Saving bank accounts can have lot of hidden charges which most of the times we are not aware of. A few days back one of my friends was looking at his ICICI Bank statement and found 3 consecutive deductions of Rs 28.09 with the description of POSDEC CHG/11-06-14/8833/25ST3. As happens most of the times it’s almost impossible to figure out what this alien description meant!
A little research and asking friends revealed that POSDEC CHG means Point of Sale Decline Charges.
This means you tried using your debit card for paying something at the merchant but the transaction was declined due to insufficient funds in the account.
Also Read: 22 Hidden Charges in Saving Bank Account
This is what happens at the merchant side. You gave your debit card for payment. The transaction gets declined but you and the merchant does not know the reason for decline. As most of the times network failure/ wrong pin etc are responsible. So the merchant swipes the card multiple times but every time it’s declined! The unfortunate part ICICI deducts this POSDEC CHG of Rs 28.09 for every swipe! So in my friend’s case it was tried 3 times and hence there are 3 consecutive deductions!
My friend had gone to his usual departmental store for his regular purchase and gave his ICICI debit card for payment. The problem was he had 2 accounts with ICICI Bank and by mistake he gave the card which did not have sufficient funds. The transaction did not go through the card so he paid by cash and moved on. He only realized his mistake when he got to see these charges after more than a month in his statement! I am sure this can happen to lot many people especially who have multiple cards of the same bank!
As a customer I find these charges completely unethical and then series of deduction for the same transaction – I have no words!
It’s not like all the transactions that are declined are because of insufficient funds. On the contrary the most declines are due to network issues! But how a customer can know the decline reason?
The bank should have either sent SMS to the customer that the decline is due to insufficient funds or may have charged only once for one transaction.
In such cases “prevention is better than cure”. So if such charges are reflecting in your statement you can talk to ICICI call center executive and tell him to reverse these charges. You have two problems here:
A simple Google search and you would see multiple complaints regarding such charges online. In one extreme case I found the customer was charged 19 consecutive times probably for the same transaction!
RBI wants to encourage payments through Debit/credit cards but such practices by banks would be highly detrimental! Probably some rules/clarifications from RBI regarding these unethical charges might help.
There are few things you should take care while using your debit card:
Do you know of other banks who have such unethical practices or have you or your friends gone through this? If yes please leave comment to make everyone aware of such practices!
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I have faced the same problem, and a huge amount of money hab been deducted from my ICICI bank account, 4 times money has been debited of Rs. 29.50, This is very disappointing for me.
Icici customer care is not responding now a days so anyone please suggest how to get refund this amount & stop this deduction.
Total 21 deductions in my account today at 29.50INR each. Going to close this account . ICICI is turning into fraud bank
This is unfair system without sending any notifications about this to customers I m very disappointed now how I will get my money back
I havn't used my icici debit card for a while but still i was charged posdec twice
What could be the reason and what should i do in such condition?
I have facing the same problem so many times but that time I ignore it but due to lockdown and have sufficient time I Google it & I knew about that unethical charges.
Please if any one about the banks who didn't have such charges
I have faced the same problem, and a huge amount of money hab been deducted from my ICICI bank account, 18 times money has been debited of Rs. 29.50, total of Rs. 500+ has been deducted. This is very disappointing for me, very disappointing. This a serious case for me. I am not a so rich man that this amount is nothing for me. Totally fuck up system this is.
Same is happening with me , it happened for 9 times in my account even i am not using my card but amount is deducted daily. Please provide me solution how you solved your problem ? Is money returned by bank?
Today I realised they have charged me a total of 4000 rs by deducting 29.5 frequently without prior notification.Amid corona people had to go through this shitty things . If I rise this to bank they blame the system!
That same problem happend with me.This is unfair and ruthless, not happy with this.
Facing the same issue... for the umpteenth time now...so checked today to decipher the POSDEC chrgs code...this is not justified
I got this same issue and I have used only one time.. But they deducted 24 times of about 29.50! Looting people money! No notification came regarding this! Can anyone suggest how to claim the money back?