Are You a Senior Citizen? Here’s how Door-step Banking Will Help You

The RBI had earlier advised the banks to make concerted efforts to offer certain basic banking services to senior citizens of more than 70 years of age and differently-abled persons at the doorstep of such customers. However, this facility was restricted only to the Scheduled Commercial Banks, Payments Banks, Small Finance Banks, and Local Area Banks.

Most senior citizens of more than 70 years of age still prefer to invest in Fixed Deposits as it is considered a less risky option than any other investment avenue. Since the Co-operative Banks generally offer higher interest rates on bank FDs compared to other banks, many senior citizen customers hold their primary Savings Accounts in cooperative banks. Besides, although more and more customers are moving to online banking, the majority of senior citizen customers still prefer to transact offline. Hence, this step taken by the RBI will prove to be beneficial for the senior citizen customers along with boosting the cooperative banks.

The RBI circular said, "In order to attain harmonization of the regulatory framework across REs and to provide the convenience of banking services to the customers at their doorstep, it has been decided to permit UCBs to extend doorstep banking services to their customers on par with scheduled commercial banks. A detailed circular will be issued separately."

The RBI had earlier advised banks to make concerted efforts to offer certain basic banking services to senior citizens of more than 70 years of age and differently-abled persons at the doorstep of such customers. To make the door-step banking service effective, the banks are mandated to develop a Board approved framework for determining the nature of branches where these services will be provided mandatorily and those where they will be provided on a best effort basis and make the policy public. The list of branches offering such doorstep banking services is displayed and updated on the bank's website regularly. Banks need to give adequate publicity to the availability of these services in their public awareness campaigns. The charges, in this regard, also need to be prominently indicated in brochures and published on their websites. Furthermore, the progress made in this regard should be reported to the Customer Service Committee every quarter. Since the co-operative banks have been permitted to offer door-step banking services on par with the scheduled commercial banks, the same rules could be applicable to them. We will have better clarity on this once the detailed circular is issued.

Join Now: PersonalFN is now on Telegram. Join FREE Today to get 'Daily Wealth Letter' and Exclusive Updates on Mutual Funds

Here are the services generally offered under the door-step banking facility:

• Cash pickup

• Cash delivery (withdrawal)

• Cheque, draft, pay order, fund transfer cheque pickup

• Draft delivery

• Cheque requisition slip pickup

• Form 15H pickup

• Term Deposit Advice delivery

• KYC documents pickup

• Life Certificate pickup

Here are the eligibility criteria for availing of door-step banking service:

• Senior citizen of more than 70 years of age

• Differently abled or infirm persons (who have medically certified illness or disability)

• Visually impaired persons

Here's are the key features of the door-step banking facility:

• In order to avail of the door-step banking facility most banks ask for the one-time registration at the home branch. However, some private sector banks allow you to avail of the service without any registration.

• The facility is offered on all days, except on bank holidays.

• Some banks require you to call on their Customer Service Number to avail the facility, whereas other banks need you to contact the home branch as the facility is offered only through the home branch.

• The KYC non-compliant account holders cannot avail of the facility.

• You can avail of the facility only if your account is in active status. If the account is frozen or inactive, you cannot avail of the facility.

To Conclude:

If you are a senior citizen or differently-abled person who has an account in a co-operative bank and prefer to transact offline, the step taken by the RBI to permit urban co-operative banks to offer door-step banking facility will be beneficial to you as it will make your banking more accessible and convenient. However, the central bank is yet to circulate the complete details. Once the co-operative banks start offering the service, you should check on the bank website whether the facility is available in your location along with the related terms and conditions.

Warm Regards,
Ketki Jadhav
Content Writer