Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Sunday, May 23, 2004 |
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Investment World
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Financial Services Money & Banking - Foreign Banks Columns - Banking Products Stanchart's `Parivaar' savings account Shanthi Venkataraman
The advantage of the product is that the quarterly minimum requirements can be met with the combined balance of the family members. So individuals can even get away with a zero balance account at no charge, provided the members together maintain the minimum balance. So also while withdrawing money.
Features
An account holder with the bank can open up to four savings accounts for his family members at no extra cost. These add-on accounts come with separate chequebooks and debit cards, giving the members the flexibility of operating their accounts, independent of the primary account holder. A minimum balance of Rs 25,000 per quarter is required to be maintained by the family as a whole. As an additional feature, the Bank also helps customers to invest through a Systematic Investment Plan. You can invest the money in your child's savings account in these plans. The direct debit facility saves you the trouble of writing out cheques or remembering payment dates. The primary account holder's account is linked to other member's accounts as well. So you can also direct the bank to periodically deposit money in your dependent's account. A primary account holder is also entitled to a hospitalisation cover of Rs 50,000, which is free for the first year.
Suitability
A Rs 25,000 per quarter minimum balance is certainly a demanding amount. On an average, for a family of five, each account holder has to maintain about Rs 6,000 And where there are minor children involved, this means a further burden on the earning members. But considering that the minimum balance that is demanded by the bank's aXcessPlus savings account is Rs 10,000, you may actually end up saving a few thousands. The main selling point is, of course, the clubbing of balances, which reduces the burden on some members. However, these days, maintaining balances have become less of a hassle owing to the ease of inter-bank fund transfers. At any point, you can quite easily transfer funds from a close family member's account to your own, if you find yourself unable to meet the minimum requirement. Clubbing of balances just saves you the hassle of doing even a fund transfer. The convenience of having all accounts of the family under one roof is another advantage. This makes it well suited for family businesses where transactions between accounts would be frequent. The transactions between accounts would take place far more quickly and smoothly.
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