Puzzling why the bank charges P300 every month until all hard-earned money are gone and the account balance becomes zero? This is the situation faced by a certain BDO depositor who shared on social media, she showed her passbook account with multiple deductions of P300 until there is no more remaining balance and the account is closed.
Before iSensey delved into the possible reasons, heed these useful banking tip first:
For those with bank accounts make sure you are on top of it always. Enroll in online banking so it is easy to monitor, especially for OFWs and those who could not regularly visit their branch for whatever reasons. Thru online access, one can also see if there are any notice or announcements made by the bank that will affect the account.
Another thing is to make sure that there is at least one deposit or withdrawal made in the savings or checking account within 2 years. Failure to do so will result to the bank account sliding into dormancy.
Yes, the bank account will become dormant even if the balance is above the maintaining balance, if there is no movement within a 2-year period.
Yes, even if there is monthly interest given to the account, but as long as there is no deposit or withdrawal made within 24 months, the bank account will be tagged dormant.
*There may be banks which only categorizes an account as dormant after 5 years of no activity. Make sure to inquire what is the dormancy period in your chosen bank.
BANK SERVICE CHARGE P300.00
Once the bank account is considered dormant, the bank will charge a service fee every month.This fee is set by the bank, usually it’s P300 like in the case of BDO and BPI, although other banks may have lower or higher dormant service fee. The bank personnel will inform the client about this fee during account opening.
The dormancy fee will stop only if there is a new deposit or withdrawal made after account reactivation, or until the account balance becomes P0.00. Once the balance becomes P0.00, that’s the time the account will be closed automatically by the bank.
Back to this post from years back that has become viral again this 2021. In the FB post the account holder have misgivings againts Banco de Oro because instead of her/his P5,603.95 money becoming safe in the bank, it turns out that all the money were gone, wiped out due to “SC” or service charges and the account is closed.
Source of this post is Pilipinas Viral Trending on Facebook.
In this viral post, notice that BDO charged the client with P300 twice every month. Why is this so?
Check the passbook to see the twice service fee of P300 by BDO which started last June 30, 2014. Fees are levied at the end of the month.
For this BDO client, the first P300 charge is the dormant account service fee.
* The account holder in the post shared that she has not touch the account in 3 years. Therefore, the account is dormant, hence the service charges of P300 every month.
*The second P300 service fee is for the account not meeting the required maintaining balance.
GET TO KNOW THE DETAILS OF THE BANK ACCOUNT
During account opening, the new accounts staff will explain to the client the pertinent information about the bank product the client is opening.
Useful info that will be shared by the new accounts officer includes, but not limited to the following:
1. Required average daily balance (ADB).
2. Service fee if the account’s ADB will fall below the requirement.
3. Required balance to earn interest.
4. Service fee if the account will become dormant.
5. For ATM savings account – service fee if the client will withdraw in other banks’ ATM machines.
6. For ATM accounts – Allowable number of times a client can withdraw via ATM machine in one day.
7. For ATM accounts – maximum amount that can be used to pay online like using ECPay or swiping of the ATM card in a POS terminal.
8. And other important details about the bank account being open.
Take note that the terms and conditions are also on the forms that will be signed by the client. If you will open an account, you will signed this form.
It is the responsibility of the bank account holder to be aware of the goings-on of the account.
Yes, the bank should notify their clients if the bank account has become dormant or nearing dormancy and if there are changes to the required maintaining balance.
To avoid a dormancy complication, just make sure to withdraw or deposit even P100 to the account every 2 years. Much better if you can deposit or withdraw at least once a year.
And very important, if you don’t want to face service fee for failure to meet ADB make sure that you know how much is the maintaining balance of the account you opened with the bank. The required ADB could change, so it is imperative to regularly check announcements of the bank.
Example the BPI Kaya Savings Account used to be that there is zero maintaining balance, so there is no service fee no matter how much is your balance in the account. However this 2021, BPI have given notice to their clients that they will convert all existing Kaya Savings Account to a Regular Savings Account. Now, take note that a regular savings account in BPI has required minimum monthly ADB of P3,000. If the balance falls below that there is a service fee of P300 every month.
If you are a BPI KAYA account holder, make sure that your balance is always above P3,000 so you will not suffer service charge deductions of P300.
BANK DEPOSIT BECOMES ZERO DUE TO SERVICE CHARGES
For a BDO regular passbook savings account, the service fee for falling below maintaining balance is P300. The maintaining balance of regular passbook is P10,000.
So the FB poster was charged P300 twice monthly because 1st the account is dormant and 2nd the account balance is below the required ADM.
The service charges will continue on until the balance will reach P0.00, which will then lead to account closing.
The service fee for falling below maintaining balance will stop only if there is a new deposit that will result to the total balance that is equal or above the required ADB. Or if the bank closes the account because the balance is now zero.
Don’t be caught unaware. It is really important to keep yourself updated with your bank’s policies, rates and fees, as they do change from time to time.
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