SBI Says Husband Can’t Use Wife’s Debit Card To Withdraw Cash; Pregnant Woman Loses Rs 25,000

If you are thinking of giving someone your ATM card to withdraw money, think again!

If there is some problem during the transaction, you will lose the money and the bank will not be responsible for it. You might think sharing PIN details between spouses won’t be termed as infringement! Well, that is not the case either.  

This is what happened with a couple from Bengaluru who lost a huge sum of money because of this mistake.

Read on to know more…

What Happened?

Vandana, a woman from Bengaluru was on maternity leave when she asked her husband to use her debit card to withdraw Rs 25,000 from the ATM.

On November 14, 2013, her husband Rajesh Kumar went to the ATM but the machine didn’t dispense the cash. However, he did receive the confirmation slip showing the money was debited.

Right after this incident, he contacted the SBI customer care which informed him that it was ATM’s fault and the money would be reverted to the account within 24 hours.

After no return of money, Rajesh filed a formal complaint with the SBI’s Helicopter Division branch at HAL.

The couple approached the bank with the CCTV footage of the ATM that showed no cash had been dispensed. The probe committee stated that the cardholder was not present in the footage. 

SBI denied all money claims and stated the rule ‘ATM card is non-transferable and should not be used by anybody other than the account holder.’ 

The husband had used the debit card on the account holder’s behalf and hence the bank could not accept any claim request.

The RTI Angle of the Case!

After which, the account holder, Vandana, under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Vandana obtained the cash verification report of the day of the transaction which clearly showed an excess of Rs. 25,000.  However, SBI produced a counter-report stating no excess cash was found.

A final plea was made by the couple to the bank ombudsman before approaching the consumer forum. However, they ruled against the couple saying ‘PIN shared, case closed.’

On October 21, 2014, Vandana had approached the Bangalore IVth Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum and stated she had delivered a baby and hence was unable to go to the ATM. However, SBI held its stance that the customer violated rules by sharing ATM PIN.

After a legal battle of more than 3 years, on May 29, 2018, the consumer court ruled against the couple stating that the cardholder shouldn’t have shared the PIN. However, she should have given a self-cheque or an authorization letter to her husband for the withdrawal of money.

Some RBI Guidelines For ATM/WLA Transactions 

• Only one account/cardholder should enter and access the ATM / WLA cabin at a time.
• The account/cardholder should not lend his / her card to anyone.
• The account/cardholder should not write the PIN on the card.
• The account/cardholder should not share the PIN with anyone.