 2 cheques.

I fail to understand how such gross negligence can happen in a bank.

It is just my good luck that the amount which was meant to be deposited in my account got wrongly credited to my wife's account. What if the amount got credited to some unknown person's account ?

How should I proceed in this case ?

I do not have the time and patience to visit branch B to rectify their mistake. There was no mistake from my side and I do not want to be inconvenienced for their negligence. I also want to ensure that the negligent person who was caused me this inconvenience gets reprimanded for this kind of negligence.

I have sent an email to SBI customer care. I received an automated reply, but even after 2 days the mistake has not been rectified.

What should be my next step ? Should I escalate the matter to the next level after waiting for another 2 days ?

Rohan

[MHG]

Guys, I'll be starting to work in a few months and need tips on where to open a Savings/Salary account. Minimum balance is not important - if I get enough premium features then I don't mind keeping 25k as minimum balance.

Requirements:

1. Unlimited withdrawals from ATM of ANY bank (public or private) - no 5/month limit. I understand this is available in premium accounts but don't know which.
2. No surcharge for debit card use anywhere (when fuelling up or when buying regular supplies like groceries I always pay with card) any number of times.
3. No surcharge for netbanking. Currently have a canara bank account and hate it because they charge Rs. 10/transaction for netbanking operations.
4. Very well supported everywhere. I don't want to see a site that says "your bank is not supported".
5. It should have an excellent, well designed, safe and secure web portal to manage everything.
6. All the above plus extra features gets brownie points.

Could you guys recommend me a nice bank for the above tasks ?


Plus I want to open a second account exclusively for online use - netbanking, virtual credit cards, etc for making payments where netbanking is not supported (amazon.com and the like) and where balance would be kept minimum, with funds transferred just in time for making payments and any surplus again transferred back. What do you think is the best solution for this ?

[ethanhunt123]

Originally Posted by MHG

Guys, I'll be starting to work in a few months and need tips on where to open a Savings/Salary account. Minimum balance is not important - if I get enough premium features then I don't mind keeping 25k as minimum balance.

Requirements:
[*]Unlimited withdrawals from ATM of ANY bank (public or private) - no 5/month limit. I understand this is available in premium accounts but don't know which.[*]No surcharge for debit card use anywhere (when fuelling up or when buying regular supplies like groceries I always pay with card) any number of times.[*]No surcharge for netbanking. Currently have a canara bank account and hate it because they charge Rs. 10/transaction for netbanking operations.[*]Very well supported everywhere. I don't want to see a site that says "your bank is not supported".[*]It should have an excellent, well designed, safe and secure web portal to manage everything.[*]All the above plus extra features gets brownie points.

Could you guys recommend me a nice bank for the above tasks ?

Plus I want to open a second account exclusively for online use - netbanking, virtual credit cards, etc for making payments where netbanking is not supported (amazon.com and the like) and where balance would be kept minimum, with funds transferred just in time for making payments and any surplus again transferred back. What do you think is the best solution for this ?

I have banked with Citi, ICICI, HDFC & SBI. Citi is the most online friendly bank, but very few physical branches. If there is one in your city, go for it. There is normally no surcharge for salary accounts in most banks for ATM withdrawals and Debit card usage.

[MHG]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

I have banked with Citi, ICICI, HDFC & SBI. Citi is the most online friendly bank, but very few physical branches. If there is one in your city, go for it. There is normally no surcharge for salary accounts in most banks for ATM withdrawals and Debit card usage.

What if the account is not a salary account and is only a savings account ? I want something that does not have surcharge for such accounts too, for my second account.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by MHG

Requirements:

1. Unlimited withdrawals from ATM of ANY bank (public or private) - no 5/month limit. I understand this is available in premium accounts but don't know which.
2. No surcharge for debit card use anywhere (when fuelling up or when buying regular supplies like groceries I always pay with card) any number of times.
3. No surcharge for netbanking. Currently have a canara bank account and hate it because they charge Rs. 10/transaction for netbanking operations.
4. Very well supported everywhere. I don't want to see a site that says "your bank is not supported".
5. It should have an excellent, well designed, safe and secure web portal to manage everything.
6. All the above plus extra features gets brownie points.

Could you guys recommend me a nice bank for the above tasks ?
?

I used to have HSBC salary account, which ticks all your requirements. A similar savings account with VISA debit card will satisfy your needs.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by msdivy

I used to have HSBC salary account, which ticks all your requirements. A similar savings account with VISA debit card will satisfy your needs.

He mentions it should work without a salary account. Both HSBC and Citi have higher balance requirements(than the 25K he mentions) for these features.

I think for Citi, it's 3 Lakhs (across savings, FD & investments). HSBC is 75k, I think (but HSBC insists that 25 or 30K out of that has to be in savings account).

I get all these features in a non-salary account with HDFC & ICICI, but I have lots of relationships with them (FDs, savings, investments, demat etc) with them - so I have no idea what's their minimum requirements - I must be fulfilling their requirements across all their allowed stuff. But for most of the private banks, 25K is too low to get their full set of features, I think.

Call up and check with ICICI & HDFC - I have mostly found them much better with these things than Citi & HSBC. I have

closed my HSBC acct(had it for almost 20 years) & I am keeping my Citi account only because of an ECS.

Another big problem with Citi is they hardly have any branches anywhere - whereas ICICI & HDFC are excellent with this.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by carboy

Call up and check with ICICI & HDFC

Not sure if ICICI or HDFC or Citi have un-limited ATM withdrawals in any bank's ATM. HSBC has it. Actually there are hardly any HSBC ATMs.
If this is not a hard requirement, then there are better banks than HSBC.

[MHG]

Originally Posted by carboy

He mentions it should work without a salary account. Both HSBC and Citi have higher balance requirements(than the 25K he mentions) for these features.

I think for Citi, it's 3 Lakhs (across savings, FD & investments). HSBC is 75k, I think (but HSBC insists that 25 or 30K out of that has to be in savings account).

I get all these features in a non-salary account with HDFC & ICICI, but I have lots of relationships with them (FDs, savings, investments, demat etc) with them - so I have no idea what's their minimum requirements - I must be fulfilling their requirements across all their allowed stuff. But for most of the private banks, 25K is too low to get their full set of features, I think.

Call up and check with ICICI & HDFC - I have mostly found them much better with these things than Citi & HSBC. I have

closed my HSBC acct(had it for almost 20 years) & I am keeping my Citi account only because of an ECS.

Another big problem with Citi is they hardly have any branches anywhere - whereas ICICI & HDFC are excellent with this.

Thanks for the information.

I want one more help as well - My idea behind 2 accounts is that I use one of them as a salary account (which I guess can also be used for loans, etc) and not directly transfer funds out of it for making payments of any sort - as a security measure, and have another workhorse account - mainly used for Debit Card, Credit Card and Net Banking where I keep less balance all the time.

What is the best combination I can have for the above ?

EDIT: Questions may seem somewhat noobish, but that's because I'm starting work only next year and barely have any experience outside the standard savings account I operate at Canara Bank which is only used to pay for petrol. Hope you guys are willing to bear with rather simpleton questions from this youngster....

[arnetheus]

Originally Posted by MHG

Thanks for the information.
============
Hope you guys are willing to bear with rather simpleton questions from this youngster....

I use a combination of private (ICICI/HDFC) and public bank (IDBI). The salary account bank has been fixed by the company as ICICI, so have no say in it, but my experience has been good till date. In addition I use an IDBI account to deposit my savings, with their sweep-in and out facility along with excellent web support (online FD request etc.), it works fine for me.