SMS Banking

SMS banking meaning can be explained as “An extension of mobile banking facility that allows customers to perform banking-related activities simply by sending instructions via SMS”. With SMS mobile banking, leading banks can send or receive important banking instructions via the customer’s registered mobile number. The biggest advantage that the bank SMS format provides over net banking or mobile banking is the fact that you can bank via SMS format even in the absence of a healthy internet connection.

The primary functionality of bank SMS format are the push and pull messages that can be used to carry out several banking activities both at the customer as well as the bank’s end. Here’s a brief on how the push and pull messages work:

• Push Messages: They are the notifications/informational messages sent out by banking institutes to their customers without the customer actually making any information requests. The most common type of push messages include alerts such as amount credited/debited in account, cash withdrawals, bill payment reminders, credit card transaction details, etc.

• Pull Messages: The most popular example of pull messages is OTP (one-time password). An OTP offers security while making financial transactions as it is valid only for a specific period. They also offer more reliability and eliminate the need for memorising passwords to access your account. With SMS mobile banking, OTPs are simply sent to the customer’s registered mobile number.

By availing the SMS mobile banking facility, a customer can avail a number of baking-related services, such as:

• Generating/authenticating OTPs

• Intimation about cash withdrawal from an ATM

• Intimation about funds credited/debited in your account

• Intimation about pending/upcoming credit card bills payment, EMIs, RD, etc.

• Intimation about insufficient funds in your bank account

• Account balance enquiry

• Electronic bill payments

• Request/download of credit card statement

• Banking-related enquiry of credit card application status, FD rates, interest rates on loan, etc.

• Requesting customer care assistance

SMS mobile banking has fast emerged as a preferred mode of banking among many customers. The bank SMS format offers a number of advantages over traditional banking and the service can be easily availed with a simple click on your mobile phone. Some of the benefits offered over traditional banking methods include:

• You can place requests/receive notifications simply by sending an SMS. This convenience reduces the need to visit your home branch from time to time for getting banking updates

• Basic information about available balance, cash withdrawals, etc., can be instantly availed, saving you precious time

• Bank SMS format alerts can help you get instant notifications about bill payments and credits/debits into/from your account

• Instant notifications can alert you about any banking fraud/swindling activities in your account

Registration for SMS Mobile Banking is a one-step process that can be easily done via any of the following ways:

• Activate the services by sending a request via SMS/calling on the respective bank’s phone banking number

• Registering by visiting your home branch

• Activate the services via credit/debit card at an ATM kiosk

• Activate the services via netbanking