SBI-Thomas Cook's unique savings plan for vacation lovers - Enjoy vacay mode; earn interest too

Everyone loves to have a long weekend or plan an international trip. However, financial conditions don't always support the plans. But did you know the largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has a saving account specifically meant for your future holidays. You can earn interest as well. SBI in association with Thomas Cook India presents a unique savings plan for holiday goers. Under this scheme, you can save monthly amounts in the form of a recurring deposit with the Bank in order to avail a vacation package listed under Holiday Savings Account packages on Thomas Cook website.

Here's how it works:

Visit the Thomas Cook HSA website and choose a package of your choice.

The cost of the package you choose will be divided by 13. You will be redirected to the OnlineSBI portal where you can set up an e- Recurring Deposit (e-RD) account for 12 monthly installments.

Your e-RD will earn interest as per the prevailing interest rates for the 12 month period.

At the end of 12 months, the maturity proceeds will be transferred to Thomas Cook to pay for your pre-selected holiday package.

Thomas Cook will fund the balance amount i.e. the 13th installment to purchase your package after factoring in the accrued e-RD interest.

However, there are certain terms and conditions which one must follow. 

If your e -RD account is closed prematurely, the proceeds will be credited to the account from which the e-RD account was initially funded.

Also, if in case you make delay in payment of installment, then SBI will levy Rs 1.50 for every Rs. 100 per month.

Apart from this, the e-RD account will be subject to TDS. 

You can open your recurring deposit account via internet banking, if you have your username and password along with at least one transaction account mapped to the username.

Installment amount depends upon the holiday package amount. The total package cost is divided by 13 and rounded off to a multiple of 100 to form the monthly RD installment value.

It can be opened in Individual or Joint names. However, it will be same as the name in debit a/c, from which RD a/c is funded.