How long do we need to wait to close a zero balance account?

There's no established rule on this question. There was a posting on BOL in mid-April in which a 2-day zero balance had resulted in a closed status. Both Andy Zavoina and I agreed this might be too short a period to permit the customer to prevent closure.

It's probably a good idea to have something in your deposit contract about closing zero balance accounts. It's not a required disclosure for Truth in Savings, but it would fit nicely in the section about whether or not you pay accrued but unposted interest when an account is closed between interest posting dates. You could say something like "We'll consider that you have closed your account if the balance is $0.00 for XX consecutive calendar days."

First published on BankersOnline.com 5/20/02