SBI Debit, Credit card transaction alert: Do you hold an account with the State Bank of India? Then this news is for you. The State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest lender, may block your debit and credit card online facility by March 16, 2020, if you haven't done online transactions for at least once since its issuance. The State Bank has been notifying its customers through SMS and other means of communication to do at least one contactless transaction from the SBI debit card and SBI credit card to avoid discontinuation of the SBI online debit, credit card services. The State Bank of India will mandatorily block the SBI online debit, credit card services as per the directives of the RBI.
RBI issued new rules for debit and credit cards to improve convenience and security. The online or contactless transactions facility will be mandatorily disabled on all those debit or credit card on March 16 that have never been used in such transactions.
In a statement dated 15th January 2020, the RBI told SBI, other Indian commercial banks, and card issuers: "For existing cards, issuers may take a decision, based on their risk perception, whether to disable the card, not present (domestic and international) transactions, card-present (international) transactions and contactless transaction rights. Existing cards that have never been used for online (card not present) /international /contactless transactions shall be mandatorily disabled for this purpose. The directions are issued under Section 10(2) of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007."
Bank Cardholders now have only time till March 16 to use such cards for online, contactless transactions to stop them from being disabled permanently for these transactions.
As per the notification issued by RBI, the above provisions are not mandatory for SBI prepaid gift cards and those used in mass transit systems such as the metro.
The online debit, credit card transactions have grown geometrically, in the last few years. The Reserve Bank of India has directed Indian banks including SBI to provide following facilities to the debit, credit cardholders:
1. To switch on/ off and set/ modify transaction limits (within the overall card limit, if any, set by the issuer) for all types of transactions - domestic and international, at PoS / ATMs / online transactions / contactless transactions, etc.
2. According to the notification, the facility should be provided on a 24x7 basis through several channels - mobile application/ internet banking/ ATMs/ Interactive Voice Response (IVR). This facility may also be offered at branches/ offices.
3. When there is any change in the status of the card, the SMS alerts/ information/ status, etc., through/ e-mail should be sent to the cardholder.
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