Best private sector bank in India. Review on HDFC Bank

HDFC is the best (Arguably) bank in India where it counts most. I have been banking with them since 2001. I have had reasons to be dissatisfied, but maybe unnecessarily.

Network

HDFC Bank has a great network and far reach, for a private sector bank. Of course they would not have the reach of a public ltd bank like SBI, or BoI, as the business models are different. They have opened a bank in my home town of Ahmednagar, which is a district headquarters, this is good enough for me, as a predominantly urban traveller. Within Cities, their ATM reach is probably second only to ICICI.

Customer Service

HDFC is synonymous with great customer service. Their executives take time to listen to you, the spaces in their branches are well arranged so it never seems overly crowded, noise levels are low, and the executives really care about having your business. There is no preferential treatment, and definitely no (as far as I know) looking down upon customers who may not be so well off.

The ease of doing business at a HDFC branch is very high.

AQB

The Average quarterly balance for a non corporate account is 5,000/- the lowest of the big private sector banks like StanChart, HSBC etc., I have defaulted on this, in which case their penalty fees are pretty high, which pinched me on a couple of occassions, but I guess it was my fault for not maintaining the balance

Netbanking

Very easy to use, has ALL facilities. The only grouse with HDFC netbanking is that you cannot transfer funds to non HDFC banks, which is one of the features ICICI has, which is very useful. Credit card payments (HDFC) are very easy, as is transferring funds to other HDFC accounts - you can order DD's (not available in ICICI), chequebooks, stop payments, the works........

Debit cards

Not the best around..... My ATM card generally does not work at a lot of establishments - that could be because it is pretty old, maybe the new ones are better. Have faced a few embarassing situations because of this. No problems at the ATM though.

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Endnote - The personal loan experience

Well, just to add to the fun, let me end with the following story:

I applied for a personal loan, and these are the results

HSBC

Applied online over 6 months ago - no response, a personal visit to the bank yielded the result that they asked me to bring some documents which were not on the list on the website - never went back

ICICI

Applied online a month ago - no response. On phone banking was informed a CSR would meet me within 48 hours - the 48 hours has gone into 960 hours, still no sign of the guys

ABN AMRO

Made a phone banking call, 4 months ago, got a 16 digit docket number that I dutifully noted down somewhere - no one has appeared. Tried again 3 weeks ago, no docket number this time, but the promise that someone would be there in 48 hours and no prizes for guessing - 960 hours and no one yet

Kotak Mahindra

In this case I didnt apply, got a loan from a CSR who had visited the office. The Jaldli loan (72 hours) took more than 2 weeks and numerous phone calls till I got the loan

Associates (CitiFinancial)

Wont do business with themagain

HDFC

Placed an online message on Friday, was contacted on a Saturday, documents picked up on Tuesday, verification on Thursday, checks picked up Saturday, loan expected Tuesday