Friday, November 14, 2008

HDFC Bank Fraud

While it is important to invest money in right assets, it would do equally better to stay away from some seemingly harmless but actually money depleting instruments like a savings account with HDFC Bank. I hold an HDFC Bank savings account (5k min balance) since last 8 years paying only Rs 100/- per year as Debit card charges (though there is no logic for charging for a single card every year but I live with it as I need that account as well as the card). Last month I opened another account with HDFC in a suburban area when discussing with that branch with min balance of 2.5k. The guy was good and helped me with account opening. However, today I found out (online) that they charged me 500/- for issuing Debit card!!! Now that is equal to float (in banking parlance, money that bank earns from your money lying in a savings account) on a annual 5000/- balance. And the guy never told me about such a high charge. Usually debit cards are free for first year and any deviation from such a policy should be highlighted upfront as beinng told by RBI time and again.
I am highlighting it here and on other forums such as Instablogs, Indianpad etc for benefit of all people who want to open a new savings account with any bank. I request you to please ask upfront about any kind of charges to be levied on that account. As for me, I am heading to write a mail to RBI as well as Banking ombudsman, because I do not want to waste time talking to bank guys only to hear that "I should have asked for schedule of charges".

4 comments:

  1. Hi The Learner,

    Thanks your comments and idea. I read your HDFC Bank fraud, and guess what, everywhere the banks always love to levy some charges on your saving account. They love to find some way to suck out your money. The worst thing is it affect those people with the least amount of money in their account.

    Btw, regarding how to open the comment on the same page, just do the following, go to Settings>Comments> then choose Embedded Below Post at Comment Form Placement.

    Sure, you can take some ideas from my blog. But if you are planning to take the entire posting, make sure you mention where you took it from.

    Btw, I'll add you under my bloglist. Hope you'll do the same.

    All the best in getting that 10 Grands.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You should have asked for "ONLY ATM" card while opening the account which I did with HDFC & got. Same can be done with ICICI or any other bank , but with little more resistance from the bank !

    This saves you from paying annual charges of the DEBIT card as well as frees from worry of theft of your wallet as these DEBIT cards can be operated by anybody at any merchant establishment without being asked for PIN.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Tarak, thats a good advise,thanks, I'll talk to my banker on this.

    BTW, your profile is not shared, are you not blogging or is it by ommission?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi,thanks for comments on my blog..

    ReplyDelete