In the age of digitisation, one point which keeps us worried a lot is the misuse of our bank account details and our credit or debit card details. All of us want to be on the safer side when it comes to our finances. There is a spike in such scams that has been witnessed recently.
In October 2018, India’s largest bank, the State Bank of India (SBI) blocked 6 lakh debit cards as it was reported that they were misused. Around 641 customers reported that they had lost 1.3 crores in fraudulent transactions.
RBI takes a step towards safeguarding the interest of credit and debit cardholders.
To curb the fraudulent cases and misuse of the debit and credit card, significant measures have been taken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). These measures are going to ensure a better customer experience. RBI has declared new guidelines for credit card and debit card to ensure secure payment.
These guidelines are going to be effective from 1st October 2020. Let’s have a look at the guidelines issued by the central bank.
1) All the debit/credit will only be enabled for ATMs and Point of Sale( PoS) within India at the time of releasing the card.
2) As of now, all the cards, be it the debit card or credit card, can be used across the world, but the customer needs to request the bank to enable international transactions.
3) The cards which have never been used before for online payment or contactless transactions in India or abroad are going to be disabled for such payments. They can only be used at PoS (Point of Sale) and ATMs.
4) RBI has declared that card users can avail of the services of opt-out or opt-in, setting a spending limit, and other services like contactless transactions, online transactions, and international transactions.
5) For the existing card user, the card-issuing companies can make decision-based on their risk perception. These services will be available around the clock for the customers.
6) These new rules do not apply to prepaid cards and gift cards. These guidelines will be implemented only on credit and debit cards.
7) There is one more contactless card feature which is trending now is “NFC”( Near Field Communication ). Where customers need not insert or swipe the card at POS or to enter the pin. Currently, NFC has a limit of rupees 2,000 per day. NFC features will also become the option for cardholders. The customer can enable or disable it depending on his need.
8) Users can use mobile banking application/ Internet banking and IVR to switch on/off to all the transaction limits and change it at any point in time.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mentioned in their notice that these rules are issued under section 10(2) of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).
The financial organisations are also playing a crucial role in keeping the customers updated regarding every transaction that they make. The new rule of RBI will be a step ahead in securing the hard-earned money of customers. This will also enhance the customer’s trust in their respective bank.
Being a customer, we are also equally responsible for protecting ourselves from such scams and being aware of any such guidelines issued by the respective authority. We should never disclose our pin and other information related to our banking accounts to any person. We should keep learning on how to escape from such financial loss.
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