The biggest public sector bank in the country, State Bank of India has informed that all ‘Magstripe’ or magnetic stripe debit and credit cards will be deactivated by December 31. Through a tweet, the SBI said that it has proposed to deactivate all old magnetic strip-based cards by December 31, 2019, irrespective of the card’s validity period.
“Apply now to change your Magnetic Stripe Debit Cards to the more secure EMV Chip and PIN-based SBI Debit card at your home branch by 31st December 2019. Safeguard yourself with guaranteed authenticity, greater security for online payments and added security against fraud,” the bank said in a tweet.
The customers can replace these cards free of cost with a EMV chip and PIN based card. The customers who had not received their EMV chip based cards must contact their home branch for changing the cards
Earlier last year the Reserve Bank of India has instructed all commercial banks in the country to mitigate their customers from magstripe cards to EMV chip and PIN based cards.
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