Balance inquiry to be included in free ATM transactions

There is some good news and some bad news for people using ATMs for their banking transactions from tomorrow.

As per an RBI directive, banks will have to credit the wrongly debited amount to the customer's account due to failed ATM transactions within seven days of the complaint from tomorrow onwards, as against the current norm of 12 days.

However, the number of free transactions allowed at ATMs of banks other than where a customer holds the account would now also comprise non-financial transactions like balance inquiry.

Currently, customers are allowed a limited number of free transactions, generally five, for cash withdrawal and other financial transactions from other bank ATMs, while there is no cap on number of free non-financial transactions like balance inquiry, PIN change and mini statement.

This will change with effect from July 1, as RBI has allowed the number of free transactions permitted per month at other bank ATMs to be inclusive of all types of transactions, financial or non-financial.

Besides, these free transactions would be available to only the savings bank account holders.

The banks have started informing their respective customers about the proposed changes from July 1.

In one such notification, HDFC Bank said it would charge Rs 20 per financial transaction such as cash withdrawal beyond five free ones.

Besides, it would charge Rs 8.50 for every non-financial transaction such as balance inquiry, pin change and mini statement after the five free transactions a month.

At the same time, HDFC Bank said that it will credit such wrongly debited amounts within a period of 7 working days from the date of the complaint.

As per the RBI guidlines, the banks would have to pay Rs 100 per day beyond 7 working days, but only if the complaint is lodged within 30 days of the date of the transaction.

In another measure to check any fraudulent use of bank accounts, the banks have also been told by RBI to provide SMS and email alerts to the customers for every transaction from tomorrow, as against the current practice of alerts for only select transactions beyond a certain amount.