Responding To Tens Of Millions Of Money Belonging To An Elementary School Guard In Solo That Was Damaged By Termites, LPS Urges The Public To Save Money At Bank

Bank Indonesia Solo officers checked Samin's damaged money due to being eaten by termites. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

SEMARANG - The Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) urges people to save in banks to be safe and prevent termites from destroying their savings money, as happened to a resident of Surakarta City, Central Java.

"It is time for people to understand that saving in a bank is safer because it is guaranteed by the LPS, rather than risking it being lost or damaged due to various reasons, it is better to save it in a bank," said Secretary of the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS) Dimas Yuliharto in a written press statement quoted by Antara, Wednesday September 14th.

According to him, the damage to savings due to termites can be a lesson for the community to always keep their money in the bank because according to him, saving money at home is very risky to be damaged or even lost.

"People's savings in banks, including BPRs, are guaranteed by LPS at a maximum of IDR 2 billion per customer per bank. So if the bank goes bankrupt or closes, LPS will guarantee the savings," he said.

LPS also appealed to the public if their savings were to be guaranteed, they were obliged to comply with the LPS guarantee requirements or known as 3T, namely recorded in the bank's books, the interest rate on deposits received did not exceed the LPS guarantee interest rate, did not cause the bank to fail, for example having bad credit.

Tens of millions of money belonging to a school guard at Lojiwetan Solo Elementary School named Samin was damaged by termites after being saved in a piggy bank for about 2.5 years.

The head of the Solo Bank Indonesia (BI) Representative Office, Nugroho Joko Prastowo, said that the public could exchange damaged or defective money with Bank Indonesia, but they had to meet requirements such as the physical authenticity of the banknotes being recognizable and the remaining physical notes of two-thirds of their original size.

Later, officers will physically check Samin's banknotes that were damaged by termites in detail, including using a scanning machine.

If there are two-thirds of the original size of the paper money, it will be immediately replaced with new money.

If they meet the requirements, two-thirds of the physical banknotes can be exchanged immediately.

BI will serve exchange of damaged or defective money, but if it does not comply with the provisions referred to, then the damaged public savings cannot be exchanged.