POSTED BY July 4, 2013 12:20 pm COMMENTS (17)
ONSBI has imposed Rs 15 Per quarter charges on Savings account customers for SMS alerts. Are these charges fair? Why there is no opt-out? Why did they announce it at end of quarter just before deducting charges from accounts?
(ICICI Bank has imposed simillar charges, however there is opt out. The charges don’t apply for mandetory SMS enforced by RBI but are applicable for additional SMS which bank provides. http://icicibank.com/mobile-banking/alerts.html)
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yeh bik gayi hai gormint
171 Rs deduct from my account as SMS charge it is very painful for me I think SBI make fool to every customer
kailash verma
Same here. They just deducted 178 and i’m so annoyed
Bank Bewkuf Bana rahe hai Kisi tarah Business ko badhana hai Grahakoki Jeb Indirectlt kat rahe hai Hame abhi tak Koi bhi SMS bank se Nahi Ata hai
Check this link on how to disable the SMS alerts from SBI. Pls provide your feedback in the comments section.
http://www.thomasabeesh.com/3242/how-to-deactivate-sbi-sms-alerts/
Hi Abheesh,
Thank you ,
This was really helpful , as all my family members have sbi savings account and visiting these banks for service is a painful process.
I was able to disbale sms alerts online ..thanks a lot
did this stop the sms charges being deducted? I don’t think so. highly unethical from sbi.
These charges are totally unfair and a result of cartelization by banks. Like Mr. Vineet mentioned, bank is completely within its rights to provide services but not enforce it upon their customers. I dont conduct many transactions on my SBI account and thus have an exact idea how much balance is remaining. And the only transaction happening is SBI debiting money from it for a service that is not helping me in anyway. They should provide a way to opt out of such services and force people into it. I have half a mind to switch my account to the numerous other banks who atleast provide that option.
Actually when you think about it, banks impose so many small charges upon us round the year that if we add them all up, they may actually cancel out or even exceed the amount of interest generated by our savings account balance.
The Debit Card charge of Rs. 112 annually is another big one. I for one am needlessly paying this charge for multiple bank accounts even though I only use one bank’s card on a regular basis.
There should be opt-out policy. Charges should not be forced to every user
I believe 15rs is way too costly …
1 sms at max will cost 50p ..15rs means 30 sms, do they send 30sms per quarter?
Why cant it be on case to case basis? Charge only for the sms sent?
per sms cost will not work, what if they send you more sms which you don’t really need, say for example everyday once showing you current balance. so it wil be 15/- per month.
the SMS charges announced by SBI are justified
If they send SMS that u dont want then its called ‘SPAM’, thats will totally go against them itslef, so sending daily once showing current balance is realistically not true and wont happen
All i’am saying is charge the amt as per usage ‘CC/DD transactions’ ‘CC statements’ ‘yearly balance’ etc.
Ideally they should provide these facilities for free, still if they want to charge, charge it basis of ‘utilization’ not a straight high fixed charges
Actually banks & other organizations buy sms in bulk and bulk sms is ridiculously cheap, nowhere near the 50p/sms you are quoting. They probably don’t even spend more than Rs. 5 per quarter for sms on a customer. Its a definite money maker for the banks.
Dear Vineet, do you really feel these SMS alerts should be given free of cost?
thanks
Ashal
Ashal, I am not saying bank should not charge for extra services. (In fact even though ICICI bank is allowing to opt out, I have decided to pay charge and continue with alert since in that account is with high transaction volume and high balance, I need SMS facility for that account) However there should be choice for customers to opt out and unsubscribe from alerts. There would be many customers who do not really need SMS alerts and given choice would stop service.
Taking charges retrospectively is even more unfriendly. ICICI also decided to charge from same quarter however they made announcement before start of quarter unlike SBI who announced at end of quarter.
I think atleast the basic service of sending OTP while transacting should be free. Anything beyond that like informing customer of FDs about to mature should be chargeable and paid service. At the moment, SBI is forcing this charge on us even though many of us don’t need sms service and its definitely not the right approach.
Think of those people for whom SBI is not their main transacting account. Most of us have multiple bank accounts but we only tend to actively use one or two. Others are just there for investing or lying dormat for future use. What is the use of sms facility for such people?