On the 20th of February, 2021 I decided to open an NPS account for my mother. After completing mynps registration process, opening an NPS account online is really easy. It is simple and does not take more than 30 – 45 minutes. But, I made a mistake while creating the account, I entered the date of birth wrong. And rightly the POP-SP, in my case HDFC bank rejected the KYC. Because the date of birth provided was wrong ( PAN had a different DOB). Since the KYC was rejected the PRAN went into freeze. There was only one way to fix the NPS account, which was to get the KYC done, from your bank branch, which is mentioned as POP or point of presence. That is the only way to unfreeze your NPS account because until the KYC is done by POP/ Bank, your NPS will remain in frozen status.
[email protected] Fri, Mar 19, 6:30 PM (2 days ago)
Above is the email that is instructions you will need to follow. You will have to download the original form, fill it up, with a signature and you will need a passport size picture of the subscriber.
Before you do all these, talk to your bank branch, show them the instruction email. In my case, the branch or the manager was not aware of any process. So, I had to do the research. Once the account is open, and if you want to update any information, there is a separate form for that. But this was a unique situation. I entered the wrong information while creating an NPS account and my KYC was rejected. Then my NPS account was frozen.
Anyway, I followed this email and downloaded the form, then send that to the bank branch. They complete the KYC and sent the document to the address provided. I will keep you guys posted about what happens next.
5/1/2021 – Okay, It has been more than 1.5 months now since I did all these. And now I have given up on the band and NSDL. I called NSDL to find out the status of my DOB change. They informed me what I already knew. They said I need to download the form and take it to Bank and send it to their address. In nutshell, they did not get the KYC document.
Then I contacted @HDFC bank to find out what happened to the form and it was difficult to track down until I filed a complaint. Finally, I found out that the document was not sent to the correct address. The bank informed me that they do not know how to help and they suggested that I go to a branch when they work with demat, and they did not have a cue if those guys will be able to help.
I paid 700 rs to NSDL, now going to a different branch will cost me money, and that does not assure that my problem will be fixed. So, I am writing the cost off as sunk cost. The point being I cannot tell you how you can get help from your bank to fix the date of birth in case you entered it wrong during opening an account in the NSDL NPS account.
I checked with NSDL NPS guys if I can close the account turned out I cannot. And in nutshell, this is our system, the second wave of coronavirus already exposed us though.
Why The NPS Account Was Frozen?
After signing up I received an email from NPS NSDL informing me that my NPS account is frozen. I started looking for the reason. And after a short, while I found the answer, while I was signing up, I provided a date of birth that did not match with the date of birth on the PAN card, hence the POP or Bank did not approve the KYC. They rejected the KYC and the NPS account was in Frozen status because it was not KYC approved. While you are completing mynps registration make sure you fill-up the nps KYC form carefully and with all correct information that matches with your Adhaar and PAN card,
What Do I have to Do to Unfreeze National Pension Scheme Account?
I had to get the original form and take it to the bank, get it KYCed, and send the documents to the NPS office. You can see the address above. Once NPS receives the KYCed document from Bank, they unfreeze the NPS account.
I do not think even if the NPS is in frozen status, you still can contribute, but the problem is you will need to get KYC done.
Why Do You Need to Unfreeze NPS Account?
NPS is not a place where you can park your money for the short term. But you should consider this as a retirement savings option. First, this is where saving money for retirement is. You get market-linked returns, as the funds consist of equity and debt instruments. On top of that, you save on tax. You can do a monthly SIP and in your retirement, you can get annuity income from NPS. And this is pretty much you can do on your own.
How To Unfreeze Your NPS Account Online?
I would suggest that when you get the email informing you that your account is frozen, you read through the email carefully, it will have the reason and the same email will tell you what to do to unfreeze your NPS account, in case you are not clear about how to unfreeze nps account you should email to [email protected]. You can send an email to them and ask if you can unfreeze the account online. Which I did, in fact, I called them many times, And the experience was exactly how you would expect. Not helpful much,
Overcall they pretty much repeat the same thing they said in the email. Calling them was a waste of time in my opinion.
In my experience, the NPS or PRAN account gets frozen if KYC is not done, and your POP-SP or bank can help you with that. Most probably you will have to visit the branch to get KYC done unless they agree to come over to your home to do the KYC.