How to Close a Savings Account

There are many reasons you may want to close your savings account. For example, you may be changing banks, putting your money into a higher-yield account or combining your savings into an account with your significant other. Banks won’t want to lose your business and may try to put you through extensive moves while trying to convince you to stay. The easy steps below explain how to close, switch or transfer your savings account.

1. The process of actually closing your account may take awhile. You might be impatient and want to start right away by emptying your savings account. But always be sure that you leave the minimal balance that may be required so that you don’t start receiving low-balance notices, much less incurring penalty fees.

2. Make sure outside companies know about the closure. Over the years, you may have linked your savings account information to numerous other billing and invoicing organizations. For example, you may have a credit card synced to this account, or it may be your backup for overdraft fees in your checking account. You don’t want creditors looking for money that won’t exist there anymore, so be sure to go through old records and think about former contracts to be sure there are no remaining ties to this account.

3. Make sure your deposits are also disconnected. If you’re regularly transferring contributions or payments to your savings account from your checking account or an outside source such as PayPal, you’ll want to cancel these automated contributions. You’ll also want to inform those who send direct deposits or transfers to this account, ranging from employers to family members, that you’re planning to close it and provide them with an optional account where they can deposit or transfer funds in the future.

4. Initiate the closure process, which varies depending on your exact financial institution. You may need to fill out new forms or annotate old ones in order to put the process in motion. You may even need to make a trip to a bank to meet with a representative in person and explain why you’re making this choice. Go over your original contracts to be sure you’re doing everything you may have agreed to in the small print at the time that you opened the account; you’ll want to avoid any unnecessary hassles or fees.

5. Don’t feel pressured. Some agents are directed by their employer to do everything in their power to keep you as a customer with savings account. But the decision is up to you. If they offer a great, high interest fee as an incentive, you may even want to stay where you are. But you don’t have to, and it’s entirely up to you – not your bank.

T.M. Murphy is a professional writer who lives in NYC. She currently specializes in fashion, beauty, marketing and finance articles. For easy-to-understand financial and banking advice to use on topics such as the savings account, she often turns to http://www.discoverbank.com. T.M. Murphy has been writing full-time since 2006, when she graduated with a B.A. in English from Northeastern University.