Feature Rich Savings Bank Accounts

Gone are the days of plan vanilla savings bank accounts. Increasingly more banks are trying to offer a chain of graded savings bank products to various segments of customers. These banks belong to foreign, private and public – all three sectors. Choosing a bank for opening savings bank account has become difficult because of variations in the product.

There is one underlying principle in all these product offerings, however. The higher the average balance you maintain in your savings account, the more rewards are offered to you. These rewards usually come in the form of:

Average quarterly balance

Rewards / Benefits

As you commit more AQB e.g., a)      up to Rs 10,000 b)      above Rs 10,000 up to Rs 50,000 c)      above Rs 50,000 up to Rs 1,00,000 d)      above Rs 1,00,000 up to Rs 5 lakh e)      above Rs 5 lakh

ATM Card on day ‘one’ Low charge -> free ATM/ Debit Cards Free access to other banks’ ATMs without limits Low charge -> free outstation cheques collections Low charge -> free money remittances Free RTGS, NEFT facilities Free net banking, mobile banking, sms banking Free SMS alerts Free ‘anywhere banking’ Free utility bill payment electronically Payable at par, multicity  cheque book facility PAN/TAN facilitation service Free of cost demand drafts, pay orders up to a limit Free demat account opening Concessional rates for buying gold coins in the bank Free ‘overseas travel card’ Online equity trading facility Free personal accident insurance Providing health insurance cover at reasonable rates Temporary overdraft facility in case of need Pick up of cash / document at customer’s door (up to specified amount & times a day) Delivery of cash / document at customer’s door (up to specified amount & times a day), etc

The above is just indicative. The rewards/ benefits indicated are not precisely linked to the increasing quantum of AQB linked in the left hand side.

Interestingly, grading and differentiations of savings are being done by all categories of banks. Examples:

Indian Overseas Bank, a prime public sector bank has array of products graded like Silver I, Silver II, Gold I and Gold II with increasing order of AQB requirements and levels of customer benefits/ rewards;

Yes Bank, one of the most promising and upcoming private sector bank has a slew of savings products like Savings Value, Savings Advantage, Savings Select and Savings Exclusive. These are in increasing order in the value chain with Savings Exclusive being the top end variant.

Lesson

If you are a discerning and demanding customer, you have to do some amount of home work before you decide where to open your savings account and what sub-type of account to open. You would do well trying to link your requirements with what are on offer in the marketplace.