With the launch of the card-cutting action, financial institutions are increasing their efforts to manage personal accounts. Recently, Construction Bank, CITIC Bank, Post and Reserve Bank and many other banks have issued announcements to clean up abnormal accounts, some “sleeping accounts” with no transactions and no funds for a long time, as well as excessive accounts under the same customer’s name, will be cancelled by the banks.
A number of banks have taken action to write off “sleeping accounts”
According to the “Announcement on Cleaning Long-term Inactive Personal Bank Accounts” released on January 5 on the official website of Construction Bank, as of October 31, 2020, debit cards, quasi-credit cards and demand passbook accounts with no active transactions such as cash deposits, withdrawals and transfers for more than three consecutive years (including three years) and zero account balance, and no contractual relationships such as credit card repayments or personal loan repayments, are within the scope of cleaning.
At the same time, the announcement said that if they wish to continue using them, cardholders can go to any branch of the bank for activation procedures with their bank cards or passbooks and valid identity documents before January 20, 2021; if the accounts that meet the above-mentioned cancellation conditions are not activated, the bank will cancel the eligible long-term inactive personal bank accounts in accordance with the announcement.
The reporter noted that more than one bank has recently issued similar announcements.
CITIC Bank also recently issued an announcement that it will, starting from January 8, 2021, launch a clean-up exercise for personal settlement accounts with account balances below RMB10 (inclusive) and accounts that have not had any non-interest-bearing transactions for more than two consecutive years (inclusive) as of the end of October each year. The same customer holding one hundred or more normal or inactive personal settlement accounts with CITIC Bank will also be restricted from trading.
Subsequently, the bank will clean up accounts that meet the above criteria and restrict their trading functions in the fourth quarter of each year (including 2021).
Postal Savings Bank also issued an “Announcement on the Cleanup of Personal Stock of Abnormal Accounts” on December 29 last year, which will gradually clean up the number of personal settlement accounts in excess of the standard (i.e. 1 Class I account, 5 Class II accounts and 5 Class III accounts) under the same customer’s name in batches by June 30, 2021 (inclusive). If an account has the above-mentioned situation, I will go to any branch of the bank as soon as possible with a valid real-name document for registration of reasonableness, downgrading as well as account cancellation processing. The bank will restrict financial services for accounts that are not cleaned up after the deadline.
Sword pointing to prevent the risk of telecom fraud
Currently, in order to crack down on illegal trafficking of cell phone cards and bank cards, a nationwide “card-breaking action” was launched in October 2020 to crack down on illegal trafficking of phone cards and bank cards and cut off the chain of buying and selling phone cards and bank cards. In the card-breaking action, banks also speed up the cleaning of abnormal bank accounts.
Some bank sources said that bank card trafficking is one of the main reasons for the high incidence of telecom network fraud, as the first line of defense for bank accounts, major banks are now also implementing the relevant requirements of the People’s Bank to combat telecom network fraud.
The reporter noted that the announcement, Postbank and CITIC Bank both made it clear that the clean-up operation is to strengthen account management and prevent the risk of telecom fraud.
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In fact, banks have been cleaning up “sleeping accounts” for years. According to the central bank, since December 1, 2016, the same customer can only open a class I account bank card in the same bank, and if there is already a class I account bank card, then only a class II or III account bank card can be opened when opening another account. Subsequently, cleaning up personal long-term immobile accounts has become the focus of many banks. Agricultural Bank, Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, Huaxia Bank and other banks have also issued similar notices to clean up the situation where the same depositor has opened a large number of accounts. In addition, in addition to the increased efforts to clean up personal bank accounts, banks are also increasing the rectification of public accounts.
The Analysis Report on China’s Financial Inclusion Indicators (2019) released by the Central Bank shows that by the end of 2019, the country had 8.06 bank accounts per capita, up 11.63% year-on-year, and 6.01 bank cards per capita, up 10.48% year-on-year.
Although the number of accounts per capita has increased, some of them have become sleep accounts, making it difficult to be used effectively, and even allowing lawless elements to take advantage of the situation and try to make illegal transactions through bank accounts to gain improper benefits.
Bankers suggest that cardholders must manage and protect their bank cards, and can clean up their accounts on their own. For bank cards that are indeed no longer in use, they can take the initiative to cancel them, so that unused bank cards are not used by unscrupulous elements and bring unnecessary risks. Most banks have now supported the cancellation of bank cards at off-site outlets.
It should be especially emphasized that you should never rent, sell or lend your bank card or payment account.
For those who do not want their bank cards to be frozen, they will not be considered as “sleeping accounts” as long as they conduct a business or make a transfer through any channel such as ATM, online banking or mobile banking every year.
Link: What is the difference between the three types of bank accounts?
Since December 1, 2016, bank accounts have been divided into Category I, Category II and Category III, with different categories and different functions.
Category I account is a full-function bank settlement account, which must be opened at the counter or through bank self-help machines after face-to-face identity checks by bank staff on site. Depositors can handle all financial services such as deposits, purchase of financial products such as wealth management products, cash withdrawals, transfers, consumption and bill payments through Category I accounts, without limits.
Type II account can handle deposits, purchase financial products such as investment and wealth management products, limit consumption and bill payment, limit transfer of funds to non-binding accounts business. By the bank staff face-to-face confirmation of identity, Class II accounts can also handle access to cash, non-binding account funds transfer business, can be issued a physical bank card card. Among them, the cumulative daily limit for transferring funds and depositing cash to unbound accounts is 10,000 yuan and the cumulative annual limit is 200,000 yuan; the cumulative daily limit for consumption and bill payment, transferring funds to unbound accounts and taking out cash is 10,000 yuan and the cumulative annual limit is 200,000 yuan.
Class III account has the least authority and can only handle limited consumption and bill payment, and limited transfer of funds to non-binding accounts. By the bank counter, self-service equipment and bank staff on-site face-to-face confirmation of identity, Class III accounts can also handle non-binding account funds transfer business. Among them, the account balance of Class III account shall not exceed 1000 yuan; the cumulative daily limit of unbound account fund transfer is 5000 yuan, and the cumulative annual limit is 100,000 yuan; the cumulative daily limit of consumption and bill payment, fund transfer to unbound account is 5000 yuan, and the cumulative annual limit is 100,000 yuan.
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