WARNING: SBI to Deactivate Magstripe Debit Cards by Dec 31; How to Get New EMV Chips


WARNING: SBI to Deactivate Magstripe Debit Cards by Dec 31; How to Get New EMV Chips

Recently, State Bank of India (SBI) issued an advisory for its valuable customers, who carry debit cards. SBI has instructed its debit card users to switch to EMV-chip by the end of the year, i.e. December 31, 2019. The bank has also announced that in case of non-compliance, they’ll be deactivating the magnetic stripe cards.

SBI stated that, the reason to deactivate the cards is due to the increase in ongling frauds on the magstripe cards. Being the latest global standard for debit card payments, EMV Chip technology stores and protects the cardholder’s data. SBI tweeted, “Safeguard yourself with guaranteed authenticity, greater security for online payments and added security against fraud”.

Irrespective of their validity, the magnetic stripe (Magstripe) cards will be deactivated by December 31, 2019. However, last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had directed the commercial banks to migrate their customers from Magstripe cards to the EMV chip and PIN-based cards.

How to get your New EMV Chip Debit Card?

The SBI debit cards having both magnetic stripe and EMV chip will continue to function, whereas, only the old Magstripe cards without the chip will be deactivated. To get an EMV chip card, SBI customers need to approach their Home Branch and get their Magstripe cards replaced. Apart from this, the customers can also apply for the new card online, via SBI internet banking or SBI’s Yono app.

There will be no additional charges to replace the magnetic stripe debit cards with EMV cards and PIN-based cards. After receiving the EMV chip cards, users need to check whether the card has EMV chip or not, which will be located on the center-left of the EMV chip debit cards. They also need to ensure that the current address is updated in the bank as the card will be delivered to the registered address only.