Navi Mumbai- based Shashank Sharma could not recollect where he had spent the Rs 100 found debited in his quarterly bank statement. On enquiring, he was told that it was the service charge the bank had levied for providing him the statement of his savings account, which he had opened in the private bank a few months back.
"It's the first time I have been charged for a bank statement. All my life, my parents and I used to get our passbooks updated but were never charged by our local bank," he said.
According to bankers, though most service charges have certain upper limits, clients like Sharma mistake it for free and, hence, are caught unawares when charged. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) too, has left it to the discretion of individual banks to levy their own rates for the services they provide.
HDFC Bank spokesperson said, the most commonly misinterpreted debit charge is the debit card charges.
"People feel that like our credit card, which is free for life, even the debit card is free. They are surprised when they are charged the annual fee," he said.
The customer is informed of the charges at the time of filling up the application, the spokesperson said. Not just that, customers are regularly informed of all the charges through the services & fees brochure as well as posters at the branches and the bank's website, he added.
Private banks generally have cheque book issuance limit of 25 leaves per quarter.
An additional cheque book of 25 leaves is charged at Rs 50 per book. Some banks charge an additional Rs 5 per leaf for non- maintenance of the minimum balance.
Most banks permit five free transactions per customer per month. Additional transactions are charged at Rs 100.
While each bank maintains a minimum cash balance in savings accounts it differs across banks and regions.
Private banks insist on maintaining minimum balances of Rs 10,000- 25,000 in urban areas but in semi- urban or rural areas it is Rs 5,000. The client is charged Rs 750 per quarter for non- maintenance of minimum balance. In public sector banks, the minimum balance is between Rs 500- 5,000.
Sudhir Kumar Jain, general manager (retail), Dena Bank said the rules regarding free limits to debit entries are fixed by RBI. "Public sector banks are a lot lenient and most of the service charges are posted on their websites," he said.
According to Ramesh Bhojwani, a Mumbai- based investment consultant, most customers do not go through the documents that the bank gives them at the time of opening the account.
"Also, most are not even aware of the free limits to their debit entries. So, once they pass the upper limit, they could be charged for even checking the account balance at another different bank's ATM," he said.
Banks, too, do not take any initiative to inform customers about the various charges, Bhojwani said. "When the minimum balance regulation was to be initiated, most of the customers did not get any communication. It was only after deduction of the penalty of Rs 750, three months later, that customers realised something was wrong," he said.
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