Introduction

The common man will soon be able to check unclaimed money at banks using a centralized platform. This is due to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das's announcement on Thursday that the central bank has decided to establish a site for checking unclaimed money across banks.  

Currently, if anyone wants to find out if you have any unclaimed money, you must visit each bank's website. To find out if there is any unclaimed money at that bank, enter the person's name along with any information such as an address, pin code, or phone number. The shared interface will now allow you to check such amounts across all banks in a single transaction. 

According to a recent notification made in Parliament, public sector banks have remitted roughly Rs 35,000 crore in unclaimed deposits to the Reserve Bank. These deposits, which had been idle for at least ten years and were linked to 10.24 crore accounts, were handed to the RBI at the end of February 2023.

Every month, money is transferred to the RBI's Depositor Education and Awareness (DEA) Fund if a bank account remains dormant for ten years. The crucial thing to remember here is that unclaimed money receives interest at the RBI-specified rates, not the rate at which the deposit was made.

How to Reclaim the Amount? 

Here is the detailed process for reclaiming the amount. 

• If your name appears on the list, you must call the Home Branch and fill out a claim form, submit deposit receipts, and provide Know Your Customer (KYC) papers in order to claim the monies.

• If you are a legal heir or a nominee, you must additionally give a copy of the account holder's death certificate to the bank. 

• The bank will next verify the claim's legitimacy before issuing the amount. 

• Once the consumer has been paid, the bank will submit a claim to the RBI at the end of the month in order to get a refund from the DEA fund. 

Conclusion

A portal to check the unclaimed funds by a common man. A person who wants to claim an amount can directly visit the portal get their documentation done and can claim an amount. This new initiative will help lakhs of people whose relatives' money has been kept idle in the banks. This is good news for many people who are unable to get their money claimed.