New Delhi, December 25: If you are busy gearing up for the New Year celebration then there is something that you should do before December 31, especially if you are a customer of State Bank of India. As the bank announced that all SBI ATM cards will be deactivated from December 31. The bank in an official tweet has announced the same information.
“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,” SBI tweet reads.
Simply put, according to the guidelines of the apex bank (RBI), all India banks have to replace the entire existing ATM card through the chip-based ATM cards. Therefore, it is incumbent upon you to get all your ATM cards replaced with EMV ATM Cards.
The objective behind this exercise is to make cards compatible in consonance with international digital payment standards.
Therefore, all SBI debit cards and credit cardholders are required to visit their SBI home branch and apply for a new card.
Those having net banking access can also request for an EMV ATM card via onlinesbi.com. Also, an online request can be posted through sbi.co.in as well.
With the introduction of the new changes, the SBI magnetic cards will be deactivated from January 1, 2020.
What are EMV Cards?
You must be wondering if all your cards are running fine then why the bank is creating a hassle for you. Basically, EMV stands for Europay Mastercard and Visa. As earlier mentioned, the exercise is being done only to match the international payment standards. So, EMV are the cards with more developed safety features and enhanced security, in order to reduce the number of frauds taking place in relation to cards. Basically, the difference lies in the way they store all your data. If you are carrying out transactions with magnetic strip cards, then all your data will be saved in the magnetic strip at the back of your card. But in EMV card, all your data is stored in a chip. Magnetic stripe cards make it very easier to copy data one the card that would be swiped by a fraudster. On the flip side, EMV cards generated fresh user data with every transaction making it safer than magnetic strip card.