Many customers have been seen using the facility of lockers to keep their jewelry and important documents safe. However, they usually don’t visit their lockers on a regular basis.
The regulations by the Reserve Bank of India or RBI require one to visit the bank locker at least once a year, failure to do which will force the bank to open up the locker. However, if you happen to fall in the low-risk category, the bank might give you more time. Those who fall in the medium-risk category will receive a notice from the bank if the locker remains unopened for three years or more according to the RBI regulations.
Banks are known to classify their customers in different risk categories–low, medium, and high–depending on certain parameters such as financial or social status, location of the clients, and nature of the business activity. Banks also have to carry out the proper protocols before they allot a locker to a person.
In case any locker remains idle for a long time, the bank has to send a notice to the holder of the locker and advise him to either operate or surrender his locker facility. The bank might also ask you to provide a written response regarding the reason for not being able to operate the locker. If the reasons mentioned by you are deemed genuine, that is, if you are a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) or you were out of the city due to a transferable job or any such genuine reason, then the bank will take that into consideration and will allow you to continue using the locker facility.
However, if you fail to provide a proper explanation, the bank will immediately cancel your allotment and allocate it to someone else even if you have been paying the rent regularly, but not using it.
