NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted three months extension to banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to comply with certain provisions related to issuing credit and debit cards, including activation of cards without customers’ consent.
Banks and NBFCs that issue debit and credit cards were to implement the Master Direction on `Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2022` from July 1. Now they have three more months to comply with the Master Direction.
The RBI issued a notification regarding the `extension of timeline for implementation of certain provisions of Master Direction – Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2022`.
“Considering various representations received from the industry stakeholders, it has been decided to extend the timeline for implementation of the following provisions of the Master Direction to October 01, 2022,” the RBI noted in the notification.
One of the key provisions of the Master Direction relates to the activation of a credit card. As per the Master Direction, card issuers must seek One Time Password (OTP) based consent from the cardholder for activating a credit card, if the same has not been activated by the customer for more than 30 days from the date of issuance.
“Card-issuers shall seek One Time Password (OTP) based consent from the cardholder for activating a credit card, if the same has not been activated by the customer for more than 30 days from the date of issuance. If no consent is received for activating the card, card-issuers shall close the credit card account without any cost to the customer within seven working days from date of seeking confirmation from the customer,” the RBI said in the Master Direction.
Other provisions are related to credit card limits and levies. “Card-issuers shall ensure that the credit limit as sanctioned and advised to the cardholder is not breached at any point in time without seeking explicit consent from the cardholder,” the RBI said in the notification.