MUMBAI (CU)_InstaAlerts services introduced by HDFC Bank is a service which is largely relied on by customers. It enables customers to keep track of all their financial and non-financial transactions, of which they are informed via SMS or email. By signing up for the service, the customer is able to stay informed on salary credit, bill due dates, insufficient funds and more.
Last week, financial service provider announced revisions to its charges for InstaAlert services provided via SMS, while the email continued to remain free of charge. “If you were paying ₹3 per quarter for InstaAlert SMS service, now you will pay only 20 paise + GST per SMS,” the bank said on its website.
“Debit/Credit Card Transaction alerts sent as per regulatory guidelines and NetBanking transaction alerts do not form part of InstaAlert Service. Customers who are not registered for InstaAlert service will continue to get these alerts free of charge,” it added. Accordingly, SMSs which a customer received under the InstaAlert service in relation to debit and credit transactions are subject to a fee, while the text messages received regarding the balance information will not be subject to any charges.
SMS alerts are viewed by the Reserve Bank of India as a critical means fo fighting fraud, and has therefore requested banks to levy charges based on the customer’s usage in order to promote reasonableness in client dealings.
“Considering the technology available with banks and the telecom service providers, it should be possible for banks to charge customers based on actual usage of SMS alerts. Accordingly, with a view to ensuring reasonableness and equity in the charges levied by banks for sending SMS alerts to customers, banks are advised to leverage the technology available with them and the telecom service providers to ensure that such charges are levied on all customers on actual usage basis,” the central bank said in a notification issued back in 2013.
