Banks provide us with an excellent service, which is giving us the bank locker. It is a locker where you can keep all the valuables that you have like jewelry, money, and other metal ornaments.
The lockers are safe and have a heavy metal door to protect it from any theft. There is a particular type of process that you need to follow to have it.
How to open it in India?
It’s straightforward to have it in India as you need to have an account in the bank, and you should be capable of paying the locker’s annual rent.
Here are some rules and regulations for having it that you can go through:
A saving account with the bank where you want to have your bank locker:
It is the most important step to have a bank locker as you need to have a savings account in the bank to have the locker.
There is a set of official documents that you need to have for the savings account and then the locker.
Agreement:
Every bank has its own agreement, which you need to read and sign before getting your own locker. There are various clauses and a stamp, which therefore clarifies that you can have a bank account.
Annual rent in advance and deposit money:
The banks ask you to pay advance and some deposit money in advance for the locker. This is like locker rent, which every bank around the world if you want to hold the bank.
Bank locker rules and regulations:
What is a locker service?
A locker is a safe space where you can keep your valuable jewelry in exchange for paying an annual fee and the doors of the lockers are made with heavy metal for safety.
Why would you want it?
Some of you might wonder why people would want to keep their valuables in theminstead of keeping it in the home safe?
It is simply because the bank’s lockers are heavily guarded, and the protection that they provide is not similar to the one that you get with the home safe.
When you pay fees for the locker, are you hiring it or leasing it?
It is none of the above because when you take a locker at the bank, then the relationship between you and the bank is of bailor and bailee.
A bailor is someone who gives his good to the bailee. So if you take up the locker, your valuables are in the bank’s possession, but you can always retain the ownership.
How many keys do you get for the bank locker key?
The bank will only issue one key to you for your locker. The key is an essential part of the agreement, and it is important to keep it safe.
What happens if you lose the key?
If this happens then, the bank has to break the locker and recover the cost from the customer. A new locker is installed, and another set of keys is given to the customer.
What happens if a person sends a relative or a friend to operate the locker?
No matter who comes with the locker’s key, the bank only allows the owner to operate the bank and enter the locker room with the key.
So the other person won’t be allowed in the locker room to operate it.
Can you take a locker jointly with another known person?
Yes, you can request for a joint locker system with the bank.
RBI guidelines for bank locker system:
What is a locker agreement? Is it essential to sign one?
A bank locker agreement is an agreement between the bank and the person who is hiring the locker.
In this agreement, there are rules that the customer needs to sign in order to give assurance to the bank that they won’t store illegal stuff in the locker.
The agreement varies from different banks. It is a mandatory thing that you need to go through before getting a locker in the bank.
Can a nominee be appointed for the bank?
Yes, but you can only appoint one nominee for it.
Is it important to purchase a fixed deposit or insurance for the locker?
As per the guidelines from RBI, banks cannot force the customers to purchase a fixed account before getting a locker because it totally depends on their wish.
Banks are allowed to take some amount of money as a deposit, which will cover three years of rent and costs of breaking the locker open. So, the customer can take this in the form of a fixed deposit because it will also help them in earning interests.
There is no sort of insurance compulsory before you move forward to open a locker in the bank.
What if there is a case of robbery in the bank? Are the banks liable for theft in it?
Source: AnarchakRBI made it clear that the banks won’t be liable for anything that happens in the locker like robbery or during the civil war.
The customers keep their valuables in the bank at their own risk, and if anything happens to the content of things in the locker, then the bank won’t be held responsible.
Is it safe to keep the jewelry in the bank?
Yes, it is absolutely safe to keep your jewelry in the bank, but remember that the bank won’t be liable if anything happens.
Can the bank close your locker due to inactivity even if the rent is paid?
If the locker you rented is lying vacant for a specified number of times like more than a year, the bank can break open the locker.
Even if you pay the rent of it regularly but do not operate it for a year or longer, then it can be broken by the bank.
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