ATM User Rights

Customer one should be aware of his right and he must use it for his personal benefit. However, there are many cash card holders who are unaware of their rights at the ATMs, reports Parvatha Vardhini C, from Hindu businessline.

Well ATM card holders, we have a list of good news for you. RBI has made several customer friendly reforms and has mandated banks to adopt them to safeguard customers interest.

On your part, you must learn about your rights. Hence, here are a few things you must keep in mind while using an ATM.

1. The Reserve Bank of India has introduced the ‘Free ATM Access Policy’ which allows ATM card holders to use other bank’s ATM without any charge. However, the number of free transactions is limited to five times in a month. Exceeding that, you would be charged anything less than or equal to 20 per transaction.

2. In case you experience any trouble using an ATM, where after inserting your card, the ATM machine does not delivery cash, but gives you a bill indicating the amount being wrong debited from your account, then you must lodge a complaint immediately or least within 30 days of the transaction.

The bank stands liable to return the amount within 7 days of receiving the complaint. If the bank delays, you would be entitled to receive a compensation of 100 for each day’s delay.#

3. For lodging a complaint, look around inside the ATM centre to get necessary details and proper contact address of your bank. RBI has mandated every bank to provide sufficient information and guidelines related to registering of ATM related complaints there.

In the ATM center you may find a notice board saying that you can lodge a complaint at the bank branch. There you will get information about the bank linked to the ATM card and also the contact number of the bank’s help desk.

4. Does your bank permits you to withdraw cash, make a balance enquiry and pay bills, all in one single login? If that’s the case, chances are high that your ATM transactions not secure. Just imagine you are in a hurry, and after withdrawing cash, you don’t remember to collect your card.

What will happen then? Anyone can freely clean your account. Hence, with a view to make ATM transactions more secure, the RBI, in its ‘Master Circular on Customer Service’ for 2011 has made a procedural amendment.Under this, each bank is required to ensure that the process flow or process change must be accompanied by regular feeding of ATM PIN Code number.

If the banks fails to implement this scheme and the ATM card does not ask for PIN validation for every successive transaction, the bank will be charged a penalty under the Payments and Settlement Systems Act. In case your ATM card does not work in this fashion, you have the right to ask your bank.

5. Taking into account the rising incidents of fraudulent withdrawals at ATMs or unauthorised usage of cards, RBI has directed banks to send online alerts to customers regardless of the amount involved or the channel used. This measure was proposed by RBI in order to make ATM transactions more secure and customer friendly, and it is in force since July 2011.

But if even today you don’t receive these alerts although you didn’t miss to update your mobile number or email address, be smart enough to demand this service from your banker.

Thanks