Individuals these days manage many accounts, many of them have different savings account serving different purposes. However, in such cases there is a chance that one of such accounts can go unwatched. It is better to make some transactions in all your accounts once in a while so that it wont fall under dormant or inactive status.
A savings or current account is categorised as 'inoperative' or 'dormant' if there have been no transactions in the account for more than two years.
However, interest credited by the bank on the account balance, as well as any charges deducted by the bank, are not considered transactions for this reason.
According to the PNB post on social media X ( previously known as Twitter), “ As per the guidelines, a savings account as well as current account is treated as inoperative/dormant if there are no transactions in the account for over a period of two years. If you have not operated your account for over 24 months, please immediately contact your home branch for activation of your account & KYC updation to enjoy hassle free banking service.
According to the Tamilnad Mercantile Bank FAQs, “Yes. This happens in two stages: First Stage: The bank is required to review annually all Savings Bank / Current accounts and if there have been no “transactions”, the bank is required to inform the account holder to activate the account by putting through any single debit or credit transaction which can also be put through by a third party. Second Stage: If the account is not activated in the second year also then the bank is required to inform the customer three months prior to the account being classified as dormant.”
In order to change the status of the account from "Dormant to Active," the account holder must personally deliver a letter to the bank together with the passbook for savings banks or the cheque book for current accounts and state the reasons why they haven't used the account in the past. The following records and papers should be provided by the account holder to the bank for verification.
• Recent colour passport size photo – 2 copies
• Copy of valid photo ID document
• Copy of valid address proof documents
Banks are not supposed to charge for reactivation of dormant accounts.
“The account will be treated as operative because such credit is as per the mandate of the customer. Similarly, any ECS credits e.g. dividends or ECS debits e.g. payment of utility bills keep an account operative. Also, if a customer has two accounts he can mandate a single debit from one account for credit to his other account and keep both accounts operative,” according to the Tamilnad Mercantile Bank website.
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
Prime Exclusives Investment IdeasStock Report PlusePaperWealth Edition
