Banking & Freelancing Info needed

To start off, I just landed an internship in my field of choice. It's been almost 15 days in to the job. I'm 22 years old. I still do not have a bank account. Yeah. I don't

Why? Because I didn't have the need for one until now I guess.

I have zero knowledge of how banking works. As of now, I'm not making much for income as it's still an internship. It's high time I open a bank account.
Any helpful info or pointers for a total newbie on banking would be much appreciated.

What kind of documents would I need for verification? I do not have a PAN card / Voter ID / Aadhar Card. Pretty embarrassing but hey, I'm sure that there are others out there too on the same boat

Once I start getting my income, I might be making some low amount online purchases like gadgets / clothes / footwear etc. Which banks support good online shopping facility? I do not plan on opening an account in private banks as of yet as i read that they have a higher-than-normal balance requirement which I cannot afford at the moment.

Also, how do I tie up my bank account to PayPal so that I can earn from online freelancing? What are the prerequisites needed for that purpose?

Try to keep the replies as positive as possible as I'm way too paranoid when it comes to the topic of banking :-D

PAN card is a must, get that asap. Other than that, you'll need the photo ID and address proof.
As for the paypal thing, you'll be required to clear few verifications like the Pan card, bank account, etc after you create the account. It will take about a week or two for the verification process to complete, then you're good to go with the money transfer online

AADHAR can be handy in such processes.

S

AADHAR card is not needed. You need a pan card for paypal and get icici debit card its as good as a credit card and also works for international transactions. Its highly needed for online work

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I will get a PAN card ASAP. Not to worry about the Aadhar card, I've already applied for it. Been over 2 months. Just waiting for it to be mailed. I don't think I'l be getting it any time soon though.

And to get an ICICI debit card, don't I have to open up an account in that bank? Also, how much of a minimum balance do I've to maintain in ICICI to use their debit / credit services?

prehistoricgamer said:
And to get an ICICI debit card, don't I have to open up an account in that bank? Also, how much of a minimum balance do I've to maintain in ICICI to use their debit / credit services?

To open the account, you'll need to have about 15k as the minimum balance, but that was three years ago, not sure about the amount now.

W

Savings Accounts FAQs | How to open a Saving Account | ICICI Bank India

The minimum average monthly balance required to be maintained for a Savings Account is Rs.10,000/- in metro and urban locations, Rs. 5,000/- in semi-urban and Rs. 2,000/- in rural locations.

How Do Banks Work Out the Average Monthly Balance? - Budgeting Money

Banks calculate the average monthly balance by adding together each daily closing account balance throughout the month. The bank divides the sum of the daily account balances by the number of days in the month. For instance, the sum of your daily account balances is $1,345, which is divided by 30 for the number of days in April. The AMB is $48.33.

this may be a better option:
Zero Balance Saving Account | Zero Balance Account - ICICI Bank Basic Savings Account India

A new RBI direction ensures that one gets to open a zero balance in any bank in India, even foreign banks. Don't know if the banks are following it.

Why are you so bent on icici, why not state bank?
They have Basic saving deposit accounts and provide ATM Debit card for it too, with which you can make a one time purchase of worth upto 75000rs. Their normal SB account too is available with a very low balance.
ALL of the above can be done with one pre-requisite that your profile is KYC compliant. i.e two photo + identity proof with same address.

In addition they have a very simple yet feature loaded Internet banking and mobile banking packages for free.

S

Bec our desi state bank cards doesnt work everywhere

Re: Banking & Freelancing Info needed

State Bank cards are visa and mastercard backed, they work flawlessly anywhere. When did it not work for you?

State Bank cards are visa and mastercard backed, they work flawlessly anywhere. When did it not work for you?

S

It didnt when i wanted to enroll for ios developer program

W

i am a user of SBI from 2002 & take it from me their debit card/net banking/virtual CC option are only good for mainstream domestic online shopping.anything a bit unusual or international & they won't work.if you want your debit card to work with paypal,google,steam etc then your best bet is icici debit card.

Thank you for the insights. Right now, my main focus is on an account / card that enables me to use Paypal without problems. So should I go for SBI / ICICI no min balance account?

does the sbi debit card work with entropay?

S

Get ICICI bec it works everywhere. Also their customer service is very good.

Re: Banking & Freelancing Info needed

@sandeep410 When was it?
@whitestar International payment works fine with State bank debit card, just transferred my paypal balance to my bank account, which will get credited in the next sweep in account.
@snap why do you need entropay, visa is secure. But, please do explain your point.

@prehistoricgamer State Bank group is all IFSC and ECS enabled. Nothing is like it was before, new Debit cards are exactly like any private bank offers.
As for CC is pretty good too, also its not government office, its public sector, ask them to attend you or treat you properly.
Internet banking is so good should you use it and keep sufficient balance, you'll never have to visit bank branches. also it can be used to make payments to few common billers like LIC, DTH, BSNL etc.
Mobile banking is truly an amazing experience. You can recharge your cellphone or DTH anywhere, anytime with a basic SMS or USSD or WAP or Apps.

And for the savvy people Saving Bank account can be taken a step forward and Saving Bank + can be opted which lets you put your excess fund to a fixed deposits which earns higher interest.

S

Last year I got rejected when i tried with their debit card. Apple Customer service told me use another internationally accepted debit card. I used ICICI and got enrolled.

@sumeet

i was asking whitestar that sbi debit card can be used to create virtual entropay cc as he said sbi debit card don't work with steam and google

@sandeep I wish i could answer what went wrong then, but I assure you intl payment is definitely not a issue and you can charge 75000rs at once(against debit card) if PAN card is added otherwise I guess its 49XXXrs. As for recieving money get your bank's branch IFSC code and together with your account number you can direct your paypal money to your account.

@snap I see.

Trying to get hold of a old friend who can clear a few doubts I found here. Personally I've have had no problem, except in branches a few employees have limited knowledge, which I found could be overcome by asking them to point to their resource person(Branch managers, IT guy or any young person there).

S

What went wrong is simple SBI cards arent accepted internationally and thats truth dude. Every1 here has said that it doesnt work for steam etc.
I have no idea what charge you are talking about as far i know there is no charge.
And it makes sense to go with a card that works everywhere rather than a card that you have no guarantee where it will work and where it wont.

I meant charge against card, i.e. making payments through the debit card.

Re: Banking & Freelancing Info needed

Sumeet_naik said:
@sandeep410 When was it?
@whitestar International payment works fine with State bank debit card, just transferred my paypal balance to my bank account, which will get credited in the next sweep in account.
@snap why do you need entropay, visa is secure. But, please do explain your point.

@prehistoricgamer State Bank group is all IFSC and ECS enabled. Nothing is like it was before, new Debit cards are exactly like any private bank offers.
As for CC is pretty good too, also its not government office, its public sector, ask them to attend you or treat you properly.
Internet banking is so good should you use it and keep sufficient balance, you'll never have to visit bank branches. also it can be used to make payments to few common billers like LIC, DTH, BSNL etc.
Mobile banking is truly an amazing experience. You can recharge your cellphone or DTH anywhere, anytime with a basic SMS or USSD or WAP or Apps.

And for the savvy people Saving Bank account can be taken a step forward and Saving Bank + can be opted which lets you put your excess fund to a fixed deposits which earns higher interest.

+1

Go for SBI... because you won't be charged unnecessarily for unwanted things. No to private banks.

I too was quite paranoid when it came to Banking , but once I got hold of the basic understanding on how things work , it feels like a walk in the park.

Congrats for your internship.

Get a PAN Card as soon as possible. It can be made easily , and usually takes couple of weeks to get it delivered. Without a Pan card , you will get your salary through Cheques.
Generally most companies , provide you with a Salary account with the Bank they collaborate with , once you provide them your Pan card.

W

@snap,i was talking about sbi's own virtual credit card service which they launched a few months ago but it is practically useless.as for entropay see this:
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/internet-www/175002-entropay-help.html

@Sumeet_naik,you are the first one here to claim sbi debit card working with paypal to send money.SBI is the biggest bank in India so if its debit card start working with paypal i think it will be quite a big news on online forums.

just transferred my paypal balance to my bank account, which will get credited in the next sweep in account.

you didn't transferred anything.it is an automatic process as per RBI rules which don't allow indian paypal accounts to hold any funds.also we are talking about using debit cards online here with international sites & paypal.there is a big thread here on this topic here:
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/internet-...information-regarding-indian-debit-cards.html
this 13 pages thread & approx.350 posts has not a single claim about sbi debit card working with paypal/international sites so either you got very lucky or you got some special debit card assuming you used it to actually send money through paypal.

Ok I've read all your suggestions and *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/internet-...information-regarding-indian-debit-cards.html too.

Let me be honest. Some pointers I understood. Some I didn't. Maybe because of the lack of experience in banking yet. So, I feel its better If I ask a few questions and then you people provide me answers / one single answer to keep the confusion to the minimum? All efforts and help of any magnitude is greatly appreciated.

I mainly want to use this account for receiving funds from PayPal / Elance.com
I would also use this account to put my small earnings ( less than 10k per month ) into.
I would make online purchases from desi e-commerce sites like Flipkart, myntra, inkfruit etc.
I might make online purchases from international sites like steam, gplay etc.
I require a bank account that has no minimum balance requirement or a requirement with a less amount (less than 5k).
The debit card and / or credit card should enable or allow me to make the above listed transactions.
A decent customer service

Here are the pointers & questions that I'd be glad if I got concise answers to.

What type of account should I open?
Also, what type of debit and / or credit card should I be getting to be able to make the above listed transactions.
Your final suggestion in one word or a few for the Bank I should opt for opening an account that respects all or most of the above-mentioned requirements.

S

ICICI bank Debit card covers everything but you do need 10k per month for that.

Thank you. Any more suggests like the above?