My salary account was with one of the traditional banks and my office offered us a choice to move to Citibank as it offered a lot of features that didn’t exist with the traditional bank. That was way back in 2000. I didn’t go for it because my bank was in the same building my office was and I didn’t want to move to a bank that was a bit far off from my place. When I had to travel onsite on business trips that happened a couple of times in between, I found it difficult to keep track of the transactions as there was no online facility provided by my bank. That’s when I moved to the Citibank.
As part of the package, Citi offered by zero balance, no charges account. I was very comfortable with their service. The phone banking was easy. Their online banking was also very easy and comfortable. The online bill pay service which they offered free was very good. I was paying my mobile bills through it and it was hassle free.
There was an instance when I had issued a cheque with not enough balance available. I called them up and told them that I will deposit the money the very next day and requested them to honor the cheque. They declined and said for that I need to activate the overdraft feature and it will take at least 3 days to activate once I give them the request. This was my only annoyance as I had to rush to the branch and deposit the amount before the cheque came for clearing. It would have been a simple process in my traditional bank as there is much more human interaction and trust involved there.
My friend suggested that I close the account with the Citi at that moment for not honoring a customers request at an hour of need. I thought if that’s their process why should I penalize them. I stayed on.
Meanwhile, someone from the Citi called me and offered a lifetime free credit card based on my salary account. I applied and got it rejected! The reason was that I hold another card while I didn’t hold any other card. I thought that it was better I moved out of the bank before something serious of this sort happens and moved out.