If you are an NRI or a PIO, you must know the consequences of a dormant NRI bank account and how to activate a dormant account
A Non-Resident Indian (NRI) must follow various rules and regulations, predominantly under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the RBI to do banking in India. To comply with these rules and regulations, an NRI or a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) must open an NRI bank account in India, according to a report from connectedtoindia.com.
If you are an NRI or a PIO, you must know the consequences of a dormant NRI bank account and how to activate a dormant account.
First, what are the consequences of a dormant NRI bank account? These consequences include:
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Chequebooks and other deliverables will not be issued against a dormant account.
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Debit cards will not be renewed.
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Changes in correspondence information like address, phone, and email ID will not be possible.
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Transactions will not be possible through ATMs, internet banking and phone banking.
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Regular account-related charges may continue to be levied against the account.
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While the account will remain dormant for your use, there is always a risk of the account being misused for fraudulent purposes
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When you finally decide to use the account, you will have difficulty accessing it
A dormant NRI bank account can be of little or no practical use. So, if and when you discover that your account has become dormant, you must find out how to activate it.
What are the steps to activate a dormant NRI bank account?
While precise steps to reactivate dormant accounts may differ from one bank to another, a dormant account can be reactivated physically by submitting a dormant account activation request.
A request for account reactivation can be sent to the bank via email from the customer’s registered email ID to the bank’s official email ID. All account-related information has to be provided in the email. KYC details for activation of the dormant account along with a customer-induced transaction from the account has to be submitted too.
The account holder can call the customer care phone numbers of the bank to talk to a representative who can guide the reactivation process of the dormant account.
There are ways to avoid NRI bank account dormancy. An account is inactive if there are no customer-induced transactions for over 12 months. If the account remains inactive for another 12 months, it is considered as dormant. Being away from the homeland, you may forget you haven’t used your non-resident account for some time. Therefore, a dormant NRI bank account is a common problem and possibility for non-residents.
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