Decent website - that's all that's left. Review on HDFC Bank

I was one of the first few customers of Times Bank before it was merged into HDFC Bank.

Some of the things which I was dreading came true - a friendly, professional organization became bureaucratic to quite an extent. However, after the merger pains were over, things are almost back to the Times Bank quality.

A lot depends on your relationship with the branch manager. If you meet him/her once in a while on a visit to the branch, s/he will offer a lot of extra suggestions on investments and other facilities. Of course, HDFC makes money from that, but the relationship will help you pick and choose options that you might not have time to notice otherwise.

UPDATE: A LOT depends on your relationship with the manager. I've changed the rating on this review to reflect this. It appears that HDFC is losing their good people to new retail banks such as Deutsche Bank who are aggressive targetting both the high end customers and the better managers - maybe there's a relationship here. I no longer recommend this bank at this time.

Positive aspects:

1. Option of ATM card or debit card. They charge for the debit card, which is of little use to people like me who use credit cards in lieu of cash - I clear the bills every month anyway, so debit/credit is of no use to me.

   
   




2. Very easy to use website - works with most browsers without complaining, unlike Citibank's ridiculous effort.

   
   




3. Demat account can be linked with the savings account. Also your HDFC trading account can be linked with the demat account. The website lets you view your cash, FD, and demat holdings from one screen via the tabs on the top of the page.

   
   




4. Multiple HDFC accounts can be linked for unified access.

   
   




5. Very easy to pay IT dues via their notified branches.

   
   

Negative aspects:

1. Bill payment options are limited and difficult to set up, involving a degree of paperwork which is inexplicable given the quality of the website. Surely they have the technical expertise to do this!

   
   




2. You can only make HDFC credit card payments online. (In contrast to the bill payment option, this requires zero paperwork. Very strange. As an aside, there's no way to view your credit card dues online. It appears that the two organizations are not on talking terms with each other)

   
   




3. Some branches in Bangalore (such as Airport Road) have very little parking. Airport Road in particular has indifferent staff, a non-functional PBX and a permanently absent branch manager.

   
   

If this branch was the only one surveyed, then there is NO WAY that HDFC would be able to claim any kind of customer service reward.

1. Difficult to impossible to transfer money from one account to another unless you're a joint holder in both accounts.