It is common for people to open multiple bank accounts these days since it’s more convenient that way but if not handled properly it is easy to lose track. Privacy at its place is understandable, but it is important to share information with close family members for situations that are uncalled for and if for some reason something were to happen to the person, his family will have to deal with those problems while being unaware of his financial details.

As mentioned by Rama Subramaniam Gandhi who was a former deputy governor at the Reserve Bank of India, there are 2 reasons why the balance in DEAF goes up. First is the unclaimed money and the second is the return which was earned on those deposits. All the money which was transferred to this fund from the various banks is then used in the investment in securities, namely securities such as the government securities by a committee specifically made by the RBI for that purpose. This unclaimed amount can be claimed at any time by proving the ownership and showing their documents. One thing to be noted is that the RBI actually pays interest on the total deposited amount which keeps on revising time after time. This makes it even more meaningful for people to claim their money back.

Though all of it sounds like common sense, some people still do not claim their unclaimed amounts back from these banks and thus it becomes necessary for these people to be made aware of making their claims on a timely basis. And for that purpose, SEBI’s Investor Education & Protection Fund or IEPF was created as well. We will discuss this IEPF later on, but first, let’s understand how exactly this money ends up in the DEAF and can the money can be claimed back from there.

DEAF: Unclaimed Money

As mentioned previously, unclaimed money is that amount of money that is yet to be claimed by the account holder. There are RBI regulations which specify that if there is a bank account which remains inactive for 10 years or more, then all the sum of money present in that account can be transferred to the DEAF. For an account to be considered inactive, there have to be no transactions from that account for 2 years and this does not include the credit interest your account receives from time to time or the maintenance charges which are charged on your account. When this happens, generally the bank will contact the customer through their email or contact no. but it doesn’t work in some cases because the contact information has not been updated for years. So it is always recommended to keep your details and contact information updated.

If even after that the account remains inactive, then the bank will transfer the money from the account to the DEAF along with the interest that has been accrued.

DEAF: How to Claim Your Money Back?

After a long period of inactivity, it is safe to say that you’re not aware of what amount of money was transferred to DEAF from your respective bank. According to the regulations set by the RBI, all the banking organizations must mention the legit amount of unclaimed deposits which they currently have on their bank’s official website. You can check your particular details on the matter on that website and then the next step for you will be to visit one of the branches of the banks of your comfort and along with yourself bring the following documents:

1. Duly filled claim form.
2. Receipts of the deposits.
3. Know Your Customer (KYC) documents.

These documents will be required and will prove helpful in claiming your money back from the bank.

In case of claiming the money back as a nominee or a legal heir to the deceased person, you’ll need the following documents with you for the bank to release the payment:

1. The deposit receipts of the account.
2. Identity proof of self.
3. A copy of the death certificate of the account holder.

When the legitimacy of the documents is verified and proven that they are genuine, the bank will release the payment and you’ll be able to claim the money.

If you’re trying to get the claim from an old bank account created at a time when digital banking wasn’t really a thing and everything took place in a traditional manner, then it might be possible that you will end up facing some difficulties because of your old bank account. In this case, it is best for you to visit the closest branch or the bank branch where you had your account created originally. It is possible that they can provide you with some aid in the matter and resolve your issues by updating your bank account and with your updated details.

Now if you’re wondering what happens next, your part in this procedure is done and you’re completely out of the equation now. After you’ve made the claim, your account will no longer remain non-operative and now you can use it for carrying out transactions again. In case you did the whole procedure for the legal heir or nominee then the settlement of the bank account will take place and then there will be no charges left for that account.

One thing to be noted is that since the payment was made by the bank on behalf of DEAF, the bank now makes a claim to RBI to get its money back from DEAF which it paid to you after you made the claim.

About Investor Education & Protection Fund (IEPF)

Now, as mentioned above, let’s talk a little about IEPF. If you have made any investments in securities or the share market and are actually looking for some help in that matter, then it is advised that you visit the online website of IEPF. IEPF is a fund put together by the government consisting of all the unclaimed investments which were made in the share market. IEPF also performs many important roles for the shareholders and the investors such as spreading awareness on the matter of claiming your investments on time and keep track of them daily so you don’t end up forgetting about them in the future. It also educates its investors on what to do and the whole procedure on what are the best steps to follow in case they want to reclaim or redeem their investments and shares they have bought in the past.

DEAF: Important Things to Remember

Now that we know how unclaimed money comes into the DEAF and how your amount can be claimed back, let’s look back at some important things which are important and are needed to be remembered.

Maintaining records is a very crucial thing. It is a very important thing to keep track of all your financial details like your banking details, your liabilities, especially the investments you made in the past. These investments might not look as important at the start but as time passes they become something big and more important. So forgetting about them might turn out to be a big mistake and lead you to face loss in some way or another. It is also important to share the necessary financial information with one other member of the family just as insurance just in case something were to go wrong and the other person will be aware of the important financial inform. This will ensure that money is going to the right and trusted person. Keeping in mind to do a check-in on the banking website or visiting the bank’s branch to confirm if there are any changes or anything that needs to be verified since if not done on time can cause your account to be deactivated in the worst-case scenarios.

And, this will now conclude on how to claim your unclaimed bank deposits back. It was all only possible because of DEAF since it has made the entire procedure easier and saves up all the unclaimed amount from the non-operational bank accounts so that it can later be claimed by the account holder by following some small simple steps!

The post How To Claim Your Unclaimed Bank Deposits appeared first on MUDS.

People might think that the value of the shares was so low that it doesn’t even matter, but over a long period the values change and it might be possible that shares are very profitable to redeem in the present scenario. In this scenario, people start to wonder about how they can redeem their shares bought years ago. This is what we are going to discuss in the following sections.

How to Recover Age-Old Investments?

At times like these, hiring a broker is a very important step. The broker has complete knowledge and can help you easily sell off all your remaining shareholdings of the old shares. Also, the physical shares available can only be submitted through brokers for sale in the stock market.

The other way is to get in contact with the Registrar of the company (whose shares you possess) if they are still running and approach them for help. They can help you with transferring all those physical shares to your Demat account which will allow you to buy more of those shares or sell those shares as you wish after the details of them are verified.

Those shares can then be sold off and the money will then be added to the Demat Account which can then be used to invest more shares from the stock market.

Why the Dematerialisation of Shares is Important?

Dematerialization means the proof of the ownership of shares is taken by the respective owner company and then destroyed after which the same amount of the shares is added to the investors account digitally. In simple words, it is the conversion of physical shares to the digital form.

Converting those physical shares into digital shares is immensely beneficial as it saves them from theft, loss, or damage. Plus, it makes managing all the shares way easier from a single place. And since it’s all digital, it doesn’t require any paperwork and in turn, leads to faster transactions while trading for better and efficient results.

All the unclaimed dividend and other unclaimed things which are left out are then verified and destroyed later to be put in the investor’s Demat account in digital form. So dematerialisation is very important since it reduces frauds to a great deal and makes the handling of shares easier and efficient. For the same reason, SEBI has also issued the directives for all the physical shares to be dematerialized by conversion into digital form.

How to Redeem the Physical Shares?

Earlier we discussed how we can recover the investments made but now let’s understand how we can redeem the physical shares. The first step is to search for all possible physical shares you can find, consolidate them, and sort them according to whether they are the Share Certificates or Mutual Funds Certificates.

Now to redeem all the gathered physical shares. As we discussed earlier, we’ll have to approach the registrar of the company to show them the physical shares and certificates we have to prove ownership. If for some reason the registrar is not available, then you can ask the broker to deal with your problems on the matter.

In the end, you’ll have to make sure that if the company is still listed anymore or not. That being the case, if the company is listed then everything will go smoothly. That means that all your documents will be verified, and all your physical shares will be redeemed by you in the end. But if the company is not listed anymore, then, unfortunately, nothing can be done in that matter and the physical shares will become obsolete.

All it comes down whether the company is still listed by the time you try to redeem all those physical shares or not. And in case of those mutual fund’s certificates, they can all be dealt with very easily and redeemed by just approaching the office along with all the valid documents. After this, all the due amount will be credited to your respective bank account, or you can approach the IEPF to help you in the matter.

What is IEPF?

It’s a government organization which focuses on promoting awareness among the investors with an aim to protect investor’s interest. The Investor Education & Protection Fund gives ways of redeeming old funds and shares. On the website, it shares ways for what steps are needed to be taken to guarantee the recovery of all your invested money. The IEPF fund set up by the government keeps all the old unclaimed dividends and shares of all listed companies. If the dividends for shares go unclaimed for 7 years then they must be transferred to IEPF. So, for old shares, the investor can simply apply to IEPF, get his/her documents verified from the company, and then wait as the company’s verifying officer sends the recovery application to the IEPF authority after verification. After this procedure, the IEPF will release the dividend corresponding to the value of old or lost shares.

The post A Guide to Recovery of Investments from the Stock Market appeared first on MUDS.