Having been goaded to open an account with a host of emails and phone calls, I ultimately succumbed to the idea, u can withdraw money at any time, u don’t need to stand in queues etc.. But what nobody told me was that if you don’t maintain a minimum balance the bank will eat up the balance money in your account! This is precisely that happened to my 5000/- account that I opened with ICICI. I withdrew rs. 500/- once to see how the atm thing works and then as I was not in a position to put in money, over a period my bank balance came to ZERO!!!. Hello what happened? Bank something... something charges etc.. blah.. blah...
I have an account with Central Bank of India for ages. Many a times I have had balances to the bottom level of Rs. 10/- CBI has never sent me letters or made calls in the middle of something to remind my precarious financial status and make me feel humiliated. At best when the min. 100 rs balance for a cheque book came in, they would deduct Rs. 10. in a month. But never did they bring my account to a 0 level. OK I need to go to the bank if I need cash, CBI has not opened an ATM till date that I know of. So what? I always had the friendly neighborhood kiranawala who would take the cheque and give me cash may be charge me for the trip that he would make to the bank (which any way he used to make). At the end of each quarter there would be that interest that would be added to my account, even may be some few paises.
Whenever I went to the bank my pass book would be updated (Now a days by a computer and a printer which prints the pass book). With this modern bank I don’t get a pass book and if I ask for atleast a monthly statement, I need to pay. Hello I am asking you to give me a statement of MY account Pleise!!
I can’t ask the ATM to give me specific denomination notes, I can’t say anything to it if it doesn’t pay me and the only human face there to interact is the watchman (NO - now he is a security man) and his answers are already known by heart. At least I had a face to talk, to argue with, smile at, - basically I had humans and humane banking.