According to the law, savings accounts are usually frozen at the request of customers, or to prevent the dissipation of assets, to serve the investigation, trial, and settlement of cases related to the owner.

In addition, for customers who use savings accounts as collateral to obtain mortgage loans or open credit cards, the bank will also freeze the savings account until the customer has fulfilled the related obligations.

Each bank has its own regulations on savings deposits, including interest rates, deposit procedures, interest payments, early withdrawals, freezing of savings accounts, etc. However, all must be applied in accordance with the general provisions of the law.

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Illustration: Nam Khanh

Accordingly, banks are allowed to freeze part or all of customers' savings deposit balances in the following cases:

Upon written request or decision of competent authorities as prescribed by law;

Upon written request from the customer or all customers (for joint savings deposits);

When customers use savings deposits as collateral;

When there is a written, telephone or other form of contact accepted by the bank from the customer or the customer's legal representative notifying about the loss of the savings book;

When there is a written request from one of the customers for the joint savings deposit to freeze the joint savings deposit on the grounds that the joint savings depositors have a dispute over the joint savings deposit;

Or other cases as prescribed by law.

During the blockade, blocked savings deposits are strictly controlled by the bank and will only be released when the blockade ends.

If a savings deposit is partially blocked, the unblocked amount can still be used normally.

In addition, frozen savings deposits will continue to earn interest at the agreed interest rate and the accrued interest will be automatically frozen together with the frozen savings deposits, unless otherwise specified in the freezing request document.

The freezing of savings deposits ends when: The freezing period ends as agreed between the customer, all customers (for joint savings deposits) and the bank; the customer has fulfilled the obligations secured by the savings book; there is a decision or written request from a competent authority requesting the termination of the freezing; other cases as prescribed by law and the bank agrees to terminate the freezing.

In what cases is a bank account frozen?

In what cases is a bank account frozen?

To ensure safety and protect the rights of payment service users, Vietnamese law has regulations on closing and freezing payment accounts.
Why haven't banks taken strong action to block or lock fraudulent accounts?

Why haven't banks taken strong action to block or lock fraudulent accounts?

A major bank has been keeping a list of suspicious accounts for three years. From July 1, banks will have the power to freeze or close accounts that show signs of fraud.
A Vietnamese oil and gas company has its accounts frozen at 7 banks due to tax debt.

A Vietnamese oil and gas company has its accounts frozen at 7 banks due to tax debt.

After the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provincial Tax Department sent a document requesting 7 banks to freeze accounts to enforce tax debt collection of less than VND850 million, PXT shares, a member company of PVC, immediately fell in price.