Transacting with ATM cum Debit cards

With the invention of ATMs, the banking consumers have been facilitated with the ease of cash withdrawals or deposits of cash without waiting for banks to open or even one can withdraw the cash anytime anywhere. If you are moving far away from your base station, there is no need to carry the cash along with you during the journey. The cards can also be used for making payments against purchases. Even the money can also be transferred to others through ATM cards. In other words, An ATM is a computerized machine that provides consumers of banks the facility of accessing their accounts for dispensing cash and to carry out other financial & non-financial transactions without the need to visit the bank branch. 

In addition to dispensing cash, ATMs may offer many other services/facilities to consumers. Some of such services include:

·       Account Information

·         Cash Deposit

·         Regular Bill Payment

·         Mini / Short Statement Generation

·         PIN Change

·         Request for Cheque Book

A bank must offer to its savings bank account holders a minimum number of free transactions at ATMs as under:

·   Transactions at a bank’s own ATM (On-Us transactions) at any location: Banks should offer their savings bank account holders a minimum of five free financial transactions in a month, irrespective of the location of ATMs. Any number of non-cash withdrawal transactions will be provided free.

·   Transactions at any other banks’ ATM (Off-Us transactions) at Metro locations: In case of ATMs located in six metro locations, viz. Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and New Delhi, banks shall offer their savings bank account holders a minimum of three free transactions (including financial and non-financial transactions) in a month.

·  Transactions at any other banks’ ATM (Off-Us transactions) at non-Metro locations: At any location, other than the six metro locations as above, banks must offer its savings bank account holders a minimum of five free transactions (including financial and non-financial transactions) at other bank ATMs in a month.

The mandatory number of free transactions is inclusive of financial and non-financial transactions at other bank ATMs. However, non-cash withdrawal transactions (such as balance enquiry, cheque book request, payment of taxes, funds transfer, etc.), on own bank ATMs are not to be part of the number of free ATM transactions. Similarly, transactions that fail on account of technical reasons like hardware, software, communication issues; non-availability of currency notes in the ATM; and other declines attributable directly / wholly to the bank/service provider; invalid PIN / validations; etc., shall not be counted as valid ATM transactions for the consumer. Consequently, no charges thereon shall be levied.

Consumers can be charged for transactions at ATMs over and above the mandated number of free transactions as indicated above. Presently, these charges cannot exceed a maximum of Rs. 20/- per transaction (plus applicable taxes, if any) by the bank.

In the case of a failed ATM transaction, the banks have been mandated to re-credit the customer’s account within 5 calendar days from the date of the failed transaction.

The card issuing bank has to pay compensation of Rs. 100/- per day for delay in re-crediting the customer’s amount beyond 5 calendar days from the date of the failed ATM transaction. The compensation has to be credited to the account of the customer without any claim being made by the customer.

The consumer can approach his / her bank and take up the matter with them. Within 30 days of receiving a reply from the bank or in case of non-receipt of a reply from the bank within 30 days, the customer can take recourse to the Banking Ombudsman.

General Advisories

Consumers are advised to observe the following Do’s and Don’ts to keep their transactions at ATMs / WLAs safe and secure :

·         Customer should conduct the ATM / WLA transaction in complete privacy.

·         Only one cardholder should enter and access the ATM / WLA kiosk at a time.

·         The cardholder should not lend his / her card to anyone.

·         The cardholder should not write the PIN on the card.

·         The cardholder should not share the PIN with anyone.

·         The cardholder should not let anyone see the PIN while it is being entered at the ATM.

·         The cardholder should never use a PIN that could be easily guessed.

·         The cardholder should never leave the card in the ATM / WLA.

·   The cardholder should register his / her mobile number with the card-issuing bank for getting alerts for transactions at ATMs / WLAs. Any unauthorized card transaction in the account, if observed, should be immediately reported to the card-issuing bank.

·   The cardholder should be vigilant and check if any extra device/s is/are attached to the ATMs / WLAs. The device/s may be put in place to capture customer data fraudulently; if found, the security guard/bank / WLA entity should be informed immediately.

·   The cardholder should keep an eye on suspicious movement/s of people around the ATMs / WLAs. He / She should be careful of strangers trying to engaging him/her in conversation or offering assistance/help in operating the ATM.

· The cardholder should remember that bank officials never ask for card details or PIN over telephone/email. So, he/she should not respond to any such communication from anyone indicating that they represent his / her bank.

In case the card is lost or stolen, the consumer is advised to contact the card-issuing bank immediately on noticing the loss/theft of the card and should request the bank to block the card.

However, usage of ATM cards attracts charges and the present posts deal with smart usage of these cards. The following charges are charged by the banks. These charges are mandated to be made available on the bank's website. 

Card Issuance Fee: It varies from banks to banks. While many banks are issuing cards free of cost for a certain category of consumers, the other banks may charge a fee ranging from Rs. 100/- upwards. In addition to the card issuance fee, the banks are also charging an annual maintenance fee. One of the criteria prominently is based on the minimum balance to be maintained in the accounts. In case the card is lost, the duplicate card can be got issued after the existing card is blocked for its misuse. The duplicate card can be issued with or without a fee. 

Transaction Fee: As per rules and regulations of the Reserve Bank of India, all commercial banks are required to offer a total of 8 free transactions absolutely free of cost without charging any fee as under:

A minimum of five transactions per month in the bank's own ATMs and three transactions in other banks ATMs. While the banks are free to charge the transaction fees for the additional transaction, banks are also free not to charge any fee beyond these limits. Many banks are offering limitless transactions in their own bank ATMs or any other Bank ATMs. The transactions could be financial as well as non-financial. The financial transactions are those transactions where the money is withdrawn and non-financial transactions are like balance inquiry to know the balance amount in the account or changing the PIN etc,