A married Vietnamese couple from Hai Phong City, northern Vietnam have used savings services at SeABank since 2019 but they were recently informed that they would receive no interest because they hold foreign passports.

T. and his wife D.T.M., residing in Ngo Quyen District, deposited a combined VND900 million (US$36,697) at the bank’s Hai Dang transaction point in July 2019, with the interest rate of 7.7 percent for a two-year term, their adult child told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

One passbook, worth VND500 million ($20,387), is owned by the husband, while two others, worth VND200 million ($8,154) each, are owned by the wife.

These savings accounts matured in July 2021 and were then automatically renewed as the depositors did not come to finalize the accounts.

Until this year, when they sought to finalize the accounts, the transaction point said it would pay the principal but no interest for the period from July 2021 till now, as the depositors own foreign passports.

T. got the principal and interest payments over the course from 2019 to July 2021 for his VND500-million passbook, while M. received no interest on her deposits.

The transaction point earlier neither sent any written announcement nor called the couple to notify that they would not get interest on their deposits, their adult child complained.

Commenting on the issue, a SeABank representative confirmed to Tuoi Tre that this couple had deposited the said amount of money at the bank.

However, under the provisions of the State Bank of Vietnam’s Circular 48, which took effect from July 2021, foreign citizens are not allowed to open savings accounts in the country. If they do so, they will receive principal and no interest.

Accordingly, the couple earned no interest on their deposits over the course from July 2021 till now, the SeABank representative explained.

When the couple asked to close their savings accounts this year, the bank employees reviewed their savings documents and discovered that they hold U.S. passports and decided to suspend the interest payments while waiting for further decisions from its upper body to cope with the issue.

The transaction point did not delay the interest payments intentionally, the representative added.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!