5 Issues with ICICI Bank iWish RD scheme

ICICI Bank has an RD (Recurring Deposit) scheme called iWish. ICICI Bank iWish lets you set a goal and credit a specific amount monthly for a pre-defined duration, bank ads a bit of interest on top of money you added and at the end you will have total amount to fulfill your planned goals.

I tried this iWish feature but there are a few basic issues that bank needs to fix.

ICICI Bank iWish issue 1: Can't set a goal more than 5 lakh. 

Most goals today cost more than 5 lakhs- Home, car, education, wedding- almost everything costs upwards of 5 lakhs. So this 5 lakh limit feels too less for any practical purpose. 

 

ICICI Bank iWish issue 2: Unauthorized debit

I started an iWish for 30k per month, paid first installment. Next installment I was expecting it to debit only next month, after 30 days. But system automatically debited second installment at the end of same month, reducing my month end balance and hampering my ability to pay other bills and spoiling my planning, forcing me to scramble for additional money.

This is not right. Once I've paid first installment second installment should be after 30 days, not when bank feels it right. Bank needs to notify 24/48 hours in advance that there will be a debit, so that we can stop it if we wish.

ICICI Bank iWish issue 3: Can't see payment/installment details

ICICI Bank's website's iWish section doesn't show any details of the scheme- like

- On what all dates installments are credited

- What is the principle and how much interest is added etc 

ICICI Bank iWish issue 4: Can't see cancellation charges

ICICI Bank's website's iWish section doesn't calculate and show much is the penalty if I closed this iWish right away. There is a "penalty" link which if we click takes us to a generic savings bank account penalty section, in which very hard to find out what is the penalty for my iWish

Bank should show the specifics- like

• Amount paid so far: 30000 ₹* 2 months= 60000 ₹
• Interest added so far @ 5% for 3 months=  750 ₹
• Cancellation Penalty @1% interest =  150 ₹
• Net payout= 60600 ₹ 

 But they don't do. It is very vague dump of text.

ICICI Bank iWish issue 5: No customer care

It is impossible to talk to a human on ICICI Bank's customer care. It makes us go through complicated IVR and we're asked to give voice command. But ICICI's voice bot doesn't understand iWish. It only recognizes savings account and then makes us select through numerous sub menus, never getting to iWish option. So there is no way to seek help.

Social media is also equally useless- if we tweet tagging ICICI bank a bot gives a generic reply asking me to DM my contact number. Beyond that they don't solve any problem. When I've shared all details in public they have no reason to call me, but only thing they can do is call, not fix any issues. Same with ICICI direct as well. 

Because of these nuances I've stopped using iWish and paused my current iWish. Will have to be careful before trying any schemes our banks and investment companies launch, as they don't test them enough and do not cover several scenarios/problems customers may face.

Let us see if ICICI Bank fixes these issues over time. 

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