Savings Accounts are intended to mobilise the savings of the community.A savings account is a safe, convenient and affordable way to save your money. It's much safer to keep your money at a bank than to keep a large amount of cash in your home. When you put your money in a bank, the bank keeps it in a fireproof locked safe. The amount in the savings bank account also insured under deposit insurance . No matter what, you can't lose your money when it's in the bank.
Who can open
1 Savings accounts are opened at the discretion of the bank for persons on proper introduction.
2 Accounts may be opened by
a) a person in his/her own name;
b) two persons or more than two persons in their joint names in anyone of the following forms:
Accounts in the name of Mode of operation
A & B Either or Survivor
A & B Jointly or Survivor
A & B Former or Survivor
A, B & C Anyone or Survivors or Survivor
(Instructions regarding operations on the account given at the time of opening a joint account can be varied only by the account holders jointly)
3 Savings account may also be opened by minors to be operated by themselves provided they have completed the age of 14 and have powers of understanding and discretion. Minors should state their age and give their date of birth when opening the accounts. No cheque book will be issued for such accounts.
4 Minors' Account can also be opened by their natural guardians either jointly
with the minor or singly or by guardians appointed by a competent court. Only the guardians will be permitted to operate such accounts. The guardian should furnish the date of birth of the minor when the account is opened. When the minor attains majority ,the right of the guardian to operate on the account will automatically cease and the erstwhile minor will be allowed to operate the account. The signature of the minor can be obtained on attainment of majority duly attested by the guardian or any other person to the satisfaction of the bank.
5 Illiterate persons/blind persons may also open savings accounts provided they are properly introduced and other formalities for opening accounts of such persons are duly observed.
6 Clubs, Societies or Associations, Schools, Temples, Mosques, Churches or other religious and charitable institutions of a like nature which are approved by the Bank may also open savings accounts.
7 The Bank does not recognise any Trust. This means
that sums when deposited with the bank for the credit of an account are, in the absence of any notice or circumstance putting the bank on notice, presumed to be the property of the depositor and any claim of any other party, subsequently, to right, title and interest in the said deposit shall not be recognised by the bank, and such a claimant could only look to the depositor for redressal. This rule does not preclude the opening of Trust Accounts so long as the fact of the trust is made clear and apparent at the time of opening such account.
8 The bank
reserves to itself the right to refuse to open any account without assigning any reason.
Specimen Signature
1 At the time of opening of the account, every depositor is required to give the specimen of his/her signature in duplicate for record, along with two copies of recent passport size photograph.
2 Whenever there is/are change(s) or variation(s) in the specimen signature, the depositor is required to inform the bank in writing the changes/variations in the specimen signature and give a fresh Specimen
Signature Card.
3 All withdrawal forms, cheques and letters to the Bank must be signed strictly in accordance with such specimen
Minimum balance
1 The minimum balance for Savings Bank account is Rs. 1000 for cheque operated accounts and Rs. 500 for ordinary savings accounts in computerised, Metro and Urban branches and Rs. 250 for Semi-urban and Rural branches.
2 Where the balance in SB accounts falls below the stipulated minimum, a service charge of Rs.10 shall be levied on each occasion irrespective of the number of days for which the position continues.
3 In Inoperative SB account
(with or without cheque facility) if there is no transaction in the account during the year and where the balance is Rs.500 or below,a service charge of Rs.10 per year shall be levied.
4 If the balance in such account becomes nil, on account of debiting the service charge, the account shall be closed. If the balance in the account is less than the service charge leviable, the balance available shall be appropriated to the income account and the account closed, under advice to the customer.
5 Minimum
Deposit and Withdrawal
The minimum amount which can be withdrawn from or deposited into any savings account, shall be Rs.5/-
Mode of Deposit
1 Amounts received for the credit of a savings account should, ordinarily, be accompanied by pay-in-slips with counterfoils, which will be supplied by the bank, free of charge, on request.
2 Separate paying-in-slips should be used for deposit of
a. Cash,
b. cheques on outstation branches/banks and
3. Cheques and Dividend Warrants
1 All
cheques and other instruments tendered for credit should be crossed.
2 Cheques, Dividend Warrants and other instruments issued in favour of the account holder only will be accepted for collection/credit to the account. The bank will not be responsible for any loss that may occur by delay or otherwise in transmission or collection.
3 Cheques, drafts and other instruments accepted for collection/purchased / negotiated by the bank will be forwarded for collection to the
branches of the bank /another bank at the place at which the instruments are made payable, entirely at the risk and responsibility of the account holder. The bank will be at liberty to make use of the services of any bank of its choice for collection and the bank so employed will be the agent for the account holder for the purpose of collection.
4 The bank or the agent at its option, will send for collection the instruments at the sole risk and responsibility of the account holder by ordinary or registered post at its discretion. The
bank will not be responsible for any loss of the instrument in the course of such transmission. For collection and purchase of instruments appropriate charges and expenses will be recovered.
5 The bank may accept from the agency bank, cash, payment instructions or mandates in exchange of instruments sent for collection; such mandates or exchange instruments will be collected solely at the risk and responsibility of the account holder.
Withdrawals
1 For Drawings from savings bank account will be by withdrawal forms or cheques supplied by the bank.
2 Where a withdrawal is made by means of a withdrawal slip through a third party authorised by the account holder, the account holder should sign his name on the reverse of the withdrawal form naming the authorised person to whom the payment is to be made
and also authenticate the signature of the person receiving payment on his behalf. The authorisied person receiving the cash will affix his signature on the reverse of the withdrawal form.
3 Normally no money can be withdrawn from a savings account operated by with drawal slips without the production of the passbook.
4 Withdrawal by cheques in cheque operated accounts may be made only on cheque leaves supplied by the bank to the depositor.
5 The Bank may, at its
sole discretion, reject any request for issue of cheque book if minimum balance are not maintained or frequent return of cheques for the reason insufficient funds.
Deposit through post
1 Remittance for credit of accounts may be made through post. In such instances, the name and account number to which the remittance relates must be furnished.
2 All cheques, drafts and other instruments sent by a customer by post must be transmitted only by means of Registered Post failing which, the bank will be absolved of all liability arising from any fraud in respect of
such instruments lost or stolen in transit.
Number of drawals
1.The number of withdrawals in savings accounts should be limited to 50 for each half year. This will include debits arising out of authorisation for payments to third persons and also those arising from compliance with standing instructions.
2 A person may have more than one account in his name but the number of with drawals would be limited to 50 for each half year for all savings accounts taken together.
3 If the account is opened in the middle of a year, the
number of permissible withdrawals shall be allowed proportionately.
4 When number of withdrawals is more than the maximum stipulated, a service charge of not less than 50 paise will be levied for each transaction in excess of 50. Interest will however be allowed at the appropriate rate on the resulting minimum balance, as per rule.
5 When the bank receives a notice with full particulars of the cheque from the drawer to stop its payments, such notice will be recorded, but the
bank will not be responsible if the cheque is paid by oversight of such notice or otherwise. Appropriate Service charges as decided by the bank from time to time will be levied.
Cheque book
1 Application for a cheque book must be made on the bank's printed origional form/printed requisition slip. Copy of such forms will not be accepted.
2 A cheque book will be sent by registered post at the cost and responsibility of account holder concerned, unless he calls in person or sends a messenger with a proper letter of authority and with the requisition slip duly signed.
3 A charge of Rs.2 per leaf for MICR cheque books and Re.1 per leaf for non-MICR cheque
books shall be levied. No charges will be levied for SB cheque books issued at rural branches
Pass book
1 The passbook should be presented at the time of every deposit/withdrawal except in the case of withdrawal by cheques.
2 When withdrawals in accounts are made by cheques, passbooks should be sent for being made up, as soon as possible after the withdrawal.
3 All savings account depositors should carefully examine the entries in the passbook and draw the bank's attention to errors/omissions, discrepancies/ unauthorised / wrong entries. The custormer would be bound
by the entries if the bank does not hear from him within 15 days of time after receiving the passbook.
4 If the passbook is lost or mislaid, it should be immediately notified. A duplicate passbook with the latest balance entry will be issued on payment of Rs.20 on a written request duly signed by the depositor with an undertaking that the original passbook, if found at a later date, will be returned to the bank. For recording additional entries for every ledger folio/part thereof Rs.20 will be levied.
Standing Instruction
1 Standing instructions for remittances such as payment of insurance premiums, subscription for clubs,transfer to his Monthly savings account/Loan account,periodicals etc., will be accepted by the bank subject to levy of charges decided by the bank from time to time.
2 Such instructions continue to hold good until cancellation by either the customer or closure of account or death of customer or insufficiency of balance.
3 The bank will not be liable to the customer for any loss if standing instructions
could not be carried out due to insufficiency of balance in the account.
Transfer of accounts
Savings accounts may be transferred from one office of the bank to another office in India, free of charge on a written request from the depositor and on return of the unused cheque leaves, if any, along with the pass book.
Interest
Interest will be calculated and paid into the account at half yearly or longer rests on the minimum monthly balance to the credit of account between the tenth and the last day.The rate of interest for Savings account is 3.50% Per annum.
A/c holder obligation
To prevent forgery, fraud, etc., account holders should observe the following safe guards:
1 To count cheques in the cheque books issued to them and draw the attention of the bank, if any cheque is found missing therein.
2 To keep the cheque books in a place of safety under lock and key.
3 To fill in the date, the name of the payee (in case of cheques) and the amount clearly in indelible ink, and in such a way as to leave no space for any subsequent additions or insertions of any
other words or figures.
4 To see that their signatures correspond exactly with the specimen supplied to the bank.
5 To authenticate under their full signature all alterations in the cheques or withdrawal slips.
6 Customers must provide sufficient funds before issuing cheques. Return of cheques for want of funds is an offence under Sections 138 to 141 of Negotiable Instrument Act 1881. A service charge of 75 per instrument shall be charged to the drawer if the cheque is returned for financial reasons.
7 A customer is expected to operate the account continuously. Savings Bank accounts in which there are no operations for a period of two years or more from the date of last operation, (except by way of any charges debited or interest credited) shall be treated as inoperative accounts.Such inoperative accounts are liable for penalties/service charges as fixed by the bank from time to time.
Closure of account
1 A depositor desiring to close his/her account must present the passbook in order that the interest due on the account may be entered and a final balance struck. The amount will then be paid to the depositor against his withdrawal slip/ cheque. The unused cheque leaves as well as withdrawal slips, if any, should be returned to the bank.For closure of SB account with in a year of its opening, Rs.30 for ordinary SB account and Rs.50 for cheque operated SB account will be charged.
2 The bank is at liberty to close any account
without assigning any reason.
General lien
The bank has a right to appropriate the deposits of customers towards satisfaction of any liabilities of customers whether such liabilities be actual or contingent , primary or collateral and several or joint at any office of the bank.
Claims
1 On the death of a depositor, the amount standing to his/her credit will be paid to such person or persons as arelegally entitled thereto, on producing satisfactory proof of his/her/their title to receive the balance at credit, such as,Succession Certificate, Probate of Will or Letters of Administration granted by the competent court or any other proof as the bank may consider sufficient in the circumstances of the case.
2 Where an account stands in the names of two persons operated by either of them, in case one of them dies,
the balance becomes payable to the survivor on the production of a death certificate.
3 When the account stands in the names of three or more persons operated by any one of them as either, survivor or survivors in the event one of them dies, the balance will be payable to the survivors jointly on the production of a death certificate of the deceased.
4 If the benefit of survivorship is provided in the contract of deposit (like Either or Survivor/Anyone or Survivors or Survivor), the bank gets a valid
discharge by making payment to the survivor, unless the bank is restrained by an order of a competent court. Even though payment to the survivor will confer a valid discharge to the bank, the survivor will, however, hold the money only as a trustee for the legal heirs (who may include the survivor as well) unless he is the sole beneficial owner of the balance in the account of the sole legal heir of the deceased.
Right to alter rules
1 The bank reserves to itself the right to delete, add to or alter these rules at any time without giving a specific and separate notice to account holder and an announcement of the change in the rules displayed on the notice board of the bank or given in the press will be considered as sufficient notice.
2 A person having opened a Savings Bank Account shall be deemed to have read, understood and agreed to be bound by the rules as now subsisting or as at any time altered or added to.
