A Complete Guide to Savings Account

Most Indians are familiar with bank accounts, and most of you will have a saving account. Let’s look at saving account meaning, how you can open one and make the best of it in this complete guide to savings account.

Banks have many types of savings accounts, the main ones being current account and saving account. The saving account definition should give you some indication about what it’s all about – it’s about saving. There are finer differences between Savings Account and Current Account. Of course, there’s more to a saving account that just that. So let’s find out what is a saving account benefits and features.

What Is Savings Account

A saving account is meant for individuals and salaried people to meet their personal requirements. The main function is to ensure liquidity. It enables you to make and receive payments. For example, you deposit the cheques you receive in your saving account and use the account to make payments. And when you need cash to meet your day-to-day requirements, you just withdraw it from your savings account.

Most banks today offer Mobile and Internet banking, so the process of making and receiving payments has become so much easier. You hardly need to visit the bank branch to make any transactions. You can withdraw cash from an ATM, can transfer funds online to pay bills, make purchases, send money to your family in another city etc.

So the saving account includes liquidity and saving. But the emphasis is more on liquidity. Sure, your saving account does offer you interest on the balances you keep in it. But these are on the lower side, ranging from 3-6 percent. This will not cover even the inflation rate, and the real value of your money will diminish if you keep it in a savings account for a long time. But then, a savings account is very liquid, and there are costs involved in that.

If you want to keep funds for a longer time, it’s better to switch over to a fixed deposit, which offers a much higher interest rate. Some banks offer a sweep-in facility where money above a certain limit in your savings account will be automatically transferred to a fixed deposit.

Most banks require you to keep a minimum balance in your savings account. However, there are no-frills accounts that enable you keep zero balance in your account.

In recent times, banks have differentiated their savings account offerings so that the savings bank account meaning seems to have undergone a change. Many of us don’t know what is a zero balance savings account that allows you to keep your account clean as a whistle. A salary account enables an employer to disburse salaries to employees quickly and efficiently. And there are savings accounts that are meant especially. Despite the difference between salary account and savings account, we can also find many similarities between them.

Benefits Of Savings Account

Enables you to keep your cash safe.

Enables easy payments and receipts.

Idle cash earns interest.

Easy to operate.

Network of ATMs make it easier to withdraw cash.

Online banking enables easy payment of bills and fund transfer.

How To Open A Savings Account

In recent years, banks have simplified the account opening process, so that it can be done quickly and efficiently. In fact, some banks even send their representatives over to your home, so that you can know how to open a savings account without ever visiting the bank branch. Here’s what you need to open a savings bank account:

Proof of identity, like Aadhaar card or PAN card.

Proof of address, like passport, Aadhaar card, driving licence or voter card.

Passport-size photographs.