Penalty Charges Levied By Top Banks For Non-Maintenance Of Minimum Balance

Most banks in the country charge their customers a penalty fee for non-maintenance of monthly average balance (MAB) in their savings accounts. Monthly Average Balance (MAB) is the sum of all the end of day (EOD) closing balance divided by the number of days in that month. These penalty charges levied by lenders for keeping insufficient bank balance in regular savings account depends on multiple factors, such as the location of bank branch and the degree of shortfall, meaning how far the actual bank balance is from the required average.

Given below are the MAB requirements and penalty charges levied for non-maintenance of MAB by SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Canara Bank:

State Bank of India (SBI)

Customers with a regular savings account in SBI branches located in metro and urban areas are required to maintain a monthly average balance of Rs 3,000, according to the bank's website - sbi.co.in. Customers with accounts in semi-urban branches and rural branches are required to maintain an MAB of Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000 respectively.

Customers failing to meet the MAB requirements have to bear the following penalty charges:

(As mentioned on SBI's official website)

HDFC Bank

Customers with a regular savings account in HDFC branches located in metro and urban areas need to maintain a monthly average balance of Rs 10,000. Customers with accounts in semi-urban branches and rural branches are required to maintain an MAB of Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,500 respectively, according to the bank's website - hdfcbank.com.

Customers failing to meet the MAB requirements have to bear the following penalty charges:

(As mentioned on Canara Bank's official website)

However, there are certain accounts where MAB rules are not applicable. These accounts are called as zero balance savings accounts.