Cashless or careless payments?

                                                       Copyright Credit: Blend Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Another bill from BESCOM has come up for my attention and payment. Gosh, the kind of memories it brought to my mind instantly. It all began years ago, when I went for the ECS (Electronic Clearing System) facility to ensure timely payment of BESCOM bills, so that the electricity department would never get a chance to disconnect power to my flat.

Years later, last June, I had to sell off the flat and so in August 2018, I promptly gave a letter to HDFC Bank, to cancel the existing ECS mandate, mentioning my customer ID and the RR number on my BESCOM bill, and went home relieved at the thought of having done my job. Alas, it was not to be.

Just after March this year 2019, a chance glance at my Bank statement showed ECS debits in December 2018 and January 2019, for the very RR number which was mentioned in my ECS cancellation letter. I checked with the Manager and she assured that she would look into the matter. Months have gone by, and I have got nothing apart from assurances. I seem to have lost my Rs.2221/- for good, due to the negligence of the Bank employees who allowed money to be debited from my account despite having given a letter cancelling the ECS mandate.

End of July month, I ordered an item from Flipkart, and was upset at no response from the online retailer, needless to say the item didn’t get delivered to me also. When I called their customer care, I was dumbstruck to hear that they had not got my money at all. The Bank, however, is yet to credit the amount of Rs.720/- which was debited for Flipkart order, back into my account. 

For some reason, I had opted out of ECS for my other flat and activated Auto Pay which seemed more convenient than ECS, in that the bank would inform me about the upcoming payment so that I can keep sufficient funds for the debit to happen on a designated date. Things were going on smoothly till the end of August 2019, when a bill didn’t get paid due to a technical issue. The SMS came to me from HDFC Bank itself, but the Bank did not credit back the amount of Rs.1392/- after the unsuccessful transaction, and the Manager insists that the amount HAS gone to BESCOM while the latter is firm that they have not got that amount with them. Funny that the Manager is not believing the message that the Bank itself had sent to me. In short, I have not got the money back from the Bank.

I have complained to the highest level, the Banking Ombudsman, with all facts and figures, but the matter is yet to be resolved and the money yet to come into my account. I have received nothing after the initial complaint number from the Banking Ombudsman.

I have nothing against online transactions per se; they save so much time for all. But, I feel our Banks or other institutions are not sensitive enough about others’ money, to make online payments safe and worth going for, in comparison to cash payments.  I cite the following examples –

When an individual opts for a personal loan, the initial loan amount is credited into the customer’s SB Account, after checking his documents for his credibility and capacity to pay. (Remember the joke – the person who wants a loan has to prove that he has enough funds to repay it?)

However, should the customer feel that he can pay the outstanding amount and pre-close his loan, he has to visit a particular designated Branch of the Bank and pay the balance by cash or by cheque to close his personal loan. No online payment is permitted. What’s more, a signed acknowledgement is not given by the Bank, saying that the loan is closed and there is no outstanding from the customer, just an email giving the details of the payment that too after sometime.

It’s no secret that where home loan is considered, the customer has to deposit a certain number of signed cheque leaves with the Bank before the loan amount is credited into his Account. Isn’t it so weird? All safety for the Bank, and nothing for the customer? What about the safety of the cheques, the Bank charges for extra cheque book and the time for writing the cheques?

Coming back to my first point, that of my online payments that went awry, I am still waiting for realization to dawn on the Bank authorities (if at all) so that they can order for the money to be credited back to my Account. Banks are known to hire ruthless recovery agents to get money back from debtors. What do customers do, when a Bank defaults in payments due to the negligence of its employees or a technical fault? Is there any answer to this? 

A headline recently in the newspapers caught my attention - ‘Uphill battle to turn India cashless’ – it cited that some 72% of India’s customer transactions take place in cash. I am not at all surprised.

Just a few online payments leading to loss of my hard-earned money, have taught me a very valuable lesson - Not to go for cashless, online transactions but to avoid them to the best extent possible. To me, cashless means careless – cashless transactions can burn a hole in the pocket, if handled carelessly.

No more ECS or Auto Pay for me. No more online orders. A lesson learnt very late, but better late than never. I would rather do cash transactions like the 72% mentioned above, the way we used to, long before we became digital entities.

Published in LinkedIn on 23rd September 2019