This SBI customer just lost some money: Check charges and how to avoid it

State Bank of India is the largest public sector bank in the country. It has over 42.42 crore customers, 22,414 branches around 23 per cent deposit market share as per its 2018 annual report. To cater to its large customer base, the bank has also been helping its customers through its social media handles like Twitter. In a recent incident, a customer informed the bank a total of Rs 1,180 was deducted from her account and she urged the bank to immediately credit the amount back into her account. 

"A/c no - xxxxxxxxx has been charged with Rs 295 stating 'Chrg recvd - mandate fail txn' 4 times. Please credit my account urgently asap," said the user.

Replying to her query, the bank first urged the user not to disclose her account details on any platform. 

"We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you and also request you to exercise caution when sharing your credentials on social media as updated by us in the earlier post," said the bank.

Clarifying over the charges levied, the bank said, "Please check if any SI/ECS/NACH/ACH mandate has been given by you. Please note charges are applicable in case such mandate gets failed. We request you to please refer to the schedule of charges given at http://bit.ly/2elu1Ik  > Revision In Service Charges (Updated Up to 24.07.2017) (sl. no. 9 and 32 preferably) for information in this regard".

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It's notable that the amount deducted from the user's account was for failed mandate transaction. An e-Mandate is a feature through which customer/customer’s bank initiates the mandates to the sponsor bank to which the amount needs to be paid or the customer and the corporate move the mandate through the sponsor bank to the destination bank along with the attributes of customer authentication. It allows automatic EMI deduction from the user's bank account. A mandate fails if the said amount is not maintained in the account.

The SBI levies a penalty of Rs 250+GST in case of mandate failure. 

What you should do?

If you have also given any mandate for auto EMI deduction or credit card payment, then you should maintain the required amount in your account. You can also choose for manual payment of your EMIs or credit card bills but it may take a lot of mental stress to remember all the due dates!