RBI: Banks should not charge for inoperative savings accounts without a minimum balance

In a recent development the RBI has asked banks not to implement penalties on consumers, who don’t have a minimum balance in their inoperative account.

The measure has come as a big relief for consumers as they were charged penalties by banks for their dormant bank accounts.

“It is advised that henceforth banks are not permitted to levy penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balances in any inoperative account,” RBI said in a notification. Several banks, including the State Bank of India, do not levy any charge if the minimum balance is not maintained in an inoperative savings account.

In the first bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2014-15 released last month, the RBI had said banks should also not take undue advantage of customer difficulty or inattention.

“Instead of levying penal charges for non maintenance of minimum balance in ordinary savings bank accounts, banks should limit services available on such accounts to those available to basic savings bank deposit accounts and restore the services when the balances improve to the minimum required level,” the report said.

Courtesy: PTI