DCB Elite Savings Account is a premium offering from DCB Bank which provides flat cashback of 1.6% on all expenditures (including CRED and Mutual Fund transactions) using DCB Platinum Debit Card. Apart from cashback, it also lets you choose your lucky number, or any number of your choice as last 8 digits of 14 digit bank account number. The ability to earn 1.6% cashback on all transactions using debit card sets this account apart from it’s peers in market.
- Eligibility Criteria & Documents Required
- Charges
- Benefits
- How to apply?
- Personal Experience
- Drawbacks
- Verdict
Eligibility Criteria & Documents Required
To open the DCB Elite Savings account, you need to furnish following documents:
- PAN Card
- Communication Address Proof (Aadhar Card, Voter ID, Passport, Driving License, Postpaid Mobile/Telephone Bill, Electricity Bill, Gas Bill)
- 1 Passport Size Photograph
- 1 Cheque of Rs. 25,000
The only eligibility criteria for receiving cashback is to maintain an average quarterly balance (AQB) of Rs. 25,000 in the account.
Charges
There are no charges for opening the DCB Elite Savings Account. However non maintenance of AQB will render you ineligible for the cashback and you would be liable for penal charges as below:
- AQB between Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 10,000: Rs. 299
- AQB less than Rs. 10,000: Rs. 599
Some other important charges for DCB Elite Savings Account are summarized in table below:
| Service | Charges |
|---|---|
| Debit Card Annual Fee | Nil |
| Debit Card Replacement Fee | Nil |
| RTGS / NEFT / IMPS / UPI | Nil |
| Cash withdrawal and Balance enquiry at Visa ATMs | Nil |
| Payable at par cheque book | Nil |
| Cash deposit at DCB branch | Nil if MAB of Rs. 25,000 is maintained |
| Demand Draft | Nil |
For other charges, refer this webpage.
Benefits
DCB Elite Savings account comes with host of benefits as outlined below:
- 1.6% cashback on all expenditures using DCB Platinum Debit Card
- Includes CRED and Mutual Fund transactions
- Minimum spend per month: Rs. 625
- Maximum monthly cashback: Rs. 2,000
- Maximum yearly cashback: Rs. 20,000
- Cashback for a particular financial quarter would be credited in the first month of the subsequent quarter
- Choose last 8 digits of 14 digit bank account number
- Unlimited free access to all DCB Bank and Visa ATMs in India
- Free unlimited use of RTGS / NEFT facility
- Free any branch banking across all DCB Bank branches
- Free unlimited pay orders / demand drafts
- 50% discount on locker fee on maintaining AQB of Rs. 1 Lakh
How to apply?
To apply for DCB Elite Savings account, leave your number on DCB website. They will call you next working day to fix an appointment for document collection.
Personal Experience
I applied for DCB Elite Savings account on DCB website. They called me next day to fix an appointment for document collection. The relationship manager (RM) arrived on time at my address to collect the document. He provided me account opening form for DCB Elite Savings account which I filled. He also asked me to choose last 8 digits of account number which I did. Along with filled account opening form, he collected the photo copy of PAN card, Aadhar card, cheque of Rs. 25,000 and one passport size color photograph to open the account. He also informed me that I would be receiving the account kit within next five to seven working days.
The cheque which I provided got cleared and amount was debited from my account very next day. I waited for five working days since document collection date and still I didn’t receive the account kit. Hence I called up the RM to enquire about the status. He assured me that I’ll be receiving the account kit in next two days. To my surprise, I received the welcome SMS from DCB very next day. And on next day, I received the account kit via Bluedart. The account kit contained following:
- Welcome letter
- DCB Platinum Cashback Debit Card
- Cheque book with 25 leaves
- Schedule of charges
- Terms and Conditions booklet
- Code of conduct booklet
I tried to enable net banking same day and it asked for Debit Card PIN which I hadn’t received yet. Hence I called the customer care to set my PIN and they were very helpful in setting up my PIN on IVR. After setting up the PIN, I was able to activate net banking easily. Their net banking interface looks a bit dated and leaves a lot to be desired on user experience front. It took me some time to get accustomed to the user interface and figure things out.
Then I tried to use the debit card online and during first online transaction, I was asked to set up Verified By Visa password. After setting up the password and reinitiating the transaction, the transaction failed even after providing correct credentials. I tried multiple times, but no luck. Then I thought, since the card is new and I was doing a high value transaction, fraud detection system might be cancelling those transactions. Hence I tried with a smaller amount on Amazon and it went through. However, till date, high value online transactions randomly keep on failing on my debit card and have to retry with smaller amounts. I have been meaning to call the customer care regarding this, but due to laziness I haven’t done so.
Finally I tried to activate UPI, which was a cake walk as I was able to activate the same using debit card on PhonePe app. The UPI worked seamlessly and I haven’t faced any failed transaction so far (touchwood!).
Over the course of next few days, I did multiple transactions on CRED for paying my credit card bills. The 1.6% cashback was credited to my account for those transactions in first week of next quarter as mentioned on their website.
Drawbacks
I couldn’t think of any drawback for this account except penal charges for not maintaining AQB. If they could have removed this, it would have been great. Also online transactions randomly failing on debit card is an annoyance. However I believe this can be sorted out by giving a call to customer care.
I wish they should have provided airport lounge access too, if not international, at least domestic. Also a low/nil foreign currency markup along with higher interest rate would have made this the perfect savings account for me. But, I guess, I am expecting too much and even with it’s current offering, DCB Elite Savings account is a solid product.
Verdict
DCB Elite Savings account comes with host of benefits and if not better, is on par with premium account offerings from other banks in the market. Also 1.6% cashback on all transactions using debit card is an unmatched benefit at the moment.
How has been your experience with DCB Elite Savings account? Let me know in comments below.
