How I chose a Savings Bank account
Chawanni Advice
but then I realized one size does not fit all that's why I am going to
tell you how I went about choosing a savings bank account for myself.
My criterion may or may not suit you.
Well, my search for a Savings Bank account began with 3 criterion in mind:
1. Debit Card: Free for life, specially no annual fees.
2. Debit Card: facility to use at all ATMs without any charges.
3. If possible, payable-at-par cheques all over India.
ICICI was immediately ruled out because at that time they didn't offer
any account with zero annual fees for debit card ( except for senior
citizens ). Most public sector banks ( except SBI and its associates )
had a non-existent ATM network. SBI and its associates offered ATM
cards , but were loaded with annual fees. Axis bank too had annual
fees for Debit Card.
But when I had a look at HDFC Savings Plus account
<http://www.hdfcbank.com/personal/accounts/savings_accounts/savings_plus_account/savings_plus.htm>,
it looked like it was tailor-made for me. No annual fees for Debit
Card, plus the facility to use the Debit Card at other bank ATMs
without any charges ( 5 times in a month ). Additionally the
payable-at-par cheque facility was also there. All I had to do was
maintain a AQB of Rs. 10,000/-
And so I chose HDFC Savings Plus account.
After that RBI came out with circulars which made life much easier for
me. As per RBI's instructions starting April 2008, there are no
charges for balance enquiry at other bank ATMs throughout India and
from April 2009 there are no charges for cash withdrawal as well. So
if you want to cut down on your Debit card charges just make sure that
its annual fees is zero which means:
1. You get your Debit card free for lifetime.
2. Also starting April 2009 you can do balance enquiry and cash
withdrawal at all ATMs in India without any charges ( Thank RBI for
the circular ).
Nowadays many banks offer savings account with free debit card. Some
of them are ICICI Gold and Titanium privilege account, Kotak Mahindra
Bank's Ace and Pro accounts, HDFC's Savings Plus and Savings Max
account and South Indian Bank's Privilege Savings account.
The original article can be found here:
http://chawanni.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-i-chose-savings-bank-account.html