[Resolved] HDFC Bank Standard Life Insurance — Not worth it. | |||
No point complaining. Am hoping that this would be an eye opener for folks who are planning to take an HDFC Standard Life Insurance (ULIP linked). In plain words it is not worth it. My name is Anup and I work in the UK currently. Two and a half years ago, I felt that it would be a good idea to take an insurance and spent quite a lot of time discussing with ICICI, HDFC and SBI to get the best deal for my requirements/situation. I went with HDFC and took a policy with a high premium (obviously because the returns were claimed to be on the higher side). My wife on the other side went with the SBI Life policy for a relatively smaller amount. We knew that ULIPs are costly and that the company (HDFC/SBI) would take a cut (eg approx 55% in the first year, around 12% in the second and keeps going down every year hence). Well, almost three years of investment later, my wife's SBI portfolio is 8% profitable while my HDFC portfolio is at a staggering 40% loss. I did factor in the recession attribute which ate into the profits but comparing the two - it looks like HDFC is losing the plot BIG TIME. My personal investments fared a lot better. Am sorry to generalize and people may differ on this but HDFC customer service is not great either. I am a guy who believes that if a service provider takes ages to return your mail/calls, it is an indication to get the hell out of that relationship. After multiple attempts, I had got through to my HDFC fund manager who asked me to wait for 5+ years minimum for the portfolio to even out. FIVE YEARS!!!! We scheduled a follow up call two days later and the dude never showed up. I sent another query email last month and no response yet (26 days and counting). Apologies - I lied - I got an immediate automated reply thanking me for my query. Am sunk in this mess and I lose a lot of sleep over my HDFC investment. Given that I have invested quite a big amount (by my standards), I am planning to continue till the end of the third year and stop further investment. That will cover the minimum term requirement mandated by HDFC. There is no point jumping out now as that will give HDFC a chance to rip me completely off whatever I have invested so far (fine print within the policy). The guy who sold the insurance policy to is no longer with HDFC. Might have got fired for not finding more bakras like me. Anyways folks - I strongly believe that everyone should take an insurance but I would not advise HDFC. They may be great for home loans but stay away from their insurance products. And please, this is not an advertisement for SBI Life or any other provider/product. If you have someone in your family or close friends you can trust, try taking a policy via that route. For me - I will wait and see if anything improves in my HDFC portfolio after 5 years (two more years) as advised by the great fund manager. Take care and stay safe from such disasters Anup Was this information helpful? | |||
Aug 13, 2020 Complaint marked as Resolved | |||
 7 Comments | |||
Comments
Hi Vaishnavi
I can empathize with you. Am stopping my premiums post the 3 year period, which ends this September. From my side, I have been successful in preventing 12 friends from (mis) investing with HDFC.
My personal investments are doing way better than the HDFC expert-managed funds :)
Anyways, lesson learnt the hard way. Will be more careful in future.
All the best at your end,
Anup
I can empathize with you. Am stopping my premiums post the 3 year period, which ends this September. From my side, I have been successful in preventing 12 friends from (mis) investing with HDFC.
My personal investments are doing way better than the HDFC expert-managed funds :)
Anyways, lesson learnt the hard way. Will be more careful in future.
All the best at your end,
Anup
HI Anup,
First of all i am extreamly sorry that you are facing such a mess with HDFC... But in turn i have few question for you which you need to provide me, so that i could guide you in a better way.
The question goes here
1. were you aware of the Fund Allocation charges which they will deduct from your invested premium ?
2. Are you using your My Account to switch your funds regulary in time of market sliding ?
3. Are you aware of 24 switches free per year were you could have saved your hard earned invested money ?
4. When Filling up the policy.. did you allocate your funds to the proper sharing to the different available funds ?
5. if none of this are observed by you or you have ignored.. then it is for sure you have really got messed up with your investment bby your own ignorance.
Aniketh
First of all i am extreamly sorry that you are facing such a mess with HDFC... But in turn i have few question for you which you need to provide me, so that i could guide you in a better way.
The question goes here
1. were you aware of the Fund Allocation charges which they will deduct from your invested premium ?
2. Are you using your My Account to switch your funds regulary in time of market sliding ?
3. Are you aware of 24 switches free per year were you could have saved your hard earned invested money ?
4. When Filling up the policy.. did you allocate your funds to the proper sharing to the different available funds ?
5. if none of this are observed by you or you have ignored.. then it is for sure you have really got messed up with your investment bby your own ignorance.
Aniketh
Hello All,
My name is Ratheesh, working in Saudi Arabia. First of all, I share the same grievence as Mr. Anup and Ms. Vaishnavi. I had invested, with little knowledge, in the HDFC Std Life, back in July 2009 at their Chennai branch. The relationship manager there, had brought up all colourful and rosy portfolio of the investment growing over a 5 year long period with minimal cost cut every year.
Its been almost a year since and from the 7th month on, I have been noticing constant reduction in the fund value and I was alarmed by the rate at which the fund has been deteriorating ever since. I had visited their branch today, since I got back home and first thing I faced was a new relationship manager, with no prior knowledge of what this whole product is.
Infuriated, I asked for his manager and he, has seemingly gone on a vacation. Now from what I gather from the policy, if I surrender it within a year, I don't get to any of my invested money back so far. Isn't there any loop hole to this problem?
My name is Ratheesh, working in Saudi Arabia. First of all, I share the same grievence as Mr. Anup and Ms. Vaishnavi. I had invested, with little knowledge, in the HDFC Std Life, back in July 2009 at their Chennai branch. The relationship manager there, had brought up all colourful and rosy portfolio of the investment growing over a 5 year long period with minimal cost cut every year.
Its been almost a year since and from the 7th month on, I have been noticing constant reduction in the fund value and I was alarmed by the rate at which the fund has been deteriorating ever since. I had visited their branch today, since I got back home and first thing I faced was a new relationship manager, with no prior knowledge of what this whole product is.
Infuriated, I asked for his manager and he, has seemingly gone on a vacation. Now from what I gather from the policy, if I surrender it within a year, I don't get to any of my invested money back so far. Isn't there any loop hole to this problem?
Sorry, it is July 2010
Dear Aniketh,
You talk like an expert on the subject. if the customer had to exercise the option to switch 24 times in a year between funds he might have done so by investing all by himself in the stock market. why would he then leave it to expert fund managers. suspect you are speaking on the fraudsters (HDFC Life) behalf. Are you one of them? Probably one of their BDO (Business development officer)
You talk like an expert on the subject. if the customer had to exercise the option to switch 24 times in a year between funds he might have done so by investing all by himself in the stock market. why would he then leave it to expert fund managers. suspect you are speaking on the fraudsters (HDFC Life) behalf. Are you one of them? Probably one of their BDO (Business development officer)
When I raised this post originally 5 years ago, I was promised that the portfolio would break even (if not in profit) within 3 - 5 years. Three years passed in 2011 and it was at 40% - 45% LOSS then. But hey - it isnt 5 years yet so... 'just wait' was my thought. (No point contacting the ignorant fund managers in HDFC)
The big year/checkpoint is here... It is 2013 now and I can gladly confirm that 5 years have definitely passed. The sensex as well jumped from around 8000 when I invested in 2008 to about 20, 000 today - 2.5 times jump over the past five years and I should definitely be seeing a profit now, even if HDFC were sleeping through the past five years, right? Well folks, it is only at 30 -35% LOSS now. I have to admire HDFC skill for managing to keep this portfolio at a loss. At least they havent messed further.
I would have given HDFC some credit for improving the portfolio by 10 percentage points but honestly, any dodo playing the market will know that in this era o[censored]ncertainty the market is playing in the 17, 000 - 20, 500 range. So over the past years whenever the index hit 20, 500, I have been switching the portfolio to 'safe mode' and an ultra-risky mode when the index hits 17, 000. It worked like a charm and I am not even a qualified investment banker or trader like the guys managing my portfolio in HDFC.
The guidance remains same folks - 'STAY AWAY FROM HDFC LIFE'. Housing loans may be ok there... but not this business for us, consumers. Cheers
Regards
Anup
The big year/checkpoint is here... It is 2013 now and I can gladly confirm that 5 years have definitely passed. The sensex as well jumped from around 8000 when I invested in 2008 to about 20, 000 today - 2.5 times jump over the past five years and I should definitely be seeing a profit now, even if HDFC were sleeping through the past five years, right? Well folks, it is only at 30 -35% LOSS now. I have to admire HDFC skill for managing to keep this portfolio at a loss. At least they havent messed further.
I would have given HDFC some credit for improving the portfolio by 10 percentage points but honestly, any dodo playing the market will know that in this era o[censored]ncertainty the market is playing in the 17, 000 - 20, 500 range. So over the past years whenever the index hit 20, 500, I have been switching the portfolio to 'safe mode' and an ultra-risky mode when the index hits 17, 000. It worked like a charm and I am not even a qualified investment banker or trader like the guys managing my portfolio in HDFC.
The guidance remains same folks - 'STAY AWAY FROM HDFC LIFE'. Housing loans may be ok there... but not this business for us, consumers. Cheers
Regards
Anup
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Went through your complaint and being a recent customer of HDFC Std Life, I couldnt agree more with what you say.
They sold me a policy with MAX NAV Guarantee 4 months back. I had paid a single premium of I lac and applied for 5 times sum assured in order to render my investment tax efficient. However, the policy was issued only for 1.25 times sum assured. When I pointed out the 'error' I was told that the scheme was new when I applied for it and their sales staff were unaware of documentation requirments for a 5 times sum assured. so, once i fulfil the extra documentation requirements, the policy would be 'corrected'. It is four months since I have been chasing them for correction after fulfilling thier documentation requirements and I am still running from pillar to post for resolution.
After all the follow-up, lo and behold, I got a letter from them yesterday revising the policy terms in such a way that they are more unfavourable than they were when the policy was issued to me! I cant make head not tail of what provoked such a letter.
See, I ask them to correct a mistake at their end and they end up giving me more unfavourable terms. I was rudely shocked when I got the mail and am still reeling from it and losing sleep.
HDFC is a bad service provider be it banking or insurance. I have resolved to steer clear of them for the rest of my life.
We only need to wish ourselves gud luck in our dealing with them as we are stuck for the time being...
Vaishnavi Harish