No Govt Bank Will Charge You For Cash Withdrawal, Deposit; Private Banks Allowed To Charge Extra

It hasn’t even been two days since the Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank announced that they will be levying extra charges on cash withdrawals and deposits, and now, the Ministry of Finance has issued a “factual position.”

In this, the government has announced that no extra charges will be levied by the PSBs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, private banks are free to charge extra money for the transactions conducted with them.

Read on to find out all the details!

Bank Of Baroda And Other PSUs Withdraw Changes Of Extra Charges For Cash Deposit, Withdrawal

The Bank of Baroda had very recently announced that extra charges will be applicable to the customers who cross their monthly limits of transactions. However, the Finance Ministry has announced that no service charges will be levied on the customers.

As per the statement issued by the Ministry of Finance, “No service charge is applicable on the 60.04 crore Basic Savings Bank Deposit accounts, including 41.13 crore Jan Dhan accounts opened by the poor and unbanked segments of society, for the free services prescribed by RBI.”

The statement also says, “Regular Savings accounts, Current Accounts, Cash credit accounts & Overdraft accounts: In this regard, while the charges have not been increased, Bank of Baroda had made certain changes w.e.f. 1st November, 2020, with regard to the number of free cash deposits and withdrawals per month. The number of free cash deposits and withdrawals, have been reduced from 5 each per month to 3 each per month, with no change in the charges for transactions in excess of these free transactions. Bank of Baroda has since informed that in the light of the current COVID related situation, they have decided to withdraw the changes. Further, no other PSB has increased such charges recently.”

Private Banks Free To Apply Extra Charges On Transactions?

The Bank of Baroda had announced that a fee of Rs. 50 will be applicable per deposit transaction if the number of deposits crosses three times in a month from the savings bank account in the metro urban areas. Also, the charges that will be applicable to withdrawal would be Rs. 125 per transaction after the first transaction. 

These charges were declared to be effective from November 1, 2020, but keeping in mind the COVID-19 pandemic, these changes have been withdrawn. 

Along with the Bank of Baroda, the Punjab National Bank, the ICICI Bank, the Axis Bank, and the Central Bank had also announced that they will be charging extra to the customers whose number of transactions exceeds their minimum limit, which is three for most banks. 

The ICICI Bank has announced that a convenience fee of Rs. 50 will be charged for money deposited during non-business hours and bank holidays at cash recyclers/cash acceptance machines. 

Whereas, the Axis Bank has announced convenience charges of Rs. 50 on cash deposit transactions done outside banking hours and on national and bank holidays.

However, there is no news about private banks withdrawing the changes, which leads us to think that private banks will be free to apply any extra fees for transactions.

We’ll keep you informed as we get any more updates!