Written by: David Strickland 5/9/2008 12:36 AM
One of those things you just kind of take for granted in America and never think twice about. When I first came to India 5 years ago I opened a Citibank account or to be more precise it was opened for me by my employer. Citibank was good their service was slow and if you ever needed to actually go to a counter it was a nightmare of long lines, angry customers and rude staff but at least they seemed reliable.
Recently we wanted to open accounts. One for the orphanage two personnal accounts one for my wife and I and one for the company.
So ICICI was the bank the company I worked for when I first got here used so we started there. A representitive came to the office I filled out all the paperwork etc. Weeks passed. Finally I get a response it seems my signature didn't match the signature on my passport. So we tried it again. Weeks pass again rejected because my signature didn't match. So again they came this time I sit for an hour practicing my signature to get it identical to how I signed my passport. We also issue a letter signed by a witness that this is my signature. Weeks pass. We get word they need a copy of my resident certificate. They said since I'm a foriegner I have to have a resident permit to be in India. In reality a PIO (which is the status I fall into) doesn't need a resident permit to be in country till almost 7 months after he arrives. But trying to explain this to them was impossible. So we went to a branch office over by home and attempt to open the account. Well the only person that knows how to give an account to a foreigner was busy so we'd have to come back. 2 days later we arrive back. The only person that knows how is still busy but she asks for all our paper work. We provide it he takes it to her and comes back asking for my resident permit. Ok if she's to busy to talk to us why is he talking to a middle man attempting to avoid this was the whole reason we came to the branch. We attempt to explain it we show him the page from the ICICI website that explains it. He disappears he comes back and says that she says that without a resident permit I have to get a NRA (Non Resident) account and they don't issue those at this branch we'll have to go elsewhere. Ok enough run around NEXT
Citibank seemed like the next best bet until we got to the business account. At which point they immediantly assigned us a very helpful young lady to walk us threw the process. Ok long sales pitch always means big price tag. So I was trying to figure out why a bank would be giving us a long sales pitch she went on and on about all the things Citibank could do for a growing company. Ok yes we are a company but I really don't see us "Growing" the way she was talking. Our point is to make enough to finance who we help. I already spend to much time on the "company" and not enough on the "parentless" so the big long sales pitch was really lost on me. We finally got to the end $10,000 minimum deposit. Ok goodbye thanks for wasting our time. NEXT
Next we went to a bank here close to the house Canara. We didn't know much about them but figured they would be ok (at this point i'd take a guy in a dark alley that took 10%). Went in filled out all the applications etc. they wanted phtotcopies of everything which we provided finally when it was all said and done they asked who refered us to them? Referal? no one refered us they are just close to the house. Thier response no refereal no account they only seem to accept accounts if you've been refered by another account holder. Ok thank you for wasting our time. NEXT
Mercy's mom had used a bank called "Corporation Bank" for years. I'm not exactly sure but from what I understand it's a privately held company contracted by the government to do all kinds of things. For some reason it always reminds me of Robocop. Anyway ok we'll try them. But instead of going through the whole 4 account mess again we decided we'd just get 1 in Mercy's name and then figure the rest out later. Well she's a citizen I never even went to the bank lest they might think there was any other issue. She got the account and everything seemed good. About a month ago I got my Tax returns add that with some money in my account and it's enough to rent a hall. We've wanted a hall to do some training at and we had finally found one over in a good part of time with a lot of traffic. So we put down $300 in ernest money and proceed to wire the rest from our account in America. We wire it to Mercy's account it was supposed to be here in 2 days. 2 days goes by call Corporation Bank. They tell us the systems are down call back in a week. A WEEK. A week goes by. We call the money hasn't arrived call back tomorrow. Next day - Call back Tonight. Tonight- The bank manager has gone home call back tomorrow. Tomorrow - We show no record of any transaction can we get the transaction number. On and on it goes. Still no money it's been almost 3 weeks now.
ICICI can't figure out how to give us an account. Citibank want's $10,000 minimum deposit. Canara won't give us an account without a referal, the only bank that we can get an account at looses our money.
On the first of every month there are long lines at every ATM in town as the employees withdraw everything out of thier account. They don't trust the banks I've told time and time again. now I know why. At this point it appears like everything we tried to transfer has gone up in smoke. Of course we still have an endless lines of people to be transfered to who I'm sure will all tell us the same thing. There's no record of your transaction we're sorry you probably need to talk to ...
1 comment(s) so far...
Re: Banking India Style. I think in India we learn PATIENTS with its system.
Re: Banking India Style.
I think in India we learn PATIENTS with its system.
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