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.
What does this actually mean?
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
But why 3 consecutive deductions?
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!
The Complete Story of my Friend and many others!
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!
Is this Ethical?
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.
What should you do?
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:
- One it’s really difficult to get through the maze of options to get a human voice and most of the time it really does not help!
- The time and money you would spend on call and follow ups would be worth more than Rs 28.09
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.
How to Prevent?
There are few things you should take care while using your debit card:
- Carry only the debit cards you use regularly. Why create confusion and un-necessary risk by carrying multiple cards?
- Know your balance before making any payment
- Switch to banks that do not have such charges
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!
On 2 occasions in Nov, HDFC bank charged Rs. 9.73 and Rs. 22.90 with description “Fee-ATM Non Cash(1Txn)”, what does it mean? This is unethical. Will check with bank tomorrow. However, please advise.
@Kalpana Seems like HDFC bank has charged you for non-cash transaction like PIN change/Balance enquiry/Mini statement. There is limit to number of non-cash transactions you can do in a month. Yes I agree it’s totally unfair & unethical! You should read 22 Hidden Charges in Saving Bank Account for more info.
Oriental bank of commerce doesn’t charge for it.it has no charge for SMS alerts and also for ATM withdrawal without sufficient funds .
This is good news and an exception 🙂
Yesterday I cancelled the transaction because I was not using the registered number, hence not receiving OTP; which I realized later. Today I saw the charges of 28.5 Rs. ha been deducted 2 times from my account. This is just not done. I am collecting amount for RD. Now I will have to again deposit money. What to do?
Nice article. I too was charged twice from ICICI bank. They deducted demat account charges from my account and I was unaware of that as I didn’t get any message from bank. I went for some online transaction and it was declined by the bank, I couldn’t figure I out why it was declined, later I found that it was due to insufficient fund. This is totally ridiculous. Thanks for sharing this info.
Dear Mr. Mehta,
We regret any inconvenience faced. Please write to [email protected] with your contact details. Our official will contact you and assist. Kindly refer ‘135066_aaan’ in the subject line.
Regards,
ICICI Bank Customer Service Team
Thanks for sharing valuable information, I was suffered in 2010 same thing was happen trying to withdrawal from ATM but due to technical issue amount has debited from account & physically cash not withdrawal, I was tried more than 4 time bank has charges above mention charges after 3 month when I saw statement than write to bank about return the same bank has refund the all amount.
good that you got the return 🙂
Thank for the great Info….Dint expected this from 3rd largest bank of India. I think they are making lots of revenue bcoz of this practice.
THIS SHOULD BE COME TO AN END….
totally agree with you
Well to my surprise just checked my statement today and I have been charged 28.50 8 times in the month of August!! As I read above these charges are applied because of failed transactions, if that’s so then it should have reflected in the statement the very same day. Why deduct it after a month? And there were sufficient funds at the time of making the transactions. Just baffled!!
Agreed you come to know about these charges only after a month and this is bad on ICICI’s part. Ask customer care to reverse this. Heard they might reverse these charges if you are assertive!
I am also one of the person who facing the same issue with ICICI bank. I too was charged same 28.50 3x.
It’s really painful to be charged for such absurd things. But you might want to speak to customer care and see if they reverse it. The only thing we can do is to be aware of the charges!
its ICICI bank. I too was charged same 28.09 3x , and they have done it in multiple months. ICICI chairman bstrd should be hanged kicked from India and World. Bankrupted all my accounts even after maintaining Rs. 10000+ balance.
you have started a great informative site. I really am grateful to the information that you have provided especially in this article.
Thanks 🙂
I noticed some change in the amount, so i checked my ICICI Bank statement and found 3 consecutive deductions of Rs 28.09 with the description of POSDEC CHG/11-06-14/8833/25ST3. what the hell is this. I checked the statement after a long time…dont know how much they would have cut from the account.
Yes that’s why you need to check accounts regularly. However you can talk to customer care, they might reverse the charges.
I was charged for 6times, and got reversal for only one time. For that too I have called their customer care service center around 3 times
Yes its pretty frustrating but you know all banks in India operate as cartel! The onus here is on customers to save their hard earned money.
I have a bank statement from another private sector bank where the POSDEC CHG, it seems, is abbreviated as NWD DEC CHG ………… amount deducted is rs.28.09 for each transaction decline! Unethical is too soft a word to describe such pilferage of money by banking service providers. A senior citizen
Its really sad to see such charges from banks. You want to try calling their call center and ask for refund. Request you to name the bank please, so that readers of the blog become more aware.
This is not a fair charge of Banks. Especially happens with private banks. Not even SMS to customer amount is deducted. This is one type theft by Banks……………
This is sbsolutely unethical that without giving any chance to understand the transaction from whose a/c the amt is deducted. In such circumstances on once
compl.the amt deducted unethically should be credited back with apology.