HDFC Bank is automatically enrolling some customers in preferred banking with quarterly fees

An Indian bank appears to be scamming its customers; here’s how an alert citizen discovered it – Tech2

I discovered charges (program management fees) on a couple of members of our extended members of our family & had the charges removed. I thought they were a mistake. Recently I have been updated to "Preferred Banking" & got a call by the "relationship manager" saying I can reach out to them for any queries.

Now I suspect I will be charged as well & have asked them for clarification following why I would opt out likely. The following page does list out charges for preferred banking as 100+taxes - which seems to match with the article above.

http://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/hnw/preferred-banking

Not sure if ICICI does something similar. My dad found himself having a wealth management account even though he had applied for a regular account. I had to call in their call center. The guy told me that they automatically upgrade accounts for some customers who meet certain specifications. No charges are being levied. And he would be downgraded automatically to regular account when he no longer meets those parameters. Even this is bullshit. He got some freebies on the wealth management account which are charged for in the regular savings account.

I was personally annoyed when Yes Bank changed the features that were available to my account at the time of account opening. Even that should not be allowed without six months of notice like they require for DTH and Telecom services (though rarely followed).

This is how they have "informed" me about the "charges"

They had sent a statement email & basically this is how it is -

They have a huge image at the top (and the pdf statement) which I have linked below, which a person is likely to click & open & see with password if they are famliar. Then the text below - So, someone needs to scroll past the image (if they are interested in reading the junk they send) & see how slyly the have mentioned the point about charges - and have given a link, which apparently after clicking & a Yes/No option Submit button leads to a blank page.

******

It gives me great pleasure to share that our bank has won Bank of the year, Best Large Bank and Fastest Growing Large Bank awards in the Business Today - KPMG study of Best Banks in India 2016.
These accolades are a reflection of your continued support and confidence in us.
Our bank has always been at the forefront of the digital transformation that is sweeping the country. What started out with us wanting to make banking more convenient through our NetBanking and MobileBanking services is scaling new heights.
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence have been evolving, marking the next level of digital banking. Owing to that, our Bank has made a transition from customer convenience to customer experience. Presenting an improved customer experience, our Bank has launched IRA - an interactive humanoid under its Project AI - on January 27, 2017 at our Kamala Mills branch in Mumbai. IRA which stands for Intelligent Robotic Assistant will assist our branch staff in serving you. Look out for IRA and the new way to bank.
Tired of downloading multiple apps to manage your daily requirements? We have launched OnChat, a Facebook Messenger-based chat which will allow you to take care of multiple routine tasks. In a few easy steps you can book a taxi, order food, make bill payments and more without the need for multiple mobile apps.

As the financial year comes to an end, we trust you have made suitable investments to save the maximum amount of tax possible. We offer you a variety of tax saving and investment solutions to suit your life stage.
IMPORTANT MESSAGE: A nominal Programme Management Fee of Rs.100 per quarter will be levied post completion of 1 year in the program. Kindly contact your Relationship Manager for details.*Taxes Apply
If you wish to opt out of the Preferred Banking Program Click here
To know more about the investment options available or any of our other products, kindly contact your Relationship Manager.
How to open SmartStatement : The password is your Customer ID whose last 3 digits are mentioned in the subject line of this mail.

******

i end up deleting most mails from yes bank without reading because they basically send me one every day.

Precisely, they are sending statement on 4th. I keep track of stuff up to date , so I have no need to look at a statement that ends 4 days ago. No SMS at all. I got a call in which there was no mention of charge.

A relative who does not have email id linked got SMS with link to opt out.

So the only way to opt out besides the email (which has long been deleted) is to call in?

This is very annoying

i guess you can use the link above and add your customer id?


not sure if it would work. requires customer name too.

No..It does not work

I had got charges removed. After lots of follow ups.

They said - they will keep me as preferred banker without any charges!

Lets see... will come to know next quarter.

On April 1st, we are going to have charges removed from HDFC by going to the bank (from 4-5 accounts) & 3 accounts hopefully closed.

It took a while, but we closed out 3 accounts & had the "preferred"/"classic" tag removed for 2 others. I am now waiting to see how we can get rid of HDFC bank as a whole at some point from me & my extended family's lives.

I have a preferred account, they did not do it automatically, i received email informing me about the charge and then there was i think a full one year where they waived off the charge , i do not mind the charge of 400 INR per year , when i get in return a platinum debit card with no annual fee and a regalia credit card life time free which normally costs 2500 per year

I will try to get this charge removed too

Err.. You are saying that you are getting the debit card/credit card offers because of the charges? Or you mean you would accept the offers had such offers being made available?

All i am saying is as a preferred customer i get free life time debit and regalia credit card , if i had a regular account i would not have got these for free. also as a preferred customer i get unlimited ATM transactions and discount on Demat account fees. so i dont mind paying 400 rs to them