India’s largest bank has issued an advisory to its customers who own a debit card. SBI (State Bank of India) has asked its debit card user to switch to EVM chip + Magnetic strip based debit cards from the conventional Magnetic strip debit cards, latest by 31st December 2019.
SBI will be deactivating all debit cards running only on Magnetic strips. Here is what you can do:
SBI has set 31st December as the deadline, and all the debit cards which run only on Magnetic strips (with no EVM chip) will be deactivated. According to the SBI, these cards will get deactivated irrespective of the expiry date, which mean, even if your Debit Card has an expiry date of 01/2020, they will get deactivated on 31st December 2019.
The bank said, the reason why these debit cards which are running solely on magnetic strips are being deactivated is the ‘continuing fraud’ cases for them. EVM Chuo is the latest, global standard for all of the debit card payments. In this the debit card comes with a microprocessor chip embedded in the card that not only stores but also protects the data of the card owner. SBI tweeted saying “Safeguard yourself with guaranteed authenticity, greater security for online payments and added security against fraud” on the 30th of November.
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. pic.twitter.com/t9K3TiGTad
— State Bank of India (@TheOfficialSBI) November 30, 2019
SBI had said that the debit card which uses only Magnetic strip to function will get deactivated, this means that debit cards which have both EVM Chip and the Magnetic strip will continue to work. Bank said that the customers who did not receive debit card with EVM Chip should contact the Home Branch at the earliest to get an EVM Chip card issued.
You can apply for a new debit card via SBI’s Internet Banking, simply log in to https://www.onlinesbi.com/ and under the “eServices” tab, then click on “ATM Card Services” and follow the instructions on your screen. If you have SBI’s Yono app, you can apply through that as well. It is said that the bank will not charge anything from the customers who are replacing their valid Magnetic strip cards with the new EVM Chip based cards.
SBI has requested its customers to cross check their address in the account as the card will only be sent to the registered address.
To check if you have an EVM chip on your debit card or not simply hold your card front side facing yourself and see if there is a chip on the left-centre position.
