State Bank of India (SBI) will deactivate all its magnetic stripe ATM-cum-debit cards from December 31. All these cards will become inoperational and will be replaced with EMV chip-based ATM debit cards.
Back in November, SBI had requested its customers to migrate from old cards to the chip-based EMV and PIN based cards. The company is doing so under Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) direction that makes it mandatory for all Indian banks to switch to the globally accepted and safe EMV chip-enabled debit cards.
“Upgradation of Magstripe Debit Cards to EMV Chip Cards for enhanced security and towards compliance of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines. Esteemed customers may please note that Magstripe Debit Cards blocked by them will remain blocked permanently. They are requested to apply for replacement EMV Chip Cards, free of cost, through online SBI, or through their home branch,” the bank had said in a statement earlier.
“Apply now to change your Magnetic Stripe Debit Cards to the more secure EMV Chip and PIN-based SBI Debit card at your home branch by 31st December 2019. Safeguard yourself with guaranteed authenticity, greater security for online payments and added security against fraud,” the company had tweeted November 30.
“In view of the continuing frauds on Magnetic Stripe Cards, it is proposed to deactivate these cards by 31.12.2019 (irrespective of the validity period of the card). In case any SBI customer has not received the new EMV Chip card, they are requested to approach his/her home branch,” the bank added.
It should be mentioned that SBI will not charge any fee from its customers for upgrading their magnetic stripes ATM-cum-debit cards to new EMV chip cards. The upgradation is free of cost, the conversion process is safe and comes with no charges,” the bank had explained.
The EMV technology stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa and is a worldwide standard for debit card payments. The EMV chip-enabled ATM cards come laden with an embedded microprocessor chip that stores and safeguards cardholder’s data. These cards are safer compared to older ATM-cum-Debit cards.
Customers can also verify if their ATM-cum-Debit cards have a magnetic stripe by checking if there is no chip on the face at the centre-left position of the card. The card with a chip on the face (centre-left position) of the debit card is an EMV chip debit card.
Now that the days of magnetic stripe ATM-cum-debit cards are going to be over, SBI customers can visit their home branch of the bank and get their old cards replaced – if they have not done so already. They can also do it through SBI net banking or by SBI Yono App on their mobile phones.
Ensure to verify your address in your accounts to enable the bank to send the card to the correct address. Customers can also login to onlinesbi.com with their user ID and password. They then need to select the ‘eServices’ tab and go to ‘ATM card services’. Follow the on-screen instructions to upgrade the old cards to new ones.
