Applying for loan is now cost-free

Banks will no longer charge customers for credit applications as the Bangladesh Bank on Thursday rescheduled the fees of the banking services.

Earlier, an applicant had to pay Tk200 for each credit application.

As per a circular of the central bank, banks will charge a maximum Tk500 for opening a savings account while the current account opening will cost Tk1,000.

The opening of special Tk10, Tk50 or Tk100 accounts will not fall in these categories.

If the annual average deposit in an account is less than Tk10,000, the account holder will not have to pay any account maintenance charge.

The charge is Tk200 for accounts with Tk10,000-Tk25,000, Tk400 for deposits of Tk25,000 to Tk2 lakh, Tk500 for deposits of Tk2 lakh to Tk10 lakh, and Tk600 for deposits above Tk10 lakh.               

For the small savers whose deposits range from Tk10,000 to Tk10 lakh, the maintenance fees for the current year were halved in April.

For the current accounts, the annual maintenance fee is Tk600, and Tk1,000 for special notice deposit (SND) accounts — that are interest bearing deposit accounts where an advance notice is required for withdrawal.         

According to the Bangladesh Bank fixed charges, there will be no fees on withdrawing any savings account before it gets matured.   

It will cost Tk50 to transfer an account to another branch of the same bank inside the district and Tk100 in another district.

Banks can charge up to Tk200 for closing a savings account, Tk300 for a current account and special notice deposit account.

In the case of giving solvency certificates to customers, a maximum of Tk200 can be charged each time. The cheque return fee is Tk50, but banks cannot charge extra in issuance of new cheque books in any case.

The charge for issuing a BO account certificate is Tk 100.

The fee of a pay order up to Tk1,000 will be Tk20,  it will be Tk50 from Tk1001 to Tk1 lakh, while a Tk100 fee can be collected for above Tk1 lakh. Each pay-order cancellation charge will be Tk50.

On the other hand, the fee for demand draft, telegraphic transfer, mail transfer is Tk20 up to Tk1,000, Tk50 from Tk1001 to Tk1 lakh, Tk100 from Tk100,001 lakh to Tk5 lakh, Tk200 from Tk500,001 lakh to Tk10 lakh and the fee is Tk300 if it is worth over Tk10 lakh. Each money transfer cancellation charge is Tk50.

In case of a loan up to Tk50 lakh, the processing fee is 0.50%. However, it in no way can not be more than Tk15,000. If the loan amount is more than Tk50 lakh, the rate is 0.30%, but the fee cannot be more than Tk 20,000.

No fee may be charged for rescheduling or restructuring of loans disbursed in the cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises and agriculture.

But, in the case of other sectors, 0.25% or a maximum of Tk10,000 can be charged for rescheduling or restructuring outstanding loans.

Except for interests, no additional charge in the name of loan management fee, supervision fee, risk fee and etc can be imposed on new loans for exports.

If a customer wants to repay a loan before the expiry of the term, 0.50% early settlement fee can be charged on the outstanding loan.

For LC opening, if the importers pay the entire amount for the imported product, banks will charge 0.25% commission every three months. For LCs with the payments later, the charge goes up to 0.50% every three month and 0.40% every three months for back-to-back LCs.

The issuances for back-to-back LC certificate, C&F certificate and import bill payment certificate will not cost the customers more than Tk500.

Besides, no fee will be charged for issuing a balance confirmation certificate from customers twice a year. But, a maximum fee of Tk100 will be charged if clients seek the certificate more than two times.

No additional fees can be levied other than the central bank's declared ones. Banks must send information regarding fees on 30 June and 31 December every year to the central bank.