Aug 09, 2011 10:26 PM
8367 Views
Anyone who opens any Indian website while he/she are abroad would be prompted of citibank window to open the NRE/NRO account. Impressed with their presence everywhere, I had opened the preferred rupee account with a FD for decent amount. During one year operation of account, I had faced the following hurdles.
E-mail instructions are not recognized. For everything, we need to send a signed request letter through courier. Even if we want to know about any new launches, letter is a must. Even for marketing, customer has to feel as previlage.
We can't book first FD online ourselves. As a result, maturity instruction is left to the bank. To change the maturity instruction, you need to submit hardcopy signed request prior to 7 working days. Else it would be auto rolled out for the same tenure irrespective of rate.
More often the Indian citibank website opens too slowly during working hours. Too much online security that irritates the customer. Citibank sends one time password every time to the mobile in order to login to the account. If you are in different country and is operating on different mobile, we can't access the account because password is sent to the registered mobile.
FD offered rates are lower by 0.5% than any other Indian bank. Maximum offered interest rate for any amount of deposit today is 8.75%. All other banks in India are offering 9+ interest rates. An indication that FD customers are not welcome to the Citibank.
When you need Form-16A for tax filing, its format is different as that of other Indian banks making it difficult for you to comprehend.
The grievance resolution is one sided often favoring the bank leaving little rights to the customers.
During one year of opening the account, my needs were pretty limited but felt Citibank always sleeps over customer issues and also complicates lot of simple concerns.
