Banking: Prashant Joshi

Can I cancel a demand draft (DD) whose validity has expired? I was supposed to fill a form and submit the DD along with it. However, the last date for submission went by and the DD remained unused. What is the procedure to cancel it? Will I require any document? I have misplaced the payment receipt given with the DD.
If the DD has expired, surrender the same to the issuing bank. The bank will cancel and reissue another one. Normally, if the expired DD is given back, nothing is charged for cancellation and reissuance. However, charges may differ from bank to bank; you should check with your bank.

 

I have a savings bank account with an institution for the past six years. On opening the account, the bank provided me an ATM card free of cost. Recently, they started charging some annual fees. How can a bank start charging for the card all of a sudden?
Normally, banks intimate customers about changes in service charges, either through statements, emails, SMS alerts or their websites. You may have received some communication through any of the channels mentioned above. Contact your bank and check if such an intimation was sent.

While filing returns, I gave my salary account details. I am expecting a refund from the Income Tax Department. What will happen if I quit this job and close the salary account?
Any fund transfer request made by the Income Tax Department will be returned by the bank if the account does not exist. Provide details of your other accounts to the Income Tax Department, as refunds are always directly credited to the tax-payer’s account.

Are there any rules and regulations that specify the time-frame within which banks should process cheques (local and outstation)? If yes, what can a customer do if a bank takes more than the specified time?
Yes, normally all banks have a cheque collection policy that clearly stipulates the turn-around time for processing local and outstation cheques. If a bank takes more than the specified time, it needs to pay interest similar to the savings bank rate, or term deposit rate, or even more, depending on the number of days by which the credit has been delayed.

Is it possible to give standing instruction to a bank to deduct a particular amount regularly from the savings account and deposit it in a public provident fund account (PPF)? Also, can I transfer money to a PPF account online?
State Bank of India branches, select branches of nationalised banks and some private sector banks offer PPF accounts. Some of these banks also offer the facility of online money transfer to the PPF account or setting up a standing instruction. Contact your bank and link your PPF account to your online savings account. The bank will give you further details about the exact process.

The writer is MD & head, private & business clients (India), Deutsche Bank. Send

your queries at yourmoney@bsmail.in