ICICI Wealth bank account downgrade help

[devsfinance]

Hi everyone,

I had opened an ICICI account last year. The guy offered to open wealth account with 1 Lac IP. I asked him about the MAB and Charges. He said there won’t be any charges as well as no minimum average balance requirement. He did not tell me that there will be any downgrades etc. And if there is any problem related to banking he will be assigned as my RM so he will be personally looking into the account.

When I received a mail for potential downgrade he suggested that I keep 1 lac in account and it should be fine(as I was still maintaining the IP money I was okay with it for the time being although I did ask why to keep if he had first told that this account was without any MAB requirement, back then he suggested that it’s a automated thing from bank and he can’t stop downgrade if amount isn’t there. And it will take time of a few days for him to upgrade again so I agreed)

although last December my account was downgraded. I didn’t bother much as I maintained some amount. This year they charged me renewal fees on the debit card so I contacted and complained about the mis selling. The level 1 grievance didn’t provide any solution, when I replied on the same email they told me to contact branch.(This was more than 2 months ago)

The main issue starts here, the said person had opened my account into the branch he was working in rather than the branch I enquired the account about. He has now left the branch so people there are not responding.

I somehow managed to find email of Deputy BM. He agreed that this is a mis selling and suggested to contact BM as well as boss(I am assuming superior) of the said person.

I have mailed BM multiple times (More than 1 month ago) and he has not responded to my email at all. Now the same DBM is also not picking up my calls.

Can I do anything for this?

If anyone can help/suggest any help. I.e. can I complain against it to RBI or anything? Please let me know.

I know the reason why my account was charged for debit card but this was against the said promise. So is there anything I can do?

 

[sadhunath]

Cancel the said debit card and opt for a plain vanilla DC?

 

[devsfinance]

Cancel the said debit card and opt for a plain vanilla DC?

They told even that will have the charges. But my question was can I do anything against them i.e. complain to RBI or something and get account with 0 maintenance.

 

[sadhunath]

They told even that will have the charges. But my question was can I do anything against them i.e. complain to RBI or something and get account with 0 maintenance.

If you have written proofs/whatsapp screenshot/call recording etc, you may go for a case wiht RBI Ombudsman, otherwise I don't see any success with them.

 

[devsfinance]

If you have written proofs/whatsapp screenshot/call recording etc, you may go for a case wiht RBI Ombudsman, otherwise I don't see any success with them.

I have written proof where he has told me that the account will have no charges and I won’t have to maintain any average balance in future also.

 

[sadhunath]

I have written proof where he has told me that the account will have no charges and I won’t have to maintain any average balance in future also.

Then you should definitely try escalating your query. You'll find emails of increasing escalation matrix below,

Thread 'Please provide email escalation matrix for ICICI Bank'

Sep 17, 2023

Question:

I am requesting the email escalation matrix for ICICI bank i.e., Level 1, 2, Nodal officer, PNO etc.

Since their website doesn't provide these details and escalation is via form only as can be seen here: https://nli.icicibank.com/NewRetailWeb/complaint.htm

Please provide the information so I and others are benefitted.

Thank you!

Answer:

Here are the email IDs as per my research:

1. Level 1: customer.care@icicibank.com
2. Level 2: headservicequality@icicibank.com
3. Level 3: pno@icicibank.com
4. Level 4...

• xfactcc
• complaint grievance icici icici bank pno
• Replies: 18
• Forum: Banking Complaint

• 
• 

Follow up with them and if any of them doesn't give you positive reply, raise it to RBI.

 

[pratyushpanda]

As its a premium account and multiple people started opening and not maintaining from last few months they have started doing downgrades. My wealth account is also downgraded and currently maintaining 10k only. Debit card charges also deducted 177 + sms charges. Basically its a regular account now. And i am holding multiple cc and my limit is 6.5L still I can't upgrade it to privileged 0 balance account as its already downgraded, i have to open a new one with 1L IP .

So not to f**k my mental peace i am just using it as regular. As maintaining 10k is easy and i have shared this account number in some demats and all so not closing it also.

 

[sourpai]

Lot of ICICI accounts got downgraded in Dec. Mine included - I didn't bother and cancelled WM DC. Charges got reversed. VM account at ICICI is anyways useless

There was some policy change at ICICI in terms of strictness of maintaining AQB / MQB. Hence this outcome. You are not alone.

But given that you have written proof, you can try escalating to see if it helps

 

[devsfinance]

Lot of ICICI accounts got downgraded in Dec. Mine included - I didn't bother and cancelled WM DC. Charges got reversed. VM account at ICICI is anyways useless

There was some policy change at ICICI in terms of strictness of maintaining AQB / MQB. Hence this outcome. You are not alone.

But given that you have written proof, you can try escalating to see if it helps

Yes I found the same here in forum. But the thing is I opened the account as he said that it will be 0 balance and account without charges.(possibly because no downgrade happened earlier)

 

[talkwithfino]

I have written proof where he has told me that the account will have no charges and I won’t have to maintain any average balance in future also.

Yes I found the same here in forum. But the thing is I opened the account as he said that it will be 0 balance and account without charges.(possibly because no downgrade happened earlier)

You can escalate with the written proof.... but how old is that...?

Cause Icici recently updated the TRV criteria to 50L from existing 25L. This discretion is always at the Bank and its mentioned in their T&C as well.
The best shot you may have is a mis-selling case against RM; as he opened a HNI account with no charges and no avg balance also.

But again, the Acc opening Docs clearly mention the TRV value requirement and your signature/ OTP based authentication is a must for opening the account. On top of that, you are saying that you received an email from Icici about potential downgrade as well. So your only case can be against the RM, nothing else. The Bank has repeatedly and clearly informed you of the TRV req and done their job.
Now its you and your RM.

 

[aniketkr.sharma]

Hi everyone,

I had opened an ICICI account last year. The guy offered to open wealth account with 1 Lac IP. I asked him about the MAB and Charges. He said there won’t be any charges as well as no minimum average balance requirement. He did not tell me that there will be any downgrades etc. And if there is any problem related to banking he will be assigned as my RM so he will be personally looking into the account.

When I received a mail for potential downgrade he suggested that I keep 1 lac in account and it should be fine(as I was still maintaining the IP money I was okay with it for the time being although I did ask why to keep if he had first told that this account was without any MAB requirement, back then he suggested that it’s a automated thing from bank and he can’t stop downgrade if amount isn’t there. And it will take time of a few days for him to upgrade again so I agreed)

although last December my account was downgraded. I didn’t bother much as I maintained some amount. This year they charged me renewal fees on the debit card so I contacted and complained about the mis selling. The level 1 grievance didn’t provide any solution, when I replied on the same email they told me to contact branch.(This was more than 2 months ago)

The main issue starts here, the said person had opened my account into the branch he was working in rather than the branch I enquired the account about. He has now left the branch so people there are not responding.

I somehow managed to find email of Deputy BM. He agreed that this is a mis selling and suggested to contact BM as well as boss(I am assuming superior) of the said person.

I have mailed BM multiple times (More than 1 month ago) and he has not responded to my email at all. Now the same DBM is also not picking up my calls.

Can I do anything for this?

If anyone can help/suggest any help. I.e. can I complain against it to RBI or anything? Please let me know.

I know the reason why my account was charged for debit card but this was against the said promise. So is there anything I can do?

This is the case of misselling but if you have proofs to proove it?

If no proofs then simply close or continue with downgrades

If you have proofs then you can proceed for complain to RBI Ombudsman.

Does BM or anyone gave you any complain number or anything related to it or it's just verbal?

 

[devsfinance]

This is the case of misselling but if you have proofs to proove it?

If no proofs then simply close or continue with downgrades

If you have proofs then you can proceed for complain to RBI Ombudsman.

Does BM or anyone gave you any complain number or anything related to it or it's just verbal?

I had raised to level 1 grievance in Icici site I have that number. They just told me that the charges were for DC and when I replied to that they suggested to contact branch. Level 2 is not working/Same goes for level 3(but I am entering level 1 number there so that could be reason for it)
About the proof I a written proof where the person has told me that I will
not have to maintain any balance in future also.

 

[devsfinance]

You can escalate with the written proof.... but how old is that...?

Cause Icici recently updated the TRV criteria to 50L from existing 25L. This discretion is always at the Bank and its mentioned in their T&C as well.
The best shot you may have is a mis-selling case against RM; as he opened a HNI account with no charges and no avg balance also.

But again, the Acc opening Docs clearly mention the TRV value requirement and your signature/ OTP based authentication is a must for opening the account. On top of that, you are saying that you received an email from Icici about potential downgrade as well. So your only case can be against the RM, nothing else. The Bank has repeatedly and clearly informed you of the TRV req and done their job.
Now its you and your RM.

So what do you think could be potential resolution in case it’s case of misselling by RM? The proof basically is just before opening my account I had asked him to send me details about it. So I was thinking may be I can tell that as he had told me this I opened the account.

 

[aniketkr.sharma]

I had raised to level 1 grievance in Icici site I have that number. They just told me that the charges were for DC and when I replied to that they suggested to contact branch. Level 2 is not working/Same goes for level 3(but I am entering level 1 number there so that could be reason for it)
About the proof I a written proof where the person has told me that I will
not have to maintain any balance in future also.

That's great you can proceed with written proof, it is on email or on paper?

 

[devsfinance]

That's great you can proceed with written proof, it is on email or on paper?

Email.

Coming to BM I have mailed him 2-3 times, he has not responded to my mail at all. So I have that in written in a way. That once I noticed the charges I contacted bank as well.

 

[talkwithfino]

Email.

Coming to BM I have mailed him 2-3 times, he has not responded to my mail at all. So I have that in written in a way. That once I noticed the charges I contacted bank as well.

So what do you think could be potential resolution in case it’s case of misselling by RM?

Nice, that you have it in written. Pretty solid case

You can get a compensation for mis-selling/ lying about the T&C of a Product, wastage of your time in writing those emails and mental harassment. The max that RBI can give is 1L.
Read this thread for some experience ( Bamboo Expert Thread )

Thread 'RBIO: Received compensation of Rs. 20,000 from Axis Bank'

Nov 12, 2024

After ending my spree in May I lodged 2 fresh complaints against Axis and HSBC in September.

HSBC has paid me Rs. 1000 but the complaint is still open as it was done arbitrarily by HSBC. They simply added 1000 to my CC account and sent me a mail stating that a compensation of Rs. 1000 has been paid for the delay in dispatch of the addon card. Will update when the case is resolved.

This thread is focused on my Axis Bank complaint.

Axis bank blocked my Forex card without any intimation. Below is my complaint to Axis Bank PNO:




To which I received the below response...

• sjmajumder
• axis axis bank compensation rbi ombudsman
• Replies: 179
• Forum: Banking Complaint

• 
• 
• 

Since, you have already approached the BM on email and even the Deputy BM you can go and file a complaint with the RBI BO.