Inactive Accounts Generally, an account is considered abandoned or unclaimed when there is no customer-initiated activity or contact for a period of three to five years. The specific period is based on the escheatment laws of each state.
If you don't use your account for a long period of time the bank or building society may declare it dormant, but the length of time before this happens will vary between institutions. It could be as little as 12 months for a current account, three years for a savings account, or in some cases up to 15 years.
The timeframe varies depending on the bank's policies, but typically an account becomes inactive after 12 to 24 months of no customer-initiated transactions. Dormancy usually sets in after a longer period, often exceeding two to five years.
The bank may be trying to alert you that your account is inactive. If the account remains inactive, it may be classified as abandoned, and your funds may be turned over to the state. This practice may also be referred to as escheatment.
Your bank account could become dormant if you make no transactions for a period of time. At that point, your bank might charge you an inactivity fee or close your account. In some cases, your funds could end up being turned over to your state.
What happens when account is dormant? Banks turn accounts that have been inactive for a while into dormant accounts in order to decrease fraud. When an account has been designated as dormant, you cannot log in, make payments, transfer money, make withdrawals, or even log out.
According to rules, if a bank account remains inactive for 10 years, money gets transferred to the RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund every month. The important point to note here is the unclaimed money earns interest at rates specified by the RBI, not at the rate at which the deposit was made.
If you have a current or savings account with us that you haven't used for some time, we might need to close it to help protect you from potential fraud, such as identify theft. We'll always try to contact you before we do this.
A dormant bank account is one that has no activity for over 2 years. Banks do this to mitigate fraud, comply with regulations, and reduce costs. You can reactivate your account by making a transaction or contacting your bank. Banks have regulations in place to activate dormant accounts.
Claiming unclaimed deposits from banks is easy if you have a valid reason. Just check the bank's website for any inactive or unclaimed accounts linked to you or your family. To claim the funds, you'll need to provide the required documents, which will be verified before settling the claim.
If you have a bank account with a minimum balance requirement that you've stopped using altogether, consider closing it. The last thing you need is for an automatic payment you set up long ago to be debited out of the account, leaving you below the minimum (or worse, overdrafting your account).
Funds will get credited to the an inactive or dormant account until and unless it is in Total Freeze. If it is a customer induced transaction the inactive account will become active however to activate a dormant account the account holder needs to visit the branch with original ID proofs to get it activated.
Most of the time, a statute of limitations does not apply to dormant accounts. This means that the owner or beneficiary can claim the money at any time.
Calling your bank's customer service line will provide you with the same information, including whether your bank account is active or not. You must provide the customer service representative with certain information on your bank account in order to do this, like your name, bank account number, bank branch name, etc.
INACTIVE AND DORMANT ACCOUNT
If you have a current or a savings bank account and have not done any transactions through it for more than 12 months, then it will be classified as an inactive account. And if you don't do any transactions from a bank account for 24 months, then it will be classified as dormant.
Accounts, where there is no 'customer induced' transaction for a period of 6 months will be converted to dormant account status in the interest of the depositor as well as the Bank. The depositor will be informed of charges, if any, which the Bank will levy on dormant accounts.
If a family member has passed away and left money in an account, you may have the right to the funds of the account registered in their name. You'll only be able to reclaim funds if the account is classed as dormant – meaning it's been inactive for 15 years.
After a specified amount of time that varies by state, banks must escheat the funds of inactive accounts, meaning they're required to turn the funds over to the state. Dormancy fees are designed to limit this from happening by incentivizing customers to keep their accounts active.
Inactive accounts that haven't been accessed for extended periods are more likely to be compromised due to password reuse and lack of multifactor authentication.
4.2 Inoperative / Dormant Accounts: A savings as well as current account shall be treated as inoperative / dormant if there are no transactions in the account for over a period of two years. In case of term deposits, the 2-year period shall be reckoned after the date of maturity.
No. Banks are not supposed to charge for reactivation of dormant accounts.
Reopening a Dormant/Inactive Account
If you receive a notification that your account is considered inactive or dormant, contact your bank to find out how to make it active again. The bank may allow you to make a deposit to the old account, or they may have you open a new bank account.
Accounts, where there is no 'customer induced' transaction for a period of 6 months will be converted to dormant account status in the interest of the depositor as well as the Bank. The depositor will be informed of charges, if any, which the Bank will levy on dormant accounts.
As per RBI guidelines, any savings account without any transactional activity in 24 months becomes inoperative. That means you will not be able to access your money, especially in times of need, without filing an application and submitting KYC documents for reactivation – something that is quite a hassle.
To reactivate your account, contact your bank, submit the necessary documents and do a financial transaction. Once reactivated, actively using the account afterwards helps ensure it remains active and accessible for future use.