Publications
Partners
Capitec clients will now receive SMS notifications of debit orders from their accounts for amounts as low as R30, as part of the bank's efforts to fight debit order fraud.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Francois Viviers, Capitec's executive of marketing and communications, explained that the decision came following engagements with clients on social media.
Capitec is among the major banks who have partnered with the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) to stop unauthorised debit orders from clients' bank accounts through an offering known as DebiCheck.
Through a once-off debit order, clients can authorise future debit orders from their accounts at the start of a contract with a company.
In addition to DebiCheck, the bank will now alert clients regarding debit orders as small as R30.
"Fraudulent debit order originators typically submit debit orders for less than R99, as this is normally below the SMS notification threshold, and therefore does not attract as much attention.
"To protect our clients from these companies that put through invalid debit orders, Capitec has reduced the minimum value that triggers an SMS notification from R100 to R30, so that clients are informed of smaller debit orders on their accounts," Viviers said.
Viviers added that clients could review their transaction history using the banking app or at the Capitec branches.
He explained that the bank had identified a debit order as potential fraud, and with the permission of PASA, had reversed the debit orders and refunded over 25 000 clients for the value of the debit order, the debit order fee and the debit order dispute fees.
Fin24 has previously reported on the frustrations by consumers when dealing with banks to reverse unauthorised debit orders.
Consumers have complained about the charges associated with filing debit order disputes and reversals.
