Customers may soon be spared penalties for non-maintenance of minimum balances in savings accounts with the Reserve Bank India asking banks to cut down services on low-balance accounts and do away with fines. Banks however say the new regime will lead to higher charges on services for customers.
In its first bi-monthly policy on Tuesday, RBI said that it proposes to frame comprehensive consumer protection regulations based on domestic experience and global best practices. "Banks should 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," RBI said.
Many account holders who maintained dormant accounts, which were short of the Rs 10,000 insisted on by most private banks, found that their balances had vanished as the bank had deducted a penalty every quarter for not maintaining adequate balance.
In its first bi-monthly policy on Tuesday, RBI said that it proposes to frame comprehensive consumer protection regulations based on domestic experience and global best practices. "Banks should 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," RBI said.
Many account holders who maintained dormant accounts, which were short of the Rs 10,000 insisted on by most private banks, found that their balances had vanished as the bank had deducted a penalty every quarter for not maintaining adequate balance.
Source:-The Times of India
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