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Not every bank account with a balance below 500,000 VND is charged a maintenance fee. However, to avoid unwanted cases, customers should understand how each bank sets its fee rules.
According to Eximbank’s recently adjusted fee schedule, effective December 1, 2025, accounts with balances below the minimum threshold will have to pay a maintenance fee. The bank raised the average monthly balance required to waive maintenance from 300,000 VND to 500,000 VND per month.
Accounts that do not meet this threshold will incur a maintenance fee of 11,000 VND per month.
Eximbank also began charging SMS Banking up to 90,000 VND per quarter for Gold and Platinum individual customers if they do not use the Combo Casa package, indicating a shift toward encouraging users to receive free balance-change notifications via the mobile banking app.
Thus, not every account under 500,000 VND is automatically charged. In practice, the maintenance-fee policy depends on each bank’s business strategy.
Foreign currency accounts are also regularly subject to maintenance fees due to higher operating costs and more complex risk management related to exchange rates.
Dormant accounts are another notable case. If a checking account has not had any active transactions for a prolonged period (usually 6 to 12 months depending on the bank), some banks start charging for inactivity or even deduct fees until the balance reaches zero before closing the account.
Vietnam International Bank (VIB) has implemented a policy of freezing personal accounts with a fee of 10,000 VND per month (excluding VAT) for accounts with no transactions for 12 consecutive months. If the account is inactive but the balance is not enough to cover the fee, the system will automatically deduct all remaining funds and waive the shortfall.
Banks advise customers who no longer need to transact to visit branches to close the account to avoid silent monthly deductions.
To optimize banking costs, users should distinguish between checking and savings accounts. For savings accounts with fixed terms or loan accounts, banks do not charge maintenance fees.
If you use a checking account and want to avoid the monthly fee, the simplest solution is to maintain the minimum balance required by the issuing bank.
A growing trend is also to switch to banks that offer 100% free maintenance, free transfers, and no account-management fees. Being proactive in reviewing the fee schedule and choosing the right bank can help reduce costs over the long term.
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