Failed ATM transactions not to be counted under Free ATM Transactions: RBI
- The Reserve Bank of India has issued a clarification to the commercial banks that the transactions that have failed due to technical reasons, non-availability of currency in ATMs, etc. shall not be counted as valid ATM transactions for the customer. Consequently, no charges therefor shall be levied.
- The various circumstances under which the transactions should not be counted as valid ATM transactions for the customer has been listed by RBI as under:
- transactions which fail on account of technical reasons like hardware, software, communication issues;
- non-availability of currency notes in the ATM;
- other declines ascribable directly / wholly to the bank/service provider;
- invalid PIN / validations;
- Non-cash withdrawal transactions (such as balance enquiry, cheque book request, payment of taxes, funds transfer, etc.), which constitute ‘on-us’ transactions (i.e., when a card is used at an ATM of the bank which has issued the card) shall also not be part of the number of free ATM transactions.
Number of Free transactions mandated by RBI: (remember that banks can offer more free transactions than this, but not less)
- Transactions at a bank’s own ATMs (On-Us transactions) at any location (metro or non-metro): minimum of five free transactions in a month
- Transactions at any other banks’ ATMs (Off-Us transactions) at Metro locations: Minimum Three per month (Valid for six metro cities Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad)
- Transactions at any other banks’ ATMs (Off-Us transactions) at Non-Metro locations: Minimum five free transactions in a month.
Points to remember:
- As per the latest instructions by RBI, which of the following transactions should not be counted under free ATM transactions?- Options can be- (a) non-availability of currency notes in the ATM (b) transactions failed due to hardware failure (c) invalid pin (d) balance enquiry at off-us transaction.
Ans: (d) as the RBI Instructions says that “Non-cash withdrawal transactions (such as balance enquiry, cheque book request, payment of taxes, funds transfer, etc.), which constitute ‘on-us’ transactions (i.e., when a card is used at an ATM of the bank which has issued the card) shall also not be part of the number of free ATM transactions.” - Number of free ATM withdrawal in various cases.