If you recall, it was only a few months back that bank locker holders were asked to sign revised locker agreements. Now, banks are reaching out to their locker holders, even those who had complied with this requirement, once again. Why is that?
Moneycontrol spoke with Puneet Kapoor, President - Products, Alternate, Channels and Customer Experience Delivery, Kotak Mahindra Bank on what the revised locker agreements mean for bank locker holders. He also talks about what happens if your locker remains unused for one year.
Providing some background on the issue of revised agreements, Kapoor says it all started with a bank inadvertently opening a customer’s locker and the matter reaching the Supreme Court which then advised the RBI to frame a model locker agreement that served both the customer and the bank well.
Following this, the Indian Banks’ Association shared a draft agreement that was adopted by all the banks in January 2022. Subsequently, following another directive a few other clauses were added and a revised version was shared with the banks in February 2023. So, even if a customer had signed the revised agreement the first time, he/she would have had to sign this again following the addition of new clauses.
Here are a few important points that he highlighted.
1. Signing the revised locker agreement – For this, you have to visit the bank branch where you have the locker. According to Kapoor, banks are exploring the option of how e-signing of locker agreement can be done. To help joint holders in different cities, banks are getting the different city branches to obtain the respective signatures and then having them collated at the customer’s home branch. For senior citizens, bank officers are being sent home to take signatures.
2. Greater safety for bank lockers – Under the revised agreement, banks will now be held liable for loss of your locker items in case of any negligence on their part. The only exceptions are loss dues to natural calamities, civil disturbances, riots, war or terrorist attack. Banks will also be held liable for any loss due to fire. Earlier ‘fire’ was under the list of exemptions for bank liability.
3. Extent of bank’s liability – in case of negligence, the bank can be held responsible for up to 100 times the annual locker rent as per the revised agreement.
4. June 30, 2023 – Banks are asking their customers to sign the revised locker agreement by this date.
5. How banks deduct locker rent – if the customer has a bank account, then based on a standing instruction this gets deducted at the beginning of the fiscal year.
6. Banks can ask for a fixed deposit – where the locker holder does not have a savings account, the bank is permitted to take an advance equivalent to three years of rent and charges for breaking open a locker (in case such an event happens) by way of a fixed deposit.
7. What happens if the locker remains unused for one year – the bank has to send reminder messages to the customer. If the customer still does not operate the locker, after giving due notice to him, the bank can break open the locker, secure the assets, if any, and then put that locker to use again.
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