I have two savings accounts. One was a previous payroll account that I never had closed. Another is a savings account I opened for Paypal. The former is the most used.
In this country, a savings account is perceived to be only for those who are working or for those who have the money to put in the bank. An ordinary person who stays at home (like a SAHM) normally does not have a savings account. Trust me, you can go around the country to do a survey and you will come up with the same results. Let’s take my relatives for example… nobody in my grandma’s house has a savings account. Oh wait, my grand-aunt has one! It’s for her SSS monthly pension. If not for that, she won’t have one for sure. My grandparents on my dad’s side have no savings account. But they had a business that went on for almost two decades! All transactions done in cash. Why? They spend the money right away, anyway. That’s their reason. An uncle who has his own business also doesn’t have a personal savings account. He gives his income directly to his wife to budget. They keep the money at home. Even my dad has no savings account!
It is a misconception that is not being corrected. And made worse by the bank holidays. Plus, maintaining balances in big banks are impossible to maintain. Imagine, at Metrobank alone, to be able to maintain a savings account, you need to have 10 grand at all times! The same goes for BPI and Banco de Oro. Albeit at BDO, there’s an OFW account you can open for the families of OFWs abroad and it has no maintaining balance at all. Unionbank, on the other hand, has the EON account that you can get for 350 pesos a year which has no maintaining balance as well. The only drawback of these accounts that have no maintaining balances is that you don’t earn interest from your account. At least ask for a 500 or 1,000 pesos maintaining balance. That’s reasonable. So that persons who are not working can open their savings account and be inspired to save.