Four reasons why you shouldn't leave a Savings Account unused

Do you have more than one Savings Account? Do you regularly use all the Savings Accounts that you have? If the answer to the last question is no, you have a cause for worry. Let's consider why leaving a Savings Account unused is an unwise idea.

What is a dormant or inactive bank account?

If you have not used a Current or Savings Account to transact for more than one year, your account becomes inactive. Similarly, if your account has been inactive for two years, it becomes a DormantBank Account or inoperative. To ensure that this does not happen, you can choose to carry out different transactions such as cash withdrawals, cash deposits, cheque transactions, outward bills, etc.

It's a common practice to have multiple Savings Accounts in your name but not to keep all of them active. After all, keeping a tab of several Savings Accounts is not easy. However, if you do not pay attention to managing your inactive Savings Accounts, it will cost you big time.

Reasons to not leave a Savings Account unused: 

There are multiple benefits of a Savings Account that make it a bad idea for you to leave them unused. The top four reasons of why you should not let your Savings Account remain unused are:

1. You would face a penalty from the bank 

As you must already know, your Savings Account needs a minimum balance or else a penalty charge is levied on it. When your Savings Account is inactive, there is a high chance that you won't be able to maintain the minimum balance requirements. If you do not have enough funds, your balance will gradually deplete over time. This will make you lose out on the Savings Account interest rate.

2. The Savings Account becomes Inactive or Dormant

For instance, if you haven't carried out any transaction through your Savings Account for more than a year, then it is classified as "Inactive." Similarly, if you do not transact using your Savings Account for more than 24 months, it is classified as a Dormant Account. If an account becomes dormant, you won't be able to issue cheques, renew your ATM/ Debit Card, request to change address or carry out any transaction through ATM, Internet Banking or Phone Banking. 

3. A wasted investment opportunity

When you leave a particular amount completely unattended in the Savings Account for some time, you get to earn interest on it. However, you miss out on the chance to invest the same money towards other lucrative options like Fixed Deposits. Thus, keeping your Savings Account inactive with a sizeable sum of money in it is never a wise investment choice.

1. Missing out on the benefits of a Savings Account

A Savings Account is not just a locker for you to deposit money. In most cases, it comes with Reward Points, special programmes and features such as sweep-in Fixed Deposits. It can let you earn way more income through transactional activities in the Account.

If you aren't using a Savings Account, it is better to close the account or transact at least once a year to avoid penalties or inactivity. If you have an inactive

or dormant account with the ICICI Bank and want to reactivate it, you can get in touch with our representative.