Hello Friends,
I am Javed from Bangalore. You may all have heard of a new scheme from ICICI Credit Cards where we need to pay Rs. 100 extra for cash payments in their branches. I would like to share my thoughts and also get some of your thoughts regarding the same.
As far as I am concerned, I feel this is a "sneaky eyewash" by ICICI in an attempt to pull out at least something from the pockets of those customers who pay their credit card bills promptly within the due date. In the first place, they have reduced the free credit revolving period by 2-3 days, and upon that, they have introduced this fee of Rs. 100 for cash payments, which means we have to arrange cheque payments at least before 3-5 working days apart from the 2-3 days reduced by them in order to save that Rs. 100.
What is the bank gaining from this? Firstly, by reducing the free credit revolving period for a customer, they are improvising their cash inflow and outflow cycle by giving a customer less time to pay back. In most cases, especially the salaried class customers, this will have an impact on their credit card usage pattern, thereby pushing them to fall out of the due date, which would in turn earn the bank some late fees, interest charges, service charges, etc. Secondly, by charging Rs. 100 for cash payments, they are trying to make some money forcibly out of the customers who pay their Total Amount Due promptly within the due date. (Please note that all their credit cards are now "FREE FOR LIFE." So they need some game plan to make some revenue). Lastly, as you all may be aware, B2 banking is introduced soon after implementation of this Rs. 100 fee. With this, they aim to achieve a new customer base in their banking sector. Customers who don’t have a savings account in ICICI but hold a credit card from them are forced to consider opening a savings account with them, so that the fee of Rs. 100 every month can be saved from online payments. Though this may not affect the higher-end customers who rotate thousands and lakhs through their credit cards, it will definitely affect the lower-end customers who primarily use their credit cards for essential utility bill payments and other basic purchases in line with the monthly salaries. In my case, I had to pay Rs. 100 for a meagre bill amount of 700 Rs.
What are we getting out of this? Reduced free credit revolving period making our monthly financial planning tougher. The charge of Rs. 100 for cash payments, an unnecessary expense on our pockets when most of the other banks in India don’t have this sort of a deal. This impels us to arrange for cheque payments every month, which means we have to drop the cheque before 3-4 working days and also we have to arrange enough cash in our bank account at least 5 days before the due date. So, now the actual time we benefit out of this so-called free credit revolving facility is just 12-13 days. If one has to manage purchases and payments within a span of 12-15 days, then our monthly salaries will serve the purpose and we don’t need credit cards anymore.
Overall, I feel this was an unnecessary move by ICICI to irate its satisfied customers. Being a bank which had the highest customer satisfaction rate in the country, this cheap plan of trying to make something out of the prompt bill payers has hurt several customers badly. In my purview, already around 10 of my friends/colleagues have closed down their ICICI cards and have chosen to go with other bank cards, which have much convenient payment facilities and also a better timeframe. Several other friends are planning to close their outstanding dues in a month or two and bid good bye to their ICICI credit cards. I, being a very satisfied customer of ICICI all these years, am having to end this relationship with ICICI and look for something better. Maybe the bank’s plan behind this was to increase their savings account customer base, but unfortunately they have to realize that they have started losing customers for this one stupid move. Maybe losing one customer like me or other 10 customers like my friends will not have any impact on them, but I wish they realize the mistake they have done. Our country has more lower economy and middle economy credit card users than the actual rich who not necessarily depend on credit cards. Some banks and financial institutions who thought they were smart have implemented such anti-customer moves and perished. So, let it not be that now ICICI has starting digging its burial ground!
Hope the bank authorities read this and try to realize the wrong step they have taken.