Savings play an important role in our lives by acting as a cushion in times of need. This became much evident during the pandemic when the world was under lockdown and most people lost their jobs. Well, it does not take anyone to tell the importance of savings. However, the propensity and ability to save money varies from person to person. Many people have irregular income due to which they failed to invest money in instruments like FD and RD. If you too fall in this category and want to reap the benefits of RD or FD without sticking to regular deposits, this is the news for you. Today, in this article we will talk about SBI’s Flexi Deposit scheme, which gives you an equivalent rate of interest as an FD.
What is the SBI Flexi deposit scheme?
The country’s largest public sector bank State Bank of India (SBI) offers many types of savings schemes to the people, in which you can invest money and get better interest. SBI Flexi Deposit Scheme is a scheme similar to Recurring Deposit (RD), but you get the flexibility to deposit money in it at your convenience. This means that you can pay the instalment for several months at a time. The instalment amount is not fixed in this scheme. Customers can increase or decrease the amount of deposit every time according to their choice.
Is there any cap on investment?
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After opening an SBI Flexi Deposit account, you can deposit a minimum of 5000. The minimum amount for one instalment is Rs 500. Moreover, a maximum of 50,000 can be deposited every year. There is no fixed date on which you have to deposit the money, you can deposit it at any time of the month.
Maturity period and Interest:
SBI Flexi Deposit scheme minimum tenure is 5 years and maximum 7 years. The interest earned on this is equal to the interest received on fixed deposits, which is 5.50%. If you close your account prematurely, between 3 and 5 years, the interest rate will be 5.45%.
How to invest in this scheme?
You do not need to visit the SBI branch near you. However, one can start investing in this scheme through net banking also. It can be opened by any citizen of India. This scheme is also available for minors. You can open this account either singly or jointly. You do not have to go to the bank to register a nominee, you can register a nominee only at the time of opening the account.
Closure:
There is a facility for premature closure in SBI Flexi Deposit Scheme. However, for deposits up to Rs 5 lakh, the interest rate will be reduced by 0.50 per cent for all tenures. At the same time, for deposits above Rs 5 lakh, the interest rate will be reduced by 1 per cent.
Other benefits:
- The scheme gives freedom to take a loan/overdraft up to 90 percent of the principal deposit.
- The interest rate for senior citizens will be 0.50 per cent higher than the applicable rate.
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