Depositors suffer delays in getting back their wrongly debited amounts from ATMs. This time, it’s a father who lost Rs30,000 he needed for daughter’s college admission
On 2nd of June, Pune based Kiran Chaptekar went to the Thergaon (suburb in Pune) ATM of Bank of Maharashtra to withdraw Rs20,000 for his daughter’s college admission. However, no cash came out. So, he immediately went to another ATM, also of BoM to withdraw. This time he wanted to withdraw Rs10,000. He put in his card but again no cash came out. However, he found to his shock that Rs.30,000 has been debited from his account in the Karve Road branch.
Worried, he rushed on 2nd June itself to the Thergaon branch and met the Branch Manager. He asked him to furnish details of his complaint through a form, provided by the bank. He promptly filled it up and gave it to him. Strangely on 3rd, the manager of the Thergaon Branch handed him over a document which states the status of both the transactions as `Success Fail’’ – whatever that means. Chaptekar pleads that how can the manager write that the transactions have been successful when he has not received any money.
The manager says he is helpless and that Chaptekar should go to the Karve Road branch of Bank of Maharashtra where he has his original account and register a complaint there too. So, Chaptekar goes to the said branch on 4th June and registers a complaint by filling up another complaint form provided by the bank. Ever since then he is being making visits to the Karve Road branch, where the bank official Ms Sabnis says she has sent his complaint to the appropriate authority and has not received a reply. She keeps assuring that Chaptekar’s Rs30,000 would be credited back in a couple of days.
Chaptekar is awaiting the mandatory 7 working days within which a bank is mandated to credit back into the account. If it does not happen, then he would be filing a RTI
What can a customer do if he or she faces a similar situation?
Please remember the following rules of Reserve Bank of India which have been put up in Q&A format, on most public and private bank websites
What should be done in case during the cash withdrawal process, cash is not disbursed by the account gets debited for the amount?
The customer may lodge a complaint with the card issuing bank. This process is applicable even if the transaction was carried out at another banks ATM.
How many days maximum would the bank require to re-credit the account for such wrong debits?
As per the RBI instruction, the issuing bank may re-credit such wrongly debited amounts within a maximum period of 7 working days from the receipt of the customer compliant.
Are customers eligible for compensation for delay beyond 7 working days?
Yes, effective July 1, 2011, banks shall pay customers a sum of Rs100 per day for delays beyond 7 working days (if the complaint is lodged with the issuing bank within 30 days). This compensation shall be credited to the customer's account without any claim being made by the customer.
In case the compensation is not credited as mandated, what recourse does the customer have?
For all such complaints customer may lodge a complaint with the local Banking Ombudsman if the bank does not respond.
Please remember you can and you must file RTI and ask the following questions:
- What is the status of my complaint of the wrongly debited amount (please mention amount, account no. date of complaint )
- Please supply me name and designation of the officer responsible for the delay in crediting the money back to my account within the stipulated 7 days as prescribed by Reserve Bank of India?
- What action has been taken against the officer for dereliction in this duty?
- Reasons why my money was not credited into my account on the very same day?
- In how many cases in this year (mention from which month to month) was this law violated?
- What corrective action have you taken from your side, to avoid such delays?
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| The Reserve Bank circular of 2009 on ATM withdrawals. (Remember, thereafter the bank has been directed to pay penalty if it does not credit the amount within 7 working days and not 12 working days as stated in this circular): | | Following is the circular directive from the RBI dated 17 July 2009, under Section 18 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007, states: | | * The Reserve Bank of India has been receiving a 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 and all banks may follow the following directives: | | * Banks are required to reimburse to the customers, the amount wrongfully debited on account of failed ATM transaction within a maximum period of 12 days from the date of receipt of customer complaint. | | * For any failure to re-credit the customer’s account within 12 working days from the date of receipt of the complaint, the bank shall pay compensation of Rs100 per day to the aggrieved customer. The 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. | | 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. | | *Each bank shall present a quarterly review of ATM transactions to its board of directors, indicatinginter 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 observations of the board shall be forwarded to the chief general manager, Reserve Bank of India, Department of Payment & Settlement Systems, Mumbai. | |
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Anyway back to MCGM, there is no mechanism of lodging any online complaint, no one from their department has ever gotten in touch asking if the issue has been resolved.
Shouldn't publications like MoneyLife expose these practices and force governments to have better consumer facing systems.
All said and done Kiran Chaptekar should get his money back. In case the same is not done he should demand for ATM cash loading details prior and post his transaction for this particular ATM. There is strong possibility of the cash loading persons are not cheating the BRANCH OFFICIALS of Bank of Maharashtra might not have been cross checking once a month which is mandatory . Vinita Deshmukh may take up with R.Athmaram ED of BOM who being in IT Dept with Andhra Bank will be very much aware of reconciliation of ATM cash and also the duty of branch officials to certify once every month that the cash of ATM is reconciled electronically with physical cash.