Intro
Hello everyone. What are the benefits of India Post’s Digi Smart Zero Balance Savings Account? What kind of charges will you have to pay if you open this account for those benefits? Is it okay to use this account by paying such charges or not? In my opinion, can we open this account online, or can we open this account by visiting the post office? I am going to share the complete details about this account with you through this post.
Online or Offline Account?
As for this Digi Smart Savings Account, you don’t need to go to the post office to open it. You can open this account yourself using this app online. To open this account, you must be above 18 years of age. You must have both an Aadhaar card and a PAN card. Your Aadhaar card must be linked to your mobile number. If you have this, you can open this account online. However, they have given a few restrictions to this online account. I will tell you about that later. Before that, let’s first see what benefits they have given in this account.
Minimum Balance
As for this Digi Smart Savings Account, it is a zero balance account, so there is no such requirement that you always maintain a certain minimum amount in this account. You can maintain this account even with a zero balance.
Debit Card
If you need it, you can buy a virtual debit card for that account by paying for it. They say that they will also give you some cashback for the transactions that you can make using this card.
Cashback
They say that you will get ₹10 as cashback for the first payment that you can make using this debit card within 90 days of opening this account. Not only that, but they also say that they will give you ₹5 as cashback every month when you pay your electricity bill.
Interest
They say that you will get 2% interest per year on the money you maintain in this account. Not only that, but the amount you can hold in this account at any time should not be more than ₹1 lakh.
Maximum Balance Limit
They say that you can hold only up to ₹1 lakh at the end of the day. After opening this account, you can deposit your money in this account through many methods like UPI, IMPS, and NEFT. When you make such a deposit, they also say that you can only deposit a maximum of ₹2 lakh in this account per year.
Use of IPPB DigiSmart Account
If you are wondering what this account is for, if you already have an account with the post office, or if you have joined any scheme with the post office like FD, RD, or Selvamagal Savings Scheme and transferred the amount for that scheme, then you can do all that by visiting the post office. But if you have this account, then you can transfer all those payments online using this account.
Bill Payment Limit
Not only that, you can also make bill payments like online stores and recharges using this account. They have given a limit for all this. They have also said that you can make a maximum of ₹10,000 in a month for this type of transaction.
Charges
These are all the benefits that can be had in this account. Let’s see what kind of charges you will have to pay if you open this account for these benefits.
Account Opening Charges
They have said that they charge a subscription fee of ₹149 just to open this account. After opening the account, they will say that you have to make an initial minimum deposit of ₹200. They have also said that they will charge this ₹149 subscription fee from that ₹200 that you can deposit.
Virtual Debit Card Fee
If you want a virtual debit card for this account, you can get it by paying ₹25. They will not give you a physical debit card for this Digi Smart Account either.
SMS Alert Fee
They also charge for the SMS alerts that you receive when you make transactions using this account. They have said that they will charge 25 paise per SMS. They have also mentioned that we will collect charges for these SMS alerts up to a maximum of ₹100 per quarter.
Account Upgrade
They will ask you for minimal details to open this account. That is why they have given a lot of restrictions on this account and have given a very low transaction limit. If you want a higher transaction limit, then you have to complete the full KYC and upgrade this account.
Full KYC Methods
They provide two options to complete this full KYC. One is to visit the post office directly and complete the full KYC. Otherwise, they had said that they have a doorstep service to complete the full KYC of this account. I also inquired about this option at our location, and they ended up saying that you would be the only one who would come directly.
Account Closure
Why, you have to visit the post office and complete this full KYC within a year of opening this Digi Smart account. If you have not completed it, then they have said that not only will your account be closed but also an account closure charge of ₹150 will be charged.
Must Upgrade?
So, if you have opened this account online, and within a year of opening the account, if you already have an account with the post office, then ask them to merge that account with this one. If you do not already have any post office account, you can continue to use the same account even after a year by completing full KYC, and the account will not be closed.
Whether it is the restrictions that may be in this account or the transaction limit, if you feel that all this is insufficient, you can also upgrade this account to a premium savings account. If you complete full KYC in this way and upgrade to a premium savings account, you do not need to pay the charges for opening a premium savings account. Because you already paid the subscription fee when you opened this account.
But, for the Premium Savings Account, it will be like paying ₹99 as an annual fee from the second year onwards. Be it the transaction limit orthe charges, all this is a little different for the Premium Savings Account. In this regard, if you want a video in detail, let me know, and I will post a video dedicated to the Premium Savings Account.
Who Can Open This Account
Now, I am sharing my opinion with you on who this Digi Smart Zero Balance Savings Account is for. If you already have a post office account or have joined any post office scheme like FD, RD, or Selvamagal Savings Scheme, instead of making all the payments by visiting the post office, you can use this account and make transactions online yourself.
You may not have any connection with the post office. If you had that idea that you can open this account only for the digital zero balance savings account, then even if you open this account, it will be like visiting the branch to complete the full KYC. Otherwise, until they bring the video KYC option, many banks are ready to provide you with an account through complete video KYC rather than opening this account yourself. If you open the account through that, you will get a higher transaction limit, and you will also get a physical debit card.
Power of Indian Postal Department
After listening to all the things I have said, don’t think that the savings account of the post office is a dummy account. If you ask your mother, father, or grandmother about this account, they will tell you more than what I have said. Because our postal department is the one that has been providing the best services, like money orders and so on. Those who were like that have been providing digital payment services for the past few years, so I hope they will soon fix all the problems and provide a great service.
Even now, be it mountainous areas or rural areas, there will be a post office, whether there is a bank or not. Even in places where there is no post office, many people use the doorstep service through the postman and use this post office savings account. So this is the best account for those who live in such areas.
If you have already used this account, then if you share your experience in the comments, it will be useful for many people. See?