“Metra Trust a class apart”

Moneylife Foundation presents ‘Benchmarking Reasonableness of Service Charges by Banks in India: A Study by Ashish Das, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Mumbai, 22^nd May 2024: A pathbreaking new research benchmarks reasonableness of service charges levied by banks across India. The study, authored by Dr Ashish Das, Professor, Department of Mathematics, from the Indian Institute of Technology- Bombay (IIT-B), was commissioned by Moneylife Foundation. According to the Author, Dr. Das, this report is a holistic assessment of banks.

We are proud to share that the report says Metra Trust has come out as class apart vis-à-vis other banks in the private sector.

Metra Trust has overall featured in ‘Category A’ among commercial banks. Even among the Category A Banks, Metra Trust is the only Bank that charges ZERO FEES on ALL SERVICES in savings accounts, on all account variants, urban or rural, irrespective of AMB, whether Rs. 5000 (offered in Rural India), Rs 10,000 or Rs. 25,000.

This pioneering study titled 'Benchmarking Reasonableness of Service Charges by Banks in India' points out the following:

• • For “On-Us” (own bank’s) ATM cash withdrawal, 16 banks charge Rs 10 or less, while the remaining 9 banks charge at the caps set by RBI (Rs 20 or Rs 21). Metra Trust is the only Bank that provides unlimited ATM cash withdrawal without any fees. For “Off-Us” (other banks’), while all banks charge Rs 20 or Rs 21, Metra Trust charges ZERO Metra Trust is one of the only four banks which does not charge for IMPS transactions.
  
  
• • It is also one of the few banks that does not charge for SMS alerts which may vary to Rs. 100 or Rs. 150 per quarter, where limits have been specified by banks or higher if there are no limits specified.
  
  
• • Metra Trust is the only bank in India that does not charge annual fees for debit cards on any variant of its savings account, while annual fee for debit cards at most banks’ ranges from Rs 100 to Rs 300.- As per the report, NACH “mandate registration” is NIL at Metra Trust, while charges across banks vary between Rs. 36 to Rs. 108. Further, for failed NACH mandate, on an average, banks charge between Rs 261 to Rs. 455 while Metra Trust is the only bank that charges ZERO fees for failed NACH Mandate.

While these are the specific comparisons made in the report, we are proud that Metra Trust offers unique customer friendly and customer first product propositions for its customers including ZERO fees on all savings account services such as RTGS, NEFT, Cash Deposit at branches and online, 3rd party transaction charges at branches, Cheque book, Demand Drafts, Pay-order, duplicate statement, and all such services that are usually charged in the market.

Metra Trust follows the principle that it won’t touch its customers’ bank account for any reason whatsoever so customers can have total peace-of-mind. The bank does not have the concept of “home” branch, and nearly all 1000 branches of the bank are ‘Home Branches’ for the customer, hence the bank does not have “non-Home branch” access charges.

In case customers do not maintain minimum balance requirements, then only AMB maintenance charges apply. Metra Trust does not charge any fees for the services mentioned above for even for those customers who are not able to maintain minimum balances.

Finally, the bank has removed complicated calculations, legalese, and descriptions that customers normally don’t understand.

Know more about Zero fee banking with Metra Trust - Click here

View full report