Introduced by Rep. Ray N. Yumul, R-Saipan, House Bill 17-139 states that an account may be considered inactive if no deposits or withdrawals are made from the account.
The bill allows the bank to cease paying the depositor an interest for the dormant account until it becomes active again.
In an interview last week, Rep. Edmund Villagomez, chairman of House Committee on Commerce and Tourism, said they need to hear from the officials of banks and Commerce before acting on the measure.
The banks and Commerce, he added, are trying to reach an agreement and may come up with their own recommendations.
Villagomez, Covenant-Saipan, said the islands’ banking community has agreed that existing statutes concerning bank accounts need to be revised.
There are provisions, he added, that they see as “obsolete” already.
There is also federal law that needs to be considered, Villagomez added.
He said in some states, a dormant bank account is transferred to the state treasury and once the depositor wants to get it back, he has to go through a process first.
Yumul’s bill stated that banks here have savings or checking accounts that have gone dormant or unclaimed. It takes one to two years or more before these banks can declare an account dormant.
Historically, the bill stated, banks charges $15 to $20 per month for dormant accounts. These charges, the bill said, “can chip away at the savings account and balances quickly and over time may cause the account to reach a balance of zero.”
“Certain states and territories such as Connecticut and American Samoa have put forward legislation to prevent banking institutions from raiding savings accounts in an effort to protect the account holder from losing his hard-earned funds,” the bill stated.
