Dormant Accounts: Know When A Bank Can Deactivate Your Account

People can now open a new bank account from the comfort of their own homes. However, did you know that your account could be deactivated if you don't do transactions over a certain period?

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India is now entering the digital era. Most people are now doing their jobs remotely with the help of digital technology. Thanks to this 'Digital India' initiative, most people can now open bank accounts easily from the comfort of their own homes. People can open a bank account from any part of the world digitally. However, a number of people do open a bank account but never end up using and maintaining it.

They do not make any transactions with these accounts. This could make banks deactivate these dormant accounts. The bank may deactivate these accounts citing the reason that no transactions are being done with these accounts. Today we'll tell you how could a bank deactivate your account.

When can banks deactivate your account?

As per RBI's guidelines, if no transactions happen in a bank account for a period of 2 years or more, the account can be declared inoperative by the respective bank. These inoperative bank accounts can now be deactivated by the issuing bank.

If your account remains inoperative for a period of ten years, the money along with interest accrued is transferred to the Education and Awareness Fund. The bank does notify the customer before this happens.

Some Tips: 

If you also have a bank account, make sure you make regular transactions, and close it if you have more than one bank account or if you don't have any use for this account. Also, if one of your accounts has been activated by the bank, contact your bank branch immediately and reactivate the account. However, this could only be done twice.