Locker charges are the charges that the bank levies on its customers for availing locker facilities. In common terminology, it can also be termed as locker rent. The customer has to pay service charge on the locker charge to the Bank who in turn deposits the service charge thus collected to the concerned department of the Government.
Lockers charges for the whole year is generally recovered at the beginning of the financial year and some banks provide the benefit of pro-rata charges if the locker is not utilized by the customer for the whole one year term. Also there is a practice among Banks to ask for a fixed deposit amounting to 3 years rent, so that the bank can set-off its dues in case of default in payment of locker charges.
Banks also have a limit on the maximum number of times a customer can access his locker in a quarter or in a year and they apply a locker access charge in case the number of visits in that year has exceeded the maximum number of free visits. For example, A Bank only allows free access to the lockers 12 times in a year, from the 13th visit onwards in that financial year, the customer will have to bear a charge and pay service tax on it as well.
A locker is a great place to keep your valuables - so you can go and look at them, with or without valuers, whenever you need to. Banks are pretty safe places, but you might want to check they have an insurance policy to make sure if that in the unlikely event of a robbery, the cost of your valuables is protected.
As usual the author has simplified the topic by examples. Locker charges are essential for the up-keepment of security and maintenance charges. Nothing comes free so the locker size and visits to the locker room are chargeable. Even the locker facility is only available to the bank’s client with a specific account requirement.