Four things to understand while availing of doorstep banking

Doorstep banking (DSB) is an initiative by the PSB Alliance, an umbrella setup of all public sector banks, to provide primary banking services at your doorstep. It is being implemented with the help of DSB agents across the country to provide financial and non-financial banking services.

Adhil Shetty, chief executive officer, BankBazaar.com, said, “The PSB Alliance was introduced under the ease of banking reforms. It offers select banking services, including cash payment or withdrawal and deposit; pickup of cheques, demand drafts and other instruments for clearing; pickup of Form 15H, know your customer (KYC) documents, etc.; pickup and delivery of fixed deposit or money multiplier deposit receipts for renewal and payment, savings bank and recurring deposit passbooks, etc. at the doorsteps of customers.”

With the help of doorstep banking services, the bank allows you to take banking facilities to your home. That means you will not have to leave your house to do your routine banking transactions.

The services offered are opening a bank account, cash deposits and withdrawals, money transfers and recharge, and bill payments. The account-related services also include updating PAN (permanent account number), nomination details, requesting account statements, issuing standing instructions, etc.

You can avail yourself of DSB facilities for any of the 12 listed public sector banks if your account is linked with your phone number. While doorstep banking offers so much convenience to account holders, they must note four essential things while availing these services.

The first is the limited nature of the service. “Most banks restrict the availability of these services to within a maximum radius of 5km from the home branch. The services are restricted to banking hours, and the bank may not be able to provide same-day services, especially if the requests are raised after 3pm,” said Shetty.

Second, these services are not complimentary; they carry additional service charges. Different banks may also charge differently for these services.

“For instance, cheque pickup and delivery may be charged ₹75 by one bank and ₹100 by another. Cash pickup and delivery charges may also vary from bank to bank depending on the amount. So, be prepared to shell out extra if you avail of these services,” explained Shetty.

Third, there may be account restrictions in availing of these services. The services are provided only to fully KYC-compliant accounts.

They are also targeted primarily at senior citizens, and account holders who do not fall into this category may have to satisfy other additional criteria such as a higher minimum balance in their savings or current account to access these services.

Fourth is the process involved in cancelling any of these services. Post-service order cancellation is possible before the bank’s agent picks up your document. However, it is not possible once the agent has picked up your documents.

In the case of pre-service order, cancellation is possible before the bank user completes the request. However, it is not possible after the bank user completes the request.

How to identify a DSB agent: To identify a DSB agent, you must check his credentials along with a photo in the respective bank mobile app or web portal. Also, check the logo of DSB on his respective bank’s uniform. Also, you will get an SMS having the agent’s name who is going to visit your place. Confirm the name with the agent. You can also ask for his identity card for verification purposes.

Additionally, you will get a one-time authorization code on your mobile phone for each service. You need to share this code with the agent assigned to you to initiate the service.