[iamswift]

All banks allow zero / low balance for salary account.
ICICI bank is one of the best in India. Web interface is good. But bit crowded when you want to do some transaction at branch.
Citi is good too. It will be useful when you go abroad sometime and want to transfer funds etc. Most of the countries will have Citi.

[CRV2010]

Originally Posted by theredliner

Hello guys,
Need some urgent help on this. My office has tie up with three banks, ICICI, Citi and Corporation(Nationalised). I need to open a salary account in one of them. I need an account which allows either zero balance or a very low balance limit (like 1000). I'm not interested in taking a credit card at the moment. I'm a noob when it comes to banks. So, please let me know ASAP which one is the best overall and rate them in your order of preference.

Thanks in advance.

I suggest you to go for Citibank !

[coolfyre]

Originally Posted by theredliner

Hello guys,
Need some urgent help on this. My office has tie up with three banks, ICICI, Citi and Corporation(Nationalised). I need to open a salary account in one of them. I need an account which allows either zero balance or a very low balance limit (like 1000). I'm not interested in taking a credit card at the moment. I'm a noob when it comes to banks. So, please let me know ASAP which one is the best overall and rate them in your order of preference.

Thanks in advance.

I suggest you to go with Corporation bank. A nationalized bank is any day better than any private bank.


In the recent times, I have been hearing a lot of security issues with account holder's personal information and money from ICICI and Citi bank.

Had been to police station with a friend as he had some work. I was waiting for him while he was getting his work done.
I overheard the SI say that in the last couple of months alone he has received around 30-40 complaints regarding misuse of debit card / credit card from ICICI bank and Citi bank.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by theredliner

My office has tie up with three banks, ICICI, Citi and Corporation(Nationalised). I need to open a salary account in one of them. I need an account which allows either zero balance or a very low balance limit (like 1000). I'm not interested in taking a credit card at the moment. please let me know ASAP which one is the best overall and rate them in your order of preference.

Like with recommending cars, I doubt we would agree on one bank since each person would have favourite/avoidable banks based on our experience. Most salary accounts are zero-balance - so would be same for all 3 banks you listed. From my experience, Citi and ICICI are pretty good, with good netbanking solutions (who goes to the bank nowadays anyway?). No idea about Corpbank's netbanking - check that and make a decision. BTW, if possible, do not opt for a credit-card from the bank with which you have your salary account, as it gives them an unnecessary hold on your funds.

Regarding the many posts on PPF accounts a page ago on this thread :
It is perfectly legal to have a PPF a/c in your name, another in your spouse's name (working or otherwise) and one each for your kids (even minor). As with most government documentation, the wordings are intended to create confusion, not to clarify, leading to endless debates without conclusion. I was also confused and got this clarified with multiple banks before opening a PPF a/c each for my 2 sons. Me and wifey already had our own PPF accounts.

You can deposit 1 lakh every year in each of these accounts, but a person can claim tax exemption for only maximum 1 lakh per year for contributions made to either their account or to a minor's a/c for which they are the guardian. If spouse has taxable income, he/she can claim exemption for another 1 lakh per year for contributions made to either their account or to a minor's a/c for which they are the guardian.

[theredliner]

@iamswift @CRV2010 @coolfyre @supremeBaleno Thanks to all of you again for the replies.

Since the replies are all mixed(supremeBaleno is right about opinions), I guess I'll have to speak to the representatives of the banks and choose the one that I feel is the best. Since all of them have got positive reviews from the post above, I guess I won't go wrong with any. BTW, I won't opt for a credit card.

@coolfyre Any idea if those complaints were about the hidden charges by those banks or had some third party misused it?

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

You can deposit 1 lakh every year in each of these accounts

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

As with most government documentation, the wordings are intended to create confusion, not to clarify, leading to endless debates without conclusion

I too have deposited 1 lakh last year in each of our a/c s - Mine, wife's and son's disregarding the confusion created by Govt. and solely going by bank's words. But here is the the post by S_U_N. See point 4 in the article (link in post) which mentions we cannot have more than 1 lakh (parent and child combined)

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...ml#post3432292.

So I have reverted back to 1 lakh in my a/c and 1 lakh combined in son's a/c + wife's a/c from this year.

[AltoLXI]

I had a salary a/c (Suvidha) with Citi. When I changed my job and switched to ICICI I had to maintain a minimum balance (net relationship value) of 1 lakh p.m. or pay penalty. So I closed the a/c with Citi.

I read a few days back where the ratings based on security for various banks were given. ICICI seemed to be worst in terms of rating and surprisingly SBI was rated better than ICICI

I feel SBI is better than private and MNC banks when it comes to courtesy or customer service. The only thing we have to endure is the rush at the branches.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by theredliner

Hello guys,
Need some urgent help on this. My office has tie up with three banks, ICICI, Citi and Corporation(Nationalised). I need to open a salary account in one of them. I need an account which allows either zero balance or a very low balance limit (like 1000). I'm not interested in taking a credit card at the moment. I'm a noob when it comes to banks. So, please let me know ASAP which one is the best overall and rate them in your order of preference.

Thanks in advance.

My suggestion will be ICICI bank. This is mostly on account of the number of branches they have. Guess Citibank has just 2 branches in Bangalore? Even if you move to other states, when you are in need of a branch, ICICI will trump others.

With respect to ATM, it would NOT matter as we can use any ATM. Try to get an unlimited access (Debit card) to other ATMs though please. This will be easily possible if you do NOT have an ATM of the chosen provider in office. (I had ONLY a Citibank ATM in my office, but when I selected ICICI as my salary account, they gave me unlimited access to ATMs as a bonus for selecting ICICI over Citibank). On account of low balance, a recent RBI regulation states that banks can NOT impose fine on customers on account of low(er) balance than minimum. Instead they should restrict certain privileges associated with the account (like SMS facility) till the balance is maintained.

Right now, ICICI has started providing chip based cards (as per RBI regulation I am told) and these cards are supposed to be lot safer. I have been having magstripe cards, but am sent a new chip card recently without me requesting. I have been an ICICI customer for around 10 years now and never had a problem with it.

Edit:: As far as I know, all salary accounts are zero balance accounts (irrespective of banks). Only when it becomes a non-salary account, it changes into savings account with minimum balance. Also please make sure you enable 3D secure code for your card which will improve safety for online shopping.

[TorqueyTechie]

I will say Citi is good if not the best because of the simplicity it offers in net banking. My family has been associated with Citi from 1992 ( I think my dad was one of the first few to get the credit card back then) and from then on it has been a good association with them albeit with couple of bad incidents.

Apart from Citi, the only bank I would work with would be SBI. Though their online portal sucks I still am ok because of the sense of security I feel with the bank accounts.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by theredliner

Hello guys,
Need some urgent help on this. My office has tie up with three banks, ICICI, Citi and Corporation(Nationalised). I need to open a salary account in one of them. I need an account which allows either zero balance or a very low balance limit (like 1000). I'm not interested in taking a credit card at the moment. I'm a noob when it comes to banks. So, please let me know ASAP which one is the best overall and rate them in your order of preference.

Thanks in advance.

Ive experienced ICICI for 15 plus years now and they are clearly amongst the best. Same goes for HDFC.

One important thing to remember is that both ICICI and HDFC are Indian MultiNational Banks and certainly are as good as, if not better than most Foreign MultiNational Banks. If possible, I would like to give my custom and business (however small it may be), to first class Indian institutions provided they treat me properly and conform to International "Consumer Service" standards.

[coolfyre]

Originally Posted by theredliner

@coolfyre Any idea if those complaints were about the hidden charges by those banks or had some third party misused it?

The complaints were related to some third party misused it.

The other thing is if you change jobs and move on to another bank then the minimum balance requirements for ICICI and Citi are very high as they are no longer salary accounts.

[rsidd]

I've been happy with SBI. I also have an ICICI account, but I find SBI's website (Online SBI) easier to navigate and less buggy. Online transactions is no problem, transfer to other SBI accounts is free and instantaneous, NEFT transactions (other banks) costs a minimal amount (Rs 5 I think), and it is secure (they send a passcode to your mobile to be sure). ICICI does that too but I have found ICICI's passcode SMS's erratic -- sometimes doesn't arrive for half an hour or ever, while SBI's always arrives in seconds. Plus SBI has a huge ATM network, you can do transactions from any branch, and you can use ATMs of other nationalised banks for free (a few times a month, anyway). I would definitely vote SBI over ICICI.

I have a CIti credit card. The website is, again, a pain (worse than ICICI), and the banking website is the same so I don't imagine I'd enjoy it.

[yosbert]

I have been associated with Citibank for more than 15 years now. Started with the regular Suvidha salary account and had been upgraded to Citigold several years back. The advantage is that although I no longer hold a salary account with them, there is no minimum balance requirement on my account (AFAIK). The other advantage is there are absolutely no charges for any fund transfers, DD requests, etc. A lot of other banks charge a small amount for any fund transfer.

As for the online interface, I find Citi's the easiest to use. Do note that I have accounts with most of the other banks mentioned. The phone banking interface of ICICI is absolutely pathetic. It once took me almost one hour to reset the online account password for an account. The problem seemed to be inability of the phone banking interface to correctly identify keystrokes (almost drove me nuts). But that may be an one off case though, I do not use their phone banking regularly.

[Fillmore]

I am surprised that people are suggesting Citi Bank.

In a city like Bangalore they have just 2 branches. God forbid if you need to visit the branch for anything.
1. You have to travel all the way to the nearest of the 2 branches
2. Stand in a long Q cause it is serving half the city.

Whereas other banks like ICICI have a branch at every nook and corner.

[sdp1975]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

You can deposit 1 lakh every year in each of these accounts.

The PPF account opening form states :

I also declare that I shall adhere to the ceiling on deposits as provided for by Central Government from time to time
which is 1,00,000/- in a financial year at present in each of the following types of Public Provident Fund Account.

a. Individual Self Account and Account(s) on behalf of minor(s) of whom I am the Guardian


This amendment to Form (A) was introduced in GSR 908(E) -see attached Gazette notification .

See also http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/biz/20...2800290200.htm and http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/biz/20...2100250200.htm

I would have loved to open a PPF account for my children but I stayed away because of these reasons.