In what could come as good news to SBI savings bank account holders, the State Bank of India has announced that it has withdrawn charges for non-maintenance of monthly average balance and for its SMS service. The waiver of these charges will be applicable for all types of accounts with the bank.
Until now, for its SMS service, SBI was charging Rs 12 for debit card holders who have an average balance of Rs 25,000 and below in their account. As per reports, this charge was waived off earlier for all salary package accounts, current account variants such as regular, gold, diamond, platinum customers.
Good news for SBI Savings Account holders! Now you don't have to pay charges for SMS service and non-maintenance of monthly average balance. #SavingsAccount #SMSCharges #MAB #SBI #StateBankOfIndia pic.twitter.com/v3IcqzcsUh
— State Bank of India (@TheOfficialSBI) August 18, 2020
SBI first announced in March that it will be waiving off charges for all savings banks accounts that do not maintain average monthly balance. Banks usually require account holders to maintain a minimum average balance (AMB) every month or quarter and a penalty is levied for failing to do so.
SBI, for example, required savings account holders to maintain an AMB of Rs 3,000 for savings accounts in urban areas, and Rs 1000 in rural areas, failing which it charged a penalty between Rs 5-15. As per RBI regulations, banks can levy minimum balance charges, but have to ensure that levying these charges doesn’t result in the account holder having negative balance.
However, as per a Financial Express report, if an account holder doesn’t restore minimum balance for over a month or from the date of notice, the bank may levy a charge by intimating the account holder.
This comes soon after SBI made changes to its ATM withdrawal rules from July 1 where it now allows 8 free transactions a month in metros and 10 a month in non-metros to those holding regular savings account.
This includes five transactions from an SBI ATM and 3 from ATMs of other banks. In Non-metros, its 5 for SBI ATMs and 5 free for other ATMs.
If an ATM transaction fails due to insufficient balance, SBI is now levying a charge of Rs 20 excluding GST for each such declined transaction.