Which bank to choose for NRE acct?

gurusw · Post by **gurusw** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:10 pm

I learnt about many bad experiences in this forum regarding ICICI. I also read some complaints about SBI website & Citi exchange rate. Can u guys please share ur positive experiences so as to help new members choose the right bank for NRE acct?

Personally I am looking at banks in Mumbai suburbs, Goregaon, Borivali that will have Internet banking. ATM is desirable, but not reqd as long as I can go to bank to withdraw money. Thanks in advance.

gurusw · Post by **gurusw** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:29 am

No positive experiences, I guess :) We're all about complaining though.

hetal18 · Post by **hetal18** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:23 pm

I have an NRE account in State Bank of India, Mumbai, Borivili(West) branch. I use their online services to transfer money and check my account. I am pretty satisfied with the way things are with SBI. However, I never had to deal with their customer service or anybody once the account was opened.

I personally opened the account when I was in India in 2005 and also got online access by personally visiting the bank.

fantoosh · Post by **fantoosh** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:08 pm

u can try HSBC.... Borivali(West) Branch...
Its walking distance from Borivali station...
They have online banking...customer service is much better as compared to ICICI....

Also no long queues...

maeswaran · Post by **maeswaran** » Sun Dec 09, 2007 6:51 pm

ICICI bank is good for dealing without going to bank. Most of the staff are either on probabation or under " temporaray"

Good for internet banking

kallu · Post by **kallu** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:02 pm

I am thinking of opening an NRE/O account in axis bank ( previously uti ). Any good or bad things I should know about?

ILuvHyd · Post by **ILuvHyd** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:58 pm

I used Citibank, ICICI and SBI.
ICICI - Poor support/bad exchange rate.
Citi - Average support/worse exchange rate.
SBI - I kept low expectations, so didn't event attempt to contact their support yet/Best exchange rate.

Overall SBI is my pick. With EFT service discontinued, I could no longer use (from 1Feb08) SBI money transfer service to transfer funds to ICICI within reasonable time period.

My tip on exchange rate: Use a credit card that doesn't charge any transaction fees where credit cards are accepted for no extra charge. I use Capital One Card - No International/Foreign exchange fee, 1% kind of rewards/cash back... Best exchange rate.

Indian.Sam · Post by **Indian.Sam** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:14 pm

Can you tell me the exchange rate Capital one gave you for your transactions in India?

ILuvHyd · Post by **ILuvHyd** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:29 pm

Indian.Sam;88145Can you tell me the exchange rate Capital one gave you for your transactions in India?[/quote]
DATE --- CAP ONE Rate --- Oanda Interbank Exchange rate
1/29/08 --- 39.26 --- 39.39
2/2/08 --- 39.13 --- 39.355

So the exchange rate is 0.4 to 0.6% compared to Interbank Exchange rate
ICICI is typically 1 - 1.2% and Citi is notorious with around 2% difference.

On top of this 1% rewards and no foreign transaction fees...

ioimparo · Post by **ioimparo** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:46 pm

IluvHyd,

Your posts are very insightful and very helpful. I already have a NRE account woth Citi, but I do not use them to transfer funds.

Actually its been a long time since I have transferred funds. Do you think I can use another service such as timesofmoney.com to transfer funds into my NRE account. This way I can get a better rate.

My question is if this is possible?

Thanks in advance