Duplicate Passbook Request Letter

What is a Duplicate Passbook Request Letter?

A duplicate passbook request asks your bank to issue a replacement when the original has been lost, stolen, damaged or filled up. The passbook is not the account, so losing it does not put your money at risk, but it is often the exact document a landlord, scholarship board, embassy or tax officer wants to see. A dated written request also records when you reported the loss, which matters if someone later tries to use the old book.

Students proving an account for a scholarship or fee refund, pensioners who need entries stamped, small traders who reconcile from the book rather than from an app, and anyone whose passbook has run out of pages after years of entries all use this letter. So does the person whose bag was stolen with the book inside. It is a counter request: a short letter, signed as the account is signed, handed in at the branch that holds the account.

Passbooks themselves are not universal. They remain standard practice in India and much of South Asia and are still issued by some European and Japanese banks, while in the UK, US, Canada and Australia most accounts are statement-based and the equivalent request is for duplicate statements or a bank certificate. Whether a police report is needed for a stolen book, and what the reissue costs, are set by each bank's own service schedule and internal rules — ask the branch rather than assuming.

A duplicate passbook does not block or protect the account. If you are worried about misuse you need separate instructions: stopping a cheque, blocking a card, changing online banking credentials. It is also not a balance confirmation or a bank certificate, which are different documents banks issue for a fee and often on their own letterhead. And where old entries have been archived, the reissued book may start with a consolidated opening balance rather than reproducing every historical line.

What to put in a Duplicate Passbook Request Letter

These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.

How to write a Duplicate Passbook Request Letter

1. Give the account number and branch

   Open with the account number, the account holder name exactly as the bank records it, the branch and the customer identification number if you know it. If the account is joint, name both holders and check whether the mandate requires both signatures on a request of this kind. A letter that makes the counter clerk look up who you are before they can act sits in a tray longer than one that does not.

2. Say plainly what happened to the book

   State whether it was lost, stolen, damaged or completed, and roughly when. Banks treat the four cases differently: a completed book is exchanged, a damaged one is usually surrendered, and a lost or stolen one may need a declaration and, in some banks, a police complaint reference. Vagueness here — the book is not available — invites the clerk to ask which of the four it is, in person, later.

3. Ask for the entries you actually need

   If you need the book for a specific purpose, say what period must be printed: entries from a stated date, or the last twelve months. Where the bank archives older transactions it may print a consolidated opening balance instead of every line, and knowing that in advance saves a second trip. If the purpose requires a stamped and signed book, ask for the branch stamp on the current page while you are there.

4. Accept the charge and authorise the debit

   Banks commonly levy an issue fee for a duplicate passbook under their published service schedule. Say that you are aware there may be a charge and authorise the bank to debit it from the same account. This removes the one question that otherwise sends the request back to you for confirmation, and it stops any argument later that the fee was applied without instruction.

5. Match the specimen signature and attach ID

   The signature on the letter has to match the specimen the bank holds, which is where most rejections come from — people sign the way they sign now rather than the way they signed at account opening. Attach a copy of your photo identity document and carry the original. If the account is operated jointly under a both-to-sign mandate, get both signatures before you go to the counter.

Common mistakes

• Signing the request differently from the specimen signature on file, which sends the letter back and costs another visit to the branch.
• Assuming a lost passbook means the money is at risk and taking no other action, when the real protections are blocking the card, changing online credentials and stopping any missing cheques.
• Not saying what happened to the old book, so the branch cannot tell whether to exchange it, take a declaration or ask for a police reference.
• Handing in a request on a joint account signed by one holder where the mandate needs both, which stalls the whole thing without anyone telling you why.
• Expecting the duplicate to reproduce ten years of entries line by line, then discovering at a deadline that archived transactions appear only as an opening balance.

Frequently asked questions

This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.

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