[Resolved]  Citibank India — minimum balance increased to 25000

Hello Guys,

I totally agree to the point that Citibank should have intimated all o[censored]s before having the minimum balance baseline set although i had realized it after an year when i checked my transactions online randomly while i was abroad & when i had been updated by the Customer Care when enquired.

I must admit that i did loose quite some money but i would have lost only one month's fee if i had checked my balance on a regular basis. It would have been the same case for all o[censored]s if we had followed the same practice. C'mon Guys, we cant fully blame Citibank just for not intimating us(which is not right though) but there is a small level of responsibility from our side to check on our accounts regularly. Secondly, lets try to put ourselves in the Citibank's position, why would somebody just hike the minimum balance to 25k all of a sudden? Logically thinking, it could be because the Customer base could have grown so enormously that the services would have been difficult for them to provide on a timely manner therefore they had to give priorities to Customers from whom they benefit the most. But Guys, we need to admit that the services & accessibility of Citibank has been impressive across the Globe. And in today's world, for good things & for good services, we need to pay the price...that's how life is.

Even i am a common man just like any one of you & and i truly understand how difficult it could be to maintain a minimum balance of 25k all of a sudden. Possibly, i could advise you to put in a little more hard work for just 2 months to keep your accounts alive & healthy so that Citibank can also take care of you without any hesitation. Moreover, Guys, C'mon, 25k is your money...Citibank is not going to play around with it as long as it is 25k or above & it is always your asset & you can always have it back when you want to close it. At the same time, you get to have a small interest every 4 or 6 months if the 25k is kept untouched...so be cheerful...:)

Regarding the alerts, no banks actually give alerts for internal transactions & especially for deduction fees like this. Alerts are usually done, if any external transactions are done such as fund transfer, online purchase, password reset etc. If they had to keep alerts triggered for every internal transactions, probably their SMS server would have been blown off by now...

Hope i have justified the purpose of posting this message by not blaming any side instead to let know that everyone is responsible for their actions & their negligence too.

Thanks
Peter Chacko

I also faced the same problem. Now i d'nt want to continue with this bank.

To make matters worse, Citibank has just increased its NRV (net relationship value) of my suvidha account from Rs 25000 to Rs 1 lac (for me). Jut got an email from them that my existing Suvidha account will be converted into this new citibanking account starting March 1, 2013.

Unbelievable...They send me a mail saying my NRV is gonna be 1lakh, else i have pay 500 ruppees to maintain my account.

Day light robbery from citibank.

How can a common man maintain 1 lac NRV!? Weird bank. I am transferring all my savings to HDFC

Hi all, here is the latest.

Citibank has increased the minimum balance requirement for Suvidha accounts (where you are no longer getting your salaries) to INR 1 Lac rupees... yes 1, 00, 000.00 !!!

This is with effect from 1st March 2013.

I am already having to maintain this super costly account with a minimum balance of 25k (ridiculous by itself), as I have some investments linked to it.

But now, this is being increased to 1 lac.. that too, by just sending a email.

The mail states a few puny benefits and states:
"The Citibanking Account starts at a monthly net relationship value (NRV) of 2 lakhs for new clients. A monthly charge of 500 is applicable when the NRV falls below this minimum level. We are pleased to inform you that, as a special gesture, for your long standing relationship, a lower minimum NRV requirement of 1lakh will be applicable for your Citibanking Account.

With this conversion, the benefits of the Citibanking Account, and the revised terms as above will apply to your account, effective 1st March 2013. However, for your convenience, your account number, debit card^, cheque book and PINs will continue unchanged."

I am going to de-link my investments within a week from this account, transfer them elsewhere and permanently stop ANY connections with Citibank. Just can't afford such an account.

I too the victim of this Increase of minimum balance to 1 lakh. This is ridiculous. How can normal people in India afford to maintain 1 lakh as balance in SB account.
Citibank, r u playing in India...This time I am sure people will reject citibank.

I have received a letter on 24-Jan-2013, once again Citibank has converted all of the “suvidha” savings account to “citibanking” account type, and have now bluntly instructed their existing customers to maintain a monthly minimum commitment of Rs.100, 000/- and from new customers Rs.200, 000/-. There is a penalty charge of Rs.500/- for each time the bank account balance will go below Rs.100, 000. This means that Citibank is expecting to grow their funds straight 4 folds by imposing such exorbitant conditions, and they have done the same about 2 years back by increasing the limit by almost 2 folds. I personally think that this is an end to this arrogant behavior, with no care for customers. This is a greedy bank and only wants to retain the “affluent” customers. Citibank has minimum number of branches in comparison to the other available banks; the only good thing about them is their smart banking solutions, whereby the Indian banks still lacks such servicer due to some of their conservative ‘not so easy’ techniques. But everything has got its price, and Citibank’s price has now definitely gone out of worth.

this is ridiculous. citibank is playing a role of dictator and want us to maintain 1 lakh in a saving account. today on 28 jan, they have converted my citibank suvidha account citibanking account without taking my permission. i am going to shut this account and will ask my company to shift my salary account to HDFC, which is also available in our company

I have also got the same mail of increasing the NRV to 1 lakh Rupees. Is there any way of raising the complaint against citibank..?

Hi All,

I got this communication in my netbanking Inbox on 28-Jan-2013.

When I called customer care, they insisted that my Fixed Deposits, Recurring Deposits, Mutual Funds and Home loan outstanding would be considered part of this 1 Lakh minimum balace

Citibank has LOWEST interest rated on Fixed Deposits - 7.25. Even scheduled banks give more interest rates

What motivation I have to continue my relationship with Citi? What is the guarantee that next year it won't go to 2 Lakh?

How come RBI does not play any role in this?

I am thinking hard because I feel my money will become stale (with only 7.25% intersest rate) in th Citi account. And perse, I do not enjoy any special benefits from Citi

Thanks,
Mrudula Barve

I got an email that my account will be migrated to "new citibank" account and minimum balance is 100000 (and they are doing a favour by reducing it from 200000).

I will switch to SBI pretty soon.

Either they are about to fly from India or about to sell the India Unit. how can avg person can have 1 lac rs in account. It's rediculous?
If you call to the customer care, they will say you sorry, then you can close your account. I just wonder, will it not impact their profit?

Dear All,

I requested Citibank to convert my Suvidha Account to Basic Banking Account with Zero Balance and keep the account number, debit card and cheque book the same but they refused.

But they are ready to convert the same into Citibanking Account with Rs 1 lac and keep the account number, debit card and cheque book the same.

I have filed a complaint with Banking Ombudsman and request you all to file complaint with Banking Ombudsman.

Regards

Altaf Batliwala

Dear all,

I feel it is the strategy of all foreign investors. First they come out with nice offers and make people to get in to their business model. Then they will show their actual reality. This is also one way of killing the competitor and making monopoly. Please keep this in mind before getting in to any foreign investors/Companies.

In this issue I recommend close Citibank account and open an account in any nationalized bank.

Don’t get surprised if Citibank asks money as “account closure charges” if you are closing the account

Prasanna

Dear Indians,

It is the strategy of all foreign investors. First they come out with nice offers and make people to get in to their business model. Then they will show their actual reality. This is also one way of killing the competitor and making monopoly. Please keep this in mind before getting in to any foreign investors/Companies.

In this issue, I recommend close Citibank account and open an account in any nationalized bank.

Don’t get surprised if Citibank asks money to close your account as “Account closure charges” something :-(

Prasanna

It was very hard for me to maintain an NRV of Rs. 25000/- till date. Suddenly, Citibank has enforced the rule that the NRV has been increased to Rs. 100, 000/- failing to maintain the same, a fine of Rs. 500/- will be charged on the account.

400% increase in the NRV? How come this was approved by Citi Officials? Is there anyway the Government of India can look into this?

This is really disgusting and I am planning to close all my accounts with Citibank due to this drastic increase of NRV.

All the customers of Citibank should oppose this new NRV rule that is being imposed.

Regards,
AH

I am closing my Suvidha account (opened sometime in 2000) ASAP. If the bank could choose the customers they want to cater to, we can choose our banks too.

I have been pinched too with 1 lac min balance.

Strategy wise this is the worst mistake a bank could make...Most of the customers will move to banks who are more welcoming & have satisfactory service, may be today they dont need us but tomm we are gonna grow to the elite list...that is the day i will continue with the current bank & will never return to citibank.
Today when banks are finding it difficult to get newer customers..this a** h***** have decided to let go a big chunk of their account base.

shifting bank accounts is no big deal. citibank there i go...

Will make sure u go to SLEEP :)

OMG OMG OMG!!!

“We are pleased to inform you that your existing Citibank Suvidha account will be converted into the new Citibanking account...With this change, the Citibank Suvidha savings account will not be available from March 1, 2013. Your account will be converted into the Citibanking account from this date, ” the bank said in an email.

“As a special gesture, for your long standing relationship, a lower minimum net relationship value requirement of Rs 1 lakh will be applicable for your Citibanking account, ” the bank said.

A monthly charge of Rs 500 is applicable if the net relationship value falls below the minimum level.