How do I Activate A Dormant Savings Account Or Savings Account That Is Unused?

A dormant bank account means an inactive bank account that has not been in use for two years. A dormant account cannot be used for services associated with the bank. If a bank account has not been used for credit/debit transactions, apart from the debiting or crediting of interest, it becomes a dormant bank account. The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has already directed banks operating in India to proceed with an annual review of all the accounts that have not been in use in a long time. The RBI has additionally directed the banks to inform the customer ‘in writing’ for finding the reasons for leaving the account for more than one year. However, you can reactivate a dormant savings bank account by following these simple steps.

To reactivate a dormant bank account, you need to visit the respective bank, and submit an application to activate the dormant bank account. The respective bank will take action and the account will be activated on the next business day. But, depending on internal processes and the risk category of the customer, the bank can take more than 1 day to reactivate the account. The reactivation of the dormant bank account is a free service.

However, a bank can also regularise a dormant account depending on the risk factor of the customer. The bank can allow the customer to operate dormant accounts after receiving the KYC documents, or the bank can also ask for further due diligence. The bank will verify the details and documents available with them.

Additionally, the interest on savings bank accounts must be credited timely, it should not be missed even if the account is not active. RBI mentions that the amount left unclaimed with the bank will attract the savings bank interest rate, if the proceeds are unpaid, or the fixed deposit investment matures.