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Ms. Trinh Thi Yen (27 years old, administrative staff at a communications company in Hanoi) admitted that she received information from the bank about the adjustment of the balance change fee via SMS: “To be honest, I didn’t pay attention and just skimmed through the notification.”
The reason Ms. Yen gave was that for more than 2 years, she has been checking her balance changes through the bank’s app. It’s free and easy to track all transfer information with just 2 minutes of logging into the bank’s app. Moreover, she doesn’t want her financial information to be revealed when she is with her friends, and the balance change notification appears on the screen. “With such advantages, there is no reason for me to choose to receive balance changes via SMS and pay a fee,” she said.
Sharing the same view, Ms. Nguyen Ha (32 years old, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi), who is doing online business in beverages, said, “I only check my balance changes through the bank’s app because it’s convenient and free of charge. Due to the nature of the beverage business, if I register for balance changes via text message, on average, I sell 100 orders per day that are paid by transfer. That means my phone must receive at least 100 SMS. Not to mention balance change notifications when transferring money out, or other promotional information. As a result, my phone will be filled with messages. Sometimes I want to look back at previous transactions, and I find it quite tedious to search because the balance change messages are mixed with other promotional messages.”
In fact, in the face of the disadvantages of registering for balance change notifications via SMS, some banks have also advised account holders to use the transaction inquiry service on the app.
For example, recently, in the announcement of the adjustment of the SMS Banking service package fee, VPBank continued to recommend that customers use the balance change notification service on the app, which is easy to monitor and absolutely secure. This bank has provided a balance change notification service on the app, free of charge for life since 2020. And managing balance changes on the VPBank NEO app helps save costs for both customers and the bank.
VPBank also emphasized that sending balance changes via phone messages has many disadvantages, but this bank still has to maintain this channel of information. Because some customers still need to receive balance changes through messages.
VPBank added that the fee charged by the bank is based on the fee announced by the telecommunications company and is only charged for balance change messages. As for other messages, such as sending OTP codes, notifying changes in personal information upon request, reminding debts, etc., the bank pays the telecommunications companies for these fees.
Regarding the SMS Banking service package officially applied from 9/1/2024, VPBank is divided into 2 forms of payment. For the basic package, which applies to receiving balance change notifications via SMS for transactions with a minimum value of VND 200,000 and above. The fee is calculated based on one payment account, one phone number, and one month based on the number of messages received. The fee will range from VND 10,000 to VND 70,000 for the first 100 messages. For the 101st message and above, the fee is VND 100,000 and VND 700/message. However, the maximum fee for customers using this package is limited to VND 1,000,000/month.
The upgraded package applies to transactions with a minimum value of VND 100,000 and above for balance changes via SMS, with a fixed fee of VND 100,000 plus a fee based on the actual number of messages, calculated similarly to the basic package at VND 700/message from the 101st message onwards. Customers who regularly monitor their balance changes via SMS can choose this package with a maximum fee of VND 1.1 million.
For priority customers in the Diamond and Diamond Elite categories, VPBank continues to maintain the SMS Banking service fee as before, i.e., only VND 12,000/month/account, and there is no limit to the number of messages.
In addition to VPBank, some other banks have also shifted towards encouraging customers to use digital banking channels to replace banking service messages. Notably, banks have also waived and reduced all transfer fees and maintenance fees on digital banking channels.
According to experts, this not only brings optimal benefits to customers in terms of service experience but also helps banks reduce costs.
Statistics from the Vietnam Bank Association show that a small-scale bank has an estimated 15-20 million messages/month. For a large-scale bank, the number is 50-80 million messages/month. The fee that banks have to pay to telecom companies can amount to trillions of VND.
Meanwhile, checking balance changes through the bank’s app is free of charge and ensures the safety of customers’ information.
