HDFC Bank vs SBI: Children’s Savings Accounts

HDFC Bank vs State Bank of India: Children’s Savings Accounts

HDFC Bank offers a dedicated children’s savings account called Kids Advantage Account. SBI offers two children’s savings accounts, Pehla Kadam and Pehli Udaan.

Children’s Savings Accounts from HDFC Bank

HDFC Bank, the largest private sector bank in the country in terms of market capitalisation as of September 2019, offers a dedicated children’s savings account called Kids Advantage Account.

Kids Advantage Account

The primary aim of the account is to help build a corpus for the child for her future financial needs.

Features

  • The account is available for every child up to the age of 18 years
  • The bank mandates a minimum average monthly balance of Rs. 5,000 below which it charges service fees. The service fee is Rs. Rs. 150 in case the balance is between Rs. 2,500 and Rs. 5,000, and Rs. 300 in case the balance is less than Rs. 2,500
  • Minors above the age of 10 years can open and operate the account on their own
  • HDFC Bank requires the parent or guardian to have a savings account with the bank before they can open a Kids Advantage Account
  • The international ATM-cum-Debit card debit card comes with a Rs. 2,500 ATM withdrawal limit and Rs. 10,000 POS limit per day
  • HDFC Bank also offers an education insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh for the child in case the parent or guardian passes away in a road, rail or air accident
  • Its MoneyMaximizer option allows the accountholder to agree to a sweep-out option. Under this when the account reaches or crosses Rs. 35,000, any sum in excess of Rs. 25,000 is automatically transferred to a fixed deposit for 1 year and 1 day
  • The accountholders get a free payable at par chequebook of 25 leaves at the time of account opening and every year thereafter
  • The account comes with free net, phone and SMS banking facilities

Children’s Savings Accounts from State Bank of India

Pehla Kadam

This account is meant for all children and may be opened jointly with a parent or guardian.

Features

  • There are no minimum balance requirements in this account
  • There is a limit of Rs. 5,000 on daily transactions. Transactions such as bill payments, prepaid mobile top-ups have a limit of Rs. 2,000 within the Rs. 5,000 limit
  • SBI offers an auto-sweep option with this account called SBI Multi Option Deposit Scheme (MODS). If the accountholders opt for this, then any amount above Rs. 20,000 in the account is put in a term deposit. The MOD is initially for a sum of Rs. 10,000 and in Rs. 1,000 multiples thereafter. As is common for banks, there is no clarity on the website if the auto-sweep facility kicks in if the account has a balance of Rs. 30,000
  • There is a cap of Rs. 10 lakh on the maximum balance in a Pehla Kadam account
  • The kid is eligible to get a specially branded chequebook and passbook, and also a personalised debit card with her own photo

Note: The links to specific accounts may not work. The above data was taken from internet searches. We have put the links here in the hope that they work some day. Even the WayBack Machine shows an error when we tried to pull a page from July 5, 2017.

Pehli Udaan

The account is meant for kids above 10 years of age. They are allowed to open and operate the account on their own.

Features

  • As mentioned, any child above the age of 10 years who can read and write, may open the account in her own name without the need for any parent or guardian
  • Except for the age criteria, the other features of the Pehli Udaan account are same as for the Pehla Kadam account

Reference Facts

  • HDFC Bank Website: www.hdfcbank.com
  • Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
  • Call Centre Number: 1800 258 3838
  • State Bank of India Website: https://sbi.co.in and www.onlinesbi.com (net banking)
  • Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
  • Call Centre Number: 1800 425 3800, 1800 112 211, 1800 110 009 (pensioners only)