Customers are "shocked" because SMS Banking fees have skyrocketed.

(NLDO) - Many people unexpectedly received a notice from the bank charging hundreds of thousands of dong for balance change notification via text message.

Reflecting to Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, some customers of BIDV bank said they have just received a notice of BSMS Banking fee (balance change notification fee via text message) for October with a much higher increase compared to previous months.

Ms. Ngoc Hanh (living in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) said that in previous months, the BSMS Banking fee was less than 10,000 VND so she did not pay attention. A few days ago, she suddenly received a notice from BIDV to collect BSMS fee with a fee of more than 100,000 VND.

"Many cashless payment transactions cost only a few tens of thousands of dong, or even less than 10,000 dong, but the fee of 700 dong/message is too high," said Ms. Hanh.

Similarly, Ms. Huynh Thanh (living in Binh Chanh district) also expressed her concerns when she received a notice of BSMS fee from BIDV at VND 135,000, much higher than previous months.

Fee schedule announced by BIDV applicable from early October 2024

On forums and social networks on November 20, the BSMS fee increased significantly compared to previous months for users of accounts opened at BIDV, which was also a hot topic of discussion. Accordingly, many users said they received a notification of a maximum SMS fee of 700 VND/message when the actual number of messages generated was from 15 messages/month/subscriber.

Many online sellers are worried that if the BSMS fee is as high as the new fee schedule, with several hundred payment transactions occurring each month, the fee to be paid will be "huge".

According to the reporter's investigation, since the beginning of October 2024, BIDV has adjusted the service fee schedule for notifying account balance changes in order to "parallel the roadmap for adjusting SMS banking service fees of telecommunications networks and following market practices; empowering each customer to proactively choose services suitable to their actual usage needs".

Banks encourage customers to receive balance change notifications via digital banking apps for free

Specifically, if customers receive notifications of changes in their payment account balance via BIDV SmartBanking (OTT messages), it will be free. Receiving balance changes via BSMS messages is free for premium customers; for regular customers, it is 10,000 VND/subscriber/month for less than 15 messages. From 15 messages or more, the fee will be calculated based on the actual number of messages generated, which is 700 VND/SMS message.

Along with increasing BSMS Banking fees, BIDV also encourages customers to receive notifications on digital banking applications (OTT messages) for free on BIDV SmartBanking.

Previously, a series of commercial banks such as Eximbank, Vietcombank, Sacombank, VPBank, ACB, OCB, Nam A Bank... announced changes in SMS fee policies.

Instead of charging a fixed monthly fee for each account/subscriber as before, these banks have switched to charging based on the actual number of messages generated each month. Normally, customers generating less than 15-20 messages/month/subscriber will have a fixed fee of VND10,000; above this level, the fee will be calculated per message at VND700, excluding VAT.

Register/Change/Cancel services on BIDV SmartBanking

1️⃣ Step 1: Access BIDV SmartBanking App/select "Register for service" cluster.

2️⃣ Step 2: Select Balance Change => BSMS Service => Cancel registration.

3️⃣ Step 3: Enter the OTP code to authenticate and complete CANCEL registration.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/khach-hang-ta-hoa-vi-phi-sms-banking-tang-vot-196241120185956696.htm