New Delhi: Failing to replace the EVM chip till July 31, can get the holders of Maestro debit card blocked. Punjab National Bank (PNB) said in a statement.
However, the bank will not charge any amount for the replacement and it will be provided free of cost, as per a report by PTI.
“If you are having Maestro debit card, get it replaced free of cost with a new EMV chip-based debit card from any PNB branch. All Maestro cards issued by PNB will be blocked or hotlisted on July 31, 2017, for security-based reasons,” the bank said in a communication to its customers.
The RBI had asked all the banks in an advisory of 2015 to migrate to a much secured EMV chip-based cards, an official of the bank said. The bank has identified that there are about one lakh customers with old Maestro debit cards and it has started sending them SMSes as well, an official of the bank said.
Presently, PNB’s card base stands at around 5.65 crores. “However, we have excluded those customers who are not using these Maestro debit cards at all with not even a single transaction in a year as the making of cards involves cost as well as time,” the official said.
Existing magnetic stripe only cards need to be replaced with EMV chip and pin based cards by December 31, 2018, irrespective of the validity period of the cards, the RBI advisory suggests.