SBI alert! State Bank of India may block your debit, credit card online transaction facility by 16th March; do this or face problems

SBI alert: The State Bank of India (SBI) may block your debit and credit card online facility by 16th March 2020 if you haven't done online transactions for at least once since its issuance. The SBI has been sending messages through SMS and other means of communication to its customers to do one contactless transaction of the SBI debit card and SBI credit card to those SBI customers who have never done any online debit, credit card transaction. The largest Indian commercial bank has advised it's debit and credit cardholders to do at least one online transaction of the SBI debit and credit card to avoid discontinuation of the SBI online debit, credit card services. SBI will mandatorily block the SBI online debit, credit card services as per the directives of the Reserve Bank of India.

RBI on 15th January 2020 directed SBI and other Indian commercial banks to disable such debit, credit cards citing, "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."

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The sole aim of this RBI notification is to enhance the security of debit, credit card online transactions. Therefore, to avoid blocking of SBI online debit, credit card transaction, needs to do at least one online transaction from their debit and credit card by the end of 16th March 2020. However, as per the RBI notification, the above provisions are not mandatory for SBI prepaid gift cards and those used in mass transit systems such as the metro.

In the last few years, online debit, credit card transactions have grown geometrically. The RBI has directed Indian banks including SBI to provide following facilities to the debit, credit cardholders:

1] Facility 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] 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, said the notification; and

3] SMS alerts/ information/ status, etc., through/ e-mail should be sent to the cardholder, as and when there is any change in the status of the card.