Consumer Blog » atm

ICICI Bank’s ATMs not working in Udaipur, Rajasthan

Pegu — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:54:47 +0000

Recently, I tried to use ICICI banks ATM located in Sector – 4, Hiran Magri in Udaipur. I found it was not working and on inquiring how long it had been not working, I got replies from curious onlookers that its not working for last few months!

ICICI Bank ATM Woe in Udaipur

Now imagine the cost of maintaining an account in ICICI Bank! If you do not keep Rs. 5000 minimum balance, it is almost Rs. 3200 a year, that Rs. 800 or more per quarter for not keeping the minimum required balance! Apart from this, there are many service charges with fine prints!

Now, with this kind of service charges, ICICI bank is unable to keep its ATM in working condition for months together!

Reserve Bank of India puts cap on unlimited cash withdrawal

myvoice — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:45:16 +0000

Reserve bank of India has recently put cap on unlimited cash withdrawal from other bank’s ATM ( Automatic Teller Machines) as well as maximum withdrawal amount. As per reports and new RBI guidelines, one banking customer will be able to withdraw maximum 4 times in a month from other bank’s ATM and maximum withdrawal amount is fixed at Rs. 10,000/-. After 4 numbers of withdrawal, banking customer will be charged with Rs. 20 for each transaction.

While it may be true that unlimited number of withdrawal may not be practical, but only 4 times withdrawal is too low. Number of withdrawal should be at least 10 and also amount should be increased to Rs. 25000/-. Overall, RBI may have given in to pressure from banks compromising banking customers interests. Here is the news :
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which made third-party ATM transactions free from April, has said not more than Rs 10,000 can be withdrawn each time they are used and limited the number of such transactions to five a month. Source.

Time limit fixed for ATM transaction failure reconciliation

myvoice — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:10:33 +0000

No more ATM woes! Thanks to RBI ( Reserve Bank of India) new notifications, banks will have to “to reimburse the customers, the amount wrongfully debited on account of failed ATM transactions, within a maximum period of 12 working days from the date of receipt of the customer complaint.”

“For any failure to re-credit the customers account within 12 working days from the date of receipt of the complaint, the bank shall pay compensation of Rs.100/-, per day, to the aggrieved customer.” This is by far the best news for bank customers. Previously, ATM user had to file complaint, wait long days, months for any reimbursement of wrongfully deduction of amount after any ATM failure. This will improve ATM functionality as well as make banks more efficient and customer friendly. All banking subscriber and customer must thank RBI for this good move.

Here is the complete notification :
RBI/2009-2010/100
DPSS No.101/02.10.02/2009-2010

July 17, 2009

The Chairman and Managing Director / Chief Executive
Officers
All Scheduled Commercial Banks including RRBs /
Urban Co –operative Banks / State Co-operative Banks /
District Central Co-operative Banks
ATM network providers

Madam / Dear Sir

Reconciliation of transactions at ATMs failure – Time limit

Please refer to our letter DPSS No.1424 and 711/02.10.02/2008-2009 dated February 11,2009 and October 23, 2008 respectively on the captioned subject.In terms of instructions contained therein, banks are required to reimburse to the customers, the amount wrongfully debited on account of failed ATM transactions within a maximum period of 12 days, from the date of receipt of customer complaint. Reserve Bank of India has been receiving number of complaints, regarding the non adherence of banks to the instructions stipulated therein.Further, it has come to our notice that different banks have put in place different cut-off limits for permitting cash withdrawals from/for other bank customers.These issues have been comprehensively reviewed by the Reserve Bank of India. The banks may follow the following directives:

i) It is mandatory for the banks to reimburse the customers, the amount wrongfully debited on account of failed ATM transactions, within a maximum period of 12 working days from the date of receipt of the customer complaint.

ii) For any failure to re-credit the customers account within 12 working days from the date of receipt of the complaint, the bank shall pay compensation of Rs.100/-, per day, to the aggrieved customer. This compensation shall be credited to the customer’s account automatically without any claim from the customer, on the same day when the bank affords the credit for the failed ATM transaction.

iii) The issuer bank is entitled to claim such compensation paid to the customer from the acquirer bank, if the delay is attributed to the latter. By the same logic the ATM network operators shall compensate the banks for any delay on their part.

iv) Banks shall extend the scope of concurrent audit to cover cases of delay in reimbursing the customers for failed ATM transactions.

v) Each bank shall place a quarterly review of ATM transactions to its Board of directors, indicating inter alia, the quantum of penalties paid, reasons thereof and the actions taken to avoid recurrence of such instances. A copy of the note along with the observations of the Board shall be forwarded to the Chief General Manager, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Payment & Settlement Systems, Mumbai.

2. The directive is issued under section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007, (Act 51 of 2007).Non-adherence to the provisions of this circular shall attract penalty as prescribed under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).

3. Please arrange to place a copy of this circular before the Board.

4. Kindly acknowledge receipt.

Yours faithfully,

(G. Padmanabhan)
Chief General Manager

Link here: http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=5177&Mode=0

ATM Woes!

myvoice — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:21:34 +0000

Our guest Author Mr. Pranjal Saikia wrote about ATM woes long back how his account was deducted of balance while ATM did not disburse him cash.
With ATM withdrawal becoming free, this kind of “cash not disbursed but balance deducted” problem has increased. And banks are taking long time to rectify those ATM errors. Sometime customer has to contact bank officials many times before it takes place finally, as recent reports says.
RBI circular which predates April 1 ATM free withdrawal, says “we have been receiving a number of complaints from bank customers, regarding debit of accounts even though ATMs have not disbursed cash for various reasons. More importantly , banks take considerable time in reimbursing the amounts involved in such failed transactions to card holders. In many cases, time taken is as many as 50 days.”
Bankers may be trying to pass the buck to technical problems, but it is the customers who face inconvenience! And there may also be elements who might just try to complain banks of not receiving fund even though they actually receive it!

Here is the news one may find useful:-

What if your cash withdrawal request at an ATM fails and yet your bank account stands depleted ? Despite an RBI directive that banks must reimburse such wrongly debited money within 12 working days, the process usually takes longer if you use the card at a bank other than yours. Says a senior banking ombudsman official, “Sticking to the 12-day deadline could be difficult because there are two banks involved here. Reimbursement may take up to three weeks.’’ Source and complete story.

Number of ATM set to grow by manyfold

myvoice — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:28:07 +0000

If recent RBI guidelines which allows banks to open ATM anywhere as per bank’s choice is any indication, then number of ATMs should grow by many fold soon! A good news for banking customer! With the lifting of transaction fees while withdrawing cash from other bank’s ATM and with allowing banks to open ATM at will, we can safely hope to decrease foot falls in bank’s premises.

The RBI in line with the proposal in its annual policy statement on Friday said it “permits Scheduled Commercial Banks to install off-site ATMs at centres/places identified by them, without having the need to take permission from the Reserve Bank in each case”.

Earlier, banks could only install the ATMs without the permission of the Reserve Bank at the bank branches and extension counters.

The banks should however, report full details of the off-site Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) installed by them in terms of general permission to the Regional Office concerned, the RBI said in statement issued here today.

Here is the complete news and source :

Banks can now open ATMs with ease, as the Reserve Bank on Friday authorised them to install these machines at places of their choice, without having to seek its permission. Source.

ATM is Any Time Money, truely from 1st Apr 2009

myvoice — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:16:48 +0000

ATM withdrawal is going to be completely free from 1st April 2009! In case you missed out, RBI had one year back announced it that from 1st April 2009, using ATM is going completey free!

Till now, if you have an ATM of X Bank, you could not withdraw money from other bank than X Bank, if you did, you were charged anything from Rs. 25 to Rs. 75/- depending on bank to bank! So if you were withdrawing some Rs. 200 only from other bank than yours, you were paying more than 10% of your withdrawal amount!

But RBI has doen away with it and now you can withdraw any amount from any ATM, totally free! You can even check your bank balance!

Here is the RBI Notice.

Date: Mar 10, 2008

Customer charges for use of ATMs for cash withdrawal and balance enquiry

RBI/2007-2008/ 260
DPSS No.1405 / 02.10.02 / 2007-2008

March 10, 2008

The Chairman / Chief Executive Officer
(All Scheduled commercial banks including RRBs)

Dear Sir

Customer charges for use of ATMs for cash withdrawal and balance enquiry

1. Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) have gained prominence as a delivery
channel for banking transactions in India. Banks have been deploying ATMs
to increase their reach. While ATMs facilitate a variety of banking
transactions for customers, their main utility has been for cash withdrawal
and balance enquiry. As at the end of December 2007, the number of ATMs
deployed in India was 32,342. Commensurate with the branch network, larger
banks have deployed more ATMs. Most banks prefer to deploy ATMs at
locations where they have a large customer base or expect considerable use.
To increase the usage of ATMs as a delivery channel, banks have also
entered into bilateral or multilateral arrangements with other banks to
have inter-bank ATM networks.

2. It is evident that the charges levied on the customers vary from bank to
bank and also vary according to the ATM network that is used for the
transaction. Consequently, a customer is not aware, before hand, of the
charges that will be levied for a particular ATM transaction, while using
an ATM of another bank. This generally discourages the customer from using
the ATMs of other banks. It is, therefore, essential to ensure greater
transparency.

3. International experience indicates that in countries such as UK, Germany
and France, bank customers have access to all ATMs in the country, free of
charge except when cash is withdrawn from white label ATMs or from ATMs
managed by non-bank entities. There is also a move, internationally, to
regulate the fee structure by the regulator from the public policy angle.
The ideal situation is that a customer should be able to access any ATM
installed in the country free of charge through an equitable cooperative
initiative by banks.

4. In view of this, RBI had placed on its website an Approach paper and
sought public comments. The comments received have been analysed. Based on
the feed back a framework of service charges would be implemented by all
banks as under:

Sr.No.
Service
Charges

(i)
For use of own ATMs for any purpose
Free (with immediate effect)

(2)
For use of other bank ATMs for balance enquiries
Free (with immediate effect)

(3)
For use of other bank ATMs for cash withdrawals
No bank shall increase the charges prevailing as on December 23, 2007
(i.e. the date of release of Approach Paper on RBI website)
Banks which are charging more than Rs.20 per transaction shall reduce the
charges to a maximum of Rs.20 per transaction by March 31, 2008
Free – with effect from April 1, 2009.

5. For the services at (1) and (2) above, the customer will not be levied
any charge under any other head and the service will be totally free.

6. For the service number (3) the charge of Rs.20/- indicated will be all
inclusive and no other charges will be levied to the customers under any
other head irrespective of the amount of withdrawal.

7. The service charges for the following types of cash withdrawal
transactions may be determined by the banks themselves:

(a) cash withdrawal with the use of credit cards
(b) cash withdrawal in an ATM located abroad.

8. Please acknowledge the receipt of the circular. A copy of the circular
issued to your branches on this subject may please be submitted to us in
due course.

Yours faithfully

(Arun Pasricha)
General Manager

It happened with me ( SBI ) – Pranjal Saikia

myvoice — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:06:45 +0000

Experience by Mr. Pranjal Saikia, Blogger, www.mobileconnect.in

I have a State bank of India account since 2002 and i have taken all the so called facilities from the bank like ATM, Net Banking, DMAT Account, Mutual Fund everything. So heres my story …

7th January 2009 (2:45 PM) – New Delhi: I wanted Rs. 3000 urgently and instead of finding a state bank atm i choose an HDFC atm to withdraw my money from SBI account. It was urgent and i didnot bother paying Rs.20 for the service.

I entered amount Rs. 3000 after entering my PIN and waiting for the machine to deliver the cash. But there was no cash coming out and no receipt also. The security guard told me that its not working from the past 1 hr. I rushed to another HDFC ATM at saket, New Delhi. I got the money there but was shocked to see i was debited for the failed transaction also. Without spending a minute i went inside the HDFC bank and told about my issue. They told me to inform SBI as they cross check against all SBI account and there server is not recognizing the failed transaction. Immediately i called up SBI helpline and they told u should contact the home branch. I called up the home branch and they told me to FAX the documents along with a request letter.

8th January 2009 (10:30 AM) – New Delhi: I faxed all the documents along with a request letter to the home branch and taken confirmation receipt. The SBI customer care executive informed me these cases are solved within 3-5 days so i decided to keep quite for coupls of days.

12th January 2009 (3:30 PM) – Guwahati: I was at the branch where i was having an account. They told me to give the letter again and i did. They told you tried in HDFC Bank in Delhi so your request will be send to Delhi and it will take approx 15 days time.

2nd February 2009 (3:30 PM) – Guwahati: I went to the bank again. The lady responsible for all ATM related cases told me she doesnot know if the letter sent to delhi or not as she had given the letter to a peon. I requested her to find out and process it as early as possible and i told i will come after i week.

10th February 2009 (3:30 PM) – Guwahati: I was at bank again, waiting for my turn to speak to the lady. Then a senior guy came to me. Asked me what i do, why i am sitting there etc. etc. He was Mr. Ghose the Chief Operational Manager of that SBI. I told him my problems and he assured it will be solved in 5 days. He gave me the phone number and told me to call up and ask about the status. No need to come to the bank. I was thinking Thank God!! i got the right guy at last.

17th February 2009 (4 PM) – Delhi: I called up my home branch and asked the operator to connect me to the lady. He informed she is not there.

21st February 2009 (4 PM) – Guwahati: I called up again. The operator gave me a mobile number and told me to speak with the lady. I tried the number and that was switched off.

23rd February 2009 (10 AM) – guwahati: I lodged an online complaint and wrote about my issue. SBI replied with a complaint number. They informed me it takes 3 days to solve.

28th February 2009 (12 PM) – Guwahati: I called up customer care and asked about my complaint. They told its under process. I got really wild this time. Blasted the executive and asked all the GM/DGM email ids from him. He told me to find out from the website and disconnected the phone. I mailed to customer care and CC to GM Customer Care, DGM Customer Care, GM SBI Cards and the list is on.

After that i countinuously wrote a mail to them everyday as reminder of my complaint. Finaly on 10th of March i got a call from the DGM office asking my problem.

11th March 2009 (11 AM) – Guwahati: One guy from the bank called me up and asked me politely, “you complained?” i told “YES”. He told “You could have come to the bank why u complaint? actually the bank lost the request letter and i dont have your account numbers and all. so can you please come down and your problem will be solved today itself”

I went to the bank at 12 PM. I inquired about the person called me at the help desk. The lady asked my name. I told “Pranjal Saikia”, suddenly i was shocked to see all the bank executives looking at me strangely. A message was in their eyes like “Ok, I are the person because of whom we got scoldings from DGM.” I was laughing my ass out and returning home after taking back Rs. 3000 in my account.

I could have asked for a compansesation according to the Banking Ombudsman Law under section 35A. But i just wanted back my hard earned money. That happened with me in the State Bank of India who has recently opened there 11111th branch in Sonapur, Assam.