• Hey there! Welcome to TFC! View fewer ads on the website just by signing up on TF Community.

Pathetic HDFC Bank Experience

vishp

TF Select
VIP Lounge
I have been a longtime HDFC customer from past 8 years. I have studied from a premium college and now earn approx 2 LPA net in-hand.
I just started my credit card journey this year and after going through many posts in this forum, asked my RM if I can get DCB Lifetime free. If not, then atleast Regalia Gold. He said I can't get them Lifetime free. I asked whether I can get atleast Millenia Lifetime free. He said I can't get any card as LTF! And then started talking about ULIP and I can get even Infinia with ULIP itseems. Bl**dy salesmen.
Complained on Twitter, Email, Escalated, but nothing. Got one mail from grievance that all cards are paid and thats it. No replies to further mails. Such horrible experience.
Was an advocate of HDFC Bank till now but not anymore. Thinking of switching salary account and all funds out.
 
I have been a longtime HDFC customer from past 8 years. I have studied from a premium college and now earn approx 2 LPA net in-hand.
I just started my credit card journey this year and after going through many posts in this forum, asked my RM if I can get DCB Lifetime free. If not, then atleast Regalia Gold. He said I can't get them Lifetime free. I asked whether I can get atleast Millenia Lifetime free. He said I can't get any card as LTF! And then started talking about ULIP and I can get even Infinia with ULIP itseems. Bl**dy salesmen.
Complained on Twitter, Email, Escalated, but nothing. Got one mail from grievance that all cards are paid and thats it. No replies to further mails. Such horrible experience.
Was an advocate of HDFC Bank till now but not anymore. Thinking of switching salary account and all funds out.
Ungli tedhi karonge to hi sab kam hote hai....

Salary Account Change karo.. Sab apne aap hoga...

8 Years means too good relationship..


😂😂 @@jack333 @4uziaul @Tejo
 
I have been a longtime HDFC customer from past 8 years. I have studied from a premium college and now earn approx 2 LPA net in-hand.
I just started my credit card journey this year and after going through many posts in this forum, asked my RM if I can get DCB Lifetime free. If not, then atleast Regalia Gold. He said I can't get them Lifetime free. I asked whether I can get atleast Millenia Lifetime free. He said I can't get any card as LTF! And then started talking about ULIP and I can get even Infinia with ULIP itseems. Bl**dy salesmen.
Complained on Twitter, Email, Escalated, but nothing. Got one mail from grievance that all cards are paid and thats it. No replies to further mails. Such horrible experience.
Was an advocate of HDFC Bank till now but not anymore. Thinking of switching salary account and all funds out.
Change the branch. Talk to another branch staff.
 
off-topic: I have kinda same experience with ICICI. I have had a salary account with them for 8 years, and I asked them for LTF Sapphiro, RM agreed and applied but they later denied it. I have been following up with RM but he ghosted me. would switching the branch in ICICI help and does it change RM?
 
Thats ridiculous. 2.5 lakhs for 5 years will have huge losses compared to MFs. There is no point dumping that kind of money for Infinia.
First of all, it doesn’t incur any loss. It can even beat mutual funds if held till maturity. Secondly, a loss of a few lakhs is well worth it for me to get the Infinia. In addition, the investment period is 10 years, not 5 years. So in your view, the loss would be even bigger!
 
Ask the person to process the Infinia card, assuring them that you will take the ULIP. Once you receive the Infinia card, switch branch and block the person.

In most cases, you can cancel a ULIP within 15-30 days for a full refund.
we are all expecting too much from banks.. they are all the same.. go with the flow.. banks will themselves contact you with good options.. the more you chase the more frustrating it is...
 
Yeah. I missed hdfc dcb alumni offer last year since I started credit card journey at the start of the year. I do see Regalia Gold LTF offer in netbanking and had asked in this forum but many said it's conditional spend based. Attaching screenshot.
It's clearly written as life time free.. Better route is to apply for this card & after delivery email then to confirm lifetime free status. If they reply its not lifetime free, then you can argue with the screenshot as proof (delete the 3l annual waiver ss). Don't activate the card. This way you have better chances of getting it as LTF.
 
First of all, it doesn’t incur any loss. It can even beat mutual funds if held till maturity. Secondly, a loss of a few lakhs is well worth it for me to get the Infinia. In addition, the investment period is 10 years, not 5 years. So in your view, the loss would be even bigger!
How does it not incur any loss? Simply compare returns of the ULIP which you want to select with any index funds over 5 or 10 years. Add compounding over years and then see the results. For infinia to justify loss of few lakhs (say 2 lakhs), you need to spend atleast 10L per year. You are better off opening imperia account with 10L balance and demanding infinia. ULIP seems to be a bad route for infinia.

Also remember - nothing has been communicated to you in writing! Card issuance can take 2 weeks - free look up is 15 days. If card is not issued or denied you are screwed as you end up with crappy investment and no card !
 
How does it not incur any loss? Simply compare returns of the ULIP which you want to select with any index funds over 5 or 10 years. Add compounding over years and then see the results. For infinia to justify loss of few lakhs (say 2 lakhs), you need to spend atleast 10L per year. You are better off opening imperia account with 10L balance and demanding infinia. ULIP seems to be a bad route for infinia.

Also remember - nothing has been communicated to you in writing! Card issuance can take 2 weeks - free look up is 15 days. If card is not issued or denied you are screwed as you end up with crappy investment and no card !
I have already received the card. So no worry about that aspect. The look up period is 30 days for online policies. The ULIP invests in similar funds as well and in addition, your gains are tax free. The only loss is the mortality charges for the life insurance component. This goes down as your corpus increases and later becomes zero. All mortality charges and maintenance charges are refunded after 10 years as well. Actual fund maintenance charges are quite low. In any case, for me, this is a tiny amount of investment. I can invest other, more substantial amounts in equity or mutual funds. It is simply an avenue to get the Infinia. If the ULIP earns 2 lakhs or 5 lakhs less, is immaterial. Just assume you had kept a few lakhs in a fixed deposit.
Finally, there is no way they will offer Infinia with a simple 10 lakhs balance. People have kept even 50 lakhs with an Imperia relationship and have not been able to receive it. I would have happily deposited 1 crore or even 10 crores if that was possible. Even there, you would lose money compared to higher returns elsewhere. So an opportunity to get it by investing just 2.5 lakhs per year is excellent value in my view.
 

Attachments

  • 20240114_150501.jpg
    20240114_150501.jpg
    2 MB · Views: 23
I have already received the card. So no worry about that aspect. The look up period is 30 days for online policies. The ULIP invests in similar funds as well and in addition, your gains are tax free. The only loss is the mortality charges for the life insurance component. This goes down as your corpus increases and later becomes zero. All mortality charges and maintenance charges are refunded after 10 years as well. Actual fund maintenance charges are quite low. In any case, for me, this is a tiny amount of investment. I can invest other, more substantial amounts in equity or mutual funds. It is simply an avenue to get the Infinia. If the ULIP earns 2 lakhs or 5 lakhs less, is immaterial. Just assume you had kept a few lakhs in a fixed deposit.
Finally, there is no way they will offer Infinia with a simple 10 lakhs balance. People have kept even 50 lakhs with an Imperia relationship and have not been able to receive it. I would have happily deposited 1 crore or even 10 crores if that was possible. Even there, you would lose money compared to higher returns elsewhere. So an opportunity to get it by investing just 2.5 lakhs per year is excellent value in my view.

Upfront Investment - 250000
SIP - Rs 500

SIP Returns of UTI Unit Linked Insurance Plan - Direct Plan -​

₹7,29,270 9.69% annualised returns​

₹3,10,000 invested across 10 years.

SIP Returns of UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund - Direct Plan​

₹10,87,921 14.41% annualised returns​

₹3,10,000 invested across 10 years.

Above may be tiny loss for you however its an easily avoidable loss especially if you have 10L to open a new account. Also I have picked probably not so good fund. Most mfs will easily give more returns. Even considering 10 percent tax, above makes more more sense to invest in equities.

Also dont compare this with FDs. FDs till 5 lakhs per account are backed by RBI guarantee and have fixed guaranteed returns. Also you can liquidate FDs in case of emergencies.

My suggestion was to open a new account and negotiate for Infinia not put 10L in existing account. In that case you get imperia and also dont lose out any of above gains. Anyways enjoy your infinia 🙂
 
Back
Top