I have around 3 years experience with Union Bank as my wife’s primary account and RD is held with UBI. The experience has been pretty good so far. Having a comparatively smaller user base, the branches are usually free and and officers are very cooperative and helpful.
That makes the branch-banking experience very personal and endearing - the officers are very courteous and attend to all issues nicely and professionally. We have had multiple requests including lost cards, location transfers, card replacements etc and all issues were handled very nicely. However, do keep in mind that they are a’traditional’ bank - meaning anything and everything involves a bit of paperwork. We were once told to write am application for a transfer request. Last time I wrote an application on paper, it was on ruled paper and was written to a school principal!
However, the low customer base which gives a pleasant experience in branches, translates to a an issue with accessibility. Due to the low profile, the number of branches and ATMs are relatively less and you’d be hard-pressed to find an ATM nearby. In Bangalore, the nearest ATM is 2km away, and the next ATM is 5kms! This can cause frustrating experiences, especially if one ATM is down. You would be forced to either withdraw a lumpsum amount and keep cash at home, or use a non-bank ATM when required and pay additional charges. Branches are also fewer compared to other banks.
The online services are decently good, though not as feature-rich as private banks. They have a U-Mobile app for android which was very spartan, however, it has now been updated and much improved now. Phone banking can get frustrating at times as the support agents are not very cooperative - I’d suggest to use phone banking only for cases like card blocking or to check details. For all other issues, I’d suggest to visit the branch directly, the staff take care of everything.
Conclusion: Good bank with a traditional approach. Even better if you live in a smaller city where you wouldn’t need to travel too far to visit a branch.