Alert! Why Your Bank Auto-Debit Facility May Fail From April 1?

Due to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) new rule requiring banks to seek permission from customers before executing each transaction, auto bill payments and subscription renewals can face challenges beginning April 1.

Your ongoing monthly payments for cell phone bills, utility bills, subscription charges for media content, anything through banks' auto-debit facility are expected to be disrupted beginning in April. Netflix and Amazon will be impacted, as will Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Concept, Tata Power, and BSES.

Furthermore, banks would be required to send customers a one-time password (OTP) to validate transactions exceeding Rs 5,000.

According to a report in The Economic Times, banks are concerned that they are not prepared to enforce the new rule enabling Additional Factor Authentication (AFA) for recurring payments via debit and credit cards, and that many such transactions will become stuck next month.

The Reserve Bank of India had provided banks, card networks, and online vendors until March 31 to comply with new rules requiring two-factor authentication for customers' recurring debit and credit card payments.

As a result, many services' automated monthly customer payments via debit or credit cards are likely to fail starting in April. Customers would have to visit individual retailer payment sites to pay bills or continue subscriptions before banks and retailers come up with an alternative. Payments made via other networks, such as NPCI sites, would be unaffected.

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