When your bank account says dormant it means that there's been no activity on the bank account such as withdrawals or deposits for awhile.
I had this happen to me before when I had moved out of state and setup a new bank account and had my direct deposits for my job paid into the new bank account.
I still had $500.00 in my dormant bank account and hadn't moved it over but was planning to eventually but somehow I forgot about it.
Then one day around 6 months later I remembered the bank account and so signed into my online account and it said dormant.
I simply contacted the bank about it and verified some information and let them know what happened and they reopened my account so I could get my money.
Some banks only put accounts into dormant mode when it's been a year or longer since you last logged in or made a deposit or withdrawal and some banks do it sooner.
Banks will mark a bank account dormant as a way to prevent any fraud and unauthorized activity.
Depending on the bank you can reactivate your bank account by making a transaction with the bank or by contacting the bank.
Different banks have different regulations on how they will activate dormant bank accounts.
The length of time a bank account can stay dormant is between 3 years to 5 years.
A bank account is usually considered to be abandoned or unclaimed if there is not customer initiated activity within 3 to 5 years.
The bank may then close the dormant bank account after that time period.