Here's how to get back unclaimed money from inoperative bank accounts

Public sector banks (PSBs) have transferred unclaimed deposits around Rs 35,000 crore to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as of the end of February 2023, according to a statement made on Monday in Parliament,  These deposits had been inactive for 10 years or more and were associated with 10.24 crore accounts,

According to rules, if a bank account remains inactive for 10 years, money gets transferred to the RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund every month. The important point to note here is the unclaimed money earns interest at rates specified by the RBI, not at the rate at which the deposit was made.

How to know if you have unclaimed money and how to reclaim it?

Now if you want to find out if you have any unclaimed money then the process is not very complicated. This is because according to the RBI regulations, every bank needs to display details of unclaimed accounts on their website. You just need to type the name of the person along with other details such as an address, pin code or phone number to find out if any unclaimed amount is lying with the bank. 

If the name exists on the list, then to claim the funds you need to contact the home branch and fill out a claim form, provide deposit receipts, and furnish Know Your Customer (KYC) documents. In case you are a legal heir or a nominee, a copy of the account holder's death certificate is also needed to be provided to the bank. The bank will then verify the authenticity of the claim before releasing the payment. Once the bank has paid the customer, it will submit a claim to the RBI at the end of the month to receive a refund from the DEA fund.

So, if you have any unclaimed money take the first step by checking details on the website of the bank.

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