ICICI Bank vs SBI: Children’s Savings Accounts

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

ICICI Bank has two dedicated children’s accounts called the Young Stars Account and Smart Star Savings Account. SBI also offers two children’s savings accounts, Pehla Kadam and Pehli Udaan.

Children’s Savings Accounts from ICICI Bank

India’s second largest private sector bank offers two dedicated children’s accounts called the Young Stars Account and Smart Star Savings Account.

Young Stars Account

The account can be opened by a parent or guardian for the child who is between the ages of 1 day old and 18 years

Features

  • The children get a debit card with per day limit of 2,500 for ATM and POS transactions (A caveat here: the wording on the site is not clear if the limit is Rs. 2,500 or Rs. 5,000 but the FAQs section of the account puts the limit as Rs. 2,500 (for withdrawal and spends?)
  • The Young Star – Minor Under Guardianship Account has no transaction limit
  • The card has a Zero Liability feature that protects against unauthorised transactions if the card is lost or misplaced provided the same is communicated to the bank within 15 days
  • Kids can earn 1 reward point for every Rs. 200 spent on the card
  • The minimum monthly average balance needed for the Young Stars Account is Rs. 2,500. The charges in case of non-maintenance of this minimum amount is 5% of the shortfall
  • Parents can put in standing instructions to debit money directly from their account to the kid’s account
  • The account has a Money Multiplier facility or the sweep in-sweep out option to put the money in a fixed deposit if the amount crosses a certain limit

Smart Star Savings Account

The account is available for kids above 10 years and up to 18 years of age to open and operate independently on their own. It comes in two options. More on the second point in the features below. Most of the features and fees and charges are same as the Young Stars Account

Features

  • The account comes in two variants – with guardian consent and without guardian consent. In the former case, the account will have a limit of Rs. 2 lakh on debit transaction every fiscal. If the account does not have guardian consent, this limit is Rs. 50,000
  • Accountholders get a debit card with per day limit of 5,000 each for ATM and POS transactions
  • As with Young Stars Account, the card for Smart Star Savings Account has the Zero Liability feature that insures against unauthorised transactions if the card is lost, stolen or misplaced if the bank is told of the same within 15 days
  • Even here, the child earns 1 reward point for every Rs. 200 spent through the card
  • The minimum monthly average balance is also same at Rs. 2,500 and so are the fees for non-maintenance of this minimum amount

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

  • ICICI Bank Website: www.icicibank.com
  • Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
  • Call Centre Number: 1800 200 3344, 1800-103-8181 (Private Banking). Has specific number for different cities
  • 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)