Many debit-card holders are still confused about use and service charges of ATM booths other than the card-issuing banks, which is posing an adverse impact on growth of interbank electronic transactions, sector insiders said.
Most of them are even not properly aware of the services under the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB) due to not having effective campaign from the respective authorities and service providers, they said.
NPSB is a network, introduced by the Bangladesh Bank (BB), that enables every debit-card holder of the banks under the network can use automated teller machine (ATM) of any of those banks across the country on a fixed charge.
Till now, 40 commercial banks joined the NPSB system since inception of the milestone initiative on December 27, 2012.
Admitting to such confusion of the customers, the central bank issued a circular on February 16 asking all the banks under NPSB to display the specific service charges for using interbank ATMs at an easily viewable place of the booths.
Visiting the ATM booths of a number of leading banks at different places in the city, no such display was found even 25 days after the BB circular.
When asked introducing as a newsman, some ATM users on the spot said that they don't know about the service and charges in details; some of them cited different amount of charges, as they know, ranging from Tk 5 to Tk 50 for the interbank ATM usage.
"I use three debit cards of separate leading banks. But, I am yet to get any message or information about the NPSB services from those banks," Rezaul Haque, a private job holder at Kawran Bazar area, told the FE.
Sharing his sufferings on such a recent incident, Mr Haque said that when he tried to use another bank's ATM, his card was unexpectedly retained. Later, the card was indeed recovered but through many hassles.
Eide Amin, a teacher at a Mohammadpur school, said that he has been using a debit card for 10 months. "My bank didn't let me know about the NPSB services on its own motion."
"When I asked, the bank informed me about it but didn't mention names of all other banks under system. Initially, I have made a transaction on trial basis through other bank's ATM, but it charged Tk 50; since then, I refrained myself from availing the service," Mr Amin said.
Another customer, an insurance sector employee, guessed that the services of interbank ATM usage might be Tk 5-10 per transaction. He also recommended going the bank nearby to know details.
The central bank earlier re-fixed the charges for using ATM, which came into effect from February 1. As per the latest decision, the fee was re-fixed at Tk 20 per transaction for cash out from ATM booths of banks other than the card-issuing bank.
Of the amount, Tk 15 will be debited from the account of the customer while the card issuing bank will pay the rest Tk 5.
md.ali.du@gmail.com
Debit-card holders still confused about use, service charges of ATM booths
Mohammad Ali | Published: March 13, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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