I had taken a home loan from ICICI in June 2004. ICICI bank was chosen as it was offering good schemes and lower rate of interest 7.25% but I had no idea that the figures and commitments are going to be so unprofessional. In first week of Jan 2010, I received a letter from the bank mentioning that for ECS facility to work properly, I need to provide a new ECS form to ICICI bank with updated account detailed. It also says that the new system is applicable from 1st of Jan 2010 and have enclosed along a letter from RBI dated 29th July 2009. I called up customer care but it seems that they have no idea about the banking system and had no answer why ICICI bank had sent the letter at the last minute.
They also highlighted that if the EMI is not accepted by the bank then it would be treated as bounced. First of all, I am surprised to see the bank took 6 months to sent me the notice as RBI had highlighted the guidelines on 29th July 2009. In order to resolve the issue, I still cooperated and asked the person(customer care supervisor Mr. Rajesh Kumar) to stop the payment of my ECS and take cheque instead but he refused.
As according to him, the ECS has already left the bank and it would come in my account after 3 days and in case my bank does not accept it I would be charged penalty and interest. This is totally unprofessional apporach and trying to get extra money from their customers by wrong means as always. Also I would like to highlight that its not the first time the bank has behaved unprofessionally but every time I see the same thing. My home loan started from 7.25% and currently at 12.25%. The bank is offering loans to new customers at 8.25%. Me and my family had taken other home loans from ICICI bank and they suffered the same. I have made sure though that all the loans have been closed that were with ICICI bank and I would closing this loan soon too. I have another loan from AXIS bank, it started at 10.5% and is currently at 9.5%. Even HDFC bank revised the loans in a professional way without charging any amount. I would recommend everyone not to take loan from ICICI bank.