Indian Bank vs Union Bank of India: Children’s Savings Accounts

Indian Bank vs Union Bank of India: Children’s Savings Accounts

Indian Bank provides the IB Smart Kid SB Account for children and probably its standard savings account jointly with a parent or guardian. Union Bank of India does not offer dedicated children’s account but instead offers minors the chance to have an account through its Regular Savings Account and Union Family Savings Scheme products.

Children’s Savings Accounts from Indian Bank

The bank offers the IB Smart Kid SB Account for children and in all likelihood, its savings account also under the parent’s or guardian’s name as done by most banks though information on that is not clearly available in the website.

IB Smart Kid SB Account

The bank offers the IB Smart Kid SB Account for children who are only 1 day old to those below 18 years of age.

Features

  • The bank mandates a minimum average monthly balance of Rs. 100 for accounts without chequebooks and Rs. 250 for those that have chequebooks
  • Kids above 10 years are eligible to have their own debit card provided the parent or guardian agrees to the issue of the card
  • The child also gets access to the online account if the parent or guardian provides her consent
  • Interest is credited quarterly in the months of January, April, July and October

Children’s Savings Accounts from Union Bank of India

Union Bank does not offer a dedicated children’s account. However, minors can have accounts under its Regular Savings Account and Union Family Savings Scheme products. From a reading of the website, it seems minors can also open an account through parent or guardian under the Union Flexi Savings Deposit and Union Flexi Plus Savings Deposit schemes.

Regular Savings Account

The standard savings account from the bank.

Features

  • Can be opened by an individual for her child
  • Just like adults, the child is entitled to receive a free chequebook of 20 leaves every year
  • Allows students to keep the account with zero balance

Union Family Savings Scheme

A savings scheme under which up to 6 family members can open accounts.

Features

  • The average quarterly balance for the entire group is Rs. 1 lakh
  • Each account holder gets up to 2 chequebooks per account
  • They also can make up to Rs. 20,000 in pay orders or demand drafts each month
  • Each account holder can make ATM withdrawal or POS transaction of Rs. 25,000 each per day
  • Family members who can be included in the account are parents, grandparents, spouse, sibling and children

Union Flexi Account and Union Flexi Plus Savings Deposit

These two are higher end savings accounts, which also come with sweep facilities to put the excess money in a fixed deposit once the transaction limit crosses a specified limit. Though the Union Bank website does not specifically mention that the accounts are available for minors, it does say that individuals can open the account.

Reference Facts

  • Indian Bank Website: www.indianbank.in and www.indianbank.net.in (net banking)
  • Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
  • Call Centre Number (24 Hours): 1800 425 00 000, 1800 425 4422
  • Union Bank of India Website: www.unionbankofindia.co.in and www.unionbankonline.co.in (net banking)
  • Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
  • Call Centre Number: 1800 208 2244, 1800 22 2244