Have an inactive bank account? Know how to reactivate it

Are you aware that a bank account can become inactive or dormant if you have not used it for two years? And once your account becomes inactive, you cannot avail of the banking services associated with it. Although, the money lying in your account remains safe. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to”play a more proactive role in finding the whereabouts of the account holders whose accounts have remained inoperative”

RBI has directed banks to carry out an annual review of accounts that have seen no operations, no credit or debit transactions other than crediting of periodic interest or debiting of service charges.

What are inactive or dormant accounts?

An account that has had no transactions for a year is considered inactive and if it stretches to 24 months, banks deem it to be dormant.

The banks have to inform customers “in writing” and try to ascertain the reason if there are no transactions in an account for more than a year. According to an RBI circular, if the customer replies, the bank should mark the account as operative and give the customer a year’s time to start operating it. “However, in case the account holder still does not operate the same during the extended period, banks should classify the same as inoperative account after the expiry of the extended period”.

If the customer replies to the bank, it should mark the account as operative and give the customer a year’s time to start operating it. “However, in case the account holder still does not operate the same during the extended period, banks should classify the same as inoperative account after the expiry of the extended period,” according to RBI’s circular.